It's all relative

Today, Tom got the bilge pumps working! (Did we mention that one was broken? And when he went to fix that one, we discovered the second bilge pump had kicked the bucket as well?) And it only cost $200 in parts and materials to do it!

As we’ve written before, at this point anything under $1000 seems pretty damn cheap. Kim and Eric over at Ship's Blog even have a name for it: a “boat unit,” or b.u. One b.u. = $1000. Anything under 1 b.u. is relatively inexpensive. Not to make you think we have thousands to throw around. A b.u. is not based on how much the boat owner can actually afford, but rather how much it costs to fix things - whether you like it or not. The idea is, once you buy a boat (at least one big enough to liveaboard) you should get used to thinking in thousands, not hundreds of dollars. Getting the heater fixed cost 2.5 b.u.'s. Painting the boat cost 4 b.u.'s. Replacing the portlights cost 3 b.u.'s. You get the picture.

But today, thanks to Tom’s hard work, we didn't even have to spend ½ b.u. and the oh-so-critical bilge pumps are working perfectly.


Tom's not afraid to get his hands dirty.

-Jessi