Greetings From San Diego

[chriss1784]

Hello everyone, this is Chris here from San Diego. Hope to get to know a lot of people through these boards and this site and learn about boating in general. First off a little about myself, I'm 22 and run a small (emphasis on small) photography company out of san diego, as well as attend san diego state, and will someday finish a degree in business there. Right now i am boatless, however i hope to remedy this in the near future. I have sailed smaller boats before, and now am starting to look into getting one of my own. I am still in the very early planning stages, looking into what kind of boat, where i can find a slip, maintenance costs,and also looking into living aboard as well.

[Morgan Paul]

Hi Chris and welcome. Lots of good info on this forum.

[GordMay]

WELCOME aboard, Chris.

Originally Posted by chriss1784

... Right now i am boatless, however i hope to remedy this in the near future...

I hope that the "remedy" is NOT worse than the disease.

[seasidesis]

The remedy does become a disease or more like an addiction. You gotta love it!

[chriss1784]

yeah, loving these forums so far, giving me a lot of insight that i hadnt even thought about, as far as issues and costs and some really interesting stories as well. As of right now im in japan but will be heading back to san diego in a few weeks, then the disease can fully infect me. due to my somewhat mild experience im so far of the opinion that i am going to be looking for something maybe high 20's lengthwise, does this seem like a good size to start on or is it a little ambitious?

[imagine2frolic]

It depends on what you will do with the boat. Just daysail, liveaboard, etc. etc. What are the plans if you have any for the boat, and yourself?

[chriss1784]

well aside from some piracy and smuggling across the border i was going to try to live aboard, and just day sail mostly, possibly coastal cruising, maybe just up and down the west coast at the very most, as this is will still be a learning boat.

[Dave the Canuck]

For the smuggling/piracy part, I'd recommend a 40 foot cigarette type boat with a bow mounted potato gun (Look for the thread. Too funny).

If you plan to live aboard, though, high 20's might get real small, real quick. Especially if you're over 6 ft.

[chriss1784]

indeed i am, just barely though, i will probably find out best first hand once im back in the US, as for getting small quickly ive been living in a capsule hotel for the last three months, which is pretty much just a coffin with air conditioning and cable tv. i put a link at the bottom if you wanted to see, and before that we were living near the beach in SD with 6 people in a one bedroom, so i think even living on a ten footer would be an increase in personal space from currently. But yeah, i think some in person research is in order

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsule_hotel

[Dave the Canuck]

Dude

You Live in that??? Holy Crap!

That being said, I know a guy who sounds just like you and wouldn't bat an eye. Maybe the funniest guy I know...

Move out so my dog can move in.

[chriss1784]

yeah, its kind of small, but with the money i save from staying at normal hotels i can take longer vacations, will have been here 3 months by the time i leave, blasted visa expiring and school is starting back up, and need to replenish my ailing bank accounts. i just got to to the spud gun thread, which somehow trailed off into me finding a uscg thread, and realized i may need to gun it out with johnny law, but im thinking instead of the cannon type spud launcher, what about smaller munitions in greater quantity. perhaps an egg howitzer?

[Dave the Canuck]

Find some motivated chickens and the world is yours...

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Chriss,
Welcome aboard! Yes, a 28 or 29 will suit you just fine and be more room than you currently have. They can be had pretty reasonably. The big cost will be slip fees.
I'm a grad of SDSU and so is my daughter who still lives there.
I used to live in Chula Vista and I heard they have a marina there now that is fairly reasonable in cost.
Good luck. Just a caution - don't mess with the USCG. They have real guns and are able to write tickets for big fines. I know were probably kidding but I've met and been a young sailor who was issued a firearm and sometimes you just want to see if it works.
Kind regards,
JohnL

[chriss1784]

yeah i have bad luck with police and citations on land enough so i think ill try to avoid them at sea as much as is possible. and how bad are we talking on san diego slip costs for a 30 footer? the only one i ahve been able to find came to around 300 for that length. does this seem like an average price?