Actually I picked up a new book (Boarders is going out of business) covering buying, outfitting and sailing sailboats. Bummer that I bought it. The author says if major components are missing, like the boom, cushions, etc or if it has a stain where water has been inside the boat - he walks away from the sale. OK, but I already have the boat. Found the boom in Michigan, thanks to Mario, got patterns for the cushions from Jeff, and I'm currently making the rudder. Then Practical Sailor arrived with two articles about buying old boats and never getting them finished!!!!!! Pessimists they all be, I say!
My sense is that our forum group is different in that many of us acquire boats that need more than a little TLC and enjoy the anticipation of getting them back onto the water. In other words, based on the literature I recently got: We're a little wierd!
OK, Trivia piece: In the early days of the Life Saving Service (which would become the Coast Guard) the live saving boats were fairly long, broad beamed to carry several rescued passengers and wood. In other words, heavy! The boats were kept in the boat house well above high-tide-during-storms level. In order to get the boat to the water and later retrieve and store it wodden skids ran from the boat house to the shoreline. To make things move faster and more smoothly one had to "grease the skids". And now, as Paul Harvey would say, you know the rest of the story.
Question piece: Which are Coast Guard required items and which are not?
Documentation of ownership
Day signaling device
Night signaling device
PFD for each passanger on board
Throwable flotation device
Anchor
Proof of insurance
Means for stowing trash inside 3 miles of shore
Working nav lights regardless of day or night
Informal or formal manifest with number of souls on board
Radio or phone emergency communication capability
Basic first aid kit
Bonus question: Are laser pointers approved as night time signaling devices?
