Coastal cruiser - right size and time

[jeffjd]

Starting this thread 80% for me and 20% for would be owners.

Currently I have a 1980 islander bahama 30 in good condition worth $16-20k if the engine gets fixed. The sails, standing and running rigging is 3 yrs old. It has simple systems that I like. I live in Southern California so slips are pricy and my cruising grounds are Catalina island about 35 -40 nm away. Most my trips are 2-4 days.

I love sailing, my wife loves spending time with me, so I single hand most the time and 1/2 the time she ferries over one way. 1/2 my trips are with the guys. We are starting a family soon... Hopefully two kids.

I think this is a common situation. And the questions are

1. Is keeping the 35 yr old boat that is a little smaller but cheaper the best plan. I run a $10-12k budget per year for everything, however I may need to repower this year.

2. Sell her, wait a couple years until all kids are at least 2 and buy a bigger boat, like 36'. Max I can see spending is $65k including repair to get to the same condition of my current boat.

3. Sell her and charter because kids take up too much time and money to own a boat.

Follow up- if sell and buy bigger any suggested boats to own for the long term... Given my location and cruising ground? I would love to shave an hour off the Catalina trip.


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[JPA Cate]

Jeffjd, no.

Don't do it. You and your good lady will never get together on cruising if she is not on the same page with you. Until she becomes truly committed to sharing the cruising goal with you, don't get her pregnant, don't get another boat.

Have a dear friend,, whose good lady thought she wanted to live on a boat with him and raise a child with him there, but has discovered (a) that she wants to raise the child on land and (b) she really doesn't accept a boat as a proper home; c is that she still wants a separate career. He loves his son, but hasn't been sailing in about a year now, and with a great boat, too. They both are really nice people. So just beware, and think this one through. Get real clear on what you want. And if that terminal jd is a doc of jurisprudence, well you already know the rest of the steps.

Seen too many water soluble romances over the years......

Ann

[Wotname]

What Ann said, +1

[carstenb]

I noticed you said you love sailing and your wife loves spending time with you.

as Ann said - you need to get her to love sailing as much as you, otherwise.....................

Get her started, Get her into a good sailing course. And more than one.

Share the boat, meaning, one day you are skipper and take the helm and dock and call the shots, the next day she is the skipper on the helm and calls the shots.

If you do not do this, then your wife will become a "fender bender" who only hangs fenders and handles dock lines.

She will not become a sailor, and she will not think sailing is a lot of fun. She will become bored with sitting in the cockpit while you have all the fun.

Sorry if this sounds negaitve, but like Ann, I know lots of couples where sailing is the man's dream and the wife is bored. Guess how much the wife likes to sail?

You have to get her completely involved.

Many of our sailing (male) friends are extremely jealous of me because I have a wife who sails. She is a completely competent skipper and handles the boat herself (stands her watches alone in every kind of weather while I sleep, adn quite soundly I might add).

If sailing and the boat are not a joint project - it will be doomed. Just like golf widows on saturdays.

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by jeffjd

Starting this thread 80% for me and 20% for would be owners.

Currently I have a 1980 islander bahama 30 in good condition worth $16-20k if the engine gets fixed. The sails, standing and running rigging is 3 yrs old. It has simple systems that I like. I live in Southern California so slips are pricy and my cruising grounds are Catalina island about 35 -40 nm away. Most my trips are 2-4 days.

I love sailing, my wife loves spending time with me, so I single hand most the time and 1/2 the time she ferries over one way. 1/2 my trips are with the guys. We are starting a family soon... Hopefully two kids.

I think this is a common situation. And the questions are

1. Is keeping the 35 yr old boat that is a little smaller but cheaper the best plan. I run a $10-12k budget per year for everything, however I may need to repower this year.
If you think you are going to be banking this $10-12k to buy a bigger boat while starting a family, I think you seriously need to reevaluate....

2. Sell her, wait a couple years until all kids are at least 2 and buy a bigger boat, like 36'. Max I can see spending is $65k including repair to get to the same condition of my current boat.
So it seems like 5 yrs minimum if you guys get busy tonight...

3. Sell her and charter because kids take up too much time and money to own a boat.
Might save you some money, especially if still going with your buddies (splitting all costs)... BUT... A) you won't go nearly as much... B) You're less flexible for weather due to planned/reserved times...

Follow up- if sell and buy bigger any suggested boats to own for the long term... Given my location and cruising ground? I would love to shave an hour off the Catalina trip.
If you're looking afor a bigger boat to fit the family, this one's for sale...

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f152/33-morgan-out-island-warrior-131967.html

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Whereya at now?

[jeffjd]

Wow Ann - I am not looking to cruise full time. Like I mentioned most my trips are 2-4 days.

Maybe I should have listed my priorities:

1. Wife
2. Family - to be
3. Providing a home (on land)
4. Sailing

Thanks for the constructive comments. I am interesting to hearing how others have done weekend trips with similar situations.

Thanks for the input


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[jeffjd]

I maybe should also add the my wife just doesn't have an interest in sailing but she like being away for the weekend and spending time on the island.


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[jeffjd]

Btw I am in Dana Point.

Don't get me wrong I would love for my wife to love sailing but for the next 20 years the dream is to sail with family for long weekends to the local area and teach kids to sail.

After retirement dream may be me doing two different month trips a year without wife but that is in 20 plus years.


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[Compactorguy]

My wife goes over on the express all the time while I single hand over. I don't want to sail over late and due to her schedule it works out fine. We take our Morgan 27 over for weekends and weeks at a time. Gets a little crowded when the step kids, 8 and 9, come with us, but we have lots of fun and are outside swimming and playing most of the time. We did 10 days at the isthmus with them this summer and two weeks in December by ourselves and had a great time
A bigger boat = bigger expense. keep the one you have and repair the motor yourself. I see people looking at boats in my marina who when young had a boat and for last 30 years whished they had one. If the slip fees get to costly move it up to Wilmington and save some money that's were I'm at when not in Two Harbors.

[barnakiel]

Think if this take may make sense for you:

1) Sell the big boat and spend a fraction on a dayboat. Keep the balance in a long term investment account (this will become the seed of your next boat budget). Sail the dayboat in between you jobs, mortgages and kids. Try to get them (wife and kids, not bankers) involved.

2) Try being a family man and see where this takes you (plural you here).

3) In due time, sell the daysailer (or not) and get a family cruiser (or not). Depending on whats and whys of your future condition.

As I watch my friends who started their families, they are hardly ever sailing. Except for the families where both mom and pap come from the sailing background.

b.

[Stu Jackson]

Given your plans, keep the boat, fix the motor, live your life.

It'd be a LOT more helpful if you told us what kind of motor and what's broken.

If it's an A4, it's soooo easy to fix it's silly.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by jeffjd

Starting this thread 80% for me and 20% for would be owners.

Currently I have a 1980 islander bahama 30 in good condition worth $16-20k if the engine gets fixed. The sails, standing and running rigging is 3 yrs old. It has simple systems that I like. I live in Southern California so slips are pricy and my cruising grounds are Catalina island about 35 -40 nm away. Most my trips are 2-4 days.

I love sailing, my wife loves spending time with me, so I single hand most the time and 1/2 the time she ferries over one way. 1/2 my trips are with the guys. We are starting a family soon... Hopefully two kids.

I think this is a common situation. And the questions are

1. Is keeping the 35 yr old boat that is a little smaller but cheaper the best plan. I run a $10-12k budget per year for everything, however I may need to repower this year.

2. Sell her, wait a couple years until all kids are at least 2 and buy a bigger boat, like 36'. Max I can see spending is $65k including repair to get to the same condition of my current boat.

3. Sell her and charter because kids take up too much time and money to own a boat.

Follow up- if sell and buy bigger any suggested boats to own for the long term... Given my location and cruising ground? I would love to shave an hour off the Catalina trip.


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Keep what you have and enjoy it, unless you want to trade the wife in. Doesn't sound like it. If it isn't her bag you are going to have to live with that. I Know about that from experience.

[Greenhand]

Here is another vote for keeping what you have. It is plenty big for family weekends - it is still bigger and better equipped than your average tent.

[oldragbaggers]

+1 more for keeping what you have.

If your wife doesn't really like to sail and you are comfortable singlehanding this boat that's a huge plus. Your time will be even more limited once children come along, and you may find that your wife may go with you even less because getting small children corralled up and packing all the gear they need for the day is a job in itself, so if she already doesn't enjoy it that much you may just find her saying "no thanks honey, I'll just stay home with the kids this time."You already have the expense of it under control and you don't yet know how those babies are going to change your life when they come.

As far as bigger goes.....sometimes bigger is not better. We have up-sized before and regretted it. When time is limited to day sails and weekends we have found that often times you sail less with a bigger boat just because getting them ready and getting underway is more complicated. When we had our smaller boats, going out for an hour or two in the evening was no big deal. But we were often not so inclined to do so with the bigger boats.

Since you're already playing and having a good time with what you have why not let the rest play out a little and see what happens before you make any changes.

[cwyckham]

Obviously, I can't tell you what to do. I can tell you what we did, though.

We have a 35' boat, we both love to sail and have other outdoorsy adventures, and we have a 4 month old boy.

As you are probably aware, babies tend to involve some level of logistics to go do things. The boat is our adventure vehicle. We have a portable, safe, comfortable, heated family pod that we can take with us wherever we go. Adventure on the outside, safe and warm inside.

Keep the boat and take the babies sailing!!