I wouldn't want anyone thinking of buying a boat to read some of the posts
about the FP saga and get the idea that there actually is any such thing as
equity in a used boat. Maybe in the very narrow sense of being the amount of
principle paid down on a purchase loan but not in any way that you can count
on.

Sweat equity in particular evaporates just about as fast as its namesake.
These are simply the harsh facts of the boating life. The people advising
S&L to give up on the FP because of equity just don't have their eye on the
ball.

If I counted the hours I've spent on my boat at yard rates, I have about
fifty grand in a boat that was about half that out of pocket. I would be
lucky to get 18 K for her in this market. We'll be spending about four
thousand this spring to put a Cape Horn windvane and autopilot in her. After
that she'll be worth about eighteen five. It's grim. Raising kids is pretty
grim too, if you look at it that way. It isn't about the money.

FP is probably a quarter million dollar boat if S&L were to count their
sweat equity. If they had made it into Marathon and decided this wasn't the
life for them, they wouldn't have gotten that back. Most of this effort went
into making the FP just the way they wanted her. 95% of that stuff is still
there.

Except for a KISS generator and some other replaceable equipment items, some
sails and rigging (basically consumable items on a sailboat), the only thing
that she won't have after some topside cosmetic work is factory original
tabbing and rudder. That will diminish her value someday but won't be a
concern to S&L until they are ready for assisted living. That lost value is
the only thing, along with some innocence and self confidence, that they
left out on Content Keys.

There is that big salvage bill. That's what insurance is for.

Now, if this had happened on the delivery trip just after they bought the
boat, sure, it might be time to bail. The pay out for the totaled boat would
be close to the purchase price and they wouldn't have the unrecoverable
sweat equity in her yet. Just start over with another boat.

It would also be a different story if they were not capable of doing any of
the work themselves. In that case, they wouldn't be cut out for this life
anyway.

They signed up for adventure; not a beach condo. That's what adventure is,
the unexpected. A few more months of fiberglass work won't be much in the
grand scheme of things after they have twenty or thirty thousand miles
behind them.

--
Roger Long