Completely Overwhelmed

[deckofficer]

GG,

60T, 80T, still would mean the same to an insurance agent, forcing you to hire a captain. Dry on the PDQ 34 is 6T. This one has only 625 hours on the engines, sale is pending, but just for the experience why not check one out and take it out? Keep the home and spend 3 months during the kid's summer vacation from school to see if this works for you. The biggest positive is one day of the owner showing you the systems, anchoring, docking, and other boat handling skills, your good to go and learn more on your own.

At least take one out for a short cruise.
2002 PDQ MV-34 Passagemaker - Boats.com

[GalaxyGirl]

Originally Posted by beachbum29

It depends on how it's priced...

To sell or hoping for the moon?

Don't forget, I'm a real estate junkie...I ALWAYS price to sell

[beachbum29]

Originally Posted by GalaxyGirl

Don't forget, I'm a real estate junkie...I ALWAYS price to sell

I own a brokerage and a builder.

[ohdrinkboy]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

GG,

60T, 80T, still would mean the same to an insurance agent, forcing you to hire a captain. Dry on the PDQ 34 is 6T. This one has only 625 hours on the engines, sale is pending, but just for the experience why not check one out and take it out? Keep the home and spend 3 months during the kid's summer vacation from school to see if this works for you. The biggest positive is one day of the owner showing you the systems, anchoring, docking, and other boat handling skills, your good to go and learn more on your own.

At least take one out for a short cruise.
2002 PDQ MV-34 Passagemaker - Boats.com

sound advice

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by ohdrinkboy

sound advice

Thank you. This is what I learned on,


but for my underclassmen years it was in this order,
30' oar powered boat. <5T

40' single engine launch <10T

48' twin engine launch (a lot easier to maneuver than the single) <20T

55' single screw tug <50T

I just wish my education at CMA would carry some weight with GG. Of course she could always employ some captain with at least a 100 ton license to satisfy insurance requirements. Or while she and the kids are enjoying the Great Loop and Caribbean on her PDQ or other like sized vessel, she could be studying to pass the 100 ton license herself for the upgrade to a larger vessel.

[GalaxyGirl]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

Thank you. This is what I learned on,


but for my underclassmen years it was in this order,
30' oar powered boat. <5T

40' single engine launch <10T

48' twin engine launch (a lot easier to maneuver than the single) <20T

55' single screw tug <50T

I just wish my education at CMA would carry some weight with GG. Of course she could always employ some captain with at least a 100 ton license to satisfy insurance requirements. Or while she and the kids are enjoying the Great Loop and Caribbean on her PDQ or other like sized vessel, she could be studying to pass the 100 ton license herself for the upgrade to a larger vessel.

I'm certainly not doubting your experience or expertise. I just need a boat that we will be comfortable with.

[beachbum29]

Originally Posted by GalaxyGirl

I'm certainly not doubting your experience or expertise. I just need a boat that we will be comfortable with.

Simply put, you need to learn how to boat first and be certain you and yours likes it.

Listen to what these fine people are trying to tell you.

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by GalaxyGirl

I'm certainly not doubting your experience or expertise. I just need a boat that we will be comfortable with.

GG,

How many families cram into an RV for trips? Sleeping arrangements are such a small time frame of an active cruising life, plus any cubby hole can accommodate a kid, they don't need an entire stateroom for themselves. As they get older and enter the teen years then a stateroom is a higher priority and by that time you will have some cruising under your belt and can decide if you want to upgrade to a larger vessel. Later as an empty nester you might downsize again, but by then you will have your 100 ton license so the decision would be yours. It would be so much easier to learn and take command of a smaller vessel, and while cruising in it without the need of an outside captain, you could be studying for your 100 ton license.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

GG,

How many families cram into an RV for trips? Sleeping arrangements are such a small time frame of an active cruising life, plus any cubby hole can accommodate a kid, they don't need an entire stateroom for themselves. As they get older and enter the teen years then a stateroom is a higher priority and by that time you will have some cruising under your belt and can decide if you want to upgrade to a larger vessel. Later as an empty nester you might downsize again, but by then you will have your 100 ton license so the decision would be yours. It would be so much easier to learn and take command of a smaller vessel, and while cruising in it without the need of an outside captain, you could be studying for your 100 ton license.

[nimblemotors]

It has probably already been said many times (I have not read through all this for sure!)
but seems foolish to be buying a monster yacht without experience on the water.
Selling them is difficult.

My father-in-law (ex) bought a big older yacht and had trouble with this and that and then sold it, bought a bigger new one, nothing to fix, all shiney, etc. The wife hated the whole boating thing, and he sold the second one yet again at a massive loss.
He was a doctor (in fact, a pioneer in Angioplasty) but to lose half a million in a few years time, I could never mention the word "boat" again in his presence.

So get something small, go out on weekends, make sure you want to keep doing it, selling a small one is not so hard, and not much loss, to either step-up or get-out.

[deckofficer]

GG,

I would really like to help you on your decisions but since you don't have any cruising experience it is hard to relate what that life is all about, but I will try.

Do you picture some pristine anchorage that you and the kids are swimming, snorkeling, and exploring the beach? Well your right, that is part of it. Now even this setting will be greatly influenced by your choice of boats. Lets say you got your big 80 ton boat with the draft that such a vessel would draw, your choice of pristine anchorages will be limited, and because of that, your anchorage neighborhood (and that is what they are) will consist of other powerboats and some deep draft mono hull sailboats. Now Caribbean cruisers correct me if I'm wrong, but boats that have to run a gen-set 24/7 gets distanced from the quiet boats. This may sound good to you, but what will fill in around you are others that run the gen-set 24/7. I've been in these shared anchorages, and in the sailboat area it is quiet with just a slight hum of all those gen-sets grouped together on the far side. When I've socialized with the folks on the monster boats, there neighborhood is like a busy street with so many engines running. On the PDQ 34 I linked to you, it has systems that would allow you creature comforts with minimal or no gen-set run time. As you will find out from cruising, solar panels, inverters, and stout battery banks will allow a silent stay in that pristine anchorage. That PDQ had a gen-set, but also had an inverter and decent battery bank. Typically without solar, you run the gen-set for an hour, that puts the day's charge back into the batteries and gives some hot showers from the heat exchanger.

See how long it took me to relate something about cruising and how the choice of boat will impact that cruising lifestyle. If you had experience, you would choose based on your experience.

[beachbum29]

We have the Westerbeke Eco thats so Quiet it's barely heard in the salon and it has no enclosure.

[deckofficer]

The mechanical noise can be damped but mufflers only do so much on the exhaust thru hull, and that hull side will direct the noise elsewhere. But we are getting side tracked, since GG hasn't spent time in an anchorage, I just wanted her to know that the choice of boat will effect your cruising experience. For me if powerboating, I would chose a low draft cat and use solar to enhance the anchorage experience.

[DumnMad]

GG is in real estate. A luxury unit with intimate harbour views is a steal at $1/2million.

Most liveaboards spend 95% of their time in dock(or at anchor, mooring.) Why so much focus on the cruising. The real need is to sort out properly functioning power reticulation, ventilation & air-conditioning, clean safe water supply, hygienic sewage and rubbish disposal system. Also need easy access to trouble-shoot & maintain all these systems.
Lets face it, for a liveaboard the Ship's Engineer is more important than ship's Master.

GG is not in the market for a qualified master just yet but she does need a good ships engineer to help select the right ship.

[GalaxyGirl]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

GG,

I would really like to help you on your decisions but since you don't have any cruising experience it is hard to relate what that life is all about, but I will try.

Do you picture some pristine anchorage that you and the kids are swimming, snorkeling, and exploring the beach? Well your right, that is part of it. Now even this setting will be greatly influenced by your choice of boats. Lets say you got your big 80 ton boat with the draft that such a vessel would draw, your choice of pristine anchorages will be limited, and because of that, your anchorage neighborhood (and that is what they are) will consist of other powerboats and some deep draft mono hull sailboats. Now Caribbean cruisers correct me if I'm wrong, but boats that have to run a gen-set 24/7 gets distanced from the quiet boats. This may sound good to you, but what will fill in around you are others that run the gen-set 24/7. I've been in these shared anchorages, and in the sailboat area it is quiet with just a slight hum of all those gen-sets grouped together on the far side. When I've socialized with the folks on the monster boats, there neighborhood is like a busy street with so many engines running. On the PDQ 34 I linked to you, it has systems that would allow you creature comforts with minimal or no gen-set run time. As you will find out from cruising, solar panels, inverters, and stout battery banks will allow a silent stay in that pristine anchorage. That PDQ had a gen-set, but also had an inverter and decent battery bank. Typically without solar, you run the gen-set for an hour, that puts the day's charge back into the batteries and gives some hot showers from the heat exchanger.

See how long it took me to relate something about cruising and how the choice of boat will impact that cruising lifestyle. If you had experience, you would choose based on your experience.

See, I think this is were we arn't seeing eye to eye Bob. I don't picture pristine anchorages and snorkeling all day. I picture us docked in Mexico, Europe and California at a decent marina. I picture my kids running on and off the boat. Hanging out with other cruiser kids along the way. I picture being hooked up to shore power a good deal of the time as we travel place to place. I picture strolling through small villages and walking home from dinner in San Diego. Yes. I would like to pass through the Carribean, snorkel and all that good stuff, but then, keep it moving. My vision of cruising is more the ability to move from place to place while experiencing lots of new things. A pristine and quiet anchorage is only 15% of the vision. I will anchor at times, but I'm very sure that with 5 active kids (teens) we will spend plenty of time plugged in.
Remember my older kids are 11,12,12 and 13.

I can certainly appreciate what your saying about not having enough experience to know what I really want/need, but I really can't see us jammed into a 34' cat. Usually you here about families of 2,3 and 4 sailing in those.