Noob question / Ten year plan?

[hblask]

Yeah, we plan to look at as many boats as we can before we buy, right now we're still trying to get a feel for where that balance is between price to buy and maintain vs how much we will have left to live on.

So what is missing from the PDQ I linked? Why is it not suitable?

And what about something like this?

2005 Hanse SLOOP Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

Is that suitable for a new-to-big-boat family of four with modest cruising goals?

[Pblais]

Here is the trick. Find as many boats that are actually for sale and you can afford and then buy the one in the best shape! Theoretical boats you researched don't count. Only boats you have walked on count! It's only suitable until you've walked on it and compared it to something else you could actually buy. Yachtworld boats ALWAYS look great on the Internet.


The Hanse could be I would say. Family of 4 is another matter. The boat gets really tiny after a few weeks. 60 ft might not be big enough! How you manage a family is really the bigger deal. The boat is the only thing everybody will agree to hate! That is after you! Family of 4 redoubles the problem. Charter for a week some place and decide it's the best money EVER spent. People matter more than boats. If they all get along it's heaven and you know what the other side is like on the bad days on land. It can be worse!

It's the crew and what you choose to explore and handle that will decide if it's fun or not. "Or not" isn't pretty and clearly NOT fun. Work that part out or it's over in a 4 months! If you can't vacation 3 weeks in a camper then it's a problem! Social dynamics are a critical part! Test those waters before the boat!

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by hblask

Yeah, we plan to look at as many boats as we can before we buy, right now we're still trying to get a feel for where that balance is between price to buy and maintain vs how much we will have left to live on.

So what is missing from the PDQ I linked? Why is it not suitable?

And what about something like this?

2005 Hanse SLOOP Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

Is that suitable for a new-to-big-boat family of four with modest cruising goals?

I feel looking at "as many boats as you can" is a way to make yourself crazy. I looked at 4 in person before getting my first boat (39') and only one when I got my current boat. You want to sail or shop?

That Hanse to me is a great boat for your goals!

[bdslack]

Hi!

We are planning the exact same thing. I am 42 and we hope to drop lines in ten years for a ten year outing. My parents did the exact same thing on a 42' cat that took them around the world. My wife and I are planning on the same when our eight year old packs up for college.

They kept very detailed logs at slackadventure.com.

Best of luck in your journey. My tip is - don't wait until you are 65. It's too close to 70 and that is too old in my opinion.

[bdslack]

I don't know if this helps. My dad bought a 42' FP cat for around 260ish. Year 1 they spent 88K (that was outfitting / repairing / etc). Year 2 they spent 48K. Year 3 it dropped to about 33K and stayed right about there for about 8 years until they sold the boar for about 230K (now fully blue water equipped - yet ten years older).

Beer is cheap and so is food if you know where to sail. I'm 119 months away from reenacting the same plan adjusted for inflation. Actually going to the boat shows to look at new boats so in ten years I will know the exact boat I will want (used and ten years old).

[FecklessDolphin]

I am in year 7 of a 10-year plan.

For determining how much I can spend on the boat I have done a timeline of everything I want to do with a boat including refit, short trips before our year-long cruise and the cruise itself. I have used budgets people share on this and other sites and list those costs alongside my timeline. I have looked into things like mooring fees in various locations and insurance costs. We have also thought about costs of re-entry into a land-based life after the cruise. These considerations have given me an idea of what I can afford to spend on the initial purchase.

For sailing experience I keep a 27' boat on Lake Minnetonka. I already had experience with my Laser and a Hobie 18. We overnight on the lake with the kids and I race on Thursdays with Wayzata. We have chartered with the kids in the Caribbean and I plan to sail in the Caribbean 1500 with an experienced skipper.

The goals for our family that we think about also include interpersonal development, living simply and getting closer to nature. We keep a little book to which we can add pages with our ideas. And off we go!

[nknowland]

We are also former Minnesota residents who retired 5 yrs ago, sold the house, bought a boat and never looked back.

Suggestions that helped us:

1. A smaller boat is easier to handle and cheaper to maintain than a larger boat (duh!). Charges are based on length of boat, so the costs of that extra 10ft add up over time.

2. Most couples are on 40ft boats and quite happy. On a cat, you can even go to 35 ft. Keep the draft to 5-5.5ft.

3. Buy your boat where you will sail.

4. Forget the west coast. Too expensive and not enough accessible harbors.
Head east. The Atlantic offers lots of options ... both offshore and the ICW. And the beautiful Bahamas.

5. The sailing lifestyle helps keep you fit. No room for junk food with limited storage and working in cramped spaces is a great workout.

6. The longer you wait, the longer the list will be that you think you need to accomplish. Buy a less expensive boat and go sooner.

[mstrebe]

I assume the Hobie 18' is an Adventure Island Tandem--they're great boats and sailing it is teaching you more than you think. Without a jib to tack though they are much easier.

Handling a boat up to 40' is not particularly difficult, nor is ocean sailing necessarily worse than lake sailing especially here in SoCal.

I've been sailing for 20 years and was in the Navy prior to that, so I've been doing this my entire adult life; that said, I do work and have a family and so I've been unable to take trips longer than two weeks, which has kept me confined to the "Ensenada to Pt. Conception" area here along with some guest sailing on the east coast.

I think your best bet, given where you are in life and your plan, is to start bare-boat chartering for vacations. Keep your Hobie

I wouldn't spend any money on an intermediate boat between now and your eventual 40' cat just to learn.

I've got that Hobie and while it's a piece of cake to sail and maintain, you are learning what you need to know. I would mod it to add a hank-on jib (look at what the guys on the Hobie Forums are doing that way) so that you get the sail handling experience of tacking a 100%+ jib, and call it good.

Beyond that, take a few caribbean vacations and bare-boat charter to get some large boat experience. Make some friends on the coast that have boats and go sailing with them to learn the ropes.

[hblask]

Thanks everyone for the advice and encouragement. There are days where all this seems so overwhelming I think I'll just end up giving up and retiring to a nice beach condo somewhere, but reading all the stories here keeps me dreaming of bigger things.

It seems like the biggest thing I will have to accept is that, unlike my life up to this point, I can't plan out every detail and sometimes I just need to take a leap of faith. I need to accept that stuff is gonna happen that I don't expect and can't plan for, and the best I can do is to just expect the unexpected. That will be a good lesson for both me and my kids.

Originally Posted by FecklessDolphin

I am in year 7 of a 10-year plan.
For sailing experience I keep a 27' boat on Lake Minnetonka. I already had experience with my Laser and a Hobie 18. We overnight on the lake with the kids and I race on Thursdays with Wayzata. We have chartered with the kids in the Caribbean and I plan to sail in the Caribbean 1500 with an experienced skipper.

A friend of ours recently suggested the Thursday Wayzata races, and said people are always looking for crew/ballast. I've been hoping to get out there this summer.

[MNLandLoc]

My wife and I are also from MN. About 7 years ago we had a ten-year plan and decided to accelerate the whole process and get on a boat much quicker. We now own a catamaran in charter and spent 10 weeks sailing in the last 8 months.

Here is what we did over the 7 years to get where we are today:
0) We saved every $ like crazy....
1) Job: I positioned my skills and experience in a area that lends itself to consulting and short-term assignments. I worked 3 months in 2014 and 3 months this year.
2) Investments: I moved many investments into interest/dividend bearing equities. I take penalty-free early withdraws (SEPP) from my IRA.
3) Sailing: sailed with friends who had boats. Did a passage as crew. Took ASA classes. Read every book I could find.
4) Went to boat shows. Miami in Feb is a great getaway from cold MN. Talked to everyone I could. Talked to delivery captains and professional sailors about their choice of boats.
5) Watched the boat market carefully. Took the plunge and bought a slightly used Moorings 4600. Kept the boat in charter so I didn't have to tackle all of the logistics of owning a boat 2500 miles away from my house.

Now we work part of the year and sail part of the year. When the charter contract is up in 12 months, we will be ready to take over the boat and sail away...

[FecklessDolphin]

isn't it cool how many people from Minnesota want to do this sort of thing. maybe it is just to escape from the northern climate, but i wonder if it is that the whole northern half of our state is wilderness.

[laika]

Since this turned into a MN reunion, hello and god speed!

I'm a youngen doing the boat thing solo with a dog, so situation is a bit different. Only thing I'd add is that the sailing part has been easy. Becoming a specialist in all the systems to the point I feel self-reliant has been the real leg work.

BTW, I've met a lot of cruising kids in the last couple years and not a bad spritzel amongst em.

Best of luck to you and the fam out there!

[rabbi]

10 year plans? seriously? Most of the things we have done over the last decade would have never come to our minds 10 years ago.

10 years ago was 2005. None of us had the slightest interest in sailing back then, both of us busy with their jobs. We did not even have kids in 2005. Fast forward 6 years into 2011: we cast off for a 1 year trip from the Med to the Carib with our two kids on a boat we just bought and refitted.


I think someone said: life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans

[hblask]

Originally Posted by rabbi

10 year plans? seriously? Most of the things we have done over the last decade would have never come to our minds 10 years ago.

10 years ago was 2005. None of us had the slightest interest in sailing back then, both of us busy with their jobs. We did not even have kids in 2005. Fast forward 6 years into 2011: we cast off for a 1 year trip from the Med to the Carib with our two kids on a boat we just bought and refitted.


I think someone said: life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans

I started this thread about my "10 year plan" just over 3 years ago, and now it looks like it will become real next year -- six years ahead of schedule. There are still a few hurdles to clear, financial and otherwise, but it is looking very good, and my wife's future job prospect makes it all much less risky. It was a 10 year plan because I couldn't imagine things working out to where I could be at this point, but everything has fallen into place. So now it's my "one year plan", and that's a bit scary. What am I to do with all this crap I've accumulated for 30+ years?

[rabbi]

Originally Posted by hblask

So now it's my "one year plan", and that's a bit scary. What am I to do with all this crap I've accumulated for 30+ years?

Wait until you find a boat and have to pull the trigger and sink lifetime savings into a hole in te water. THAT is scary. But very cool at the same time.

As for the stuff.. we kept everything including our house as we just wanted to do a one year cruise. Selling or renting the house would have been a nightmare in that situation and would not have brought many savings.