how to get out of project rut

[rcvesselstyn]

The old line is the bigger the boat the more comfortable you are. So how uncomfortable are you willing to be? But you need to add to that that the bigger the boat the more expensive everything is. Our rule of thumb has been to find a boat that had everything we wanted whether it worked or not. I can repair anything but going out and buying something like a new roller furler is going to blow my budget for a year.

[SailingChris]

Maybe life is easier in the Great Lakes. The seasons impose discipline on us. In the fall, all the boats come out of the water. We pick a spring launch date and that tells us when we have to be ready.. We scramble to squeeze in everything that must be done. I always promise myself to attend to small unfinished projects once the boat is in the water, but I always go sailing instead.

My advice would be to keep working on your boat. Deck core jobs are not impossible. They can often be deferred a bit too, as others have observed. Attend to sealing the penetrations so things don't keep getting worse. Make the boat seaworthy first and then start on the cosmetics and upgrades. I learned a long time ago that when projects seem impossible, when no progress seems to be happening, all you can do is just put one foot in front of the other and keep moving ahead. Eventually you'll see the progress. I had a minor version of this last fall and this spring. My older boat needed a mahogany toe rail refinishing. The old varnish film failed completely last year. I started removing varnish last fall and it was excruciatingly slow. Modern removers are so safe that they pose no threat whatsoever to varnish. I felt overwhelmed, especially with some family obligations looming. But I just kept at it and managed to get the toe rail stripped, sanded, stained & filled, caulked, and varnished in time for launch date--plus all the ancillary chores like bottom paint touch-up, boot-top stripe painting, LED running light bulbs, mast varnishing, hull paint touch-up, etc.

I was sailing that boat yesterday. Took a vacation day off. She's 60 years old. Perfect? No. Flaws? Yes, and (I hope) I know what they are. But she's safe and seaworthy and I had a nice single-handed sail in some challenging conditions.

Chris Campbell

[Drummer79]

I ended up scrapping her, we had unusual weather last year, where it would rain like 4 inches in an hour, 2 or 3 times per week. The boat was a dry boat when i bought her, bilges would sit empty forever unless i was motoring in a following sea, lol..but boat project every weekend became pumping a foot of water out of the floor, etc..instead of doing actual projects. I finally gave up. I think I found the replacement though, but I'll reintroduce myself again in another thread and talk about what I hope is my forever boat.