Too Late To Start ?

[Lancerbye]

You are never too late. I was 62 when I got a 44 foot motor sailer. Having the right boat is the key. I single hand so everthing has to be easy. I often refer my boat to being senior friendly. Twin engines, bowthruster, Furling main and jib, all handled by one electric winch inside the cabin. A good windless with a good anchor that can be also controlled from the inside steering station. As many bells and whistles as you feel comfortable with. This boat can do 12 knots or cruise on one engine at 6.5 knots. It is easy to sail. It is not a racer but last summer while crossing the Straits of Georgia ( Salish sea) under sail I left a ketch with it's 4 sails behind. Beam reach in 15 knot winds.

[Wavewacker]

Originally Posted by zeehag

wavewhacker--i am an oldish phartess on a 40 ft boat. ye can doit----- isnt that hard. if i can, you can.....

Hey Zeehag, I am very comfortable with my masculinity and have been known to wear pink oxford shirts and navy slacks with black loffers, so I won't be falling for that "if i can, you can" stuff, you probably have salt in your viens!



It's not that I can't do it, there are other variables, more maintenance, higher running expenses, usually higher initial expenses, more in fees, taxes, marina mooring fees, more draft for my shallow waters, so it's not that I can't do it so much as I'm not sure I want to try it...LOL

Love that avitar BTW Zeehag, is that really you? LOL

[zeehag]

nope i dont publish my face without good concealment or lack of tag.
i am in lowest income prolly soon to be without if the powers that wannabe do what they wanna do----isnt that bad having a big boat--anchoring beats marinas and the exercise is good for ye. i use a kayak. my decks are easy to walk--wide and flat, and interior is comfy, and as an added plus-- my dang boat dont sail into weather....lol makes it easier to sail and more comfortable to cruise. tracks well.
maintenance--- not bad-- just constant...parts are larger so are easier to hang on to .....

[Minga]

I will be 58 this year. Lost my Mom and my Dad. I do not want to waste rest of my life looking after 3 bedroom home and some land (getting harder on my own) and get to the stage where later on i will be telling my self " you are idiot, why didn't you do this earlier) I am selling my home and looking for suitable costal sail boat where i can be confy to live on board with my 14year old dog Penny. Hopefully i may be able to get some income from time to time doing engine maintenance (diesel fitter by trade).
Yes it is a scary thing to do, but, what tha heck .

[VirtualVagabond]

Originally Posted by Minga

I will be 58 this year. Lost my Mom and my Dad. I do not want to waste rest of my life looking after 3 bedroom home and some land (getting harder on my own) and get to the stage where later on i will be telling my self " you are idiot, why didn't you do this earlier) I am selling my home and looking for suitable costal sail boat where i can be confy to live on board with my 14year old dog Penny. Hopefully i may be able to get some income from time to time doing engine maintenance (diesel fitter by trade).
Yes it is a scary thing to do, but, what tha heck .

Welcome to the forum.
It sometimes takes a wake up call to take stock and apply the rocking chair test.... when looking back from my rocking chair, what will I want my fondest memories to be?

Good luck.

[VirtualVagabond]

Wavewacker,
You need focus, buddy. You are throwing around so many unrelated options you'll never find the answers. Maybe your thinking works like brainstorming, and thats ok, but eventually you'll need to draw conclusions or this part of the process will drive you mad.

Suggestion:
Clearly define each option. A pen and paper helps here.
Try to get mental pictures of what your actual daily life will be like with each option. Good points and bad.
Decide which lifestyle you see yourself actually enjoying.

THEN SHUT OUT THE OTHERS AND GET STUCK INTO FINDING THE RIGHT BOAT FOR THE TASK.

We've decided to go cruising. The question was cats or monos... I like both and Sandy would go either way but she hates boats that feel like floating caravans.
We decided mono because we can look at sailing a cat if/when a mono gets too much for us. (I'm nudging 64).
Old or newer?
Against most advice, we're going to go for a Vagabond47/Force50/Formosa51 type boat.
Why?
Because we are old romantics. We love the salty traditional spirit of sailing they embody. We will be on the hook somewhere most of the time, so it first and foremost is a home ie needs to be comfortable and have space, that sails just fine if you're sailing the right season in the right direction. And they've got thumping great diesels for the odd occassion you have to compromise.
We know they need constant maintenance, but it's going to be our lifestyle and we don't mind sanding, varnishing, repairing things etc.
But we also know that we will not only be living our own dream, but feeding the romantic dreams of kids and land locked wage slaves wherever we go, and that is a big, invisible contribution to make.

Just a few thoughts.

Good luck

[Jim Cate]

[QUOTE=VirtualVagabond;785592]Wavewacker,
You need focus, buddy. You are throwing around so many unrelated options you'll never find the answers. Maybe your thinking works like brainstorming, and thats ok, but eventually you'll need to draw conclusions or this part of the process will drive you mad.


Vic has nailed it here. WW, we can't advise you because you keep changing the parameters.

Cheers,

Jim

[Wavewacker]

Yes, you're right, lots of thoughts in this thread! Brainstorming I guess.

In the face of danger or crisis I am very quick to decide what to do. It's when you are not forced to decide that time is spent (wasted) on the variables.

I think too what I have been pointing out are some of the issues that really do relate to age. You physical well being, health, finances, physical abilities to live a "harder" life, social aspects, getting around for provisions just about everything is age related. To say just get out there sounds great and I agree with that outlook. But is it prudent?

The only way to know is to do it!

The right boat has alot to do with how much one will suffer or enjoy the voyage.

I have been walking myself through several days of what it might be like and giving considerations to small things.

I have a cabin where the well kept picking up a sulfur taste. I had a water filter put in, but it was still strong. I hauled water for a couple years for cooking and drinking. The cabin is about 80 feet away from my road down a rather steep hill, so I have experienced lake front living, but my cabin did not rock.

This morning I took my dog out for her business. 48 degrees and damp air. I thought, how would last night have been on the water, getting up and taking her out? I could do that. I can see myself wondering in to the marina house for coffee and sitting around with the sailor spit and whittle club and chatting about the bow babes we saw yesterday....lol

Even though I lived on the water I'm not a fisherman, but I should probably take that up......doubt I could get excited about it, but to pass some time with some purpose.

But, I'm sure I will need some land transportation with me to get away for practicle as well as entertainment jaunts. I have not solved my logistical needs yet.

[zeehag]

ww----SAIL SOUTH!!!!! is warmer....48 sounds downright cold.....

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by VirtualVagabond

Welcome to the forum.
It sometimes takes a wake up call to take stock and apply the rocking chair test.... when looking back from my rocking chair, what will I want my fondest memories to be?

Good luck.

I agree with Minga and this poster. Do the big things you want to do after the first wake up call. Don't wait for the second refrigerator to fall on you because you might not survive that one.

[Don1500]

Originally Posted by Wavewacker

I know I have missed some good deals simply because I was not ready to jump in. Taking too much time shopping for the "right" boat will probably mean never getting on the water, IMO, the "right" boat does not exist as they all present some compromise.

I have missed many "perfect" boats because I can't be there to inspect them. I can't leave here till the house closes. I will then go to the Houston/Galveston area to have a real good look at what is available. I also feel that the best buys never make it to the internet, they sell too fast. I am not upset about the boats I have missed, I know there will be others. I do still spend hours looking at the adds though.

[jconnor3]

62 here and finally living my dream and that of about every living soul. But how many actually do it? Very very few. You are about to embark on the ubiquitous dream. If for no other reason than you will have stories too tell that will leave those around you wide eyed. Grow a beard, get salty, and breathe the rarified air of a thousand of years of sailing and the sea. Read, write, and send photos to the poor B++tards sitting in their cubicles. To sail at sea is preferable to withering away on any level.

I am a former Marine and also a Viet Nam vet and I feel it is just incumbent upon all of us that live to this age to live life to the very limit we can as there were so many comrades who never had the chance. We have not tested our limits so how could we know for sure what they are? Speaking from personal experience I must say that I passed many personal limits over the years because I had the encouragement of my fellow Marines. Just as then we must encourage each other to press on. Feel the exhilaration of exceeding your grasp on a daily basis. Press on sailors, press on.

[Wavewacker]

Semper Fi,

I' an Army guy

Sailing the seven seas is a dream of many but I have tempered that to explore the thousands of miles of rivers and the ICW in the country. A short jaunt to the Bahamas and maybe to the northern areas. No crossings. I couldn't see it all in the next twenty years!

If I go further south, I'd just have to meet Zeehag!

I already have my beard....LOL

I'm in the process of defining my expectations. Since my plan is to basically hang around the US, I really want to take my motorcycle. I could take off and see the sites and I would not be tied to my boat. It would be cheaper than renting vehicles, taxis, buses etc.

[Don1500]

Originally Posted by Wavewacker

Since my plan is to basically hang around the US, I really want to take my motorcycle. I could take off and see the sites and I would not be tied to my boat. It would be cheaper than renting vehicles, taxis, buses etc.

If you're not a hung-up old Harley type you might consider one of THESE. There are many styles and powers, some you could pick up without a jack and throw it on your boat. I tend to think that the atmospheric conditions and the presence of undesirable chemicals (sea water) will render any bicycle or motorcycle almost useless within a year or two. My brother has a 250 scooter and rides it all around the Aderondecks. He was a Harley nut that decided that he just needed to get around as cheap as possible. (NOTE: According to him you receive this as a kit and it takes a little work to get it together, not hard work.)

[Wavewacker]

I have many bikes, currently my cruiser is a 1600 Vulcan, but that isn't what I expect to take, it's my Transalp (V Twin 650 dual sport),weight is 325 pounds. It goes well off road, the V twin is completely another engine than the single 650 cc jobs, on the highway I can cruise at 70/75 all day...70 with two people. Say I get up to new england, I can take off for a couple days and go touring seeing the country side and the mountains, etc.

Along the Mississippi, I can take off in areas and small towns that don't have taxi service, car rentals or public transportation, and there are hundreds of areas like that.

Long ago, I raced bicycles and would ride 120 or more miles a day training, I'm not that kid anymore.

Nothing wrong with a scooter, but by the time you get one big enoungh to cruise at 65 on the highway, carry two people and some gear, the weight is as much if not more than my Transalp, and my Honda is a much better overall bike than any scooter. I think I have the right bike for the mission, it's getting the thing to float that's the problem......lol

This is a problem trying to find the right boat. I can have a boom and aluminum frame fabricated to lift, swing and set the bike down. It's the open floor/deck space and mounting such a frame.

I have heard all kinds of NAs and designers telling me all kinds of silly reasons why you can't do it from the bike rolling around on deck to throwing off the CG of the boat....obviously they must not think anyone has common sence, it would be bolted down and the CG and weigh is no worse than two 250 pound beer drinking fisherman. I'm not going in a canoe....

Sorry for the rant, but when I see pics of some guy in Viet Nam floating down a river on a raft with a motorcycle or a guy with a ATV in his 24' boat, it makes me wonder.....ya know?

Getting back on topic, I'm at an age where I'm to lazy to walk three miles...