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Old 01-31-2010, 08:54 PM   #1
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New member here from Florida originally, now in North Carolina via Virginia.

My husband and I are planning to live aboard a cruising cat in about 8.5 years (this is when my student loans should be paid off). We are reading magazines and forums and of course dreaming of the ideal boat (Antares 44i sure is nice. And we are also looking to learn from others' experiences.

If you could go back a decade or so before purchasing your boats, what would you have done with all of that time to prepare?
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Old 01-31-2010, 09:23 PM   #2
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New member here from Florida originally, now in North Carolina via Virginia.

My husband and I are planning to live aboard a cruising cat in about 8.5 years (this is when my student loans should be paid off). We are reading magazines and forums and of course dreaming of the ideal boat (Antares 44i sure is nice. And we are also looking to learn from others' experiences.

If you could go back a decade or so before purchasing your boats, what would you have done with all of that time to prepare?
We were on a 25 year plan. We kept to the plan--saved money and prepared ourselves to be able to diY fix-it ourselves and to be good sailors.

Wouldn't have changed a thing. But, 25 years went by really, really fast.

Fair winds,
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Old 01-31-2010, 09:48 PM   #3
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We were on a 25 year plan. We kept to the plan--saved money and prepared ourselves to be able to diY fix-it ourselves and to be good sailors.

Wouldn't have changed a thing. But, 25 years went by really, really fast.

Fair winds,
Thanks for replying. Can you say more about:

1.) How did you determine how much money you would ultimately need (and when you purchased your boat, did you buy it straight out or make payments).

2.) What you did to acquire those diY skills?

Also, my husband captained motor yachts for a living for years and lived aboard him own monohull for a year or so. I've only sailed little hobiecats. What thoughts do you all have about acquiring training/certificates before the big adventure?
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Old 01-31-2010, 11:14 PM   #4
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We were very young when we were married (19 and 21 to be exact) and planning to live aboard and voyage via sailboat someday. Note--while many cruisers plan on sailing off into the sunset, not working, and not spending a lot of time in their home country, that was NOT our dream. Our dream was to be able to live aboard a boat anywhere (obviously coastal) in the USA and world-wide while working (or not) as we see fit. We're somewhat location agnostic and we love being a productive part of society and expect to be in-and-out of productive jobs until we're in our 90's.

1. We never planned on making payments for a boat. Our number one criteria in life has been to live within our means. Though we both put ourselves through school by working, we did end up with some student loans and paid them off in about 5 years. Besides real estate loans, we've only personally borrowed for one car (in 1985) because it was a great interest rate deal. We've never carried debt and don't recommend it. We didn't plan on purchasing a large vessel--our dream was a 30 foot cutter. But, back in 1982 when we were planning our voyaging life, 30 to 36 foot boats were the norm. Now, people routinely voyage with much larger (and more expensive) vessels. If you dream of a small vessel that can do what you want it to do, if you happen to have the funds to purchase (and maintain!) a larger vessel when the time comes--great! you won't have gotten your expectations up too high.

2. We believed that the single thing we could do to "bullet proof" our budget and our ability to independently voyage indefinitely was to be able to fix EVERYTHING ourselves and to be innovative about methods and materials. So, when we had something that needed fixing on our car, lawnmower, house, whatever...we learned how to fix it and fixed it. Period. When the part cost $500 and we could fabricate it for $50, we did. Period. We thought the ability to learn to take care of oneself was critical to our success. We were right about that. If you are not DIY people nor have the desire or ability to learn, budget in a good amount of money for maintaining your boat. Our DIY skills included every range of maintenance skills we could learn--the only thing that neither of us is truly proficient in is welding (but we've never had to be) and our DIY skills include excellent cooking/canning/baking/drying/ as well as sewing/upholstery/leatherwork and boat specific rigging skills.

About sailing skills--we took sailing lessons early in our life together and taught sailing for a couple years (which enabled us to rent the boats at the sailing facility very cheaply or for free) to pick up our experience. That was all in the 1984-1990 timeframe. We later did a lot of small boat sailing/canoe sailing because we could easily own a sailing rig for our canoe! but only sailed on bigger boats owned by friends or charter. When we sold our house in 2006 and bought a big classic boat (a 1931 29 ton schooner to rebuild and voyage on) we simultaneously purchased a small boat (a 1966 Rawson 30) that we could sail on weekends and evenings between working on the big boat projects. The smaller boat actually was a great cruising boat and would have fit our "dream boat" from our early 1982 plans. We had a lot of fun on it during the time we owned it before selling it and relaunching the boat we now live on. Sailing a lot of different vessels and sail plans is helpful in building confidence and making yourself comfortable with your final boat choice.

You don't mention whether your husband actually sails. I've met experienced motor boaters who live aboard sailboats that they cannot sail. Amazingly several. Hopefully your husband did a bit of sailing. Oftentimes when folks liveaboard, they don't go anywhere because it's "too hard" to put everything away and so forth. Motor yachts and sailboats are VERY different vessels. I know several folks with USCG 100T (or larger) masters licenses who have had successful careers captaining motor vessels of all sizes but they are NOT necessarily qualified to even sail a Laser. You (and your husband) don't necessarily need formal sail training but it is often easier to get the experience you need if you take enough coursework to be able to charter sailboats for your vacations. You do need to know that sailing (not motoring) is really the thing you want to be doing. You'll only learn that from sailing. If you love sailing, sailing it is. If you don't love sailing, you might consider the options of owning an appropriately sized trawler or other motor yacht that will enable you to travel to the places you'd like to go. Sailing is romantic and certainly "green" but not necessarily the right choice for everyone and not necessarily any less expensive than using a motor yacht IF you're not a good sailor and end up motoring a lot anyway.

I'd suggest you have a goal, make a plan, try to stick to it. If you're not able to budget now, you won't be able to when cruising. If you're not willing to be DIY-folks now (home/car/cooking/cleaning/sewing/lawnwork/cleaning gutters/etc) you're unlikely to be willing to do so on a boat so you'll have to budget for maintenance expenses.

It sounds like you're older than we were when we went on our 25 year plan and certainly, your husband is. So, look at what you've done happily and what he has done happily--make your goals and dreams fit into the people that you ARE not the folks that you might be if you "try". Things are much different when one is young as we were. Young and stupid--you think you have to take on the world and you think you must learn all this stuff...you just go off and do it. It's truly harder (I think) if someone is older and doesn't have a DIY mentality to start with. A willingness to learn is always great, but don't beat yourself up if the DIY person isn't who you are.

Best of luck in finding what will really work for you and your husband!
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Old 02-01-2010, 01:57 AM   #5
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GREAT post.

He did not sail nearly as much as he motored but he had a 27 Watkins that he lived aboard in various locales - including the Bahamas. He took it "out' about once a month as he was going to college. His most recent sailing adventure was on a 74 Hinkley that he took from Miami to Jamaica. I'm starting as basically zero skills.

We are in our early thirties. We are both DIYers. Your post inspired me to remember to take advantage of each DIY opportunities that come up between then and now. We live in the mountains of western NC now so some of the sailing specific learning opportunities are going to need to be created - they are not going to fall in our laps! I really need to find some ways to catch up with my husband in terms of comfort and skill on the water. I grew up on the Florida coast and spent lots of time on the water - but never handling a boat on my own. Any ideas?

We are saving our money. It is hard to imagine saving enough for one of the really amazing cats. We'll certainly be buying used I wish that I could "get over" needing a multihull but I just can't picture being at 45 degrees most of my life.

I see there are some book recommendations on the site - as good a place to start as any! Thanks again.
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Old 02-01-2010, 04:59 AM   #6
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Glad you're a DIY-er. Just take advantage of all the DIY ops you have and you'll be amazed at the skills you'll build!

You can get the skills you need easily. Being comfortable on the water doesn't have to happen in big boats on the ocean. You could do a lot of dingy sailing on small bodies of water. We know a couple here in San Diego who learned to sail out in the middle of nowhere in Kansas in a SQUARE lake (built with a backhoe!). Nowhere to go but they had a great time back and forth across that little pond/lake. He was in the Air Force and they were stationed there for 2 or 3 years and did a lot of little boat sailing on that funny little lake. They've owned sailboats small and large for the past 30 years. Where there's a will there's a way.

Small boats...We are avid canoeists so we took our canoe and built an American Canoing Association (ACA) sailing rig for it. Another DIY project Though not sailing, proper river canoing/white water canoing is a wonderful way to spend time on the water. You have meandering rivers near you and probably some easy whitewater as well. You can sail a canoe on small ponds and lakes as well. Stick it on top the car, drive a couple hours and do some canoe sailing. Sailing is sailing. Other small sailing/rowing boats that you can car-top are numerous. Good dinghy sailing is actually more challenging than sailing a 25 or 30 ft boat.

Oh, people don't sail cruising monohulls at 45 degrees Even 15 degrees is a bit much. Think 10 degrees or less. The load on the boat and the crew is not worth it with too much heeling. If thinking about heeling is the only issue you have with monohulls--you may choose to spend enough time sailing a monohull to figure out if it is a big deal for you or not. I'm a total walking klutz, so really don't like the challenge of moving about with the boat heeled a lot but I just make sure that adequate hand-holds exist. If you're on a budget, you'll find many more small cruising monohulls at good prices to choose from than cruising multihulls.

Good luck!
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Old 02-01-2010, 05:20 AM   #7
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Great Posts!

The realization that the Journey needs planning must be good factor in achieving the goal.

Being good with your hands and being able visualize a solution to a piece of boat equipment that needs fixing is a gift every yachtie would love to have.

In addition to inherent skills, there is also the need to acquire new knowledge and new skills. My first Catamaran, above the waterline was built of marine plywood that was saturated with epoxy. I had no clue as to what was involved in the technique. So I took myself off to the Wooden Boat School in Maine and I learned how you use the WEST system developed by the Gougeon Brothers. With that knowledge I have been to repair all sorts of damage not only to plywood and other woods but also to aluminium (fixing tank leaks and dinghy rivets) Have made fuel and water tanks out of epoxy saturated ply.

Therefore making your journey to becoming self sufficient, the example portrayed by Red and her husband is a great one to follow - "if its broken - fix it yourself"
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Old 02-03-2010, 11:42 PM   #8
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I'm really impressed with the amount of preparation you all put into your plans. Here I thought I was ahead of the game by thinking of preparing a few years in advance You've motivated us to start looking into charters for this summer. I think we'll try a monohull first. We are thinking about the Chesapeake Bay - any good companies you know of?
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Old 02-04-2010, 12:05 AM   #9
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Check replies to the question HERE
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Old 02-20-2010, 03:33 PM   #10
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A great thread indeed! Thanks for it.

I and my partner are planning on a 5-10 year window from now (we´re both 46). I have two daughters to get through study (14 and 16 now, the older already living in Australia on her own), and once they´ve got enough of a start in life from dad, we´ll be taking off ourselves. We are beginning with a lot of theory and some practice, intend to move into real hard practice as we get our mandatory sailing certifications, and then go get us a boat (we´re thinking monohull around 40ft., probably buy it in the USA for price and variety of choices). Our intended investments will be part our own retirement funds, part a couple of inherited properties we will burn out. Our plan is to sail until one of us die or we both get too frail for it, and then settle seaside somewhere in the world in a old-farts-friendly small country. :-)

Sounds crazy for most of the family, but who cares!

Fair winds,

José
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Old 02-20-2010, 08:10 PM   #11
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A great thread indeed! Thanks for it.

Sounds crazy for most of the family, but who cares!

Fair winds,

José
Ah, sounds a lot like most cruising couple's dreams and plans and the reality of it all as well

Your girls are not interested in joining your adventure? What great family fun you could have, too.

Fair winds,
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Old 02-20-2010, 10:46 PM   #12
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Ah, sounds a lot like most cruising couple's dreams and plans and the reality of it all as well

Your girls are not interested in joining your adventure? What great family fun you could have, too.

Fair winds,
:-) In fact they are more interested than I´d like (and their mother, my ex-wife, doesn´t appear to like it a bit).

But they will have time to pick up. Julia at 16 is studying Graphic Design in Brisbane, Lara at 14 is looking towards doing Medicine here in Brazil. Not willing to unduly influence their choices, if in a few years they DO want to drop all that and come help dad for either months or years, I´ll be the happiest awkward sailor out there!

Regards,

J.
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