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coral_bound · 29-08-2014, 18:36

Hey all!
This ones not to look down on those with smaller boats n bank accounts...
Just curious to hear stories of how people made it to a nice sized yacht and what they went through to mold theirs into an awesome life.
What'd you to to earn enough?

Came across the youtube chanel "sv delos"...captain Brian's got a 53' Amel super maramu... it's sweet.

We're all individuals with different paths of course..however if there was a model to follow to yachting success...id follow theirs...so again, just curious about yours!

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Aderby810 · 29-08-2014, 19:15

I'm an entrepreneur in the deal making space. We just purchased our 37' lagoon tpi. Not a 53' by any means but well over 100K. We did it because it was to be our home for a year and we believe in the ROI good yachts have. Call it an investment strategy, call it buying an experience.

Happy to chat more about it if you're interested.

jr_spyder · 29-08-2014, 19:34

Interesting question. My wife and I planned way way way ahead. We grew up in boating families and knew we'd have a fine boat in our later years. We successfully freeloaded off of friends and family for a couple decades, plus did a fair number of bareboat charters. Of course we also got the magazines, went to the boat shows, trolled marinas, etc. I also figured out what it would cost approximately per year to own/operate our dream boat and started saving that amount of money each year in the dream-boat account. That added up pretty fast, plus got our cash flow used to the cost of ownership. This was an excellent savings plan.

It turned out that I retired much younger than planed (got one of those life changing diagnosis, got scared, then got healthy) so sold my company, stopped working, and bought the boat. In some ways it was nuts for the first boat we actually owned to be a 46' Little Harbor but it's perfect. Now living the dream with no regrets whatsoever.

Oh, naturally I underestimated the real cost of ownership, thankfully we still make it work.

JR

maxingout · 29-08-2014, 19:58

Boat size is often relative to your stage of life. If you have a large family on a world cruise, a 45 footer seems small. If it is just you and your wife handling the yacht, a 45 foot can seem very big - even too big.

I have never owned a yacht that I could not easily single hand. That is a rule that I live by, and I see no reason to change my strategy. It is highly unlikely that I will ever upsize, but downsizing sometimes makes a lot of sense. It is more economical and less work to maintain and sail.

Kenomac · 29-08-2014, 23:42

Boats we've had:
12ft Kite 1979-1980
O'Day 20 1980-1989
Kids 1985
Paid off college for kids 2010
Hunter 450 2010-2012
Oyster 53 2012-present
Currently shopping for an Oyster 62

How did we do it?

Not afraid to get my hands dirty. Taken this morning... some dirt is difficult to remove like deck caulking from yesterdays work.

**weavis** · 30-08-2014, 02:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Boats we've had:
12ft Kite 1979-1980
O'Day 20 1980-1989
Kids 1985
Paid off college for kids 2010
Hunter 450 2010-2012
Oyster 53 2012-present
Currently shopping for an Oyster 62

How did we do it?

Not afraid to get my hands dirty. Taken this morning... some dirt is difficult to remove like deck caulking from yesterdays work.

Wear gloves next time Ken....its a bit offputting in your second job as a waiter........

P.S. I may be about to retire the Spandex.......

coral_bound · 30-08-2014, 04:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kenomac

Boats we've had:
12ft Kite 1979-1980
O'Day 20 1980-1989
Kids 1985
Paid off college for kids 2010
Hunter 450 2010-2012
Oyster 53 2012-present
Currently shopping for an Oyster 62

How did we do it?

Not afraid to get my hands dirty. Taken this morning... some dirt is difficult to remove like deck caulking from yesterdays work.

Lol at the pause in the timeline @ kids.

It may just be a metaphor if not, who buried all those fine vessels?

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxingout

Boat size is often relative to your stage of life. If you have a large family on a world cruise, a 45 footer seems small. If it is just you and your wife handling the yacht, a 45 foot can seem very big - even too big.

I have never owned a yacht that I could not easily single hand. That is a rule that I live by, and I see no reason to change my strategy. It is highly unlikely that I will ever upsize, but downsizing sometimes makes a lot of sense. It is more economical and less work to maintain and sail.

I agree, Ill want to learn to sail well and have a boat I can easily sail alone... that's whats intruiging about the amel I mentioned. (Stocked with what seems to be equipment to make the boat sailable right from the cockpit)

Quote:

Originally Posted by jr_spyder

Interesting question. My wife and I planned way way way ahead. We grew up in boating families and knew we'd have a fine boat in our later years. We successfully freeloaded off of friends and family for a couple decades, plus did a fair number of bareboat charters. Of course we also got the magazines, went to the boat shows, trolled marinas, etc. I also figured out what it would cost approximately per year to own/operate our dream boat and started saving that amount of money each year in the dream-boat account. That added up pretty fast, plus got our cash flow used to the cost of ownership. This was an excellent savings plan.

It turned out that I retired much younger than planed (got one of those life changing diagnosis, got scared, then got healthy) so sold my company, stopped working, and bought the boat. In some ways it was nuts for the first boat we actually owned to be a 46' Little Harbor but it's perfect. Now living the dream with no regrets whatsoever.

Oh, naturally I underestimated the real cost of ownership, thankfully we still make it work.

JR

I envy you for having grown up in a sail savvy family! I also hope to hit early retirement...maybe about a year from now (im 23) ;-)
Needless to say, keep on livin' it up

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aderby810

I'm an entrepreneur in the deal making space. We just purchased our 37' lagoon tpi. Not a 53' by any means but well over 100K. We did it because it was to be our home for a year and we believe in the ROI good yachts have. Call it an investment strategy, call it buying an experience.

Happy to chat more about it if you're interested.

Sounds like a nice boat congrats. I mentioned the Amel, Ive seen a hans Christian 37' which was a beaut.

I'm also an entrepreneur. ..working to make it to your level...hopefully sooner than later

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savoir · 30-08-2014, 05:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by weavis

Wear gloves next time Ken....its a bit offputting in your second job as a waiter........

P.S. I may be about to retire the Spandex.......

That won't be for long. Oyster 62s come with a waiter.

duck55 · 30-08-2014, 06:32

I got my masters in computer science when I was 22. At 23 was a collage professor teaching everything from computer 101 to network security. In early 2000 I started working with some people on some of the aspects of what is now called the cloud.

I started an internet data storage company in 2001 with 3 people. In early 2002 my wife got pregnant and my work kept me moving around the US and my wife could not handle it. I sold out my part of the company and went back to teaching. In late 2002 my old company got hacked and I was asked to help. At that point I could see that the soon to be called cloud was going to be a real thing in a few years and there was no real security, way to know if your information fell into the wrong hands, and if someone messed with your information there was no real way to track to who did it.

I bought back into my company in 2003. I kept teaching till 2004 when we decided to sell our home and cars and buy a caterman. I had 2 offices on the east and would sail form office to office doing my work. In 2009 I commissioned a Diesel duck 55. I worked for a few years as a firewall / network security tester.

I'm a cloud security consultant and do 99% of it through our satellite internet. I also teach a couple of 5 day classes every year. I write books on cloud security and my wife runs the rest of the company.

coral_bound · 30-08-2014, 07:31

Thats awesome @duck55 ..I find inspiration in that im working on something now ill be able to manage via satellite.

Good stuff

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knot smart · 30-08-2014, 08:29

Im a home improvement contractor for 15yrs (baths, kitchens).(im 43yo) when everyone was going into forecloser in 09 I convinced my mother and brother to pool our resources and buy some houses(5). Once everything was up and running it was time to kick back.. I consider myself semi-retired now.. they cover all the overhead for myself and my entire family.. when hurricane sandy hit I decided to capitalize on others misfortune and bought our 99 beneteau 352 from an insurance auction for 8k.. when I told my wife what I was doing her first question was " do you know how to sail?" .. I explained that when I was 13 my dad bought me a sunfish and when I was 18 I used to sail his catalina 22 but hadn't stepped on a sailboat in 20 yrs.. she asked what the name was going to be , I replied "Knot Affordable" .. she said " No.. It's "KNOT SMART".. that was it! the name stuck.. I watched about 200 youtube videos on how to do fiberglass and gel coat and did all the work myself.. apparently my dad was looking down from above because I found a second hand mast, boom and all the rigging and a 140 genny for about $500.. yes .. I just said $500.. a used main sail (north)for $750 and put it in the water last spring.. I got some great advise from the guys on this site anytime I needed.. I just got back from my first extended cruise.. I went from my home port of Atlantic Highlands, NJ on my way to Cape Cod.. I was single handing with my 9yo.. Got my ass handed to me off the coast of Newport , blowin 20 with 5' swells and decided throw in the towel and duck into Newport.. That little historic district is unbelievable. If you haven't been, sail there.. Its Annapolis on steroids.

anyway.. thought i'd share my story..

SAIL ON! (with beer in hand )

nolagal · 30-08-2014, 08:30

Post Katrina everyone I knew was looking for a way to have a place to go the next time we were ordered to "evacuate and not come home" We had a small hotel and restaurant in Jean Lafitte, a bayou town S of New Orleans, and all our friends who had lived their life on the water were buying property in landlocked central MS. We had been weekend sailers and boaters for a long time but had given up boats to raise a family and grow a business. We figured out a way to re-mortgage some rental property and bought "our hurricane escape", a Hunter Legend 40. Yep, a sailboat as a hurricane hole! We were all self-medicating back then.

It proved to be wonderful even though for several years we couldn't do much more then "sail" down to Grand Island or over to Houma and down to Port Fourchon, then GOM, back to Grand Island and up to Jean Lafitte.

My captain had always sailed. From his boyhood in Belize, where he grew up, to racing his 29ft Dragon on Lake Ponchartrain. So once I was on board the idea of cruising grew to an unstoppable itch. When 3 years after Katrina/Rita hit, Gustave/Ike once again flooded our bayou ("10 ft of water in the streets of Jean Lafitte"* )We traded our Legend for a Hunter CC Passage 42 from the mid90s. Sadly, left Lafitte for an exciting home "on the sliver by the river" in New Orleans(42 Mardi Gras parades go pass my corner!) and started cruising using the proceeds from renting our home to finance our cruising life. We love, love, love Wahoo. Spent several years cruising the Keys and Bahamas. We'd spend several months a year but always returned Wahoo to our homeport in New Orleans. In 2012 we took off and spent Mar 2012 - Feb 2014 getting to and staying in Mexico, Belize, Guatemala. This year we brought her over to the E Caribbean. She is waiting for us in Puerto Rico right now.

* the line is actually "6' of water in the streets of Evangeline" from Louisiana, 1927 a song about the 1927 Mississippi River flooding of the delta. Also adapted by New Orleans Jazz singer John Boutte to be "10ft of water in the streets of the lower 9", referring to the lower 9th Ward in the federal flood that followed Katrina.

S/V WAHOO