How Early is TOO Early to Live Aboard?

[Tampabayfireman]

Throwing a few pennies worth in, have a few comments to add to the confusion. A lot depends on the boat you buy. I bought my boat year and a haft ago, knowing that it was 4 yrs til i pull the plug and go south. I planned a two year major refit, yes while living on it, then two more years doing the more detailed changes. Yes, a year in a haft in, ahead on some projects, behind on others, but if i had not been living on it, wouldnt know haft of what i do, nevermind, finding other things that just will not work. I do work 5 days a week, S.O. and two kids, and yes, while i would love to sail every day, knew for the first 2 yrs or so, it wouldnt happen that way. Dock Queen? nope. Its all about what you make of it. I wouldnt have it any other way.Cost, well yes its a little more at times than a house and at other times, wayyy cheeper... Done the house thing, and even if i had to sell newspapers on the corner, wouldnt move back to dry land. Yes, just my opinion, and while everyones situation is different, one this is true.. you either live your dreams or dream your life away...

[avril25]

Someone around here writes: IF YOU REALLY WANT TO DO SOMETHING, YOU'LL FIND A WAY. IF YOU ARE NOT SO SURE, YOU'LL FIND EXCUSES. If you are that financially set
I'd say go now. Take the money and sail your ass off, live is too short.

[Tampabayfireman]

One more thing that helps too, being a little OCD and anal about where things live. Like the toaster comment. Little things like reminding the kids the broom doesnt live there, or putting things back away afterwards... It not like the house, where you go, "its the kids room..." things have a tendancy to migrate out of their rooms.. Does it work every day? Nope, but a few well tossed items into the water, welll.....lol.. they learn to either put it away or go running for the nets... like shoes, (treading water here...) gf's shoes make really good boats with a paperback as a sail on them... How many shoes does one really need????

[witzgall]

I am surprised nobody is asking for clarification about the $$$ figures you threw out there. If I read this correctly, you will have $335k in the bank after the sale of your house, and 70k a year until retirement as income.

So what percentage of that $335k, your net worth, do you intend to spend on the boat?

Chris

[mesquaukee]

Living Aboard While Preparing to Go Cruising
We made a 5 year plan to wind up each of our businesses find a boat sell the house and go cruising. My wife had never sailed, I grew up with boats, canoes, kayaks and a little 12 ft sailing dingy. We did our research to try to find out what made the perfect cruising boat. All the advice from friends, books, magazines, etc. seemed to conflict with each other.
My wife noticed a picture of “our” boat on the internet, she liked the transom windows and the poop deck. She has a thing about pirates. I spent 20 long hours driving through Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia in the dead of winter. The engine started on the 3rd hit. We now owned a boat, we were committed. I knew I had a lot of work to do looking at the rest of the boat, my wife had her windows.
We moved onto the boat on April 1st. . We made numerous interior changes, added gear, modified the rig, etc. It was brutal, 14 hour days 7 days a week. We did not want to over winter on Cape Breton Island. Late in August, year #4, we headed south on the shakedown cruise. Our intent was to sail down to Florida and then back in the spring. On the way we would correct, replace and/or add gear.
During this southbound shakedown cruise we discovered the 1st Law of Cruising; As soon as you make a plan it will change. We decided to go to the Bahamas. That plan caused Law #1 to reassert itself. Using our old sails we dodged the Coast Guard on our way to Cuba. We did not enjoy the thought of going back to the US ; we diverted to Cancun. The hurricane season was fast approaching. Belize was safer according to local knowledge than Mexico. We spent 4 days tied up in the Drowned Cays in Belize waiting for a hurricane that was at first delayed and then it decided for no apparent reason to go elsewhere. The no-see-ums loved us; we didn’t appreciate them; we headed south to the Rio.
We were finally cruisers. We had no schedule, no fixed plan and we needed a whole lot of stuff. The list was long, new sails, engine parts, miscellaneous bits and pieces and all the unfinished projects.
We ended up going to Columbia and Panama after a short buying spree in the land of plenty, the US.
While it was inconvenient at times when we headed down to the Rio that first year as we were not fully equipped we would not do it differently as we discovered what we really needed. The list was not long.

[VERTIGO]

So what percentage of that $335k, your net worth, do you intend to spend on the boat?

All of it.. That money is earmarked for boat, wanting to save a biy more over the next coule years before we are full retirement. At retirement we should be $2,500 -3,000/ month steady fixed income.

[GeoPowers]

How early is too early? You decide!====>

Today was a typical day- Woke up, went to work (bummer), got home, went out on the dinghy, dropped crab pot, came back to boat, ate dinner, took the kids on a walk, got the kids ready for bed, read stores, went out and picked up crabs (including a BIGBOY dungeness- I'll have to upload a pic one of these days), dinghy ride back to boat, wife cooked crabs, I picked crabs. Now a few lbs of crab later, it is bedtime. Other days include paddling around the marina, walking along the docks, tinkering with the boat, and planning the next underway...

... And we are not "tied to the dock". You just need to pick a frequency to get underway (like at least 3x a month or whatever) and stick with it! After all, isn't that the whole point of living on a boat?? We moved aboard in late April, and already have about 800 nm under the keel. I can't imagine just sitting around pierside, but the choice is in the individual (or family).

Finally, I also want to throw in that your learing curve for your boat is sooo much stronger when you live aboard. I can't belive it hasn't even been 3 months since we moved aboard- we've learned soo much. At the same time, we have a blast every day, so time is flying by.

We are a Navy family living on a non-Navy boat- and love it!!

Frank

[VERTIGO]

Thanks for all the input from everybody.

Talked it over with the better half and decided to remove any "time frame" once we find the right boat at the right price and our finance plan covers it, we will go aboard.

[Dreaming Yachtsman]

Vertigo,

Congratulations on your recent decision to go aboard without a time frame! As did many previous posters, I also encourage you to cut the lines and actually start cruising as soon as reasonably able.

We owned our boat for 2 years before starting our cruise. While we did not live aboard during that time, we were on the boat at least 2 weekends a month, at least one of which was under way. During that period, we had plenty of opportunity to learn the boat and install the requisite cruising equipment (e.g. generator, A/C, watermaker, chart plotter, etc.). The boat was new from the factory so we knew how every new component or system interfaced with the rest. That experience has been quite beneficial over the subsequent 5 years cruising, especially now that repairs seem to be coming up more frequently.

We have met many families who "home school" their grade school age children but not so many with high school age, probably because parents of high school children generally have a few more years to work before they can retire.

Finally, one word of caution: maintaining a boat and cruising always costs more than you expect, especially if you spend much time in marinas.

[gs41escapade]

As soon as you can part with your 'stuff'. It is liberating, but can take some time to divest. Once you do, however, you will rarely if ever miss all the bric-a-brac.

[Pelagic]

I think GeoPowers gives you the most compelling kind of reasons to follow your heart and reach out for a space that is not easily defined…. as soon as you can.

The inherent discipline and teamwork that a live aboard yacht demands, will only strengthen your son’s character and from what I have observed from other live aboard kids, gives them tangible reasons to excel, so as to maintain the wholesome lifestyle they have grown to love.

I remember once visiting a live aboard family where I was docked and instead of MTV the kids were trying to “mariner…ize” Wordsworth’s famous poem “Ode to a Daffodil”

That impressed me!

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:

I gazed–and gazed–but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.