I want your broken electronics!

[luvitt]

Im on a tight budget and I am trying to outfit my boat--40' hunter legend. It came with full electronics, but I sold everything except the autopilot to help finance the whole project. I have a knack for fixing electronics and unless something is smashed or soaked, i can usually fix it. I fixed my S3G course computer last nite with a little soldering. If anyone has broken electronics laying around collecting dust, why not send them to a poor, young sailor, struggling to stay afloat! I need everything except autopilot. hopefully I will be in a position to return the favor someday.

thanks.

 

[sailingdog]

LOL... IMHO can't be that poor if you have a 40' boat.

 

[Roger Long]

LOL... IMHO can't be that poor if you have a 40' boat.

Well, he could have been fairly wealthy before and very poor now

These days, that can be true even without buying a hole in the water to pour your money into.

 

[luvitt]

actually, i am that poor. I just "happened" into a situation that landed me a 40'er. Im just a low-income "boat guy" and I eat, breathe, sleep boats. I lucked out and came across a deal of a lifetime. Ive spent years searching for this deal. it paid off. I knew a boat this big was gonna be a struggle, and it is. but it's my true love and im working thru it. ive eaten many ramen noodles to be able to keep her and buy the supplies/parts necessary to fix her. I do have a good family that somewhat helps me out, but they think im a fool. they say my "priorities arent straight". cant help it. its my passion. i've spent the last 14 months bringing her back, and shes almost ready. April 1 is my launch date. shes a beautiful 1986 40' Hunter Legend. Solid. Just need some more gear!

 

[sailingdog]

It would help if you said what kind of gear you're looking for.

 

[sailaway78]

Have to admire

Have to admire the passions of youth. I would bet lots of us were like that when we were younger. I certainly was. For me it wasn't boats, but racing motorcycles, and every penny I could scrape together went to fuel my passions. Good for you brobins, and stay the course.

 

[Bad Obsession]

Have you listed this on Craig's List. There is a section on there that you can list things like this and you might get some hits there.

 

[sailingdog]

Might also try FREECYCLE.org

 

[higgs]

I have a Garmin GPSMAP 210 that uses Gmap cartridges of which I have none. It has been a bit unreliable, sometimes working and sometimes not. It will, when working, do everything any not mapping GPS will do. I have the antenna as well and, if you pay postage, would be willing to send it to you. Cartridages for it are no longer made, but one can find them on ebay, but prices can be up around $100.

 

[luvitt]

I will take it! I will gladly pay the shipping. how do we handle this?

oh, btw I am looking for a fluxgate compass & control head for my raymarine autopilot, broken or not, displays broken or not, radar, vhf, gps, pretty much everything. Im good at repairing stuff and actually trace down the bad components and solder in new parts if i can get them.

I repaired my s3g course computer last nite. it had a component that broke the legs off and i soldered it back on. however, I disassembled my fluxgate today and the little lead weight inside fell out and took the ribbon with it and ripped it in half! damn it. i ruined a perfectly good compass. raymarine will repair it for $75 though.

any help would be appreciated! im trying to launch april 1, and just got my 4jhe running like a top.

Thanks

 

[Hermit Scott]

Brobins75- were you born in 1975? I was born in 1974. People say I have the blood of an artist, with out the talent. I have a grand dream of doing nothing. I woke up at 2:00 pm today. It's cool your family helps you out.
I bargin hunt constantly. I keep an eye on things on ebay. I just got a nibral prop for my boat for $46. Ebay is great cause you can lowball people without hurting their feelings. When I lowball people on craigs list, they sometimes get that high pitched voice like a waiter asking if you would like dessert.
I needed so much stuff to fix my boat. I pay retail when I have to but always check the clearance items, sometimes they have just what you need.
VHF radios are pretty cheap, humminbird has a plotter on sale right now on amazon and other places, (humminbird 785 c) $230. I got mine at cascadegps.com.

 

[luvitt]

Actually, I was born in 72 but it was taken on hotmail, so i got used to 75! ive never grown up though.

Yes, I am very frugal. I fix things other people would throw away. For example, my electric head pump--i took it apart, cleaned it, tinkered with it, put it back together, sanded the outside and painted it. now it looks and runs like new. it may break eventually, but for now it works. I have probably put less than $5k into this boat over the past 14 months. but I have most everything working. I drove 4 hours to buy a 12k btu a/c system for $140. its a little old but it works! I have so many stories like that. I dont do dangerous stuff, but if im able, I scrimp. I got to. I only make $30k/yr with the almighty Boeing Company.

I too have a dream of doing nothing. Wish i could sleep til 2, I used to. Now i gotta be at work at 5am. but the cool thing is that i get off at 1:30! more daylight for the boat. i work on her 7 days a week.

I dream of taking off and casting off this bondage of everyday life. what do i need? beer, food, and my boat! I know i can scrape by and enjoy life at the same time. what am i gonna die b/c im not here working to pay bills that i dont need/want? doubtful. Im alive now, will be then too!

I'll see you on that little island in the middle of nowhere! i will bring the rum (if i can afford it )

 

[Hermit Scott]

In the last 8 years I have had a real job for 3 months. It was during the summer while I was in college. It was very difficult at times to remain unemployed and I was tempted more than a few times to just go get a job. If you are seriously serious about what you say in your last post, I recommend a book called 'rich dad poor dad' by Robert Kiosaki. People have the dream of being free and sailing away or whatever their lesiure time activity is, but until you make your first dream having a company that continues to make money even while you are not there, it's probably not going to happen. Unless you can shoot a basketball reaaaallly good, make a significant income at your job with very small expenses or plan on becoming a rock star, owning your own business is the only way, unless you save your whole life and do in your latter years. There are people on here that earn a high enough income working, they work for a few years and cruise for a few years.

 

[luvitt]

I have that book. Im a dave ramsey fan too. i invest meagerly. Ive owned business (boat shop), but for one reason or another things went south (partners). I think i have skills that could be used while cruising.

I totally understand i wont get rich working for someone else, but i rack my brain day & night trying to think of such a vocation as you suggest. Dont know what I can do that will give me freedom.

I was a free spirit until i got married last year. hence the dull life. I think i have convinced her of my plan, the income being the last point remaining.

thanks.

 

[Hermit Scott]

I read 'think and grow rich' and many of Robert Kiosakys books. It was 5 months after I decided to become a business owner before I had my idea. Remember, your idea has to make money with out you. Every single professor I had told me I should trade my idea for a job at a big company. So I found an investor that would leave me with total control of my company and I quit school my senior year. I was thinking I would go back and finish some day. But why? So I can get a job? I don't want one. Some don't understand that. They would be happy with a nice safe engineering job. Different people value different things. I value freedom over security.
I have a wife also. We have no kids and don't plan on it, so it is easier for me to say this.

 

[Stu Jackson]

If you are seriously serious about what you say in your last post, I recommend a book called 'rich dad poor dad' by Robert Kiosaki.

Great idea, Hermit. My son was given the book by his uncle for Xmas.

Now he needs to read it! Like, could that ever happen????

 

[Bad Obsession]

I agree with both of you guys. I am now searching for a job and the market is rough. I can actually take two years from my career and still retire on time at age 50. My plan is to retire at age 50 and have my boat paid for. Then I will sail south for the winters and back north for the summers.

If I had stayed at my last job, I don't think that I would have lived to see retirement. Stress on the road was one thing, but when you had to cover your butt all of the time it was even more stressful.

That being said, the thing that is killing me now is keeping my Health Care through Cobra. I take 7 prescription medication and I suffered a heart attack at 28 so I need to keep up with that stuff. I pay $427 a month, which is a lot of money when you have no money coming in. If I didn't pay that kind of money I could easy have sailed off for the summer because I own my boat, my vehicle, and have no debt.

I have no idea about business. I have made my living in Law Enforcement. My speciality, Crash Reconstruction, isn't in much demand with this bad economy. I have tried with a bunch of insurance companies to find jobs with them. I have always told people that Law Enforcement is a trap as a career because once you get into it it is hard to get out until you can retire. I have 10 years built into retirement. I need 15 more years to go and the age of 50 and I am done. Being 31 years old that means that I have 19 years to get 15 years of service.

Who knows what is out there but I know that the enconomy has been detrimental to local, county, and state governments. It has caused 90 percent of them to put on hiring freezes, including law enforcement. This is really fustrating and I keep hoping that things get better because you can only become so short staffed in Law Enforcement before you are forced to hire.

Kind of makes you feel funny to know that your government is freezing hiring or even laying off the very jobs that protect you. If this had happend a few months after 9-11-01 people would have gone off the charts to know that this was going on. How soon we forget! We are cutting our national security.

Sorry for this long rambling and I realize that it doesn't have much to do with the nature of the original post. I am just fustrated because I am watching the money draining out of my accounts every month with no really good job prospects and no idea when this will end.

Good luck with your dream and I hope that you get it. Please do not forget that we are all just a few incidents away from a disaster and you need to protect yourself. Do what you can to carry insurance on yourself because you never know what happens. I am a great example of this when I had my Heart Attack at 28.

 

[tagalong]

Do You Have Any Pictures Of Your Boat?

 

[luvitt]

Do You Have Any Pictures Of Your Boat?

http://brandonjackie.shutterfly.com/2483

some of the interior shots are not my boat. They are of a similar boat. When I bought the boat, the entire cabin including the sole was dismantled. Its back together now. I need to take some new pics. I wish i had taken pics of the whole process, but when you do this entirely by yourself, you dont really think about taking pics of yourself. I have literally done 100% of this job by myself. i put the arch up by using a 16' 4x4 and a pulley! i must be egyptian or something.

Got the engine running perfectly! new plumbing, new wiring, new charger, new 3000 watt inverter ($99 believe it or not), many repairs and upgrades. Im in the middle of varnishing the cabin now. I need a stove and a fridge and i will be complete!

 

[Hermit Scott]

That is a beautiful boat. I know what you mean by the egyptian method. I dropped my engine back in myself using that method.
Your boat really looks great. That's the kind of boat you could be happy with your whole life with out getting anything else.