Suggestions for a hopeful liveaboard

[Joh.Ghurt]

Here's another unpopular voice putting a dent into your plan: Forget satellite communications (even the one by Elon Musk) for work. Mobile works ok in western countries close to towns.

And one that might make your plans easier: Does it have to be bluewater? Most boats in the 35'-40' are perfectly capable to cross the Atlantic while still being better suited to coastal cruising. If you're American, you'd be perfectly fine with any Beneteau, Jeanneau or Bavaria for the Caribbean or the most other popular cruising ground. Or do you plan to go to Patagonia and explore the Beagle-channels?

[GoneDiving]

Maybe sacrilege in this forum but have you considered a motor trawler? A much shorter learning curve, ex commercial versions can be cheap, easy to maintain, volumous and go anywhere.

Where are you going to keep your new toy? Single handling a cumbersome 50footer in close quarters around a marina is not fun.

[admiralnelson94]

Originally Posted by joelhemington

It would be helpful to understand where you are or want to be if you're thinking about a live aboard. Around here, that's about a 20 year waiting list. If your ideal budget is $70k then you'll be lucky to find something decent in the 34' to 40' range. Forget about anything larger - if you found one, it would need more work than you can afford. For casual coastal cruising, you can find some good deals on Benteaus and Bavarias which are not considered world cruisers but tend to be set up nicely for live aboard purposes. If you feel you must have a blue water boat - save your money.

I'm currently living about a mile away from Lake St. Clair in Michigan, but plan on moving back to the east coast sometime in the next year but am pretty flexible with where I end up, likely Florida for at least a bit as there seems to be quite the plethora of boats down there.

Also, good point about the Beneteau's etc. that may be ultimately what I end up getting and just doing islands and Caribbean for a few years.

[glanrock]

Sailing on someone's boat and owning a boat are pretty far apart, unless you spent significant amounts of time with said person(s) in between the actual sailing segments of time. They don't clean, maintain, upgrade, paint, clean, lubricate, maintain, clean themselves. Yes, I repeated myself, LOL, its because those are the things you find yourself doing over and over. Things that live atop the water seem to attract bugs, tree-puke (pollen), clogs in water hoses, head repair, battery issues, fuel microbes, and all the fun stuff. Yesterday I wanted to go sailing, but I knew I need to take apart those winches and clean them. Was very depressing.

[SeaStory]

Get onboard boats. Make friends who have boats, make appointments with brokers representing boats for sale in your price range, go to boat shows, etc. There is no substitute for looking at boats and talking to people about what works and what doesn't work.

DH was adamant that he didn't want the mast in the middle of the salon, but it turned out that the boats with a foreward head had other layout issues that just didn't work for us, and so we have a mast in the middle of the salon. He has gotten used to it and loves our boat as much as I do. Even I will admit that it is a long way from the V berth to the aft head in the middle of the night in the middle of the winter. Nonetheless, beside the companionway is an excellent place for a head and a wet locker.

[admiralnelson94]

Originally Posted by Smokeys Kitchen

HI AN94,
Lots of good advice here,

You don't say where you are. If you are now near a boating spot - go out and look at a bunch of boats; perhaps join a club and do some racing. Great way to get more experience without owning your own boat for now.

My wife and I took sailing lessons and then joined a club; making the foresighted decision (mistake?) of buying a boat and putting it into the club on charter when we joined. We thought it would be less expensive.

It was 34 ft and was a handful for us at first. Learning everything on the boat maintenance wise, as well as improving sailing skills was a steep curve. When I got it, I could not imagine single handing it.

We sold that one after about 3 years of ownership, along with our house about 4-1/2 years ago and moved aboard our new boat. It is still a learning curve, but we have gained a lot of experience in those 4-1/2 years.

The new boat is 40 ft which is good for us. I can single hand it fine, and up until the middle of last year, my wife worked remotely from the boat both in the PNW and in Alaska.

I would avoid spending all of your funds until you determine if you like being on a boat all the time. Get one that is a little smaller - like 30 ft or so - and see how that goes for a while. If you get one that needs some work, then you can do it while you still have a land based domicile and not while you are living on it, which is easier especially at first.

All things being equal (and they almost never are), if you are spending x amount of $$ - like 40 - 50K for now, you can get a smaller boat like 30 ft that is in better shape than say a 50 footer. Yes you will have to put time and money into it, no matter the size, and you will not get back all the $$ spent when you sell, but you will get a better sense of what it takes to take care of one, as well as really what size might work for you.

Good luck.

Cheers,
Ron

Thanks Ron, really appreciate the advice I do plan on taking some sailing lessons at the local marina to help me sharpen up my rather non-existent skill set.

I don't think I will mind the uncertainty at all, but do think I will only end up coastal cruising for the first few months/years to get some confidence in my abilities before I undertake any major voyage.

Also good to know your wife has had success working from the boat remotely!

Thanks again!

[Searles]

All doable ,Catalina 42mk2 will do all of this .⚓️⛵️

[sailingdutchboy]

Nice, with Starlink you have some flexibility. Sadly not in Hawaii yet.
As for the cost, if you live aboard full time, you could allocate some money that would otherwise go into land-based housing toward the boat.
By finding cheaper moorage than being in a marina / harbor slip you may be able to save some money and justify a larger more comfortable vessel, but that lifestyle is not for everyone, although I know folks that love it.
If you can mostly work remote, it can be great (especially if the weather is generally favorable - getting soaked or freezing on my way to work is not my favorite way to start the day).
To really experience if living on a boat is something you would like, you could consider renting one for a little while first (perhaps via Airbnb / Vrbo).
Best of luck on your search.

[loneshark64]

Originally Posted by admiralnelson94

I'm currently living about a mile away from Lake St. Clair in Michigan, but plan on moving back to the east coast sometime in the next year but am pretty flexible with where I end up, likely Florida for at least a bit as there seems to be quite the plethora of boats down there.

Also, good point about the Beneteau's etc. that may be ultimately what I end up getting and just doing islands and Caribbean for a few years.

I agree with the advice. Don’t buy a huge full or long keel boat. Buy a 32-34’ beneteau. No bigger than a beneteau 343. There are a lot of 343’s in Florida, and they are easy to sail and maneuver in close quarters. That is a pretty big boat for one person and a dog and girls like them ;-) If I were you I would shoot to spend less, like 40-50k. You will spend another 15-20 easy in fixes, especially as a new boat owner that can’t do a lot of it yourself; I know everybody says this but it’s true. Learn, bop around FL, go to the Bahamas, scare the crap out of yourself, learn some more. Then sell it and go bigger if you want once you know what works for you.