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Last year around this time I posted up my to do list to get ready for the season. This year, due to having Never for Ever in charter, my actual To Do list will be limited sending the email that commits to our arrival date (hopefully late April) and the boat should be ready to go when we arrive. All we will need to do is grab our gear out of storage and settle in.

But that doesn’t mean I don’t have things I want to do or, more specifically, want to buy. So far our additions to the boat have been rather modest. We picked up a Rocna anchor before we set off, installed a new Sony Media Player  the first couple of days aboard, and added a Battery Monitor Kit after we returned from the Broughtons. But other than that we haven’t added much to the boat despite my grand plans. But hopefully, finances willing, I will get to add a few new toys this season.

But the real question is, since we are no longer full-time cruising, how much to invest in this baot and how much to save for our “forever” boat.

First up may or may not be a new windlass. The seals on our old one are shot and in heavy seas water streams down into the front cabin. Not good. But the thing is old enough that parts are a problem. If we can find the parts, well, all is well and good. If not, then we will be in the market for a new windlass.

Then I went through my old wish lists (pre-purchase) and, leaving out the things that came with the boat, compared them to what I want to add after being full time cruisers.

Old List

• Generator/100 amp alternator
• Wifi Booster
• AIS
• Hammock
• Code 0 sail
• Dyson Mini Vac
• Water maker

New List

• Generator/solar
• Wifi booster (cell phone booster)
• TV and a way to stream to it.
• Range finder (binoculars)
• Stadium Seats
• LED lights (more)
• Stone baking ware

 

Some things haven’t changed. And some have.

1. On-the-hook power is still the number one item we wish we could improve, but no matter how we look at it, it’s a boat buck or two (~$1000–$2000) that I don’t have. And frankly it’s not as big a concern if we aren’t spending months on the boat. Still, a generator would be nice since we could just take it with us if/when we move on to another boat so I keep an eye out on Kijiji to see if there are any good deals. Solar is likely also a non-starter but I am still planning out various scenarios just in case. I’ve abandoned upgrading the alternator since it would mean changing the pulleys, as well as getting a smart regulator on top of the alternator. Solar would almost be cheaper. And frankly I don’t want to do that much motoring anyway.
2. Connectivity. We constantly blew over our data plan last year until we wised up and increased it. I am really wishy-washy about this. I figure it’s around $500 all in to set up a booster, antenna and a wireless router. Is that reasonable if we are only sailing two weeks? No. Eight weeks? Probably.
3. AIS? I hooked up the  Standard Horizon to the chartplotter and now have an AIS receiver; I don’t think a transmitter is necessary at this point. So now #3 is a TV and some way to connect it to my harddrive full of movies. Never for Ever once had a TV mounted on the front bulkhead — the lovely coastal art covers the holes — and it still has a dvd player mounted under the chartplotter. The folks at Cunning Little Plan installed a TV and DVD player converted to 12v and their’s seems like a feasible plan. Call it $225 for the electronics and probably another $50 for hardware and wire. Leslie is against the idea but I think it will add value to the charter and grant us a bit more comfort when we are watching movies.
4. Hammock? It’s just fallen off the list for now. Rangefinder Binoculars? I suck at distances in anchorages and love a good pair of binoculars so it seems like an obvious choice— only $200! I think of this item as more of a”special treat” though so I’m pretty sure it won’t be happening unless I come into some “extra” cash.
5. Let’s dispense with the rest of the old list (Code Zero sail, Dyson mini-vac and watermaker) by saying “too extravagant, not enough utility.” Stadium seats however are cheaper, more practical and directly add to comfort. We had won a West Marine folding seat at the Hunter Rendezvous and I really like it despite the fact I have wrecked the foam already. A couple  more at $80 a pop more would  perfect.
6. LED lights. Around $20 each we already have at least one LED in each cabin so that’s good enough for now but we should get on with replacing all of them.
7. Donna from Northwest Passage had a bunch of stoneware baking pans and I loved them. She got hers from Pampered Chef and I have my eye on at least a nice cookie sheet and a loaf pan (around $40 each)

So what is likely? I think the TV, maybe a couple of LEDs and at least one seat. And as I said I will keep my eye out for a good deal on a generator but being able to stay on the hook for a few extra days only saves me $50/night—it’ll have to be a good deal. The rest will rely on finding the right deal at the right time. Or maybe I’ll save my money and spend it on beer, after all beer is important. Right?.
—Bruce #Equipment

Nanaimo Yacht Charters has taken a brand new Lagoon 42 into its fleet — man that’s one beautiful boat, I really, really want to take it for a spin — and the owner has been busy trying to promote it with a Youtube Channel and a Facebook Page. One of the things he has done is shoot a few videos with Ian and Beth MacPherson, two of the principles over at NYCSS. Well, for those who don’t know it it, one of the ways I’ve made my living is as a graphic professional and frankly, the graphics on those videos were killing me. So since I needed to brush up on my After Effects skills anyway, this spurred me to offer to put together some intro’s and outro’s as a refresher that they could use. This 2 minute video was the result of that.

I also worked on some motion graphics for Never for Ever for my future movie-making efforts and finally posted a video round up of our sailing trip to the Broughtons on my Youtube Channel. It’s a work in progress but I bought a GoPro knock off and hope to do a lot more filming this year.

Then the owner of Water Dragon (the new Lagoon) contacted me to see if he could have a copy of the promo as well. After a bit of back and forth he also gave me the file for the Q & A video (sans intro since I shamefacedly admitted it was that which had spurred me to start editing video again) and used it as another project. I recut it, added a few flourishes, tried to fix the lighting and essentially learned a whole lot about how much I don’t know about Adobe Premiere.

Still, it looks ok and I think it actually is a great video for anyone who is tinkering with the idea of chartering. I certainly would have like to see something like this back when we started toying with the idea of learning to cruise. I really couldn’t believe how easy it was. So take a look. (If you’d like to see the original to compare the before and after,  it can be found here.)

—Bruce #Charter