Living aboard full time/Crossing Pacific

[SantaFeTrailer]

100K

Check out the Sailboat Shop in Tempe. They coordinate sailing lessons on Lake Pleasant. I think you can do at least the ASA 101 course there. That would get you a leg up before you move to the coast.

[roverhi]

I'm a KISS type of sailer. Adding complicated systems to your boat just means more maintenance headaches. Wouldn't have anything on board that I couldn't rebuild and service myself. That also means the tools, etc to do the work.

Refrigeration is nice to have but is a maintenance head ache. Seemed to end more cruises than any other item as owners tried to find someone to keep it working while stuck in some cesspool commercial harbor. Lived without refrigeration for a couple of years and it was no big thing. Today there are even more foods available that don't require refrigeration. If you must have refrigeration would bypass a refrigerator section and go direct with a freezer. You can make ice for a Daiquiri or throw in a couple of beers if you need to cool something and have long term storage for frozen goods. Refrigeration is only good for a few days for things like lettuce and you'll be long way from their source if you are the adventurous type.

If your move to the west coast isn't imminent, would recommend buying a mid 20' trailerable boat and spend your long weekends and vacations cruising the Lakes in your area. See what you really need, how well you are going to adapt to living on a boat, learn to sail both day and night, and even navigation. You only need about 30' to be comfortable living aboard. Longer means more places to store crap and more expensive maintenance. Would seriously look at boats under 40' unless you are independently wealthy.

[mako]

100kbudget, with that limitation I would recommend buying something in the 50k-60k range. You will quickly eat up the balance of your money.

Regarding the comment above that "Refrigeration is nice to have but is a maintenance head ache" I would agree that sailboat fridges are rather bad. However, living without even a small fridge/freezer on a 40ft boat does not make for a comfortable life. Buy an A+++ rated Samsung digital inverter domestic unit, connected to a small PSW inverter, with as much solar as you can mount, and you're good to go.

[100k budget]

Thank you for that valuable response roverhi. I will certainly keep the KISS mentality on mind. Make a list of tools if I dont already have them. Note what is self serviceable and what is not. I wasnt aware of the unreliability of sailboat fridges and will look into that further. I agree that a freezer is much more of a necessity than a fridge. Why are 40 ft boats much more expensive to maintain than say a 35ft? My move is immenent. Once our 10 month lease is up we are gone. Family to stay with in southern California to buy more time.

[100k budget]

Spent many weeks out on lake pleasant as a child! I will look into those classes, much appreciated santaFe.

[100k budget]

That's great to hear! I've heard alot of good things about Robert Perry designed boats and will look into them further. Thank you for your input on the anchor windless and roller curling. Seems like a must!

[Dooglas]

Just an aside comment for something you will need to look into if you have not already. Slips in the 40-50 foot range for live aboard sailboats in the LA and San Diego areas are in short supply and fairly expensive.

[100k budget]

Appretiate it Dooglas.I've looked into slip cost in most of the southern California marinas, atleast comparably speaking it is very expensive. Demand has definitely shot up these past two years aswell.

[gmakhs]

Spent 40.000 for the boat , buy a beneteau jeanneu Bavaria keep the rest of the budget for repairs and to make your cruising more comfortable.
You don't need a fridge
You do need a small water maker (showers , sail , clothes washing )
You don't need a.lot of.solar
You don't need fancy instruments , just GPS ,navtex , navionics , radar detector and maybe a radsar .
Rebuild the motor or be ready to rebuild it .
Keep a good amount of sails and learn to use them
Add a windvane don't really on electronic autopilot .
The less you have of the modern boats the more happy you will be .
The more you have on sails and rigging the happier you will be .

Don't follow trends of the modern market and be patient before you buy anything electronic or.electric because.most of the things you can leave without.
Stay under 40.feet the best size is 34 .

That's what I can offer with my 3 years living aboard and cruising full.time


PS any class A rate boat will be able.to do what you want and all.of them.will require modifications , save most of the budget for the modifications .

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by gmakhs

Spent 40.000 for the boat , buy a beneteau jeanneu Bavaria keep the rest of the budget for repairs and to make your cruising more comfortable
***
Don't obsess about the marque at this time. Look for a well maintained boat from a builder well known in your market area. Will be easier to sell if your first choice isn't right for you.
**
You don't need a fridge
****
LIving aboard in SoCal a fridge is nearly essential. A simple air cooled Danfoss type will do, and they are pretty reliable. The one in our boat is now 29 years old and still running fine.
**
You do need a small water maker (showers , sail , clothes washing )
*** No you don't need a water maker for your live aboard in a marina years. That's just silly... and we still don't have one, having been full time cruising for 32 years.
**
You don't need a.lot of.solar
***
Not while living in a marina most of the time, but when going crusing, lots of solar is a good thing.
**
You don't need fancy instruments , just GPS ,navtex , navionics , radar detector and maybe a radsar .
*** No use for navtex in the proposed operational area, no need for radar detector anywhere, and Navionics is but one choice of mapping software... many other choices that may suit better, like OpenCPN,
**
Rebuild the motor or be ready to rebuild it .
***
Perhaps, but surely not always the case.
**
Keep a good amount of sails and learn to use them
Add a windvane don't really on electronic autopilot .
The less you have of the modern boats the more happy you will be .
The more you have on sails and rigging the happier you will be .

Don't follow trends of the modern market and be patient before you buy anything electronic or.electric because.most of the things you can leave without.
Stay under 40.feet the best size is 34 .
***
"Best size"... nonsense! Depends entirely on the specific design.

That's what I can offer with my 3 years living aboard and cruising full.time

The above is what I can offer with my 32 years of living aboard full time cruising between California and Australia.

Jim


PS any class A rates boat will be able.to do what you want and all.of them.will require modifications , save most of the budget for the modifications .

***********

[gmakhs]

Jim I really respect your opinion ,
I fail to see why you wouldn't go with a water maker ? On my 26 feet boat it has add more comfort than the fridge would do.

When i say small.sollar I mean 200 to 400 watt which is enouph for a boat without fridge .

[laika]

On a small boat with limited tankage, a WM is almost essential for the kind of cruising we like to do. The calculation might be different if we had more tankage.

We have a fridge too. it's nice to have and our little engel is very reliable. But if I had to choose, it would be the WM hands down.

There are a million ways to do it, and everyone's different. I think the best advise is buy a simple well found boat (whatever that ends up being), and add the little luxuries as you come to want them. It's hard for anyone else to know what YOU want in the boat. Even you probably won't really know until you get out and start moving.

Mahina Expeditions - Selecting A Boat for Offshore Cruising

[Dennis.G]

Regarding "...live off the coast of San Diego":

Not sure exactly what your intent is there, but be aware that anchorages off the coast of San Diego are pretty much non existent. Live aboard slips and moorings do exist in San Diego harbor, but almost all have a waiting list of several years to get into. Living on a boat in Southern California is not easy and it is best to know exactly how you are going to do it before buying a boat if that is your plan.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by gmakhs

Jim I really respect your opinion ,
I fail to see why you wouldn't go with a water maker ? On my 26 feet boat it has add more comfort than the fridge would do.

When i say small.sollar I mean 200 to 400 watt which is enouph for a boat without fridge .

Well, he's not talking about a 26 foot boat with tiny tanks... rather a 40-45 foot cruising boat, and they usually have adequate tankage for normal usage. Further, he's not talking about long distance cruising for some considerable time, but rather living aboard in a marina... so why the expense and maintenance of a desalinator when there is a water tap alongside? By the time he sets off across the Pacific (if ever), he'll have better idea about water usage and can decide then about supplementing the tanks.

And as to solar... we recently upgraded to 2x200 watt 42 v panels plus a decent MPPT regulator and find that is keeping us at or near 100% daily. We have the above mentioned small fridge,no freezer and the usual assortment of computers, etc, which are in heavy use these days. Haven't needed supplemental charging since making the upgrade, but it has been summertime here with long days and clear air (except when the bushfires were rampant). We will be monitoring carefully as fall approaches and the days get shorter and the sun angles worse. Fingers crossed!

Again, since he's not talking about being unplugged all that much, the solar isn't needed at first, and that is one field where costs are going down and efficiencies going up rapidly, so delays are to his benefit. As a general outlook, I reckon mounting all the solar that is practical on your boat will in time be rewarded. Longer battery life, less engine hours, no need for a genset... all good things to achieve.



Seriously, the naivete expressed in his posts is so evident that much of this advice is likely wasted at this time. Just the difficulty of obtaining a live aboard berth in SoCal is likely to scuttle the plans for some time to come. Uninformed enthusiasm is a costly road to travel! But I wish him and his mate good luck. If they can make it work, it's a great life!

And gmakhs, thanks for the kind words. I'm not upset when folks question my opinions, and such challenges sometimes bring enlightenment to me.

Jim

PS My thinking on the fridge is that it gets pretty hot in SoCal much of the year. Food spoilage can lead to extra expense and wastage, to say nothing of gastric distress. The desire for cold beverages also pushes one towards some means of cooling things down, and relying upon ice is a nuisance and bloody expensive. Our previous boat had no fridge when we set out the first time, and we got along sorta for a year. Came back to the SF area to replenish the kitty and lived aboard in a marina, still buying ice. One day I did the sums, and realized that in a year I'd spent more for ice than the cost of an Adler Barbour Cold Machine. The penny dropped, and I added some insulation to the built in icebox and installed the fridge... what an improvement in our lifestyle!

[100k budget]

I can't thank you enough for your responses Jim Cate. I understand looking back at my original post is like looking at a 15 year old's pipe dream. I'm surprised I was met with genuinely helpful people rather than getting a thrashing during this thread. It is not easy to give advice to someone that has this goal with absolutely no experience or know-how. I will retain much of this knowledge and reference it over and over until I fully understand every point made in this thread and use it in the future when it is more relevant to my current situation. I also now better understand the marina situation for liveaboards In Socal, its not the end of the road. " Uninformed enthusiasm is a costly road to travel" Who couldn't agree with that? I hope to educate myself more each day, although my enthusiasm has not wavered. I will be taking my first classes May of this year. My next thread months down the line will hopefully be more specific and informed. If there is any more red tape I need to keep in mind, then please. Thank you all!