Tanzer 16 Jib Blocks--They should just give you the boat.

Tanzer 16 Jib Blocks--They should just give you the boat. --  April 17, 2014 -- When I decided to get back into sailing after 30 year plus years, I couldn't believe how inexpensive boats are.  They're plentiful, cheap, and many of them well maintained. (I have a theory about sailboats and the Shadow Fax Generation, but that will wait till another day.)  You can tell my 30 - 40 year old Tanzer 1306 was sailed hard, but it was always stored dry-- the guy before me did a fabulous job on the bright work.

So what do sailboats have in common with computer printers?  Toner is so costly they should just give you the printer. But toner is dirt cheap compared to sailboat fittings and sails.  Tazner 1306 came with a sound hull, a serviceable trailer-- the tires were shot, but it had a new axle and bearings and the rust wasn't too bad--not like the old C-Lark.

The sails on 1306 were worn out, and many of the fittings were mismatched, ugly, or didn't work very well. The boat cost $1600 plus a couple of hundred for license, tax and transfer.  At this point there is a new jib prox $500. New main, prox $900.  A year from now probably a new Genoa  figure, maybe, ugh $700.    If things go well, we will add a spinnaker in a year or two  so probably  another thou there--actually more, we'll need a pole and rigging!   These are the highlights--doesn't even cover the weekly trips to West Marine and the on-line orders.

Point in case.This pair of jib blocks (that's right the little disk is a quarter) cost $210 and some change. Clearly suppliers should just give you a good used boat so they can sell you stuff!

Today's Cliche:  Things are a lot more like they used to be than they are now.

I just bought a new lawn mower with a Honda engine for just a little

more than these two blocks cost.