WOMEN OWNING THE HELM

In the statistics of boat ownership, I’m guessing that women account for less than one percent, but if any women reading this are interested in increasing that contribution, I highly recommend sole boat ownership.

In an age of self-help courses in every human attribute, boat ownership offers a course from beginner’s to advanced in self-reliance, project management, selfmotivation and DIY, plus all the usual boating skills such as navigation, berthing, anchoring, basic mechanics and, yep, running aground.

The first time I tried to buy a boat, the broker refused to sell it to me. Maybe it was my floral skirt and lacy top, but he decided I was incapable of running a boat. Instead, I ended up with a 25-year-old yacht which had been home-finished and poorly maintained. I paid $20,000 for it in a private sale, spent at least $20,000 on it over 10 years and sold it for $9000. Financially, a loss, but in terms of covering the DIY curriculum, that boat was the jackpot. Its electrics were a mess; its cockpit had chips in the fibreglass and rotten teak in the seats. It had osmosis in the hull, electrolysis in the rudder stock, water in the gearbox, a faulty alternator and an engine that would soon blow its head gasket.

I was armed with a rusty set of tools as old as the boat, motivation born of ignorance and a socket set that was still brand new from when I’d bought it five years previously. In the beginning, I managed to complete only about 10% of tasks without help; after a couple of years, I was up to around 70%. One day, I glanced at a nut and automatically selected the correct size socket. I was so proud of myself, you’d think I’d just qualified as a marine engineer. I never compared myself to my male friends who could change impellers in their sleep. I just told myself: if they can learn it, so can I.

Over several years, I did today’s equivalent of Boat Skipper, Coastal Skipper and Ocean Skipper, a couple of diesel engine maintenance courses and the RYA Powerboat course.

I also had some extremely supportive friends. Supportive doesn't always mean taking over and doing the job for you. It means people like my friend Graham who decided I could fix the blown head gasket myself, under his supervision. It was painful, but I am forever grateful for the experience of stripping down and rebuilding that engine. Until then, I’d been quite scared of it because I didn’t understand it. After that, we became friends.

I pulled out kilometres of messy tangled wiring, re-ran lovely new cables, and got an expert to rewire the ignition. I watched an engineer change the oil in the gearbox; next time, I could do it myself. As for physical strength, it all comes down to levers and fulcrums. I can usually figure out a way to be stronger than I really am.

I’m definitely no superwoman, but boat ownership gave me confidence to tackle new tasks, and that translates into other fields. It’s just a matter of asking the right people the right questions and building up a tolerance to mansplaining. But I always listen, because sometimes they say something I didn’t know.

My most recent sojourn into boat ownership is a Franklin 925 launch with a 240hp turbo Yanmar. This is way too technical for me, so apart from the basics like changing the filters, I pay professionals to do the engine and electrical maintenance. So here are my tips for women considering boat ownership: Do the courses; eg Boat Skipper, Coastal Skipper, RYA Powerboat.

Keep a log book, including your trip reports, maintenance regimes and tips. Re-read your log book regularly. Build your team. Some tradespeople –electricians, engineers, boat builders – are more supportive than others. For every person who does work on your boat, list their name, contact and your experience of working with them in your log book. Have your engine serviced regularly. Look after your tools. Clean them before putting them away to avoid them rusting. Have a go. I still find the hardest part of a new task is getting started. Recently I found diesel bug in my port fuel tank. Accessing the tank involved undoing 20 tiny bolts and I had no idea what would happen if I undid them. So I went to get a coffee. I don’t even drink coffee. I managed to procrastinate three more times before I finally faced the job. I rang friends for advice, sometimes texting photos of the issue. I read the owner’s manual. I watched videos on YouTube. Eventually, I cleaned out the tanks and replaced the primary filter, but suffered a major loss of confidence when reassembling the secondary filter. I put it in an ice cream container and took it into the office of the local Yanmar agent for sign off before installing it.

Owning boats has brought me some of my biggest challenges, but it has also led to some of my biggest rewards.