First Day of the Season - Cleaning the Boat

So...

We didn't QUITE kill each other over the "how long to clean the boat" argument.

This is an every-year issue.  We pay our yard a lot of money to spruce up Seas The Day prior to putting it in the water.  On the years where we are able to meet her as she comes off the lift, we take over and it stays quite clean.  On the years (like this year) where we have the yard guys take her out to the mooring, well... they're about efficiency and they wear their work shoes to sail her out.  That means there's a little mud on the deck after they leave.

I need to back track.  My beloved LOVES a clean boat and nicely, she LOVES to clean her boat.  So after we took the launch out to her and found her nicely bobbing at her mooring, stepping onto it, she notices the dirt... I notice how clean she looks.

It's a fundamental incompatibility... all couples have one... this is ours.

For me, it's a religious issue.  If God wanted clean boats, he would make detergent rain down on them and a good storm would scrub them clean.  He only makes water rain down, so I assume he only wants boats to be rinsed off.

I loose the first phase of the argument.  We head to the dock which will make it easier to load all the gear and fill the water, but I know this means that with the hose out, my beautiful wife will launch into boat cleaning mode.

And sure enough she does.

And fair enough, it needs it.  The inside looks like a tornado came through which it did in the form of a replaced fuel tank in the back stateroom.

I busy myself with filling the water tank, saying hello to Dan (our diver who does our mooring), and eventually swabbing the already clean deck.  While I'm doing this I'm thinking of how full of sh!t the birds around us seem, and also think about how muddy the pick-up stick must be from sitting in the water after the mooring was installed.

I busy myself with loading the bedding...

And eventually swab the already clean decks.  I'm willing to clean, but my tolerance is a couple of hours tops.  My incredible beloved can clean all day.

I'm aware of the approaching storms Roy (the launch captain) warned us about and finally with much wailing and gnashing of teeth (or was that baring of teeth?), we head in... leaving final items for the next visit.

Looking back, Seas The Day is the cleanest boat in our part of the anchorage... for now.

We'll continue the argument... I expect that decades from now, we'll be the old couple sitting on the deck at the club fussing at each other about this very topic.

A Day on Dalliance

So it's Memorial Day weekend and Seas The Day is still on the hard... what's a person to do?

I get it.  This is pretty much THE definition of "first world problem", and it's a pretty blessed problem to have.  Still, Sunday was supposed to be a fabulous sailing day, and I wanted to get Vicky out on the water before she has to head back to China for work next weekend.  Our friends, the Miller's, had just traded in Fiddlers Green for a new 42' Catalina 420 - Dalliance - as their family is growing, and the old 32' was getting a bit cramped.

So we blatantly begged...

It turns out they were just on the boat yesterday, with plans to go again on Memorial Day, so the kids were looking forward to an electronics fix at home.  Brandon, however, was eager to try out his new toy some more, so we headed up the parkway and fought through the NJ shore traffic.

We met and had a nice lunch at Lenora's with the whole family and then let the kids and Tina head home while we met Brandon at KYC.

They purchased Dalliance just this spring and Brandon and friends recently sailed her down from her previous home in CT.  She's a beautiful yacht.  A Catalina 42 from 2007.  We got a brief tour of the spacious interior, and her incredibly wide decks, which will be really nice for his family.

Soon we were underway and Brandon took her through her paces.  Brandon is a much more aggressive sailor than I am (most people are), so I didn't try and take photos while I was hanging on for dear life while he "buried the rail".  A couple photos capture some times with a bit less heeling and show you what she is capable of...

The "Old Orchard" race was going on so we passed Observer (the KYC Race Committee boat), as well as a couple of our friends.

I don't usually get to work the lines with someone else at the helm (or when someone else is available to capture a photograph), so that was a new experience for me.

After a couple of hours of sailing back and forth along the western Raritan Bay, we headed in.  I requested that we sail by our (empty) mooring and it looks like Dan (our diver) had done a fine job getting things ready.  Hopefully by mid-week, Seas The Day will be in place and if the weather holds, we can get Vicky out on our boat towards the end of the week.

Neglected Blog - Costs for 5th season, end of last year and beginning of this season (New Fuel Tank)

(Image Credit:  Wealthmanagement.com)

I'm a little late for this post which I typically do at the end of the year, but since I'm starting to get bills for the upcoming season, I better get this update in.

First, some references to our First Year Costs, our 2nd Season Costs, our 3rd Season Costs, and our 4th Season Costs for those who want the full picture of the costs of owning and using a new 30ft sailboat.  This is going to be a simple and matter-of-fact post... read the earlier ones for more explanation.  Sorry if this is getting boring, but this is more about sharing numbers than riveting narrative.  And if you've looked at any of the others, you already realize it is phenomenally repetitive.

Again, there are no "startup costs" so we have "Seasonal Costs" (the cost of owning the boat for a year) and "Excursion Costs" (an estimate of the cost of using the boat).


SEASONAL COSTS

- Mortgage was $12,000 (we round the mortgage payment up to $1000/month).
- Insurance was $1,110
- Maintenance was $2,723 (mostly cleaning, waxing, and bottom cleaning)
- Mooring & Storage was $2,293 (Haul out, winterizing, mooring servicing, etc.)
- Safety equipment was $0 (Well, we got new life jackets so lets say $450.)
- Accessories were $30
- Yacht Club expenses were $2,335 (dues, launch service, coupons, events, etc.... and ice!)

That's a total of $20,500 (be nice... I'm rounding), which is a little less than last year.  We still don't have much in the way of maintenance other than cleaning.  I hope that keeps going for a bit longer.  (OK... read on... that's about to change)


EXCURSION COSTS

For excursion costs, I try to estimate the cost of the typical excursion be it a day out and back from the mooring in Keyport, or a longer endeavor.  I try to include actual marina costs, any special provisioning, a guess at fuel and any tips to the launch drivers.  We basically had two types of trips this year.

First is a 4 hour day on the water - starting and ending at Keyport, NJ.  A rough guess for this trip is about $40 it's really not that expensive beyond the cost of ownership.  Note that I do NOT count the costs of meals consumed on land in Keyport (or drinks at KYC).  We had 13 days like this for a total cost of about $520 (again, these are guesses) one more than last year.

The second type of trip was our two 4-day trips to Liberty Landing Marina.  This was our second time doing something like this and yes, it was a bit expensive including marina costs, provisions and lots of eating in restaurants (we took a couple of day trips into NYC).  Unfortunately, I didn't record exact spending (it was vacation, after all), but my best guess is it was about a $1500 trip each time (we eat really well and both trips used Seas The Day as a NYC-Based hotel room while exploring the city.


So all in all, it continues to average out to a little more than $2K per month.


So what did we get for all this money?  A couple of nice mini-vacations, 21 days on the water total, and sharing sailing and Seas The Day with 13 people (not to mention friendships and great times at KYC, etc.).

So the total cost can also be expressed as ~$1150 per day on the water.

(I should note that our charter Sailing in December excursion cost us somewhere around $700 or $800  - AND we could just walk away afterwards.)

Finally, some have asked "why post this?"  That continues to be a fair question and I do it each year because back when we were thinking about purchasing Seas The Day, there was little information about what it actually costs to own a new boat.  So I share this in that spirit.  Is this exhaustive?  Probably not... I'm sure I'm missing $20 spent at West Marine or at the fuel dock here and there, but I think I'm getting many of the costs.  So how would I gauge the costs of cruising on a new sailboat?  I'd look at the mortgage payment and double it.  It may not work in all cases - and it certainly depends on how you keep it, etc., - but it would get you close enough to ensure your budget can handle a new boat.  If you get a used boat and use it at KYC, my best guess is the minimum costs would be about $1k/month but of course, you'd have repairs as well.

I have been neglecting the blog and I realized I forgot to post the traditional "hauling and covering" post.  I'll tell you it still looks the same as other years. 

So I'm sure you noticed the red bold writing above.  I'm not writing this in December or even a little late in February.  I'm writing it on Memorial Day weekend after driving all the way to Keyport only to find Seas The Day still in the cradle.

Earlier in the month we had our first big failure on Seas The Day... after we went to remove the winter cover, where we found the boat in good order (though it always looks like a bomb exploded below... that's because we have to leave all the compartments open for air circulation to prevent mold.)

(A nice day on the boat is a nice day on the boat - even if you're still on the hard.)

A week or so later, the boat yard people went aboard to find it reeking of diesel fumes... our fuel tank had rotted out.  

Diesel fuel had leaked out from the tank into the bilge.  Fortunately it was contained there where they could recover it.

I will say I never heard of this happening and when I called Catalina I found out we only had a one year warranty.  Still they stepped up to the plate and gave me a new fuel tank at their cost of $325 or so and another $200 or so had it shipped up here.  I paid that price because we were bearing down on the start of the season and I didn't want to wait for one to be built from scratch.   A search for root causes seems to indicate that construction debris clogged one of the weep holes in the compartment where the tank sits, so it was sitting in (possibly salt) water for a time.  Live and learn, I guess.

Today we packed up all the paraphernalia and headed up to Keyport expecting Seas The Day to be launched.  Unfortunately, there were some delays at the boatyard and we could only admire her beauty after the guys at the yard finished polishing her all up for the season.  They will launch her and put her out on her mooring this week and with luck we can still get Vicky out for one day of sailing.

(So close (to being ready)!  But yet so far (away from the water)!