What is your ratio--greater than 1?

[Kings Gambit]

Reading through the posts on this forum over the past few years, plus what I see around me and see even for myself, I'm wondering what the "average" is of hours of sailing hours to hours of boat maintenance and repair--call it the S/BMR hourly ratio. Hopefully, it's much greater than one for most of us. What should it be? For the time being let's not include overnight anchoring in the usage hours. Just hours underway sailing or motorsailing but preferably sailing only, over say--one year or season.

 

[Gene Neill]

I have no idea. Never kept track of either.

But, I can say some of my happiest hours are spent on the hook. I would not exclude those hours from the ratio, myself.

 

[Kings Gambit]

Well, if never having had kept track of either, then including anchoring hours in the calculation wouldn't help much with the question.

 

[Capt jgw]

Never wanted to add up the time. Right now I'm in a 47 year old boat that I picked up dirt cheap, so my ratio probably leans way to the "work" side. I don't mind though, I enjoy working on them as much as sailing.
I once knew a guy who had a boat and an airplane, be said his cost per hour of use was actually lower for the plane. We're in Michigan with our short season, he flew year round.

 

[Kings Gambit]

Never wanted to add up the time. Right now I'm in a 47 year old boat that I picked up dirt cheap, so my ratio probably leans way to the "work" side.

How 'bout if we just say less than 0.1; or less than or equal to 0.05 (i.e., 1 hr sailing for 20 hr work), presently.

 

[Jackdaw]

10:1 easily.

Newer boats, and if something is a big job I get a pro to do it right, and quickly. Life is TOO DAMN SHORT to be screwing around on the dock, and not sailing. Unless that's 'your thing'. For some it is, and that's OK.

 

[topcat0399]

Good lord - until we get our old wreck "restored" the ratio is awful.
Someday I hope to majorly reverse that...

 

[Roland5048]

I've always joked that it was one day sailing for every three days of work but I think the ratio is closer to one-to-one, for me.

 

[Stu Jackson]

10:1 or more, preventative maintenance helps make the long repairs less of an issue. Why do so many people seem to be tied to a dock fixing things? My excuse this week is we are tied up in port awaiting 13 foot seas north of us to calm down, but really. We've had this boat for 18 years, most of them I went sailing every single week, most of the time for two days at a time, and never ever felt "boat work" constraining. Preventative maintenance like oil and transmission changes, and system upgrades (new electrical system) are par for the course, but shouldn't eat into sailing time. Knock on wood, for sure, though.

 

[Joe]

Do afternoon naps count..... my ratio is pretty high in that area. I think the boat has more value than just sailing.... I don't spend my non sailing hours just working on the boat... sometimes I'm just enjoying being there.

 

[Roland5048]

I'm with you on that one, Joe.

 

[Scott T-Bird]

10:1 or more, preventative maintenance helps make the long repairs less of an issue. Why do so many people seem to be tied to a dock fixing things?

Quality vs. Quantity plays a big part of it. Stu, if I can ever achieve your quality time spent, I would decrease my quantity of time spent on maintenance and/or projects for certain!

 

[agprice22]

Up North here, we have our boats out of the water for half the year. I bring mine home to my shed. I work on it for 1-2 weeks straight doing maintenance and upgrades each season. Once it is in the water, we sail, drift, dock, and anchor. Heck, I enjoy walking the docks in the evening and early morning. It is ALL splendid boat time!
We are way above 1:1.

I enjoy the work too because I like making my boat look and feel great. As I say, I take care of her, and she takes care of me. I make her proud, she makes me proud... until I reveal that I did not have a plan for a particular situation and make us both look terribly graceless! Then she forgives me, and we make friends again and go on happily.
During the sailing season, I keep a list of repairs, upkeep, and upgrades I want to make. On rainy days... I shop! Or read a book and have a sip of whiskey.
I sail and motor by the big houses on the lake and think I am glad to only have a relatively small boat to maintain.

 

[BudGates]

Until a couple of years ago, while there was still water in Lake Isabella, it was about 1:3 because the boat had sat unattended for 13 years and needed a lot of TLC. Currently my ratio is about 1:10 or lower since the closest sailable water now is over 4 hours away and the only time I can spend on my boat, other than back yard sailing, is working on her in the back yard. To make the drive and set-up time worth while for me and my wife requires at least a 4 day weekend. By this time next year I hope to reverse that ratio (10:1).

 

[Jackdaw]

Speaking of bad ratios....

I had a guy on our dock that I was sure liked to putz on his boat much more than he liked to sail.

One perfect chamber of commerce day; 75F, sunny and 12-14 knots of breeze, I was walking down the dock with a bag of ice and asked him if he was going out. He said 'no', and mumbled something about some important boat chores that had to happen first.... Oh well.

15 minutes later I had to run back down the dock to get a bottle out of the car. What's this guy doing that was so important? POWERWASHING HIS DOCK BOX.

 

[agprice22]

Speaking of bad ratios....
important boat chores
POWERWASHING HIS DOCK BOX.

Haha! Classic... There is an IP 32 in our marina. Beautiful boat! They guy launches it every spring, gets it polished and ready, and... never sails it! I am waiting for him to sell it...

 

[Jalepeno]

With a sailboat, you are at your destination when you get to your boat. Time spent working/puttering about on your sailboat is worth just as much as sailing because it is not real work if you enjoy what you are doing. Someone one said that every minute spent on your sailboat is added to your life. (I've also heard that about fishing and hunting and ......)

 

[Kings Gambit]

Let's try some base-line "modelling." A weekender who sails to an overnight destination 20 n.mi. distant one weekend a month will get, say, 4 hr each way = 8 hr sailing time. Add 3 weekend day-sails of 2.5 hr each, now we have 15.5 hr actual sailing per month. In a typical month, how many BMRHs to support that? Weekly wash downs--0.5 each, head pump out & treatment post sail--0.5 each, fix something that broke (not serious) 1.0 = 15.5/5 = 3.1. Would that be a "good" ratio?

Say, two weekend overnighters and 3 day-sails but fix two things that broke @ 1.0 hr ea = (12 + 7.5)/(2 +2.5+2) = 3.

Working backward from 6.5 maintenance; one would need ca. 60 hr of sailing a month to achieve a 10:1 ratio for that typical month. That's 15 hr/wk. A couple of far destination cruises or long day-sails or races per weekend might do it.

Obviously, the next thing to add is the amortized hours for a bigger maintenance or repair job--changing the coolant in the heat exchanger once per year, etc. In any event--the ratio starts to drop from 3 to something lower.

 

[Jackdaw]

Obviously, the next thing to add is the amortized hour for a bigger maintenance or repair job--changing the coolant in the heat exchanger once per year, etc. In any event--the ratio starts to drop from 3 to something lower.

.... or you could just go SAIL. I'm heading out the door! ;^)

 

[Gunni]

Haha! Classic... There is an IP 32 in our marina. Beautiful boat! They guy launches it every spring, gets it polished and ready, and... never sails it! I am waiting for him to sell it...

Well, it's an IP, they need 12 knots of wind to move the boat. My old neighbor with an IP 38 told me so!