What piece of boat equipment can you "go cheap" on?

[NateD]

Check out this site for a PVC roller furler.

http://faculty.augie.edu/~swart/CP-16/Roller%20Furler.html

[nies]

THANKS GUYS, THE INFO ON PVC ROLLER IS APPRECIATED, ILL LET YOU KNOW HOW IT TURNS OUT.....NIES

[brackish]

Interesting opinions about the GPS.  I became a ardent fan during a bareboat charter in the Bahama's ten years ago.  Chartered a Hunter Passage 42 in the Sea of Abaco.  Those of you who've been there know there are a lot of shoal areas.  The GPS tied to the autopilot made the vacation much more enjoyable. GPS already had a bag of waypoints in memory to go almost anywhere.  Can you ignore the process?, certainly not, one of the waypoints in memory was wrong and would have put us on the rocks, so you have to have a "watch".  But nice to be able to get to all the points of interest without worrying about fetching up on a sand bar.  My 23 is in the process of having same.

Bob23, LOL about the nail driving competition.  You must be one of those fortunates who has not developed the dreaded tendinitis of the elbow.  If you ever do, and I hope you don't, you will learn to love those nail guns even more.

Just got a pretty good deal on a Stearns Ultra 4000 automatic PFD with sailing D-rings.  Looking for a good deal on a retractable tether with quick release harness end and evaluating the need for a jack line.  Unfortunately, with the offspring grown and scattered, the Admiral's later life preference for shore duty, and all my long time sailing buddies either having moved off or declared that they're too old to sail (is that even possible?), I'll be doing a lot of single handling.  I won't cheap out on that safety stuff.

Frank

[mrb]

Funny thing about what a person thinks is mandatory needed equipment and or knowledge.  Take need for gps for coastal navigation, some like some don't.  Now the funny thing is that the nation is shutting down some light houses and thinking of turning more off as they are not needed because a gps will bring you home.  On the other hand many gps satellites are past their life expectancy and could stop operation at any time.  Wow I wounder if the coast guard is taking to NASA.  On a foggy stormy evening  and no light to guide you home what you gonna do. Wish you had a gps or have one with the proper charts and knowledge to use the two together.

Personally I use gps and charts. However the sight of a light on a cape or river entrance Is a welcome sight.   Been on boats with radar overlay chart plotter and found that to be fun.

To have a engine or not is also a personal choice.  I choose to have a engine because it is not allways a matter of personal safety but the safety of others that count. take the Pacific Northwest and B.C.  Many harbors are used as sea plane ports and they have the right of way.  No place for some one to be rowing or sculling a sail boat when a plane is setting down or taking off.  You either have a engine or stay away.

IMHO the choice to have a piece of equipment on board does not make a good sailor or a bad one.  The important thing is to have FUN. To the original question as to what piece of equipment to go cheep on, if it's rigging or safty I go with the best I can afford.  Toys, that's where I think I have more choice. An example would be gps.  I once helped a friend take his boat from Portland Oregon to Brookings Or. When his 3'000 plus dollar nav. system went down we used my 400 dollar hand held to nav. the Coulumbia and cross the bar. Later when we got his system on line we still kelp my toy turned on.

In the end we all should do what works for ourselves, If others want to come along for the ride welcome aboard     Melvin