and it is getting worse. People have no idea how much maintenance a boat requires. They also have no clue when it comes to how to fix their critical systems. Or even what systems need backups/spares. We have become a society dependent on calling the repair man - that Yankee ingenuity mentioned in a different thread is truly dead.

A frightening example: I was in Vanuatu a few months ago, chatting with another American sailor. The subject turns to computers. He asks me to help transfer some software from an old laptop to a new one. The old one has become a bit flaky. I agree to try to help. It turns out that he has a pirate copy of a popular charting package on the old laptop that he can't get working on the new one. Old one is XP, new one is Vista. I suggest that he should install again from scratch. (BTW, I have been avoiding Vista like the plague and don't know it's nuances) He does not have an install disk. Someone came aboard and installed it for him. He does not know how to install it AND HE DOES NOT HAVE A FUNCTIONING BACKUP OR PAPER CHARTS.

I hope his old laptop is still functioning because he is F**ked if it isn't. I also need to note that the only GPS I saw aboard his boat was a USB receiver plugged into that old laptop.