Month: August 2024

At the BMEEA, we know that buying a boat is more than just the purchase itself. There are many things to consider and usually these are learnt on the fly which can be frustrating and costly.

 

We will be running a series on “10 things I wish I’d known before I bought my first boat” and round 1 is 10 things Derek Gilbert, BMEEA Chairman, wishes he’d known before he bought his first boat – Enjoy!

 

 

6 – I wish I had started off with a smaller boat

 

I wish I had started off with a smaller boat that I could actually sail on my own, building up experience of handling the boat, using the equipment onboard correctly and learning how to adapt to the ever changing sea conditions and how the boat behaves as conditions change.

 

The effort needed to handle a larger boat increases almost exponentially with boat length, the sails are heavier, the ropes thicker and under a lot more strain, the number of fenders have to increase, the mooring ropes are thicker, heavier and longer and the boat handling changes massively too as the hull is heavier, has more inertia so doesn’t stop, turn or reverse as easily.

 

When things go wrong, everything is harder to reef, to turn, to stop or to correct – in short everything is bigger, heavier and mistakes are much more expensive! Sailing courses would have helped avoid these mistakes and de-risk my hobby.

 

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At the BMEEA, we are experts in all aspects of the boat owning experience, so please do get in touch with your nearest BMEEA member for assistance!

At the BMEEA, we know that buying a boat is more than just the purchase itself. There are many things to consider and usually these are learnt on the fly which can be frustrating and costly.

 

We will be running a series on “10 things I wish I’d known before I bought my first boat” and round 1 is 10 things Derek Gilbert, BMEEA Chairman, wishes he’d known before he bought his first boat – Enjoy!

5 – I wish I’d known how friendships would change

 

I wish I’d known that following an initial interest in my boat, most of my friends would be unexpectedly unavailable almost every weekend when I needed them to help me take the boat out and I would be faced with either trying to sail singlehanded or sit on the boat in perfect weather, ruefully watching other boats cast off, while I sat there on my own!

 

Simple tasks such as manoeuvring a boat in a marina is multiples of levels easier when you have a few extra hands available onboard.

 

It is interesting so see how quickly ‘friends’ help you into a purchase with promises of help and support, yet fade away when there is real hard work or commitment needed.

 

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At the BMEEA, we are experts in all aspects of the boat owning experience, so please do get in touch with your nearest BMEEA member for assistance!

At the BMEEA, we know that buying a boat is more than just the purchase itself. There are many things to consider and usually these are learnt on the fly which can be frustrating and costly.

We will be running a series on “10 things I wish I’d known before I bought my first boat” and round 1 is 10 things Derek Gilbert, BMEEA Chairman, wishes he’d known before he bought his first boat – Enjoy!

4 – I wish I’d known that I would get all sorts of ‘good’ advice

 

I wish I’d known that I would get all sorts of ‘good’ advice and meet so many experts, most of the advice would be contradictory and subsequently most ‘experts’ disappeared when the problem I had simply got worse instead of better!

 

Sometimes it really is better to pay for professional services to assist. The information on-line can often be quite suspect too, there are many so-called experts online who all have an opinion of what is best and how best to do a job – even though clearly many have never attempted it themselves!

 

I should have known that I would have to double-check and triple-check every piece of advice before setting out on a job.

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At the BMEEA, we are experts in all aspects of the boat owning experience, so please do get in touch with your nearest BMEEA member for assistance!

At the BMEEA, we know that buying a boat is more than just the purchase itself. There are many things to consider and usually these are learnt on the fly which can be frustrating and costly.

We will be running a series on “10 things I wish I’d known before I bought my first boat” and round 1 is 10 things Derek Gilbert, BMEEA Chairman, wishes he’d known before he bought his first boat – Enjoy!

3 – I wish I’d known to be alert and on my guard

 

There are many jobs onboard that can be done by amateurs and DIY enthusiasts, these are many and various, from cleaning blocked toilets to basic engine servicing (both of which can ruin a planned vacation if they fail!)

 

However, even well maintained boats can suffer failures which are unpredictable and can trigger the need for immediate remedial action which can be equally expensive and unpredicted.

 

I wish I had known that I would need to be constantly on my guard and alert not only to general seagoing situations, but onboard gear malfunction issues too.

 

I had no idea that I would need an extensive toolkit onboard and that the cost of spare parts for boats can be quite so high or difficult to track down simply due to the complexity of a boat’s systems and the low volume of parts available (unlike car spares for example!)

 

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At the BMEEA, we are experts in all aspects of the boat owning experience, so please do get in touch with your nearest BMEEA member for assistance!