A Fleet-Wide Digital Selective Calling Number (Vol. 59)

By Mike Dunn, WALLY 41#2
(As excerpted from a 28 March 2014 Forum posting)

Wally 41#2 cruising the PNW

As the new VHF radios get better and better, most of us now have Digital Selective Calling (DSC) on our radios. With a group num-ber you could get underway or drop anchor and send a group call to find out if anyone else, on a good looking tug, is out on the wa-ter. If we don’t have one or at least an organization wide number, maybe it’s time we do. It will also let you see who responds and you can then send a position request and find out where the other tugs are located. Might be fun on the way to a get together or ren-dezvous. I propose 033837419. The last five digits are based on our tug sizes 37, 41,49 (we could only use five numbers). Here's a good Practical Sailor article on using DSC. 

(Editor's note: Mike's proposal for using 033837419 has been adopted after being seconded by Brave Duck #67, Renegade #72, Teddy Bear #15, and Cielito #51.)

Cabin Wall Thickness

Tosh Chontosh, Petite Wazo #20, found the cabin wall thickness where he'd removed his stateroom, head, and shower portlights to be 1-3/4".

Saloon Leaks from Dinghy Deck Teak fasteners

Trev Croteau, Hjortie #33, found leaks into the saloon from at least four screws which were holding the O2 teak decking down. The screws had penetrated all the way through the saloon's fiberglass roof. To prevent a recurrence of the problem the new O2 deck teak pads were epoxied down.

Fair Market vs. Replacement Value

I just got a copy of Concinnity #17's January 2014 survey. The surveyor, Bob Ptak, stated that the estimated fair market (FM) value was $138K while the estimated replacement (R) cost was $500K. Combined these two numbers give us an interesting ratio, the FM/R. For #17 the FM/R = $138K/$500K= .276. In the box below is the FM and R data for all the surveys on LNVT.org—clearly we need to collect more surveys.

FM/R	Hull #	Date of Survey	FM	R
1.00	#34	4 November 1985	$95K	$95K
0.64	#46	27 January 1993	$135K	$210K
0.79	#66	12 September 2005	$178K	$225K
0.39	#74	23 January 2006	$175K	$450K
0.45	#42	March 2009	$190K	$425K
0.28	#17	17 January 2014	$138K	$500K
0.33	#74	11 March 2014	$125K	$350K

The first thing that strikes me is that replacement cost (R) has gone up dramatically while selling prices have not. This means inflation, which has increased the replacement cost by five times, has had little effect on sales prices. On in the case of a boat, depreciation trumps inflation. It's worth keeping tabs on FM/R as it will let us know if inflation adjusted sales prices are increasing or decreasing. An FM/R > 1 would be consistent with a collector's item. Clearly LNVTs are not collectibles—yet.

When considering fair market (FM) valuation it's important to know why the survey was done. FM valuation for an insurance driven survey may be lower than in a purchase survey. In the first case, a lower valuation translates to lower insurance premiums. In the second, a higher valuation. i.e. loan value, makes it easier to borrow a greater amount.