An interesting observation form another board

[CharlieJ]

I found this observation posted on CSBB by Jon Eisberg, who some of you may know is a delivery skipper. He recently got back from a single hand cruise down into the Carribbean and return on his 30 footer. Here's a cut and paste of his post-

"One of the biggest eye-openers for me this winter in the NW Caribbean was the extent to which many cruisers were preoccupied with obtaining spare parts for stuff. Refigeration and watermakers were far and away the major culprits, of course. A significant percentage of the chatter on the NW Caribbean net involved discussions surrounding the logistics of getting spares to places like Honduras, Guatemala and Belize, and it was amazing how many boats seemed to be making the trip to La Ceiba simply to wait for spares to arrive...

Shipping parts into that area is very expensive, and time consuming... Shipping via DHL into Guatemala City, stuff will often languish in customs for a week or more, expediting the process will require a 5 hour bus ride each way from a cruiser's haven like the Rio Dulce... Many people opt for getting a cheap flight back to Miami on Spirit Air, and carrying parts back themselves... I'll bet in season, when all the boats are back in the Rio for the summer, one could probably make a nice little income making a weekly run back to the States, serving as a watermaker parts "mule" for cruisers..."

I found it quite ineresting

[Tim]

When I first read that thread on CSBB, it made me glad that I am keeping my boat as simple as possible, where keeping spare parts onboard is not difficult.