Hi all! I've been
posting mainly in the Meet & Greet thread I started which gives a basic background on myself/family, but the Reader's Digest version is my husband is AD Coast Guard going on 13 yrs and I'm a metalsmith working in a home based studio. We have two small
children and have been contemplating cutting our shore ties completely and doing a
liveaboard lifestyle.
I've been reading for days on the CF in just about every topic possible to familiarize myself w/ boats, the
buying process, the
money involved in monthly costs/maintenance, etc. I also am reading a book on my Kindle app about the liveaboard/cruisers lifestyle from beginning to end that's proven helpful. Obviously, none of this makes me very well-versed, if at all, so I have a ton of questions w/ no real "sailor" friends to ask other than all you kind folks.
Primarily w/ this post, my questions are limited to mine and my husband's lack of actual hands on sailing experience. He's been on huge ships his entire career, but never used a
boat w/ actual sails/masts. Me, I've never sailed anything greater than my Hobie
kayak w/ a small
mast.
I see from the
buying process that it is recommended to
charter a
boat to get a feel for something for a few days aboard, space limitations, layouts, mechanical things, etc. Does anyone have a ballpark estimate on what this costs for two of us to do together? And do we have to be able to sail the boat ourselves to do this?
My other questions is related closely and concerns the sea trials that are part of the buying process. WHO does the sea trial? The
current owner and you ride along to ask questions and what not? This seems a bit like buying a car w/o knowing how to drive.
That being said, I'm sure I sound like I'm putting the cart ahead of the horse, but I'm wondering, so I thought I'd ask.
I have sent out a few requests to see about a
sailing school for him and I, as we'd need to learn to sail before we buy a yacht...though a few CF ppl said it wasn't outside the realm of experiences that some just buy the boat they want and learn how to sail fresh from square one on their own decks.
It looks like it will take us a good 5yrs to save the down payment necessary, as we aren't homeowners, so I'd like to
work out a plan that's reasonable and doable so that when we hit our down payment goal, we're ready to go.
Thoughts?
Thank you in advance....
~Danielle