Welcome aboard. You have done yourself a favor by joining this forum. Both my wife and I have learned many lessons from the wisdom of its members. We are first year rookies to the trawler lifestyle with a 30-year-old trawler. One thing that I have learned thus far about repairs, maintenance, and cruising is this. When we began this journey, the ratio between cruising and repairs/maintenance stood at approximately ten to one. Ten hours of repairs and maintenance to one hour underway. With time and experience, we are down to about three to one. One of our goals, and what keeps us reinvesting our time, energy, money, and hope is that we plan on making the great loop in about two years. My point is (talk about great loops!), there will always be something that will need maintenance, monitoring, repair and eventually replacement. For us, the trawler lifestyle has many challenges, but the payback is priceless.
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