Liveaboard / Catamaran?

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Brogan007

...He told me to lease a boat for 6 months....

Good idea I think, but I've been in the industry a long time and have not run across many boats for lease -- did you lease one? If so, how did you find a boat for lease?

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Thatgrimguy

I'm in the Gulfport/Biloxi area!! I have spent a lot of my life on boats, I love the water. I was born and raised here. I am no stranger to power boats, but have basically no experience on sail boats besides summers at the GYC.

I spent a week on a 45 foot cat as a guest and it was the best week of my life

Cool, I spent a lot of my youth on the Gulf coast and have done a lot of sailing there. Mississippi sound is a great little cruising ground -- whatever boat you chose you are in great venue.

[Thatgrimguy]

I've been totally falling in love with the Seawind 1250, Seems to be in my price range and what a great layout and reviews. I just need to get in one and actually look at it.

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Thatgrimguy

I've been totally falling in love with the Seawind 1250, Seems to be in my price range and what a great layout and reviews. I just need to get in one and actually look at it.

Know a few folks who own them and really like them.

[Thatgrimguy]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

Know a few folks who own them and really like them.

what's the best way to go about learning to sail? I doubt my knowledge sailing optimus is going to help much!

[crazycat]

While leasing seems like a good idea, I can count on one hand the amount of times I have seen a lease here in Florida in 26 years of moving and surveying boats. Remember if its going to be a liveboard you are going to have to find a home for the things laying around on it when you go out sailing? I have a storage locker close by I use. There are many factors in purchasing a boat, price ,what you are going to use it for, where you want to travel, draft, knowledge, single hander, etc.

[Thatgrimguy]

Originally Posted by crazycat

While leasing seems like a good idea, I can count on one hand the amount of times I have seen a lease here in Florida in 26 years of moving and surveying boats. Remember if its going to be a liveboard you are going to have to find a home for the things laying around on it when you go out sailing? I have a storage locker close by I use. There are many factors in purchasing a boat, price ,what you are going to use it for, where you want to travel, draft, knowledge, single hander, etc.

We plan to keep a 1600ft townhouse that my girlfriend owns and have all our personal belongings that we don't need daily there. Her father rents it now and covers it's costs so we'll just keep a bedroom and the garage for storage, I also have a huge amount of storage at my business.

All three.. the townhouse, business and marina are in about a 4 mile radius... The only things on the boat will be food, clothes, scuba gear and enough pots/pans and boat related items to live day to day. I can stop by the townhouse on my way home from work each day to exchange stuff I don't need on the boat for anything I do need at the townhome.

[micah719]

Advice? He go-um thataway:

Mahina Expedition - Selecting A Boat for Offshore Cruising

The girlfriend is the one that's really pushing for this over the house!

Awesome indeed. Does she have a similar sister that also happens to like Aussies?

[belizesailor]

Originally Posted by Thatgrimguy

what's the best way to go about learning to sail? I doubt my knowledge sailing optimus is going to help much!

Actually, small boat sailng is a great way to learn. So, the optimus experience is relevant...whether the boat is 8' or 80' the theory of sailing is still the same -- just the mechanics are a bit different.

I've been an ASA Instructor since 1994 so I've taught a large number of people how to sail (need to total that up one day...). Here's my 2c and I am sure others will chime in (lots of posts on this subject here if you search the forums).

My suggestion: A combination of training and on the water experience. This will shorten your learning curve time and give you a good broad training foundation (self taught sailors often have some significant holes in their knowledge base). Don't load up on too many classes in sequence -- intersperse the training with hands-on experience. Specifically, take an introductory class or two and then spend time on the water practicing these skills until they become routine....then take the next class...and so on. A good starting point is to sign up for an ASA Basic Keel Boat (101) class and take it form there. There is an ASA school in Biloxi (Northstar Sailing Charters - Welcome Aboard!). I don't personally know this school, but they are nearby for you. If you don't like them then there are others along the Gulf Coast. Just look up on the ASA web site at Sailing Schools - Learn to Sail with American Sailing Association | ASA.

You are also in a venue with lots of opportunity to gain experience -- plenty of marinas and yacht clubs along the coast there -- start hanging out there and crewing in races etc. Having a little training will help in getting a ride -- there are always people looking for crew. I've crewed in races out of most of the yacht clubs along the Gulf coast from Texas to Florida and have always found them to be a casual friendly group.

[Thatgrimguy]

Hmm... then getting a 14-17 foot hobie cat would be a good idea? I could pick one of those up yesterday and start getting back into the basics. Then by the time I'm ready to purchase the liveaboard I'll have at least 3 years of sailing with some regularity under my belt.

I'm a member of our local yacht club, I'm sure there are adult classes there as well.. I guess i was thinking of how to sail a yacht as opposed to how to sail a sub 20' boat. But if it will all correlate then i'll go buy a small hobie now and start playing again this weekend!

[belizesailor]

Yes, buying a Hobie is a fine idea and you are in a great venue to sail it too.

Learn to sail BEFORE you buy the big shiny new yacht -- now there's a novel idea! I've taught lots of people to sail AFTER they bought the cruising boat -- it works better the other way round. There are an alarming number of cruisers out there with minimal sailing experience. I think sailing is a lot like sex -- it's more fun if you know what you're doing! I suspect your SO will agree on both counts too!

Learning on small boats is better because, like driving a small sports car, you get a better feel for what you are doing. Bigger boats are not harder to sail, in fact in many ways they are easier, but you don't get the tactile feed back so important to really learning to sail. (I suppose I could continue the sex analogy here...but I'm not sure I want that image in my head!)

The only down side to learning on a Hobie is that they do have some quirks specific to small beach cats -- so spend some time on smaller monohulls too so you learn the difference.

BTW learning to sail a mid-sized monohull is relevant to learning to sail a mid-sized cat. Because, there are differences in the way cats handle that you won't fully understand unless you have some mono experience. (This is why the ASA curriculum has monohull specific pre-requisite classes before the cat class).


Go Sailing!

[tamicatana]

thatgrimguy,

we're out of Long Beach MS and can totally hook you up with rides on Corsair trimarans, beach cats and maybe even a Gemini. PM with your info and I'll forward it to my friend with an F-28 trimaran at LBYC, he's always glad for crew and will be happy to show you sailing

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by tamif27

thatgrimguy,

we're out of Long Beach MS and can totally hook you up with rides on Corsair trimarans, beach cats and maybe even a Gemini. PM with your info and I'll forward it to my friend with an F-28 trimaran at LBYC, he's always glad for crew and will be happy to show you sailing

Be careful about hitching a ride on an Fboat.

Once you see how a well designed boat can sail you may have trouble accepting the performance of lesser boats.

[james3]

Originally Posted by Thatgrimguy

I have been reading for a while and always dreamed of living on a boat. I live on the coast about 5 blocks from the beach now and plan to live mostly in a local marina and take trips in the boat that last just a few days. I do want the option to sail anywhere in the Gulf of Mexico on this sailboat though.

I have been reading and researching and am in the extremely beginning stages of planning. Currently my girlfriend (and eventual wife) and I both own a town house in the same development. I have mine paid off and have been planning to sell and buy a home on the water here for a view. After doing some cost comparisons on a ~3000ft home on a 3/4 acre property on the water (insurance/tax alone is $1k a month) vs a ~45 catamaran, I like the prospects of the Cat more and more.

Here is the plan. Sell my townhouse and take my some odd $50k savings and put $125k down with $25k to invest in rigging and upgrades and buy a boat in the 350-400k range. We will still have her townhouse for storage and shelter, but I plan to live full time on the yacht.


In the $400k range total, can I expect to get a late model catamaran with many if not all the modern conviences I would get in a 1100ft townhome. Most importantly laundry, air conditioning, and cooking. I am willing to give up some performance as I don't plan to be ocean bound in this craft. When I'm ready for that, I'll be ready for an upgrade. I do want to be able to sail to and around the Caribbean though. And what models specifically should I look for to sail alone, (I'm not really counting on my dainty woman to help with the lifting much so I want electric winch systems)

So far, the lagoon models look nice, but why the heck are there so many heads?? seems like a lot of upkeep. I would love to retrofit one with 2 baths, and 2 bedrooms, turn the front left cabin into pantry/scuba storage.

Hey I'm in your same situation, I was looking for used Lagoon 440 that seems a good deal and have a lots of happy owner around there. Anyway the 10% of the buying cost maintenance seems really too much this is the reason cos I was asking to someone to gently post their 1 years bill for a boat like this to get a better idea.
I live in the Med I suppose you are from US

[Richard5]

A Hobie 16 will teach you the basics but nothing about handling a liveaboard. So that 3 years of sailing experience will have taught you 1) a spreader from a sheet, a tiller from transom, the pointy end is the bow; 2) Hobie cats are FUN! If you really want to get into it-and you do-you can learn about tuning a rig, sewing sails, fiberglas repair, etc

But you can learn all that in one day. And you will still know nothing about maintenance and repair of systems such as electronics, hydraulics, or engines and associated plumbing.

I suggest a 25-30 foot keelboat on which you could actually make overnight passages. Yes, I said monohull. A simple boat but one that teaches you more than a fun, wet boat like the Hobie 16.

Belizesailor, the same goes in aviation or fast cars; there are oh so many people who buy before knowing. Stupid is as stupid does. At least you have a trade which allows you to captilize on the ignorance of others. At best you can be a messenger of how to properly do what one intends to do so they may avoid arrival to the accident scene.