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fjohnston · 13-05-2015, 16:11

Myself, wife and 11 year old daughter are planning on a Seabatical starting in June of 2017. We have a rough draft of a plan but would like to have the all knowing Cruisers Forum give us some insight. I will list some details about us below and any comments, criticisms, or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Departure date Summer of 2017
Initial plan - purchase a boat somewhere in the southern caribbean in the summer of 2017. Spend the bulk of hurricane season developing our skills and the boat by bouncing around the Grenadines, Grenada and possibly Trinidad and Tobago. Start heading north in October/November and arrive back in the states before August of 2018. If we love the boat and want to keep it we would continue on to our home in North Carolina. If we have had enough of sailing, the boat or both, we would leave it in the Florida market to sell.
Crew and age at departure: me (45), wife (44), daughter (13, 8th grade)
Experience at present time: We currently live on the ICW and have been around boats all our lives; specific sailing experience, 2 bvi bareboat charters and 1 Grenadines bareboat charter, 2 week bvi charter planned for August 2015
Budget for boat purchase and upfitting for trip, $115,000
Initial boat - 40 - 45 foot monohull with at least 6’,4” inches of head room (I’m 6’3”) and hopefully less than 6 feet of draft.

Specific questions:

Does this sound ridiculous??
We are not locked into the Caribbean, would somewhere in the south pacific be an option based on our skill level?
Does it make sense to purchase a boat down island to avoid the trades heading down?
Is boat financing available on what more than likely be a vessel built in the 80’s or 90’s.
If a boat is purchased out of the US, what has to happen to be able to sell the boat once back to the states?
What are the most common home schooling resources cruisers use?

Thanks in advance
Fletcher Johnston
Cape Carteret NC

robgrant1 · 04-01-2016, 13:16

Fletcher, Not sure if you're still out there, but I stumbled across your post and felt some amount of empathy. Did you ever get any feedback? Did you scuttle your planned escape or are you still scheming?