I agree Don and I have observed another phenomenon involved here. I now believe that in some cases, the endless preparations are a way of avoiding going cruising. Because cruising is a scary proposition, especially for older folks. Out there, alone, on your own, is a long way out of some folks comfort zone. So I think, in some cases, there is really no commitment to cruising at all. Doing it this way, one can still be very involved, do a lot of "bench racing", participate in the Trawler List gathering information, exchanging ideas. I believe this because I have seen folks, like you describe, working for years to get the boat ready. But I also see that, when the boat is about 80% ready, they sell the boat and start over on another several year project. There is much rationalization around this phenomenon but the bottom line is it is an endless preparation project. So I think that the real fun for these folks is the work in progress and the involvement with others. I think that the motivating or driving factor is "getting ready for the big cruise". Which will probably never happen. Anyway, that's my "theory 946". <G>. Joe Engel -----Original Message----- From: DonDodds@aol.com [mailto:DonDodds@aol.com] Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 1999 9:15 AM To: dolph64@earthlink.net; trawler-world-list@samurai.com Subject: TWL: Re: Amenities (the other side of the coin) Dolph >>Do what you can and have the comforts you can afford or choose to have. Go plush, go spartan, who cares, just GO!<< This is true if you want to go cruising. We have all seen people spend 7 to 10 years working on a boat and never go cruising. <SNIP>