Keep Power or Go Sail

[rcale]

Hello everybody.Here is what I got :1984 chris craft catalina 38.5 twin 454.420 gallon capacity.I have been living on her 4 yrs on a lake in Texas.

I can retire in the next 6 months ,The Keys look nice, hire a Captain for some offshore knowledge Then cruise the Bahamas and the Keys and rivers.Liveaboard in a Marina.
Here is my question: Do I take the Chris Craft and spend my savings on fuel
or do I buy a Gemini catamaran and spend my savings on a used boat .
Thank yall for any suggestions, comments or ideas

[rebel heart]

one vote for sailboat, but i love sailboats

[Mimsy]

I vote for sail.

[fishwife]

Sail or a displacement motor cruiser. The price of fuel is only going one way.

P.

[sailingaway221]

Rcale.... if i read that right you can either spend your savings on gas or spend it on a sailboat...... and then have nothing left if you buy a sailboat?

Remember sometimes buying the sailboat is the cheap part.... keeping it is the costly one. I prefer to sail, but if you have a seaworthy boat that you know well, it would be a tough sell for me to get rid of it and start again with a sailboat. Especially if you're going to go around the keys and to the Bahamas.... fairly close cruising waters from Florida. Fill the thing with Diesel and get down there and then see what you think. I imagine you'll be just as happy... maybe even more happy.... !

[dacust]

You can control the fuel cost a lot by limiting how much you travel. If you're short on cash, stay put and enjoy where you are anchored for a few more days.

I would choose boats in reverse of this order:

• What you have (twin big block gas engines)
• Same thing but diesel
• Trawler with small diesel
• Sailboat

Anything you get other than what you have will cost you. So, keeping what you have may be the best idea. But then, I don't know your budget.

Tell us a little more, like how is your boat equipped for safety and electronics? How do you plan to cruise: stay at marinas? on the hook? for how long at a time?

-dan

[foggysail]

It takes a much larger sailboat to provide the amenities offered by a comparably sized power boat.

[matauwhi]

G'day, mate. Sell the power boat, get to New Zealand, buy a sailboat and enjoy cruising in true paradise! Cheers.

[SailFastTri]

Sometimes no decision is the best decision. If you don't know -- stay with what you do know.

Boats make no sense, so if you're not emotionally invested one way or the other -- why make a new commitment?

[Ozbullwinkle]

I vote for the catamaran assuming you have some sailing experience. I have lots of experience on large powerboats and your twin 454 gas motors will be very thirsty depending on how you drive it but will still be thirsty beasts and I would much prefer for the mptors to be diesel from a safety perspective as well. There is also the maintenance side of them as well if something should need repair during your trip which can be very costly which you will need to factor in. If you are familiar and confident with your boat and it is well equipped and do your homework on where you will be navigating I do not see the need to hire a captain so this would be a saving which you could put towards your fuel bills.

[maxingout]

I also vote for a catamaran. Get big diesels if you want, and motor when you want. Catamarans are great motorsailors. I know because I motored about two-thirds of the way across the Mediterranean.

[Minggat]

What you might get for a boat with two gas sucking engines might be tough/heartbreaking. I'd start trying to sell soon to see what you're up against in that department.

[off-the-grid]

Based on a very vague search, looking just at asking prices, not sale prices. You may be able to get enough for your boat to pay for the cat, if it's one that's a little older.

The Gem gets about 1 GPH or even less by the way.

[rcale]

Thank yall for the replies and votes.As far as my budget goes after the savings I still have aroun 4500 per month for cruising. as for cruising I figured 6 months water marinas 3x month then 3 months marina then back to the usually try to stay less than 2000 rpm around 10 knts. i figure I get about .5 mpg thats not much range each tank holds 210gls 5 yrs ago i did an asa liveaboard for a week in Florida got the first three certs.not much sailing sense Thanks again rcale

[dacust]

I'm thinking you should stay with what you got.

At .5mpg, 420 gallons gives you a 210 mile theoretical range. Safety range is 2/3 of that, so you got 140 mile usable range. If you have a run longer than that, drop back to about 6kts and you should boost range quite a bit.

As I said before, best way to control your budget is to stay on the hook as much as possible, stay places longer and then island hop.

Your budget sounds very workable to me.

If you do this for a while, you may find you want to make a change. Cruising smart on $4500, you could possible save 1/4 to 1/2 of that each month and save up. Then buy a diesel trawler or a sailboat in a few years. By that time you'll know if you are really enjoying the lifestyle, and you'll know better what features you need.

-dan