Joe wrote:
<snip> Getting a loan for a 40 year old boat is not an easy task now. No older boat is really a liquid commodity anymore ... <snip>
Yup. I'm sailing with liability insurance only. When I hit the 30 year mark, the premiums for offshore singlehanded sailing went up to over 3.5K a year and the coverage dropped to 60K with a 5K deductible, no coverage for the rig (even with a letter from the rigger that worked with me on the rebuild certifying that it was better than when the boat was originally built.)
It wasn't worth the money. If the boat sinks, it sinks, and it's up to me to make sure that the boat doesn't sink. No problem -- I actually was very careful about that even *with* insurance. My boat is not a dock condo, is not a party boat, but is a good sailing machine. There isn't a market for sailing machines these days. I remember a boat show a few years back when I sat at the Nav Station of a 500K sailing yacht, and asked the broker "Where do you mount the instruments?" He just looked at me with a sad smile.
I realized years ago that the only one who would ever want my boat was someone like me. That's a very small market. <VBG>
Gotta go... I've been doing boat projects and watching Star Trek AVI reruns non-stop for a month now on the worthless flat screen 12V TV. I just let it run, because there's nothing like Star Trek in the background to keep you grounded in reality.
Best regards, Woof -- s/v Stella Blue www.wbryant.com _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com
