Greetings from Washington State!

[TheDrakesofWA]

Hello!

Excited to find these forums. Our family has always spent a lot of time on the water, primarily lakes and rivers. My wife and I would like to spend time on the ocean when we retire, which is probably in about 10 years.

This looked like a great place to start learning about boating in a larger vessel and on the seas. Maybe figure out what boat will suit us best.

John

[Celestialsailor]

Welcome to the forum

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by TheDrakesofWA

Hello!

Excited to find these forums. Our family has always spent a lot of time on the water, primarily lakes and rivers. My wife and I would like to spend time on the ocean when we retire, which is probably in about 10 years.

This looked lime a great place to start learning about boating in a larger vessel and on the seas. Maybe figure out what boat will suit us best.

John

Where in WA?

[TheDrakesofWA]

We are in Selah, WA. Near Yakima. =)

[TheDrakesofWA]

Currently my boat:


Wife's boat:
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b3...pscbpunxt6.jpg

[Steadman Uhlich]

Howdy John! Welcome aboard CF!

That speedboat looks like a lot of fun. Go fast!

[TheDrakesofWA]

This is the wife's Euroline Twister:



and my old Tahiti Super Tiger:

[TheDrakesofWA]

Ok, I tried to post a couple of pics of the boats we use here but the posts keep disappearing Are we not supposed to post pics, or are we not supposed to put up pics of boats that are not large cruising style boats?

LOL, I guess I must have missed something.


Either way, I want to learn about boating on the ocean, pros and cons of different types of boats, etc.

Figured this was a good place to start studying!

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by TheDrakesofWA

We are in Selah, WA. Near Yakima. =)

I know where that is. Did work in Yakima for about 5 weeks about a decade ago. Generally would get done about 1300 every day and I had a company truck and gas card so I went exploring most afternoons. One of my best memories was making it down to the Columbia and seeing the Maryhill Stonehenge war memorial and the state park observatory at Goldendale.

So when you go in about a decade will it just be you and an SO or will there be kids along?

What's your estimated budget? By this I mean what do you expect to spend to buy and outfit and what do you expect to have annually for living, cruising and maintenance expenses?

Where do you want to go? Offshore to the South Pacific? Up to Alaska? Down to Baja?


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[cruiser_wannabe]

Welcome to the forum from Anacortes!


Sent from my iPad using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[TheDrakesofWA]

Adelie,

Yes, there are a lot of cool places here in this area.

When the wife and I retire (could be 10 years, that's the plan so far) it will be just us. We were actually looking at buying a small lot in Caye Caulker, Belize. I do not know how feasible traveling from South Texas to Belize would be, but that is what we are drifting towards right now. I had initially thought about sailing it, but I am not certain, as we may be living on board for some time, we may need to look at a powered boat instead.

As for budget, I am not really sure, I am really trying to get a feel for the type of boat we will need/want and then go from there. We won't have any bills (hopefully) as everything will be paid off by then, estimate of early retirement income at about 5K US at that time. If we really decide to do this as a move, we may as well sell all the toys, so there will be a decent lump of cash depending on their value at that time (Harleys, boats, hot rods, etc). Really hard to guess where that will be, honestly.

I guess the big part is to look at the types of vessels there are, stregnths and weaknesses, what can make the trip safely and with the resources it can hold, etc.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by TheDrakesofWA

Adelie,

Yes, there are a lot of cool places here in this area.

When the wife and I retire (could be 10 years, that's the plan so far) it will be just us. We were actually looking at buying a small lot in Caye Caulker, Belize. I do not know how feasible traveling from South Texas to Belize would be, but that is what we are drifting towards right now. I had initially thought about sailing it, but I am not certain, as we may be living on board for some time, we may need to look at a powered boat instead.

As for budget, I am not really sure, I am really trying to get a feel for the type of boat we will need/want and then go from there. We won't have any bills (hopefully) as everything will be paid off by then, estimate of early retirement income at about 5K US at that time. If we really decide to do this as a move, we may as well sell all the toys, so there will be a decent lump of cash depending on their value at that time (Harleys, boats, hot rods, etc). Really hard to guess where that will be, honestly.

I guess the big part is to look at the types of vessels there are, strengths and weaknesses, what can make the trip safely and with the resources it can hold, etc.

So let's say you have $150k to buy and outfit the boat and $5k/mo to live/cruise/maintain.

The $5k/mo sounds pretty decent for just a couple. The only issue might be health insurance. If you get catastrophe insurance that will transport you back to the US and maintain Medicare/Medicaid coverage you should be good at a reasonable percentage of your income.

For the boat $150k total means $100k to buy and another $50k to outfit. Your mileage may vary but that is a good ballpark.

Power vs sail:
-For a given length of boat you will get more living area in a power boat. AS a guess a 30' power boat will have the living area of a 40' sailboat.
-A power boat is also likely to be flatter, that is there won't be stairs or ladders to negotiate when you move for cockpit to galley to saloon. Likely you will still need to go up and down to get to berthing areas. This may be an issue as you get older or maybe not.
-I would rather be on a 30' sailboat than a 45' powerboat in a named storm, heck there a bunch of 25' sailboats and even a 20 footer I would rather be on. Sailboats have it all over power boats in heavy weather, they can continue making distance towards the destination long after powerboats have to adjusted their course to keep the wind and waves coming from a preferred direction. And in the worst conditions can be hove to. Powerboats generally need to be kept head to wind and waves in the worst conditions which means actively steering the boat while conditions persist.
-Even if you never put up the sails, sailboats get way better fuel economy than a powerboat. I have acquaintances that motored round the world and spent $59k just for fuel. If I recall correctly they were getting 2-3nm/gal on a 46' trawler type vessel. A 50' sailboat would get 5-8nm/gal.

I need to go to work now. Perhaps more blithering from me later.

[TheDrakesofWA]

I am happy to read your blithering, lol.

I never said thank you, but I meant to!