Hello all,
I recently completed some sailing courses:
ASA 101,103,104 which confirmed that I am definitely interested in all that sailing has to offer. I currently travel as a
medical lab scientist doing 3 month contracts in different locations at short-staffed hospital laboratories. This gives me a lot of flexibility in how much, when and where I want to
work. If I were to get a sailboat to
live aboard, my options would be locations near the
great lakes in summer,
ICW, the gulf and maybe the
Mississippi. I get a housing stipend from my company which would go toward my
boat and slip
fees etc, and hopefully I would be better off financially than getting a short-term apartment
lease. I would like to get any input about how likely it is to be able to get 3 month slips, as well as the ballpark costs associated. (I know this varies greatly depending on season, location,
loa etc. *ballpark* lets assume 35')
I would like to travel for fun via sailboat when I have the funds and free time, eventually moving up to
water sailing">blue
water sailing. I am wondering people's thoughts on if I should get a coastal cruiser initially and then buy the more expensive
blue water sailboat later, or if it would be more cost effective to just go for the
blue water boat right away and get it set up how I want for more extensive trips later.
As it stands I don't know all the things I want in a boat, other than I would like to be able to stand up while down below (6'3") which kind of seems like I need to be in the 35ft+
loa range. I learned on a 39ft o'day from the 80s and I really liked the privacy that 3 cabins offered, standing
headroom and the
cockpit size. I also sailed a
Catalina 320 and down below was a bit small for my liking, doable but not quite what I want if
living aboard. Correct me if i'm wrong, but neither of these would be considered true blue water, right?
Anyway, enough rambling for now. Curious to hear people's thoughts.