Project Boat Pitfalls

If we hadn’t been open to buying a project boat, we’d not have Calypso today. Obviously, the price we could afford dictated the boat we bought. And though I don’t regret one second of the work we’ve done on her (well, okay, the endless sanding is getting old fast), there are some cautions I’d throw out to 20-year-old us.

(TLDR: Mother Nature is still in control.)

It’ll take longer and cost more than you expect. This falls under the “duh” category. I mean, isn’t that what EVERYONE says about boat projects of any kind? This is also the kind of advice everyone politely dismisses in their heads. Yes, even those of us well-versed in boat projects and the creep factor. Maybe it’s like the pain of childbirth, where you go through it and in hindsight it’s not as bad. Or it’s willing suspension of disbelief. Or something. If we REALLY considered the cost and time, would we take any boat project on?
Time is a huge cost. If your goal is to get out cruising, the time spent getting a project boat ready to go can work against you. Keeping a dream alive for a year is one thing; keeping a dream alive for 5 is another one entirely. When we first bought the boat, we had 2 years to prep. We were young and energetic (yes, we’re now older and still energetic) and had little else to distract us. That final year before leaving we lived aboard, and while the commute was fairly brutal by our personal standards (70 miles one way for me), it meant that when we were back on the boat we could knock out projects with focus. Need half an hour to paint something? Do it after dinner. It’s raining? Do something inside the boat. This time around, we’ve been keeping the “go sailing when we retire” dream alive for 12 years. We hoped we’d be in the Caribbean by now. Instead, we’re back in the boatyard, finishing (omg please) the bulwark project. That’s a lot of time not sailing.
Boat projects on an outside schedule suck. If you’re still working to earn a paycheck, confined by a 9-5 M-F reality, that means generally that weekends are your option for massive boat work. Weather can play an outsized role in how quickly you progress. Maybe most people live closer to the boat than we used to? Now that we’re retired, we’ve been hyperaware of this, weirdly enough. How did we EVER get anything done on the boat when we lived 3 hours away? No wonder we’ve got so much deferred maintenance we’re feverishly knocking out.

*Hey look. She’s being worked on again!*

If you’re planning to go cruising and think a project boat is the only way to afford to go, think long and hard about ALL the costs. Not just money, but time and effort and emotion. Particularly if you don’t live close to where the boat will be stored.

One more comment on the “live close by” thing. A repeat. Weather. We’re super conscious of this as we’re painting the outside of the boat. If we were limited to weekends only we’d be seriously in trouble. Between a fairly narrow temperature range and needing no precipitation (unless, like us, you’ve got an inside spot to work), plus the time demands of the prep stuff (sanding the hull, bulwarks, and cabinsides is an all day job; so is putting on a coat of paint) . . . this could easily add years to the time frame depending on the projects you’re tackling. Jeremy did the decks once years ago, and IIRC it quite literally took him TWO YEARS to get them done.

Money is expensive. Time is even more expensive. Keep that in mind when you’re eyeballing a project boat; it might turn out to be far more than you expect.