Wish List -- Money Saving Gadgets and Other Ideas

Wish List -- Money Saving Gadgets and Other Ideas

The Froo Gal crew have lots of great ideas for adding functionality, improving safety, or enhancing their sailing experience without breaking the budget. Some require more research. Your experience and advice would be most welcome; please post your ideas!

Image courtesy of Getideaka
at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

1. 12V Bar-top Ice-maker
Ice is both an essential and a luxury whilst sailing. When the temperatures heat up, yacht refrigerators may struggle to cope without a regular top up of ice. And ice cubs for your G&T on board will save you buying drinks from the yacht club or pub -- impress your guests and save money! 

A few years ago 12V units seemed to be readily available on the market. Now I only see the odd second-hand one on eBay. Customer reviews of the mains (240V) units are rather mixed. I wonder if there was a quality or performance issue with the 12V units. Alternatively, perhaps there was insufficient demand for the 12V units. Does any reader have an experience to share?

A thread on BoaterEd suggests that an inverter and an AC unit is a practical alternative. This could work for Froo Gal as we use shore power much of the time (which of course would not need the inverter). Without shore power it is likely that we would have to run the engine and we'd need to check that her electrical system could handle the peak current.

2. DIY Bowsprit vs. Spinnaker Pole & Gear
We need to add a cruising chute (or asymmetric spinnaker) to Froo Gal's sails' inventory. Why? You might ask. Well, frugal sailors want to get from A to B under sail, efficiently. For light-airs sailing, this seems to us a practical addition to the cruising inventory. However, we need to consider not only the cost of the sail, which can be substantial, but the cost of the gear that would allow us to fly it. There are a few options:

a) Bowsprit kit
A simple retail option (with simple self-build installation instructions or a boat yard installation) could be the simplest way to fly a cruising chute. But there are other issues to consider. Kits require the installation of through deck fittings. We have recently looks at 20-30 year old boats. Several have had problems with water ingress into the deck laminate cores. There is nothing worse than water rotting your balsa deck's core. After comparing some options Allspars seems to be a good option. Their site makes sizing and selection of equipment look very easy.

b) DIY bowsprit
Sail Magazine has a useful article on this topic. It compares a DIY project with retail kits -- Seldan, Sparcraft, etc. Finding the key parts seems a little more difficult in the UK than the US, but a little research yielded some fast results for the aluminium tube: www.sailingschoolandrigging.com 

c) A thing that hangs off the fore stay
Adding an ATN Tacker is perhaps the least expensive option. Model B would suit Froo Gal. It retails at 165USD. The sailing forums seem to like it. Have a look at this video and tell us what you think!



d) Spinnaker gear
Looking into the numbers, we could save a few pounds (GBPs) by crafting and  installing a DIY bowsprit option over a bowsprit kit. An expendable option is typically most frugal as no one wants to pay of for the extra LOA (length overall) when in the marina. And flying a cruising chute from a spinnaker pole is not too tricky and opens up other options. More importantly, adding spinnaker gear is less invasive when it come to the structure of the boat. There would be (we hope) no need to add any new through-deck fittings, which are (of course) paths for deck problems. Also adding spinnaker gear adds the option of flying a full spinnaker or 'blooper' -- something that the bowsprit options does not give you. The alternative argument is that rigging the spinnaker gear is more involve than a bowsprit option. More research is required. Any thoughts or advice would be gratefully received!

3. Sewing Machine
This is our perhaps less considered thought. We have a sailors palm and sewing kit and it has proved invaluable. We have recently paid for repairs to our main sail. Does it necessarily follow that we would use a sewing machine to save money on professional sewing repairs? More thought is required. Brian at SV Delos has a clear view on this, but then he and his crew spends months on end in the pacific, remotely located for sail lofts. His vessel (Delos) is used in a way that demands running repairs in a way that Froogal is unlikely to see. But the frugal sailor needs to consider the potential and likely benefits.

4. GPS Dongle
Our iPad does not have 3G or GPS. We can tether it to an iPhone to give it 3G functionality to help out with navigation functionality, but this is an extra challenge for batteries and battery charging (perhaps the subject of a later post).

5. Rope cutter 
You will have seen from our recent lift and scrub experience that Froo Gal's prop was damaged when a line got wrapped around it. The scoring caused it to corrode right through in several places. A rope cutter might have saved this damage. Moreover, we were lucky that the incident did not cause more damage. A rope cutter could be a good investment. What are your experiences?

6. Cockpit Light/Lantern
Froo Gal has a smart cockpit awing. It really maximizes the space that the crew can use -- the cockpit becomes an extension of the living space whilst she is moored. But we have yet to sort out a light and now we are approaching the depths of winter it would be really useful. When chartering we have seen that the usual solution is to run a cable from a cigarette lighter 12V socket out to light in the cockpit. Alternative could include a battery or solar powered unit with a magnetic fitting to attach to the canvas or a incandescent paraffin lamp or oil lamp. Whilst the latter two can create a rather nice ambiance, they are not the safest or most frugal options. A citronella candle can be useful on summer evening, but none of these are a serious solution for anything beyond a long weekend or a charter holiday. ybw.com has a thread on the subject, which we need to read an digest. An LED light with some clever way to avoid trailing cables seems the best advice. Ideas on a post card, please! Finally, why is this a money saving issue, a part from avoid necessary costs. Well, it is about making the boat a usable, pleasant place to be. Make it a place you not only want to spend time, but a place you prefer to spend time, then you will sit and have a coffee in the cockpit rather than heading to the cafe and sit with friends for dinner rather than heading to the pub or yacht club.

7. Cruising chute / Asymmetric Spinnaker
The obvious options are cruising spec., racing/performance spec., or second hand. But we say this with little research. Sails are the second most 'consumable' (major maintenance) item on a boat after the engine, so some diligent research is required. There seems to be a fair bit of competition in the UK market place for such sails; whilst we are not expecting miracles, perhaps we can hope that shopping around would find us a cost reduction or perhaps a bargain.

Sizing a cruising chute is a bit of a mystery to us. We want something for light airs, but don't want something that is mad to handle or needs 'changing down' as soon as we find a breeze. Like most serious purchases the hardest questions is, what do we need/want? Once we have answered that question the rest is 'just money.'

9. Grab Bag Consumables 
We shopped around for consumables and extras for our grab bag. It seems that the most expensive part of life raft ownership is the consumables - fares, rations, water. etc. For light coastal sailing you might consider stretching the professional service interval for your life raft by buying such items. Shop around on line and you can find some real bargains. You also may need to grab these items and take to your dingy in some circumstances. Technology can also help you out. We bought an Odeo laser flare odeoflare.co.uk). It out-performs traditional hand-held safety flares in two important ways: first, once activated it lasts for hours rather than minutes; second, its service life is much longer, meaning you realise a real cost saving. It also helps reduce your inflammable inventory and helps save space. We added some extra for our grab bag: hand held GPS, cheap mobile (cell) phone, SOLAS No.2 safety card -- distress signals, floating knife, foil blankets, heaving line, glow sticks, binoculars, LED torch (flashlight) with SOS Morse code function, and a SOLAS Cat C first aid kit. 


Understand the difference between cost, price and value!

Savings on the water: iPad Navigation & Pilotage

Savings on the water: iPad Navigation & Pilotage

The Froo Gal crew has found a few ways to save money whilst on the water -- cruising in the UK:

1. Electronic Charts

Navionics on iPad
Copyright (c) SV Froo Gal 2014,
All rights reserved

Navionics provides a low cost set of electronics charts that make an excellent back-up for your paper charts. For cruisers like us who rarely venture out of the Solent and then not far from the south coast of England 23.99GBP -- for the UK & Holland chart set -- is money well spent to cut down on the frequency of chart updates for our Raymarine plotter. Add the Admiralty Leisure small craft folio (SC 56000 The Solent and Approaches) and you navigation needs are met for a very modest budget.

This year we paid a bit extra to buy the route planning plug in.  We'll perhaps comment on this, once we have had a chance to use it.

Not only does the iPad offer a neat navigation backup solution whilst on a passage, it is a perfect planning tool whilst on land.  Whether in the yacht club or at home we find this app convenient. Lugging paper charts around or buying duplicates are not attractive alternatives.

2. Electronic Almanac

We saved time and money by getting the Reeds Almanac for the iPad. Again, as we sail in a relatively small area, the ability to buy the region you need can represent quite a saving over buying a paper Almanac. Interactive features such as tidal heights, tidal streams and weather really add value and save time whilst afloat. We keep an old paper version and small booklets of tide times and heights for local harbours on the boat as a back up.

3. Hardware

LifeEdge iPad Case
Copyright (c) SV Froo Gal 2014,
All rights reserved

What about the marine environment? You may well ask. iPads are fragile at the best of times and the marine environment can hardly be described as benign. Waterproofing was our priority. We bought a LifeEdge waterproof case at the Southampton Boat show in the summer. Since then the price has come down quite a bit. The shocks and knocks on a boat and the practicality of using the iPad in the cockpit are our next considerations. We have just ordered a LifeEdge surface mount kit and a Scanstruct Rokk adjustable mount kit. We will use these to fix the iPad to the helm pedestal rail, near the other instruments. It should make an easy way to mount our iPad in the right place whilst being easily removable.




Recently we have also been experimenting with a low cost hudl (Android) tablet, purchased from Tesco. At £129GBP the the cost of replacing one is much more bearable than an iPad. Navionics have just released an Android version of their charts. We'll let you know how we get on with this frugal alternative.4. Free Pilotage Information
Sites like visitmyharbour.com and noonsite.com provide a wealth of pilotage data. It can sometime be stated more frankly than could be stated in an almanac on pilot book. These sites are more often than not sailing community forum. Make a contribution to the sites, share your experience and browse their ads -- help keep the sites free to use and up to date.

5.Weather Online
There are an overwhelming number of weather sites on line. We tend to use windfinder.com for short term forecasts and UGrib and passageweather.com for longer-term forecasts. Both of the latter use freely available grib files, which are the output of sophisticated weather models to plot wind speed and direction, pressure, and wave height and direction. Both can easily be used to create animations of the forecasts over several days. UGrib requires a downloaded application then grib files, used on a PC at home. passageweather.com is used from a browser, so is much more convenient aboard and can be used on a range of tablets, PCs and smartphones.


 Understand the difference between cost, price and valu

More lessons learned Prop maintenance

More lessons learned 

Prop maintenance

Copyright (c) Froo Gal
2014, All rights Reserved

We had Froo Gal lifted and 'scrubbed' yesterday. The scrub was a pressure-wash of the hull below the waterline. She had been in the water for nearly 18 months and a few months ago had picked up a line around the propeller. We'd taken photos of the prop underwater (with a GoPro) and found that the incident had taken a few chunks out of the edges of the blade, but it did not look too bad.We were rather surprised by two things: first, the prop was almost entirely covered with almost a centimeter of growth. Second, the 'slight' damage to the prop seemed to have caused corrosions sites that had gone completely through the metal (aluminum) in several places. The sacrificial anodes would do nothing to prevent this, as they were aluminum too. Even the zinc anodes that we replaced them with would do very little better. The boat lift operator recommended that we paint the prop with Velox.We also were pleasantly surprised by the price of a replacement prop by a local supplier adjacent to the boat yard -- less than 250GBP book price less a discount, with free delivery within a week. We'll probably buy one at least as a space, but will also investigate more robust folding props.A little research today shows that the growth was likely to have been a type of Coral worm possible tubeworm that is not native to the UK. They seem to like metal.Whilst Velox seems to be the right answer, being frugal the crew of Froo Gal will want to look at alternatives, especially the cheaper DIY versions.A yachtpals.com article suggests some interesting approaches: polishing, greasing or applying zinc oxide in lanolin or cod-liver oil. These seems useful for an outboard or trailer-sailer, but not very durable. Propshield is an example of the boat branded products along these lines. Yachtpals.com suggests that a trip to the chemist to grab some nappy rash cream will save you lots of money. Looking the Propshield prices they may well be right.'Pukka' alternatives to Velux include International Trilux Prop-O-Drev (an aerosol -- spray can -- delivered product), Volvo Penta Teflon prop anti-fouling and Propspeed. It is difficult to judge what would work best for us.

Copyright (c) Froo Gal
2014, All rights Reserved

Boating forum contributors suggest anti-fouling plus greasing; candle wax, Owatrol oil, CRC Soft Seal (silicon based), two-part clear, or clear polyurethane lacquer, but there seems to be a definite foolproof answer. This may be because conditions are diverse, so solutions need to be tuned to your mooring and sailing location or there may be no real solution, saving regular scrubbing. We have a snorkel set and wet suit ready in case.A word of caution. Please think of the environment and the law, including local regulations and by-laws when considering your solution.We will also scope out cheaper options to a lift and scrub. Many yacht clubs and marinas have scrubbing piles that can be used during spring tides. We have a pressure-washer, so this is a frugal option for us in the future. Understand the difference between cost, price and value!

Free Stuff: Helping to get and stay afloat

Free Stuff

Helping to get and stay afloat

The crew of Froo Gal keeps an eye out for free things, discounts and bargains. Here are a few that we have seen recently:

1. Yachting on the Cheap [Kindle Edition], available from Amazon. The reviews suggest that this is a book for those just starting out with sailing or aspiring to it rather than for the experienced sailor. Although I have yet to read it, I like this kind of book. Its contents might be mostly common sense and conventional sailing wisdom, but reading the experiences of others is always though provoking for me. And who knows if you like the book you might just do the author a favour and buy the hard copy (4.95 GBP).

2. Join Freecycle (or Snaffleup). Freecycle is an efficient way to recycle low value goods within your local community. As a boat owner you might need an off-cut of plywood.  Freecycle could be the place it find it if you are prepared to wait. Similarly, rather than dumping your unwanted items at the local tip, give them away on Freecycle. One man's rubbish is another's treasure. Snaffleup seems to be used for larger items - furniture, bicycles, white goods.  Gumtree and Craigslist have a similar freebie sections.

3. Free Apps. There are may useful apps for the sailor. Just browse the Appstore on your iPhone or iPad. Our favourites include anchor watch and GPS type apps. As mentioned previously mAIS is the next on our list to try. More generally games and gadgets can be fun. iNetHack is a good one for middle aged game geeks -- a free 70s game repackaged for the iPhone.
 
4. Frugl (the App). There has been a lot in the press about this one (frugl.com). It is a channel for discounted (affordable) and free events (gigs, etc.) in London, but expect it will branch out once it has established a brand. Travel is already part of the portfolio. The founder Suzanne Noble is candid about the business, saying it is hard to generate revenue whilst building a user base.  Good luck from the Froo Gal crew!

5. Sailing novels. Free e-books and a cheap reader is a great way of saving on the cost of books:Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum and A Sea Queen's Sailing by Charles W. Whistle caught my eye. Others include,The Cruise of the Elena by James Ewing Ritchie, Elsie Yachting with the Raymonds by Martha Finley and Up the River by Oliver Opti. Classics that are out of copyright are plentiful. Sailor might try, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne, Across the Spanish Main by Harry Collingwood, Adrift in a Boat
by W.H.G. Kingston, Adventures in Southern Seas by George Forbes, Moby Dickby Herman Melville and Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe, to name but a few.

6. Sailing Freebies. Nomad Sailing has a freebie page that compiles links to free things of use or interest to the sailor. It current contains sail calculators, worksheets, tutorials and games. The UK Maritime an Coasguard Agency sent us (on request) some very useful leaflets and sticky-backed aides memoirs -- Mayday and medical emergency check lists. They are perfect for display next to the VHF radio on Froo Gal, a must-have for any seagoing vessel.

7. Free online sailing course modules. NauticEd offers a couple of free tutorials online. There are other similar companies that offer similar tasters. You to try one to reinforce your training, self-development or just to get a feel for a particular training provider - try before you buy. Why not give one a go when it is blowing a gale and you don't want to leave your mooring or the yacht club?

8. Free Advice. Members of the Royal Yachting Association are able to get free legal advice, advice on sailing abroad and lots other useful information.  Topics include safety and regulations, boating and the environment and practical information about buying and owning a boat.


Understand the difference between cost, price and value!

  

It's been an 'interesting' week: When frugal meets responsible

It's been an 'interesting' week

When frugal meets responsible

A few days ago a thoughtful friend told me about a news story that India (the Indian Government) has decided to decrease its import of coal in 2-3 years, but nonetheless its demand is still growing. It will looks to develop its domestic supplies rather than cutting consumption through developing renewable or nuclear generation sectors. In the mean time India will import as much coal as it can, as it feels that it should raise its poor (and let's face it there are a lot of them) out of poverty, even it this risks the future of the generations to follow -- a depressing, but interesting and perhaps justifiable and ethical dilemma and an understandable policy. Relative ethics is a fascinating topic in itself and it difficult to apply in an systematic holistic manner.

The coal in question is dirty and harms the world in addition to the seemingly inexorable carbon emissions, which are now synonymous with all our brief existence on Earth, which is problem enough when Indian-scale energy growth is considered. I don't wish to criticise; I just observe and think about what it means to me; What else could I do? Can I offer a better solution? Probably not.

Moreover, in the same week, I read on the BBC News web site that 30% of the world's population is obese (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-30122015). And Oxfam writes that 1 in 9 of the world's population is starving.

This raises some, fundamentally interesting Geo-political, strategic questions that the United Nations will struggle to frame, let alone address. 

These questions are about our survival, when taken to their ultimate conclusion(s). And that may not be too many decades away. But what does it mean to the individual, here and now? Will enough of those three and a half billion people (the consumers... and we are in that camp, even if we are not obsese) do enough to make a difference? Should I stop eating meat? Should I stop taking flights for recreational or even business reasons? And if I do, will enough of those three and a half billion (3 500 000 000) people follow suit to make a meaningful difference? And if only a small 'liberal' fraction of those do, will it have a real, tangible, measurable effect? Well, who knows?

I feel that I 'know' the answer and it is not good. But we don't really know. I wonder if science and scientists can provide the answers to the satisfaction of society and governments. 


For a long time now -- a decade or more -- there has been broad scientific consensus about the Climate Change -- the impact of the human race ('man') on our fragile world -- Earth. Governments don't really dispute this conclusion. And governments, for the most part, reflect the views of their people. But how do political leaders in a democracies even begin to address the strategic, long-term issue of climate change, whilst trying to address the here-and-now issues of realpolitik? Poverty, economics, social unrest, etc.

The short answer is they and we don't know how to or really want to address Climate Change. The case is not yet sufficiently compelling or visceral to prompt coherent action. Event the the carbon emissions targets of 1997 were quickly forgotten when the global  recession hit us

So, what can we conclude for the Froo Gal crew? Well, enlightened self interest is perhaps the best way forward. Cut down on red meat to improve your health and save money. It is a useful side effect that it will also reduce carbon emissions. Similar arguments apply for turning down your heating, driving few miles, cutting out foreign flights and lowering our consumption generally. And if we all do a little of this the overall effect might be meaningful to the generations that follow.


Understand the difference between cost, price and value!
  

Money Saving Tips

Money Saving Tips

Image courtesy of digitalart,at 
 FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The crew of Froo Gal are naturally pretty frugal. Here are some money saving tips that we have spotted connected with sailing.

1. Reuse of demineralised water. We run a dehumidifier on Froo Gal (especially useful after last week's minor bilge disaster). We save the water for use in steam irons and steam mops for domestic use. This is not only good use of a by-product that would otherwise be wasted, it increases the life of the products that use it. Think local! Act local!

Autumn turns to winter,
Copyright (c) Froo Gal 2014,
All Rights Reserved

2. Go for a walk. A family outing does not need to be expensive. A walk along the coast or river is fun, costs nothing and is good for your health. Pack a full picnic or drinks and snacks to avoid the temptation of buying costly meals out. Vary the subject of walks if you have kids. Geocaching (see geocaching.com) adds a 'treasure hunt' theme to an walk. There are many nature and history walks that are easy to find and free.

3. Go for a paddle. Paddle your dingy, kayak, or board around the marina. Why not? Messing about on the water is the reason you own a boat after all! Paddling can be a from of entertainment or simply transport. Either way it can be a good way to save a little money.

Image courtesy of iosphere, at
 FreeDigitalPhotos.net

4. Avoid the the marina chandlers. For common products shop anywhere else but the marina chandlers. Cleaning products are a great example of items that when packaged for boat use and sold close to the water the prices rocket. Look at this link for extreme ways to save on cleaning products: https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/miracle-money-savers-for-you-and-the-home-115711749.html
For more mundane savings go to your local supermarket, budget supermarket of cash&carry (CostCo, etc.). For example 250ml of nail polish remover at Tesco is 1.26GBP. 500ml at a chandlers that we visited recently was 6.95GBP -- about twice the cost.  If you are concerned about quality differences shop around to find industrial suppliers. For example http://www.mbfg.co.uk sells a very wide selection of fibre glass construction products at a fraction of the cost of a chandlers.

5. Volunteer. Volunteering and helping others is a great way to learn new skills, make friends and enjoy an interest whilst avoiding costly alternatives. Most local authorities and many charities help match prospective volunteers with organisations. River and canal authorities and sailing charities are often looking for volunteers. No matter your skills-set, practical or administrative, there is likely to be a role for you. For example see http://www3.hants.gov.uk/volunteer.htm

6. Surf the web. Connecting up to free WiFi and browsing is pretty cheap entertainment. Surveying your local area or the place you are visiting for free WiFi connections can be fun in itself. Surfing for sailing blogs is a popular pass time amongst the Froo Gal crew.  Mostly it is about escaping and dreaming -- what to do, where to go, how to maintain a boat, diving, exploring, boat selection, long solo passages and life as a live-aboard. Many blogs have discussions about the cost of sailing and how to make a living.  http://savingtosail.com/ has just caught my eye and might be worth a closer look.


Understand the difference between cost, price and value!


 

Maintenance -- learning the hard way

Doing it yourself can be frugal (or not)

We have spent some time on Froo Gal over the last few weekends. We have a growing list of tasks to do. At the outset some are essential -- repairs to the sail and the engine service; some are advisory -- replacement of sticky sheets (in this case the original traveller sheet); and some are cosmetic, simply good seamanship, or optional -- polishing the topsides to protect against u.v. light, lift and scrub and replacing the anodes, or replacing faded horseshoe safety buoys.  Once you make a start the more 'interesting' jobs begin to appear on the list.

These are the tasks that you find along the way. Some are revealed when you start a job; others we inadvertently create. We found a couple of the latter types this weekend. Two weeks' ago we spend a pleasant evening and night on the boat enjoying the last on the Indian summer and the following day pressure-washing and polishing the topsides. We also started to replace the sail bag -- the zip on the lazy-jack arrangement had failed and it was faded frayed and just about beyond repair (and I owed the boat present). When we removed the old sail bag we noticed that mainsail needed repairing in a few places and could do with a valet. 

Stripped bolt with cut slot (left). Fancy star
fastener (right). Copyright (c) Froo Gal
2014, All rights Reserved

This was our first surprise job but it was pretty predictable, owing to the age of the sail. The decision to repair the sail rather than replace it was an easy one as it still holds a good shape, it is central to sailing, and represent a considerable saving. We asked around in the marina and associated local businesses to see who could do the work and who is recommenced and chose a local small business (and all is well). As we mentioned before, we also stripped a fancy start shape fastener (bolt) when trying to remove it from the traveller -- our second surprise job.

We left the boat buttoned up against the weather, planning to return in a week to refit the sail, sail-bag and complete the cosmetic work. We quickly learned that the sail would take over two weeks as it would need to be sent away for cleaning. This did not worry us as our sailing plans we interrupted by the start of the winter weather (storms and gales).

There followed two weeks of nearly continuous rain and strong winds. However, this weekend just gone afforded spring-like weather for much of Sunday and we set about completed the pressure washing -- this time spray hood, which we treated. We also removed the stripped bolt from the traveller (by applying heat using a propane soldering iron), a larger drill and cutting slot in the bolt head to allow the use of a long strew driver. We were feeling pleased with ourselves (and perhaps a bit smug). But pride comes before a fall...


We convinced ourselves that the hex head bolt we had just used should be matched on the side we had replaced two weeks earlier -- bad move. In the process of refitting it we either got it cross-threated or trapped some swarf in the thread and damaged them. Either way we would need to tap out the threads to clean them up. We had left tap set at home. We learned two lessons there: if it's not broken, don't fix it! And bring the tools that you are likely to need when the boat is over an hour each way from your house. But that was simple engineering/fitting work -- irksome not disastrous (and still quite frugal as we could do the work ourselves and have the tools).

Copyright (c) Froo Gal
2014, All rights Reserved

And then our biggest error of the day was discovered. At the end of the day with fading light, we decided to check the bilges, which are usually dry and dusty.... they weren't. There was litre of water in the bilges... strange. The sea cocks had been closed. We had felt that the boat was a bit damp on arrival a few hours earlier, but put it down to the inclement weather of the previous two weeks. After a quick investigation we found that the starboard quarter cabin upper port light was not properly fastened. It was closed, but two catches were not closed and one was holding it a little open. And we had been pressure-washing dirt and green slimy gunge just outside, not to mention 14 days of stormy weather. Investigating further we found several litres of water soaked up by the quarter berth's foam cushions, pillows, sleeping bags, cushion covers and worst of all some of the fancy veneered laminated wood trim.

A couple of new sponges later found bailing, sponging, dehumidify and heating the boat for a couple of hours. Our house now smells like damp boat. Welcome to boat ownership! And what is the lesson that we learned through our creation of this task? Read and act on those useful laminated check lists that we made to tell us to close and check the hatches before leaving the boat! The lists don't keep the boat dry.


We left the boat having enjoyed a sunny warm day. We enjoyed messing about on the boat. As we left we remarked that after three weeks of work Froo Gal is pretty clean and shiny and nearly back to square one -- nearly all the damage that we have created has been repaired. On the bright side, once we have fitted the sail and sail-bag, only a lift and scrub and new anodes will stand in the way of the next sailing trip. What can go wrong?

Understand the difference between cost, price and value!

Eliminate, Reuse & Recycle

We on SV Froo Gal come from the north of England. We are the children of wartime children. Our parents lived with rationing during or shortly after the war (WWII) and grew up with a "make do and mend" mentality. They always expected their children to eat what was put on the table for them. They were not wasteful or profligate. For a short generation things changed in the West.

There a many reasons to do better than generation waste. But let's avoid spelling out the politics -- it seems unnecessary within a month of the the UN saying that the threats associated with climate change are becoming a critical issue for the Earth -- and observe that the frugal sailor want to save money. This might not be a selfless altruistic motive, but it chimes with those that are.

Elimination of necessary purchases, reuse of valuable products and materials and recycle of those beyond reuse makes sense to the frugal sailor.

Image courtesy of khunaspix,at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Is this just empty rhetoric for the crew of Froo Gal?  No. The frugal sailors have managed to make some good savings during their short tenure as owners and crew. We spotted a Dynema (or is it Spectra?) halyard dumped in a bin in the marina. "Oh, that will make a good painter for the kayak," said one crew member. We fished it out, put it through the washing machine, and now we are replacing the traveller sheet with it.  That saved us several tens of pounds (and it looks good). We had fun replacing it, but the Locktite on the fancy fasteners caused us to shear the bolt head. It is work in progress. Heat or nail polish remover may be part of the solution. The 18V drill that was at home at the time, might be able to do the job that the smaller unit (12V) could not do.

One of our crew members thinks I have taken recycling to an extreme. When walking in the countryside collecting blackberries at the end of this exceptionally long summer and growing season I found a Dynema (or is it Spectra?) dog lead hanging on a five bar fence. It was beyond its original purpose, but a launder in the washing machine and some whipping later it now makes a handy... sail tie, rope belt or lanyard. It saved a few pounds (GBP), but more importantly it makes me feel good. It would be too easy (and necessary) to throw it away. The waste would necessarily hurt the Earth and hurt us all -- rugal sailing is responsible sailing.

Food Waste waste is one of the biggest wastes that can be address in the world of Western excess. How can the average family cut down on food waste?

1. Shop close to home.  Prices might seems a little higher, but shopping for what you need when you need it will cut down on waste (and save money) more than any other tactic.

2. Buy long-life and freezable goods in bulk and at a discount. (We prefer Costco).

3. Observe and consider your food before throwing it away. Don't simply throw something away simply because it has reached its sell by date. Its used by date is likely to be very conservative. You know the history of the food after it has been bought. Has it been frozen? If so, the dates printed on the packaging mean something different. If it has been properly refrigerated, use your nose and your nous to work out whether you could sensibly eat it. How are you preparing it? Cooking vs. raw has a bearing on this. Mould -- it has not killed me yet (I scrape it off).

4. Store and use leftovers. We habitually cook meals that would feed four adults and plate up two to eat later in the week. Many things can be safely reheated once after cooking -- do you homework! Appropriate containers and a refrigerator (in a house or a boat) are essential.

5. Avoid the BOGOF (buy one and get one free) or use it well. Getting additional food for free (or half price) might seems like a good idea, but stores don't do something for nothing. Look at the prices of their competitors. Even if it is a good deal, it could be a wasteful option. What do you actually do with that extra. Does it lurk in the back of the fridge? Well, if it does it is costing you money and, when it all adds up it is a terrible waste that the World could usefully do without.

6. Buy things that keep. Dried, tinned and frozen food have their place. We all know that fresh food it better for us, but the next time that you get home when the fridge is a little bare of fresh food, would it not be cheaper, heather and more satisfying to whip up a meal from your own kitchen than to eat out or order from a takeaway?

7. Cut down on meat. We all know know the relative impact of meat eating --- environmental, cost and health -- but yet it is a hard habit to drop, especially when the cost appears to be bearable. But to get ready to be a frugal sailor prepared for long-term sailing, you could usefully get into good habits, like cutting down on (red) meat consumption.

So next time you you shop for food, please think about it!

What do we read?

Where do we go to get advice on sailing matters? The armchair answer is varied for us. The British sailing (print) press is surprisingly vibrant -- Sailing World, Yachting Monthly and Yachting Monthly are still going strong. We started reading these magazines over 20 years ago and they still seem as relevant. Sure, they have been enhanced by the Internet. Google Yachting Monthly to find great (free) reviews of new yacht models. Practical Boat Owner is a great resource for the boat owner. Need to learn how to splice Dynema?  It is there. And you can download the articles that you need (at a modest cots).

But the World Wide Web has made print journalism less relevant. Or at least it has raised the bar. Why pay 4.50GBP for a magazine when you can surf the web to mine the hard-won experience of real sailor, out there doing what we do best -- breaking things in the harshest wilderness on Earth and finding innovative ways to fix them.

We read blogs, sailing forums and watch how-to videos (mostly on YouTube). They are great for focusing on your interest. And even though we are frugal sailors we still like the 'push' of print journalism (and their on-line equivalent). You don't know all the things that might interest you in life. Blogs will expand your horizon, but there is something to be said for good professional journalists. They have learned that they need to do more than cut and paste press releases from product launches. We find that magazine articles stimulate your interest in new areas. The web then is an huge resource that can be explored given new ideas - a new place to sail, a new technology or product, or an aspect of seaman ship to which you have given little thought.

Finally, reading print gives your eyes a rest ad allows you to 'browse' in a different why. Most of our crew grew up before the advent of the Internet and the web. Are we the last generation that will generally feel this way about books and magazines? Is it just nostalgia or is the World losing something with the slow and ineffable demise of print? 

Sailing on a budget

Image courtesy of Serge Bertasius Photography,
at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I have read a lot a sailing blogs over the last few years. Many are written by long-term cruisers or live-aboards. They are often asked about their budget and how they can afford to do what they do. The most common answer is, "it depends." It depends what you want to do while sailing, where you want to go and what compromises you are willing to make.

Here are some ideas for the frugal sailor just starting out, learning to sail or gaining experience on the water:

Club together. Boat ownership is expensive; whilst owning a boat is the quickest way to learn -- you might call it a a forcing function -- there are less expensive ways to make a start:

- Take a course. In the UK Royal Yachting Association (rya.org.uk) recognised schools and instructors offer practical and shore-based theory courses. For the practical course you can book a berth on a charter yacht (or one owned by the training provider) sharing the costs of the boat with the other students. The Competent Crew and Day Skipper courses are a good place to start. Combine the training with a vacation and find good weather, food and views.

- Sail with friends. Boat owners (skippers we call them in the UK) need crew.  They rarely expect any financial contribution from their crew beyond covering their own travel, food and drink and perhaps a contribution towards costs such are visitor mooring fees, water and diesel. What if you don't know any boat owning skippers? Charter with one, share a boat on a charter holiday or register with one of the many crew-to-boat matching sites, such as sailingnetworks.com, crewseekers.net, findacrew.net or crewfinders.com. Most charge but if you shop around you will find free ones.

- Join a club. You can join a sailing club or association. Social and sailing events (races and rallies) are a great place to make friends and remember skippers are always looking for crew. Many prefer novices they can teach their way rather than experts. The RYA lists over 1200 clubs in its directory. There is something for everyone.

Bitghton Bell (http://brightonbelle.org/)

- Shared ownership. Buy a boat and put it on charter, to cover the running costs; buy it in a syndicate, sharing the purchase and operational costs; or share with a more informal arrangement.  The faction you own can vary immensely depending on your pocket, type of boat and type of organisation (commercial vs. club). For example you can own a small fraction of a luxury like an Oyster through a club, such a Brighton Bell

Image courtesy of Victor Habbick, at
FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Start Small. Boats are expensive to build and maintain. This is for two three reasons: First, the marine environment is harsh -- wind, waves, tides, sea water and ultraviolet light take the toll on boats -- the construction materials and methods are expensive. Stainless steels, composite materials and special equipment (such as marine electronics) are selected to weather this environment.  Second, relatively small numbers of people sail; the economies of scale seen in most durable consumer products are hard to realise in boat-building and for marine equipment. Last, but not least the real estate needed for moorings, marinas and boat yards is often the most expensive in the region. This is especially true in the south of England.  The Solent is probably one of the most expensive places in the World to sail. Small yachts (or even dinghies) are much cheaper than their larger sisters and can be as much fun.

Buy second hand. Boats used to keep their value well (depreciating at about the rate of inflation), but this is increasingly not the case. Real bargains can be found for popular models, especially if you are willing to buy abroad. For residents of the European Union (EU) buying within the EU is relatively straight forward. Second hand chandlery can afford the frugal sailor some real savings too. Boat jumbles are held regularly in all the major sailing centres in the UK.  See boat-jumbles.co.uk.  Even the equipment you need when just starting out as crew can be expensive -- foul weather gear is a must. Think about what you really need. Do you really need a top-of-the-line set ocean foulies from this year's collection. Why not make do with a coastal weight set and wear an extra fleece?

Do the work yourself. If you own a boat, doing the routine maintenance work yourself must a huge difference to your costs. Every hour you spend working on your boat yourself represents a saving. Put in the labour yourself saving your hard-earned money for the specialist tasks that you cannot do yourself. Not only do you save money, but you learn the skills and learn about your boat -- invaluable experience for when you set off on that round the world adventure. You really don't want to replace your impeller for the first time in the bay of Biscay during a storm. The how-to videos on line are an excellent resource. Avoid buying too many books; sailors like to share their expertise and experience. You'll aways find a sailing neighbour willing to help you out.

Prioritise. Think carefully about what you need and avoid impulse buys. You can save hundred of pounds by doing your homework, buying on line or buying second hand. Read blogs, sailing magazines and how-to sites. There is great advice out there. Gadgets are fun, but try sailing without them. Find out what you need by sailing for a weekend, week or fortnight and you will be surprised what you can do without. Also look out for apps for your iPhone that can do the same job. We were considering buying an AIS system, but recently found the mAIS application for iPhone, provided by http://www.marinetraffic.com. As virtually all of our sailing is done with cellphone coverage, we'll try this out putting off the need to spend a BOAT unit.

Cut out the luxuries. Eating and drinking out is one of the fastest (and easiest) ways of draining your bank account. Buy a bottle of wine or crate of beer and enjoy it on your boat. Invite friends and neighbours to join you there for dinner. Cooking on board can be fun -- very much part of the experience -- and the views are often second to none. Do you really need a coffee in that cafe?

Forage. The sea and the land can provide a supplement to your diet. We regularly pick blackberries from hedge rows, apples from trees on public land and throw out a mackerel line when sailing. We have had many more apple and blackberry pies and crumbles than fish.

Welcome to SV Froo Gal

The blog of the frugal sailors

Desolation Sound, British Columbia
Copyright (c) SV Froo Gal 2014, All rights reserved

 Well, this is a first post from the crew of SV Froo Gal: what is this blog and its accompanying YouTube site (and related Google stuff) all about? You may well ask. Is it just another wannabe sail-around-the-world blog? ... Perhaps, but not entirely. So why should you read it? That's a good question (see below).

SV Froo Gal blog is not all about us --  it is not about the great places we are visiting (we only manage the odd weekend trip and 1-2 week per year sailing vacation currently) -- and it is not designed to keep our families informed about out exploits. They don't really use social media. Our aim is to share our experience of how to enjoy sailing in one of the most expensive sailing areas in the world frugally: How we think and work through the every day problems of boat ownership and use.

frugal [fru . gal adj]
not costly, etc.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/frugal

Why be frugal?

Are we tree hugging environmentalists?... well not completely, but we do care about the environment.

Are we trying to make a living (or some money on the side) from this blog? No.  But we are keen for the sailors of the UK (and further afield) to drive down the over-inflated prices associated with maritime services and equipment. And one day we would love to leave the rat-race, live a life on-board, and sort out a supplemental income whilst doing so. (But we won't make a living from writing, especially after you read this!)

Foremost, we would like to encourage others to enjoy the last real wilderness on Earth that is readily accessible to your regular Joe or the man on the Clapham omnibus -- middle-income families [note the US and UK idiom there].

Finally for this post... a warning.  You will need to decide for yourself which posts are completely serious money-saving tips about sailing and boat ownership and which ones we have posted just for fun (which are likely to be true). For example:

1. The well dressed sailor can save money by wearing odd cuff links.
2. Shop around for 'lift and scrub' prices.  A quick Google search will reveal that prices vary in and around the Solent (UK south coast) from c250GBP (or more) down to about half that. A quick day sail could save you 100GBP or more and give you a reason to sail from A to B and back again. The Isle of Wight services are very competitive at the moment. Some discounts for marina berth-holders close the price gap and could be much more convenient.

Understand the difference between cost, price and value!