Aging gracefully with a boat?

[Art]

Sell a Boat. just sold my GB @85 .And still looking for another smaller hey ho its a illness that has no cure.

There's only one complete cure... God Forbid!! LOL

 

[Martin J]

I'm 73 and am currently doing my own extensive refit. I have been fortunate in living a active life and broken many bones. However i am still in reasonable shape. I still enjoy "fixin" my own boat, however I realize I'm no longer 20. Wheras I used to crouch and stand, now it's a small stool to sit on and a hand to push myself back up. Heavy or awkward loads or tasks, I get a couple of bucks from the marina etc. They're only to willing to help. As to when i'll stop, there's a question, probably when I can no longer get aboard. My main problem is my cruising crew! The average age is around 75 ! There's no rushing around on board, everything's preplanned, spry and nimble are no longer in the boats dictionary! Once we finish this refit, we'll be off on a series of cruises twice a year 3months at a time down back through the Caribbean to Grenada and back over the next 5-7 years.

 

[backinblue]

sounds like a good plan

 

[SteveK]

Once I got the varnish up to date on the GB42, I enjoyed the light work involved in refreshing it, especially during the 25 years the boat was kept under cover. Every little piece of that exterior teak was Epifaned to perfection, and I enjoyed the admiring comments everywhere we went. But then, guess what, I suddenly realized how old I was getting and that varnish work was suddenly boring (as was all the other extensive work). I had the boat sold and outa here in three weeks, and a week later bought this fiberglass beauty. Within a month it was hanging under the same cover the trawler had occupied when it was a wet slip. Whiplash maybe? I guess I became a "different folk" with a "different stroke" overnight.

I see myself following that path as well. I am wanting to do the maintenance, but know that the time will come when I no longer want to do it. Then it will be time to sell and re consider next move. It will depend on where the priority leads. It does seem that many are on a revolving plan. Once the boat is made your own and nothing left to improve upon, we look for the next makeover. Gives purpose.

 

[SteveK]

I may be foolish, but I was 64 in February 2021 and bought a 1973 Grand Banks 36 last November. This is my retirement boat. I have higher than average mechanical skills and have worked on boats for years. My retirement plan is to spend the next 3 years with the boat on the hard, repairing, replacing, modifying all systems to reduce future work and to modify the boat so that routine maintenance will be that much easier to accomplish. I have been a blue collar guy my whole life and can't afford a boat without doing the work myself. I sometimes think that I am deluding myself, but I know I have to try. I am sorry for those who approach that point where they aren't able to keep their boat. I bought my boat from a very nice couple who almost cried when I sailed her away. The boat had suffered a bit in recent years for the very reasons we are discussing. I have no opinion to offer, only best wishes for a happy resolution to your situation. Best of luck.

Sorry but I think you are foolish. Have not seen the boat, maybe it needs a lot of work and is not seaworthy. But planning 3 years on the hard with no pleasure time IMO is asking for disappointment.
It reminds me of the fad of building a ferro cement boat back in the 70's. Many had the dream to build their own boat, many ended up with a hull that never saw water.
The desire to restore is admirable but unless you have another hobby all work and no play you will regret it. Again IMHO

 

[RickyD]

Time is money. If you can afford to, pay a professional to do some of the more major maintenance work. It's still puzzles me that many boat owners will take on any and all tasks related to their boat, but don't hesitate to pay someone to change the oil in their car.

I have a couple potential answers. First though I want to mention that my last boat was purchased while I was still working. So, week end use mostly. Two hour drive to the boat, spend time cleaning off the dust and bird poop. Do some maintenance maybe. Do some waxing. Clean up our messes and go home. I really wanted to be in a place where I could do what others did.....Pay someone to clean the boat before I got there. So, I'm there now. Of course I hose off the dust but major cleaning outside done regularly by a crew. They also wax on occasion. My wife and I clean on the inside.

Ok, why or why not pay someone to change your oil? Well it is so cheap with your car. Some places you don't even have to get out of your car. On a boat, everything costs way more. As for why we feel the need to do our own work I believe it is because we need to know we can, if we have to. When on the hook you need to be self sufficient. Also, doing becomes understanding and familiarity. It becomes a safety factor to truly understand how your systems work.

 

[Art]

Regarding when/if to stop Boat LOVE!

English fellow who purchased our 1977 Tolly tri cabin "brand-new" was taken off by some helpers in 2006... in his mid to latter 90's. His boat maintenance assistant [locally renowned boat mechanic and shipwright] who had cared for his boat for 10 years prior took over ownership. He then spent two years rebuilding both motors and one trany while refitting needed items on interior. Then he shined the exterior and redid the bottom as well as thru hulls and tuned the props. He did this all to have a very enjoyable boat for he and his wife.

BUT! Sometimes shittt happens: Well - His wife divorced him and he lost all interest in the Tolly. Then the "Great Recession" really got underway. Soooo - He decided to sell the Tolly. I watched the price drop week after week. Went to see it and made a cash offer he accepted. Bingo! We owned a completely refurbished Tollycraft in August 2008.

Seeing as the interim owner who refinished this Tolly never used it much at all... we consider ourselves the second owners! Had her now for 13 yrs. Breaking into our 70's we were late 50's when purchasing. No current plan to sell her... don't know when that time will come "floating" in!!

 

[BandB]

We rented an RV last weekend, just as an experiment to see if it's something we'd ever want to do in our old(er) age, when I can no longer easily do that jump from the finger to the swim step. Granted, we had to "learn" the RV literally overnight. From trying to back that thing into a tight campsite to the final disgusting pump out (waste dump), it was far more of an ordeal than our boat. Let's just say the experiment taught us we're not RV people.

I might speculate that if you went into boating totally unprepared you'd feel the same. Is backing into a campsite more difficult than backing into a slip? Many places have drive through campsites. You had to learn overnight. You found a bad pump out. We'd never even camped and we took a Sprinter RV on our last trip to NC and SC. Now we were thoroughly briefed on it's use and quirks and parks and chose carefully and we had no issues. I wouldn't entirely reject it if I was you as we'd long done that and our experience changed our minds. I'd still choose boating any day, but if the time ever comes we can't handle it, we may well consider RV.

 

[Art]

I might speculate that if you went into boating totally unprepared you'd feel the same. Is backing into a campsite more difficult than backing into a slip? Many places have drive through campsites. You had to learn overnight. You found a bad pump out. We'd never even camped and we took a Sprinter RV on our last trip to NC and SC. Now we were thoroughly briefed on it's use and quirks and parks and chose carefully and we had no issues. I wouldn't entirely reject it if I was you as we'd long done that and our experience changed our minds. I'd still choose boating any day, but if the time ever comes we can't handle it, we may well consider RV.

I am firm believer that Heart Felt DESIRE can out-power [i.e. out trump - overpower] even the energies gained from necessity as well as fear [although both of those can certainly also propel increased abilities]... if ya "really" wanna back in a boat or back in an RV... or do most other things with them.

Of course, a mechanically and mathematically inclined mind helps for moving and/or placing nearly any large item.

 

[backinblue]

I have a couple potential answers. First though I want to mention that my last boat was purchased while I was still working. So, week end use mostly. Two hour drive to the boat, spend time cleaning off the dust and bird poop. Do some maintenance maybe. Do some waxing. Clean up our messes and go home. I really wanted to be in a place where I could do what others did.....Pay someone to clean the boat before I got there. So, I'm there now. Of course I hose off the dust but major cleaning outside done regularly by a crew. They also wax on occasion. My wife and I clean on the inside.

Ok, why or why not pay someone to change your oil? Well it is so cheap with your car. Some places you don't even have to get out of your car. On a boat, everything costs way more. As for why we feel the need to do our own work I believe it is because we need to know we can, if we have to. When on the hook you need to be self sufficient. Also, doing becomes understanding and familiarity. It becomes a safety factor to truly understand how your systems work.

I have to both agree and disagree with you. Although I pay for a lot of my boat maintenance, I still do all the cleaning and waxing. I would probably do more of the mechanical work but I am simply not flexible enough to crawl around my engine room. It's probably smaller than most here. I do agree that you have to understand how the systems work and I have at times had to troubleshoot and fix things. However, I've never been anchored and needed to change my oil so I see no reason not to pay someone to do it each fall. Sure it's more expensive than a car oil change, but "cheap" is a relative term. $100 is cheap to some and expensive to others. (Roughly the price of a good synthetic oil change with premium parts for a car). Is a $30 car wash expensive or cheap? Is it worth doing yourself? What about a brake job? and on and on..... Only you can decide. The point I was making is, if you are too old or can't maintain a boat for whatever reason, AND you can afford it, why not let the pros handle it like most do with their cars. Where many of us boat, it's not about survival. Sea Tow is within reach, just like a tow truck when your car breaks down.

 

[Hippocampus]

I hate doing bottoms and waxing. So I pay for it. There’s a large variation in cost so I go where it’s done well but for less.
I like doing stainless on a down day while listening to tunes. So I do it.
I want to learn my systems so should they break underway or where support is unavailable so I do that maintenance/repair and call in for help only when I can’t figure it out or have figured it out but don’t have the tools, expertise or access to the parts required.
Part of boating is keeping it running and Bristol. If you don’t like that part of it stay with in tow service range and be prepared to open your wallet. Even if you have deep enough pockets not knowing your systems places you at risk unless you can have a full time engineer travel with you.

What the Water Rat said to the Mole: “Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing–absolutely nothing–half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”

Learn to stretch. You need it for boat yoga.

 

[Timicrinn]

aging gracefully with a boat

Ok I have to chime in here or else not really be part of this forum.
1) it’s all about your genes and attitude...if both are good and strong...so you will be .
2) as the old man used to say...”it takes a lean dog for a long race”... keep the weight off, the food fresh and unprocessed and eat everything in moderation.
3) boat work is excercise in boat yoga...the lying bilge crab or the filter stretch and turn as well as the upside down hose clamp twist to name a few.
4) trust in a mechanic, research options shop around...do all that you can do but don’t be afraid to know what you don’t know or cannot do.
5) sure sign you are getting close to selling is when you can no longer contort yourself to make the rack (bed), fit in the phone booth of a shower or retrieve a dropped piece of soap.
6)having owned boats my entire life...the challenge of a new puzzle/project is what keeps my brain on alert to think and to solve.
So at 70 I can still bounce up and down the stairs, crawl the engine room with a good pair of knee pads and twist into places thought not possible. I can find ways to work smarter not bull my way through. I still ask more questions than most. I figure the boat will tell me when it’s time to go. But I just love being on the water with all the wildlife, the boat people, the adventurous that come and go and the stories that are told. Better to sit here and drool into my lap, with my depends on and a can of insure at my side as the tide rises and falls than to be wheeled around a nursing home watching the grass grow and other people dropping off around me. When the time comes push me out to sea, fire up the boat and send me to that warm beach in never never land.
Just my thoughts nothing spectacular just how I see my time on the water...thanks for all the good reads.

 

[Jarrow Lily]

I spent 35 minutes recently lying on my side, across a 5 inch raised divider with a 10 inch drop on the far side working with the space filled with two cushions and my left arm stretched out through a small access hatch just to re-attatch a spade connector to the RPM sensor on our Yanmar 4JH4-HTE engine.
God only knows how it became detatched, but it did.
I squeezed it a little tighter, checked it on a male spade and eventually got it back on.
Our engine access is pretty good. Last season I carried out serious stuff, the 1,000 Hour service, new impeller, remove, clean and service heat exchanger, intercooler, exhaust elbow and turbo. Found a loose valve clearance - very loose - which when set correctly caused the valve to 'lag' as it was bent. The noise was the piston tapping it shut! Head off, new valve, back together, now all OK.
I will admit that every year it gets harder. I am just 74, First Mate 73. She has recently had a new hip, I have metal in my body in various places from 45 years of motorcycle racing.
We chose our boat for 'easy on, easy off' little teak, just 4 small pads/steps, easy access to most services and great Island Packet build quality.
I made an outboard crane from scrap, dink gets stored on the pilothouse roof and we have adjusted storage/refrigeration for 5 months living aboard.
Just having a used furler installed to give us a light wind reacher or code zero sail.
All sail handling is from the rear cockpit through the Lewmar power winch.
When Jarrow Lily does get too much, either to manage or maintain, we will sell and perhaps get a day boat.
It is not a rehersal, only get one shot at life so we are doing it while we can.
To those who are starting to struggle, I can relate to your pain

 

[BandB]

6)having owned boats my entire life...the challenge of a new puzzle/project is what keeps my brain on alert to think and to solve.
So at 70 I can still bounce up and down the stairs, crawl the engine room with a good pair of knee pads and twist into places thought not possible. I can find ways to work smarter not bull my way through. I still ask more questions than most. I figure the boat will tell me when it’s time to go. But I just love being on the water with all the wildlife, the boat people, the adventurous that come and go and the stories that are told. Better to sit here and drool into my lap, with my depends on and a can of insure at my side as the tide rises and falls than to be wheeled around a nursing home watching the grass grow and other people dropping off around me. When the time comes push me out to sea, fire up the boat and send me to that warm beach in never never land.
Just my thoughts nothing spectacular just how I see my time on the water...thanks for all the good reads.

Wifey B: While I love the water, I just find it sad how many equate not being able to boat with a death knell. There are too many things in life to enjoy, things you've never done. Perhaps then we'll lean on our non-boating friends to share their loves and joys with us.

 

[ronobrien]

Actually the boat is in great mechanical condition and is very seaworthy. The surveyor was impressed with it's condition for 48 YO. The decks need repair and the cabin house needs repair. That and general updating after 48 years of use. The majority of the work is what i desire the boat to be regarding convenience and ease of maintenance. And yes, my friends tell me that I am a freak about work, always needing a project that borders on the insane.

 

[Martin J]

It certainly sounds from everyone, that the intention is to never stop, just to adjust to what we can achieve. I for one enjoy working on my boat, albeit I certainly do not move around as quick and preplanning is a necessity. I always lay out all possible tools, get my collection of foam gardening knee pads to lay over corners edges etc. this with my 12" step stool/ seat from walmart helps to complete most tasks. The most uncomfortable position is definitely lying face down on a hard surface. The ribs can be sore for hours.

 

[refugio]

My tip...coconut oil....I've been putting coconut oil on my daily peanut butter and jam (or honey or banana) sandwiches ever since.

OK, so I started googling around and....

"Coconut oil, butter and MCT (medium-chain triglycerides) are the only oils that convert quickly to ketones "

So...have you tried butter?

 

[backinblue]

And butter is delicious!

 

[OldDan1943]

Butter on your cool bacon YUMMY

 

[MurrayM]

OK, so I started googling around and....

"Coconut oil, butter and MCT (medium-chain triglycerides) are the only oils that convert quickly to ketones "

So...have you tried butter?

The following foods are the richest sources of medium-chain triglycerides, including lauric acid, and listed along with their percentage composition of MCTs

* coconut oil: 55%
* palm kernel oil: 54%
* whole milk: 9%
* butter: 8%

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/mct-oil-101#sources

Stopped eating butter decades before trying coconut oil. Also figured if research scientists were submitting patent proposals and applying for millions of dollars in research funding to tease out the 'good bits' from coconut oil, why not go straight to the source?

I read recently that Alzheimers can start 30 years before symptoms really kick in.

Can't say for sure eating some coconut oil every day will do anything, and I'll probably never know to what degree it helped in having an alternative fuel supply available to keep those synapses firing when they can't use glucose efficiently anymore...if it helps at all.

We were lucky to have my Dad walk the sunny side of the street of Dementia, where he was always positive and in a good mood. Some people aren't so lucky and are left with a bitter, angry, sometimes violent, foul mouthed version of their parent.

I don't want to put my family through the experience of The Long Goodbye, watching someone fade away years before they die, if I can help it.

 

[backinblue]

As with many other supplements and dietary suggestions that haven't been fully proven to be effective, I normally think that they probably do no harm, and might do some good, so why not try. Others will disagree, but most of us don't have decades to wait for the studies to be completed, so in this case, especially with dementia in your family history, I think it's worth a shot. If it does nothing, what have you lost? I would just warn against using supplements, etc, in place of medicine if it's available for whatever you are dealing with. In that case, you can indeed be doing yourself more harm than good.

 

[OldDan1943]

Caution: If you are taking any herbal supplements or ‘oils’ tell your doctors, especially before any surgery.

 

[backinblue]

Caution: If you are taking any herbal supplements or ‘oils’ tell your doctors, especially before any surgery.

Good point. Many can thin your blood similar to NSAIDs.

 

[SteveK]

Caution: If you are taking any herbal supplements or ‘oils’ tell your doctors, especially before any surgery.

My doctor retired after being my doc for 49 years. On each visit I would ask if he is still practicing medicine. Well the day he said I am retiring, he said he regrets he never got past practicing.

Yes you have to tell your doctor, that is what triggers their thoughts to possible complications/reactions.

 

[Slowboattochina]

I am almost 65 and 6'5. I just spent the last week doing "boat yoga' repairing a bilge pump located in a deep bilge under the prop shaft and stuffing box. I had total knee replacement on both knees over the winter. This is "pleasure" boating right?

 

[backinblue]

I am almost 65 and 6'5. I just spent the last week doing "boat yoga' repairing a bilge pump located in a deep bilge under the prop shaft and stuffing box. I had total knee replacement on both knees over the winter. This is "pleasure" boating right?

A younger smaller guy would be happy to do that for you for a fee.

 

[psneeld]

The sinking feeling might be "was it done correctly" ?

Was in the business and at too many marinas to think so.....

 

[Hippocampus]

You loose ~30% of your neurons in the first ~2 years of life as you decide which neural networks to set up. Then you spend the next 25 to 30 years to decide how to set up your synaptic branching and the order of hierarchy. It’s down hill from there. You do gain wisdom and knowledge (they’re two very different things) and there’s a fair bit of neural plasticity that allows you to pick up the slack. But like so many neuro degenerative diseases AD is just another one where the basic problem is you don’t take out the garbage ( tau and amyloid) as quickly as you make it. Like atherosclerosis, arthritis and other degenerative diseases it’s a life long process. Some people are put together better (genetics). Some people stress their structures more (nature of work, diet, toxins, lifestyle). So chimney sweeps get testicular cancer, bricklayers get arthritis in their hands and my vodka drinking 2 pack a day pall mall smoking paternal grandmother lives to 95 in her own apartment totally independently and as sharp as a tack.
People act from fear. Peoples don’t accept correlation is NOT proof of causation. People still pore water on houses when all they’re going to save is the foundation. Piss away your money on what you want. Please go back and study basic biology. Learn about how your mitochondria work. Learn about beta amyloid and tau protein. Then decide. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
Personally I’m very, very disappointed in our FDA. Biogen pulled a fast one. If you look at all the trials imho there’s no way their AD drug should have been licensed. But I’ll be standing first in line to get my malaria and dengue fever vaccines.

 

[Slowboattochina]

A younger smaller guy would be happy to do that for you for a fee.

That is my problem. I am half Scottish and half Welsh (Scwelsh?). That means I am cheap.....and stubborn about it.

 

[Art]

Hippo - Creation/evolution is circular. The ways of existence go in full-cycle patterns; i.e. in a circle.

May I add another soliloquy to your #238 post: By the time you're old enough to know what you're doing... your too old to do it! Thus - The full-cycle circle continues!!