Needs vs. Wants

Thought this would b interesting;

What did you buy for your boating lifestyle that represents a "want," rather than a "need?"

I'll lead off with my new Garmin Autopilot Wireless Remote. Definitely a want, not a need.

And here's another want. Not sure what it is but I sure do want it! (Nordy?)

In terms of significant items, I can't think of any, at least not for our PNW cruising boat. Our other two boats are a bit of a different story, but they are not cruising boats in the TF sense of the word and so their purposes are very different and tend to include a fair number of "wants."

For our PNW cruising boat, my wife has a few "wants" on board, particularly in the case of the galley. Things like a miniature Cuisinart, specific pots and pans and other utensils. She doesn't need them in order to prevent us from starving on board, but she wants them in order to pursue her interest in cooking.

I suppose we have a few "wants" in the toolboxes, things that I wanted to have but haven't needed (yet).

But in terms of the boat's systems from propulsion to electrical, electronics, anchoring, sanitation/plumbing, dinghy/motor, and so forth, everything we've acquired has been driven by a specific need. We've kept this 1973 boat very stock, so we don't have any stuff like flatscreen TVs and whatnot on it because we're not interested in that sort of thing. I guess the barbecue we installed long ago could be considered a "want" and not a "need."

We are currently having all new upholstery/cushions made for the main cabin of our PNW cruising boat. Expensive proposition and while we certainly "want" it, it's a project that was driven by a long-standing "need" --- the main cabin upholstery/cushions were tired when we bought the boat over 17 years ago and now the foam is so shot it's like sitting directly on the wood underneath them.

Neither one of us is much for buying something just for the sake of buying something. Pretty much everything we acquire, from new vehicles to iPads to cameras to you name it, is almost always driven by a need.

What we do, however, is research the purchase very thoroughly and buy the best product we can get for whatever the purpose is on the theory that if we get the best, most suitable product it will meet our need for a long, long time.

This isn't to say we don't want things, but the things we want are invariably driven by the fact we that we actually need them.

A good example from another thread on this forum is the discussion on digital anchor rode counters for anchor windlasses. We cannot think of any advantage this would give us in our anchoring process, so we not only don't need it, we don't want it.

That's a N86.

Thanks Oliver. Do you know the owner? Did you give him a gift of boat shoes? Don't imagine he needs them. What a beautiful boat.

Thanks Marin. Great reply.

hmason said:

Thanks Oliver. Do you know the owner? Did you give him a gift of boat shoes? Don't imagine he needs them. What a beautiful boat.

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No!

OMG, I pushed RT over the edge.

Greetings,
Mr, hm. Au contraire mon ami. There IS no edge and it's a great tune from a fantastic tour.

My whole boat is a want not a need. This is my 6th boat. The other 5 were purchased to make money with. Ok, I also have a kayak and a dingy. Can't think of anything that has gone into my refit that was a need instead of a want. See no point in trying to deny the obvious.

Ted

O C Diver said:

My whole boat is a want not a need. ...
Ted

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Excellent point!

Nevertheless, given that having a suitable boat is necessary for one's mental/emotional needs ... my two-sail stabilizing system is a want rather than a need since I boat in protected waters. But funds became available when cancelling the teak-deck option ... and as a former sailor, having small sails with lines to pull was appealing.

"My whole boat is a want not a need."

That's a given in this thread. But, what have you bought "for your boating lifestyle" that was a want, not a need?

I don't need a boat. I wanted one!

A shrimper "needs" a boat. A tow Captain "needs" a boat. Lots of people need boats, just not us here on TF. My thoughts are that we dont really need a boat therefor we dont really need anything for it. Now "wants" ,I gotta lot of those.

N4712 said:

That's a N86.

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That beauty has been gracing the Vero Beach Marina for some time now.

I wanted on of these:



I certainly don't need one for light or heat but that makes no difference.

Got this in a boat shop in Poulsbo today. I have no willpower!

All wants, some just more wants than the other wants.

I think then of those wants that minimally must be fulfilled, not for safety, not for necessity, but for us to be happy boaters.

So here's one most of you would consider wants not needs but to us communications is an absolute need. One, we do have a business to keep in communication with but, two, we are children of a technology and communications era and we want internet, want television and want to be in touch with family and friends. So, communications is a want that we need.

I needed my Seaweed for my happiness quotient. I would be miserable without my home.

I pay $60 per month for 7 gigs of wifi via Verizon. It was lonely without my imaginary friends (that'd be you)

That's a definite want and a pleasure too.
I'd say my Kindle is a want that became a need. I've run out of books while living on the hook so having a plethora of choices at my fingertips is an amazing thing. I love the Kindle.

hmason said:

"My whole boat is a want not a need."

That's a given in this thread. But, what have you bought "for your boating lifestyle" that was a want, not a need?

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Ok ok, I need to get my refit finished as it's approaching a year, because I want to get on with my cruising.

My Rocna anchor, my Bruce anchor (now the backup) was perfectly adequate, but it wasn't new technology. When it comes to anchors, you need something more than adequate.

Ted

All I need is a 3.5 hp ob for the dinghy. I bought a 9.9 instead so I can plane off.

janice142 said:

I needed my Seaweed for my happiness quotient. I would be miserable without my home.

I pay $60 per month for 7 gigs of wifi via Verizon. It was lonely without my imaginary friends (that'd be you)

That's a definite want and a pleasure too.
I'd say my Kindle is a want that became a need. I've run out of books while living on the hook so having a plethora of choices at my fingertips is an amazing thing. I love the Kindle.

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We all should feel honored, as you seem a fine person. Thanks for that portion of your post!

Continue enjoying life... Art

I want a broadband radar, but it just wouldn't look right on my 1936 boat so I haven't equipped the boat with it yet. That said, the way I use the boat, if I wake up somewhere and am fogged in, I just wait the fog out. It never lasts more than 2-3 days.

I need to apply two coats of varnish on the cabin house and transom. I just have to get off this chair and do it.

O C Diver said:

My Rocna anchor, my Bruce anchor (now the backup) was perfectly adequate, but it wasn't new technology. When it comes to anchors, you need something more than adequate.

Ted

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Aha, a glimmer of truth for the 1000s of "I want" anchor posts.

TDunn said:

I want a broadband radar, but it just wouldn't look right on my 1936 boat so I haven't equipped the boat with it yet. That said, the way I use the boat, if I wake up somewhere and am fogged in, I just wait the fog out. It never lasts more than 2-3 days.

I need to apply two coats of varnish on the cabin house and transom. I just have to get off this chair and do it.

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I believe the broadband dome is pretty light...how about a temporary mount?

any of the smaller domes are light enough for a temp mount...I would if I was cruising more than a small circle around home port.

I'll never claim to be 'book smart' and never did well academically, but I've noticed through my life that I have a need for delving into, and understanding, complex systems.

Photography is a perfect example. All started normally, then moved to large format, then came Ansel Adams' Zone System method of exposure and development. This was further refined by David Kachel's modification of the Sterry Method, called Selective Latent Image Manipulation Technique (SLIMT), which uses a pre bath of highly dilute bleach before development for reducing contrast in negatives only in the high tones while leaving shadow contrast minimally affected. Next came making and using sharp and unsharp masks as discovered by Christopher Burkett and further refined by Lynn Radeka. When Kodak went digital I switched to Ilford film and paper, and started making my own chemistry from scratch.

Now, with our first boat, having no prior mechanical or electrical experience of any kind, you can imagine how happy I am trying to understand it all. Therefore, I need our boat

Some liveaboard and it's their only major possession.


Want or need?

I never wanted to have a boat. Apparently, I needed to please my Admiral (or else) and suffer greatly over the unnecessary reconstruction of this vessel. Out of this need came all the stress and strife a guy could ever want.

psneeld said:

I believe the broadband dome is pretty light...how about a temporary mount?

any of the smaller domes are light enough for a temp mount...I would if I was cruising more than a small circle around home port.

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I could build a temporary mount, but the radar would still look out of place. On top of that I would have to deal with cable runs and put in a multifunction display, which would look wrong at my helm. I use a netbook with a gps puck as a plotter now for that reason.

If it looks like it might be foggy, I will just take the new (1973) boat which has all that stuff.

What about Furuno's new wifi radar you use with an iPad? Only needs a power cable which can be adapted to a cigarette lighter plug.

MurrayM said:

I'll never claim to be 'book smart' and never did well academically, but I've noticed through my life that I have a need for delving into, and understanding, complex systems.

Photography is a perfect example. All started normally, then moved to large format, then came Ansel Adams' Zone System method of exposure and development. This was further refined by David Kachel's modification of the Sterry Method, called Selective Latent Image Manipulation Technique (SLIMT), which uses a pre bath of highly dilute bleach before development for reducing contrast in negatives only in the high tones while leaving shadow contrast minimally affected. Next came making and using sharp and unsharp masks as discovered by Christopher Burkett and further refined by Lynn Radeka. When Kodak went digital I switched to Ilford film and paper, and started making my own chemistry from scratch.

Now, with our first boat, having no prior mechanical or electrical experience of any kind, you can imagine how happy I am trying to understand it all. Therefore, I need our boat

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Excellent Post!

You seem very content with your lot in life. More than can be said of many...