The Offshore Voyaging Reference Site

40 Tips For A Reliable Cruising Boat

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It seems like almost every cruiser I talk to has a tale of woe about all the problems they have had with their boat and how much those problems have screwed up their plans. For crying out loud, if cars were as unreliable as cruising boats, we would have stuck with horses!

But really, it does not have to be this way.

How can I say that? We have had a twisted mast, a defective engine, and half a hundred other things go wrong on Morgan’s Cloud but, in the last 16 years, nothing has broken that has caused us to change our plans, or even delay us, in mid-voyage—touch wood.

And since we started cruising some 23 years ago, we have only had one such incident: a broken intermediate shroud necessitating replacement of all standing rigging.

I don’t say this to boast. Undoubtedly there has been an element of luck in this record. But I also think that the boat maintenance rules that we have developed over many years of voyaging have helped too. Here they are:


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Katman

Please explain why to NEVER connect a crapper to the batteries!

s/v Grace
IP 45

Bruce Thomas

I am brand new to this forum. So I need to learn how it’s done.
This comment window is probably the wrong place to ask an off topic question. Is there a location on your site that I can ask an off topic question?

RDE

NEVER connect a crapper to the battery—– unless you LIKE that tingly feeling when you sit on it!

David Nutt

Great list – Often it still comes down to knowing one has the ability to deal with what ever it is that comes up once out there. Stuff happens all the time, sometimes incrementally and sometimes catastrophically and having the confidence to know you can deal with it is invaluable. Being backed up by experience, parts, manuals, and luck only gives support to knowing one can deal with it or work a way around it.

Victor Raymond

John,
Great list and I agree with it all. One thing that I try to adhere to is: if the cost of the special tool is at or even near what the labor costs are, I buy the tool to do it myself for now and the future. If the cost of the tools is way less ie brushes, etc. I let them dot it.
Case in point, in recently re-attaching all the stainless fittings back on the mast, I bought a top notch massive riveting tool to have the hundreds of 1/4″ rivets. If any would ever need replacing I have the know how, tools and rivets to do the job. That gives me much more confidence going forward.
Thank you again.
Victor

David Hayward

41) Always draw-up plans, with a material list and costing, and build a mock-up of new installations to test fix, purpose and use. It takes time, effort and some expnse but reduces frustration and increases the odds of success.
42) Never cut material or, in general terms start something after 4 pm. It’s been a long day and one is more liable to make mistakes.

Jerry Levy

Hi John:
I agree that too much ‘stuff’ is a big and common problem, but it seems to me that often the biggest and heaviest stuff aboard are tools. Do you have any rules – and list of tools – for what NOT to keep aboard the boat?

RobertB

I think having a post on tools would be a great idea and would start a good discussion. I also think adding a rule about knowing which tools you need for your particular boat is important. In the US this is complicated by the use of both imperial and metric hardware** by manufacturers, though I suppose there is redundancy in having both a 3/4 and a 19mm socket 😉

** never again

Jerry Levy

The problem with that idea is that it will inevitably lead readers into getting MORE STUFF.