any boat punks around philly?

[mxkris]

hoping to find others in the area to learn sailing with. scheming to eventually get a boat / share one with other queers to do art out of & sail along the east coast. down to travel beyond philly to link up!

 

[Hurin]

I'm going to be in the Philly area soon and really hoping to be able to buy a boat soon. Do you currently have a boat?

 

[mxkris]

not yet, still tryna figure out how to do it on the cheap. just connected with someone here who might teach me boat repair. down to help / tag along on any boat related things!

 

[Hurin]

not yet, still tryna figure out how to do it on the cheap. just connected with someone here who might teach me boat repair. down to help / tag along on any boat related things!

Thats awesome. I think knowing how to repair your own boat would make boat life a lot easier. Thats definitely something I want to learn along the way too, especially fixing the motor and any kind of damage to the hull. I'd also be down to tag along on any boat related stuff around philly. I want to learn anything I can.

I am kinda thinking the first step for me to learn sailing is to get a smaller sailboat and take it to nockamixon and just kind of figure out tacking and jibing in a relatively safe kind of way. Then when I get the hang of that, sell the little boat and get something bigger that I can live on full time. It seems like you can get something reasonably cheap. I don't know what slips cost in and around Philly, but around the LA area it seems like 450-650/month for a smaller sailboat. Definitely the cheapest rent you can get around LA by a longshot... short of sleeping in a tent (which will land you all kinds of fines and jail time).

 

[fig]

Thats awesome. I think knowing how to repair your own boat would make boat life a lot easier. Thats definitely something I want to learn along the way too, especially fixing the motor and any kind of damage to the hull. I'd also be down to tag along on any boat related stuff around philly. I want to learn anything I can.
...

Everything but the engine is surprisingly easy to learn, or at least handle well enough to work with.

It's genuinely worth calling boatyards, marinas etc and asking if they have any abandoned/derelict boats you could take off their hands. Alot of the time they'll have boats that are years behind on payment, and you can buy them for a portion of what's owed. No title, you used to be able to retitle in VT as a homemade but I'm not sure if that's still possible, I've been back on land for a couple years now.

Sailing itself is fucking hard though, get a running outboard motor, a few of the biggest anchors you can find and as much heavy chain as you can find. The concepts are fairly simple, but actually making them work on the water is another thing entirely.

 

[searover]

I saw the documentary "Hold Fast", how reliable is it to score a cheap boat and repair it yourself up there? It's fascinated me since I've seen the documentary. Guys allegedly paid around $1000 and fixed it up, but I can't imagine mooring etc is particularly cheap.

 

[fig]

I saw the documentary "Hold Fast", how reliable is it to score a cheap boat and repair it yourself up there? It's fascinated me since I've seen the documentary. Guys allegedly paid around $1000 and fixed it up, but I can't imagine mooring etc is particularly cheap.

I can't speak for the Northeast, but anywhere with a big boating scene has free and cheap boats to be found.

As for mooring, generally you can anchor anywhere that isn't inside of a channel. So either look for boats with at least two heavy anchors and chain, or try to find those independently before you acquire a boat.

Navionics is a very helpful navigation app, and googling "free anchorages Philadelphia" or wherever can help you find spots that are commonly used for anchoring out, and some information about each spot. Like how calm the waters tend to be, how bad they can get, how shallow it is etc.


EDIT: also mooring is surprisingly affordable, generally speaking. Dock slips are expensive.

 

[searover]

Amazing resource on Navionics, cheers! Shame it's a subscription thing but what isn't these days, over €200 a year is a bit wild but makes sense if you're at sea.

 

[fig]

Ah I didn't realize if there's not a free version anymore, my apologies

 

[iamwhatiam]

Thats awesome. I think knowing how to repair your own boat would make boat life a lot easier. Thats definitely something I want to learn along the way too, especially fixing the motor and any kind of damage to the hull. I'd also be down to tag along on any boat related stuff around philly. I want to learn anything I can.

I am kinda thinking the first step for me to learn sailing is to get a smaller sailboat and take it to nockamixon and just kind of figure out tacking and jibing in a relatively safe kind of way. Then when I get the hang of that, sell the little boat and get something bigger that I can live on full time. It seems like you can get something reasonably cheap. I don't know what slips cost in and around Philly, but around the LA area it seems like 450-650/month for a smaller sailboat. Definitely the cheapest rent you can get around LA by a longshot... short of sleeping in a tent (which will land you all kinds of fines and jail time).

Good luck on your goals. I think it's very smart to start on a smaller boat. That's what I did, and I learned a hell of a lot while building up my confidence level on the water. Just sold the small boat and will be looking for a bigger ocean going boat, once I make it to the east coast in a couple weeks.

If you just want something to sleep on and occasional day sails, cool get a junker boat. But if you want to do any amount of long distance or offshore sailing, and be smart and safe, I wouldn't skimp on a good boat. The most expensive boat, is the one that's free so the saying goes. Sometimes you can get lucky and come out unscathed like the guys in Hold Fast.

Repair costs on a boat start to add up real quick. And always count on projects taking MUCH longer than you anticipate. Youre only one broken bolt away from a 10 minute job turning into a several days long shitfest.

Many marinas don't allow people trying to liveaboard (sneak-aboards) and also require insurance but free anchorages abound if you got good ground tackle and closely watch the tides/currents/weather.

 

[iamwhatiam]

Ah I didn't realize if there's not a free version anymore, my apologies

Try OpenCPN instead.

 

[searover]

Try OpenCPN instead.

Amazing, thanks!

 

[Hurin]

Good luck on your goals. I think it's very smart to start on a smaller boat. That's what I did, and I learned a hell of a lot while building up my confidence level on the water. Just sold the small boat and will be looking for a bigger ocean going boat, once I make it to the east coast in a couple weeks.

If you just want something to sleep on and occasional day sails, cool get a junker boat. But if you want to do any amount of long distance or offshore sailing, and be smart and safe, I wouldn't skimp on a good boat. The most expensive boat, is the one that's free so the saying goes. Sometimes you can get lucky and come out unscathed like the guys in Hold Fast.

Repair costs on a boat start to add up real quick. And always count on projects taking MUCH longer than you anticipate. Youre only one broken bolt away from a 10 minute job turning into a several days long shitfest.

Many marinas don't allow people trying to liveaboard (sneak-aboards) and also require insurance but free anchorages abound if you got good ground tackle and closely watch the tides/currents/weather.

Having that with a car right now. Last person to work on it didn't think you should bother torquing the lug nuts to spec and over tightened them. I figured I could just break em off with a breaker bar, knock them out and replace them, but the caliper bolts are rusted on and pb blaster hasn't made a difference so it seems like those will break if I try to get them off now too. Older mechanical stuff that hasn't been maintained is such a shit show and to really maintain it costs a lot of money. I imagine more so if you are trying to fight off the elements on the ocean too. But I know a lot of people that have managed to kind of keep trading boats around for a while. There is always somebody out there that enjoys all that work and then on the other end of things there is always somebody who is tired of keeping up with their boat. "The two happiest days in a sailors life are the day he buys a boat and the day he sells it." Life is relentless no matter how you choose to live it, but I like the idea of being able to get around mostly on the power of the wind (when you're not stuck in the doldrums). I still have a lot of the world to explore and limited resources with which to do so.