Completely Overwhelmed

[deckofficer]

Not to mention if your brother is into wild and loud monkey sex, being in the other hull you don't have to hear it. lol

[Certeza]

Originally Posted by deckofficer

Not to mention if your brother is into wild and loud monkey sex, being in the other hull you don't have to hear it. lol

Like I said, one of my biggest requests for home design is to get the master bdrm somewhat isolated from the rest of the house. While most claim that it is to keep sound out, I'm sure keeping sound in is just as heavily considered. But yes, having the master stateroom and VIP stateroom in separate hulls is a great idea. Albeit, one of the main benefits of two couples on board is the ability to rotate shifts on babysitting and get a little private romance time even in areas where you haven't made friends yet to send the kids over to.

[Mithril Bham]

What is the configuration of your group? Couple with 5 kids? How old are the kids? Teenage girls who need their privacy? etc.
Makes a big difference. I've been on boats, both power and sail, of all sizes up to superyachts.
Your boat will never be big enough unless you are a billionaire so given that smaller can be better in many ways including being able to find moorage.
Good luck to you all.
p.s. I lived, with my family, on a Passport 42 many years ago in the San Juan Islands.
Love power cats. Have you looked at the Jeaneau Lagoon 43? About 300 G's. Very nice.

[Certeza]

Originally Posted by magellanyachts

What is the configuration of your group? Couple with 5 kids? How old are the kids? Teenage girls who need their privacy? etc.

Makes a big difference. I've been on boats, both power and sail, of all sizes up to superyachts.

Your boat will never be big enough unless you are a billionaire so given that smaller can be better in many ways including being able to find moorage.

Good luck to you all.

p.s. I lived, with my family, on a Passport 42 many years ago in the San Juan Islands.

Love power cats. Have you looked at the Jeaneau Lagoon 43? About 300 G's. Very nice.

For us it's four adults, three kids. No teens.

Yes I have looked at the Lagoon 43. It's nice but not sure I love the cockpit. My fav right now for layout and styling is the Leopard 51pc.

[Mithril Bham]

My experience with Leopard's is sailing cats. Liked them.
I would charter both in the BVI for a week. Nothing like spending a week operating a boat to really get the feel.
Not meaning to use this forum to promote my sales but I would be happy to help find you one at the best price if you would like.
My life with boats has been an interesting journey. I have been addicted for a long time.
Good luck to you.

[Certeza]

Originally Posted by magellanyachts

My experience with Leopard's is sailing cats. Liked them.
I would charter both in the BVI for a week. Nothing like spending a week operating a boat to really get the feel.
Not meaning to use this forum to promote my sales but I would be happy to help find you one at the best price if you would like.
My life with boats has been an interesting journey. I have been addicted for a long time.
Good luck to you.

Well I'm not quite there yet. Still prepping for the transition. We will end up chartering a few times between now and then.

[deckofficer]

Originally Posted by Certeza

Well I'm not quite there yet. Still prepping for the transition. We will end up chartering a few times between now and then.

Wish we could have convinced GG to charter first.

[chrisjs]

Still time to do the smart thing, but finding a charter big enough for her family and with her limited experience may be very hard!!

[Certeza]

Well, I know where she's coming from. It's one thing to bareboat charter a reasonable boat to get a feel for things. Maybe spend 5-10K for a week or so to get familiar with the idea of liveaboard cruising. Conversely, when your charter is a 70' power yacht with 7 passengers and crew, your looking at a pretty steep bill of $20K+ just to test the waters. It seems the biggest problem is what Deckofficer keeps trying to solve. The cost of both charter and ownership goes exponential when you cannot pilot and maintain your own vessel. This creates the problematic situation that GG is in right now. It's hard to think that it is worth it to spend $50K in travel and charters just to prove a concept, all while thinking to yourself that it is $50K less that you're able to spend on the purchase price. Especially when you're looking at older boats in the $300-400K range.

I was headed on a similar track as GG until I read through the suggestions on this thread and took an honest look at the situation and realized that the idea of liveaboard cruising isn't to buy the biggest boat I can afford and compromise my lifestyle as little as possible. The idea is a less cluttered and restricted lifestyle, being able to pilot the vessel myself, coming and going as I please.

The wife and I talked about traveling for a year if we didn't get a boat. Essentially living out of hotel rooms and jumping around the globe. Then I realized that if we did that we wouldn't be renting a home or a condo at every location. We would be in hotel rooms around 300-600 square feet which would also require extensive decluttering and significant space compromises.

Once I got in this mindset and realized that the cruising lifestyle is a compromise of spacious comfort for travel freedom, things have been much less stressful, and the financial impacts of any mistake now seem much less daunting.

[chris_gee]

Whatever the merits of the ideas advanced for the posters you still have the situation of housing four boys one girl and two non-partner adults, and a self-determined purchaser.
Incidentally settlement was to be almost two weeks ago to be followed by a trip to see one or both boats she had in mind.
It is a good idea not to discuss publicly the details of the assessment negotiation purchase phase.
Most of us will have had experience of that and all the stuff that goes with finding a boat.
After the romance and honeymoon come the practicalities. All in due time.

[Mithril Bham]

Sometimes good ideas can come from unusual places. I normally don't get involved with these blogs, unless discussing technical aspects, but, somehow, this one got to me.

Tbe bottom line is that, no matter what the boat choice, living on a boat requires a radical adaptation to the circumstance and can only be overcome by a committment to this lifestyle which is difficult to have shared by so many people.

It will be a unique experience no matter what. I know this from experience. I wouldn't change anything.

[Certeza]

Originally Posted by chris_gee

Whatever the merits of the ideas advanced for the posters you still have the situation of housing four boys one girl and two non-partner adults, and a self-determined purchaser.
Incidentally settlement was to be almost two weeks ago to be followed by a trip to see one or both boats she had in mind.
It is a good idea not to discuss publicly the details of the assessment negotiation purchase phase.
Most of us will have had experience of that and all the stuff that goes with finding a boat.
After the romance and honeymoon come the practicalities. All in due time.

Having read her most recent blog post, I got the impression that a final decision wasn't really even all that close because to this point she hadn't even seen either of the two preferred boats in person. She's also talking now about a fairly extensive refit, like gutting the galley and heads and a full rebuild of flooring, cabinets, wall finish, electrical, etc. Unlike a house flip, such a project will not be a 2-4 week job. I'm guessing closer to 2-4 months to get everything ready to go on a boat that big that is in need of that much work.

I realize that she is saying a "great engine inspection is a must", but if the boat is old enough to need that much of a cosmetic refit, it is all but guaranteed that the engines will need a fair amount of care before they are ready. I think she is aware of this to a certain degree. But my experience with diesel engines, it really is a "do it correctly now, or do it constantly later" deal.

I'm fully supportive of her ambitions. I wish everyone was like that, but it seems as an outsider looking in that she is trying to "buy" a situation in which her children don't have to realize any sort of inconvenience or compromise. Personally I think that is far too much consideration for the comfort of the children. They are getting the experience of a lifetime that will surely affect their view of the world well into the future. Absolutely Amazing! I don't think it is a big deal to expect them to stack on top of each other in single bunks in the crews quarters on a smaller vessel that she can pilot herself. In fact, they would probably be all the better for it in the end.

The other point is that 9-10 people on a 65-70' boat (her 7 plus 2-3 crew) isn't really any more comfortable than 7 people on a 50-55'. But the latter is literally 5-10X cheaper and you don't have the hassles of being an employer while you're trying to be free and uninhibited.

[eyschulman]

If more people were interested in boats all this would make for a TV realty show.I await with keen interest the follow up if we ever get it. Does GG get her boat? Does it float? Does her new life fulfill her dreams? How do her kids deal with the new life style? How does GG feel about grease under her finger nails- peeling paint-the smell of diesel-head stink and mold? On and on so many new challenges to be surmounted. I know the purpose of GG's post are to learn and get advise. With careful sorting things can be learned here. I do caution however that even with my 50+ years of sail and power boating and ownership of maybe 30 boats I get whip sawed by the usually well meaning but conflicting and not infrequent biased posts. Where there are people expressing opinion on cherished issues there will be divergence and even some degree of fanaticism. Cats-monos # full keel-fin # power-sail # big-small # new-used # steel-glass-wood-aluminum # democrat-republican on and on and on...

[chris_gee]

Yeah it would make a good reality tv regardless.
I am quite sure she can tolerate getting her hands dirty.
And she can stack the kids.
The sex life for two presumably attractive women may need a bit of a work around.
Oops.
The reality is presuming her house has sold she has cast the die. Maybe the photos and descriptions match up with the reality. Maybe not.
My initial point was really that the time has passed for u shouldas and while one hopes that all goes well, I daresay there will be twists in the plot as life works out.
Who knows they may be good.

[eyschulman]

Just curious GG. You have real estate experience yes? With your knowledge in that field would you direct a new bee to house ownership to an internet site such as this for critical advise? I am not saying I know whats right, just curious as to how you would deal with something you had more knowledge about. If you did not direct the new bee to a internet site where would you direct to?