Wanting to experience liveaboard life for a weekend.

[Milestones]

Hello everyone!
We are wanting to experience the Liveaboard lifestyle on a catamaran and would like to dip our toes in for a weekend before trying a full week and all that comes with it.

We have general powerboating experience in our South West Florida waters but very little sailing experience and have not taken a sailing course yet, so I dont know if we would be useful as "crew" just yet. We would like to "charter" for a weekend to see how we take to it. We are both very interested in the lifestyle and very comfortable on the water.

We would like to find an opportunity in the lower half of Florida and would need to be back for Monday morning. If you are interested in showing us a piece of this lifestyle or know of someone that would be able to assist us please email me at Michael@milestones-estero.com

Thank you!

[Sand crab]

They have a Leopard 40 and a Lipari 41 and you can do a 2 day charter.

Sail Yachts & Rates


There is also an outfit near Sarasota that has a Seawind and a Maine Cat 30.

[Milestones]

Sand Crab,
Thank you for letting us know about the one in the Cape. I did not know that they had gotten Sail Cats. I will look into them and see if I can match up the times.

[Sand crab]

They have 77 cat rentals in Florida here:
https://www.yachtico.com/search?loca...at%3ACatamaran
Some are powercats and there are both crewed and bareboat. It seems like they only quote a weekly rate but I'm sure you'll find some that will let you have it for the weekend.


And here's a brand new Seawind 1260 in St. Pete.
https://sailingflorida.com/instant-karma-sewind-1260/
Don't go on that one because you will hate it.


Have fun

[FLLCatsailor]

Contact Laura Jagielski. She's an amazing charter broker, and should be able to steer you in the right direction. Her email is Laura@DenisonYachtSales.com

She can set you up on my clients Helia 44 out of South Florida, as well as a number of other boats...

Full disclosure... She's my wife, so I'm pretty biased...

[justakiss]

I would add the "mental preparation" of your trip since you stated you wanted to have the "liveaboard experience". The liveaboard experience implies you're considering doing this for extended periods of time (if not full-time).

A weekend is very short period of time, and you can "suck it up" because you know when it's over. For that matter, same goes with a full week.

I would suggest imposing 'rules' on yourself in terms of what you pack, device usage, food and water consumption, etc. On the flip side, you could go into it doing whatever you think you need to do, and then evaluate afterwards.

Either way, manage your expectations, and do a good 'after action review' with your partner on what you did, needed (or didn't), tasks, etc.

[FlyingScot]

If you want the liveaboard experience, go to the dock, ask if you can do boat projects all day, then the next day go for a sail, then spend the rest of the day cleaning the boat.

Just kidding, or am I?

Good luck

[AKA-None]

You can just live in your bathroom for the weekend?

[kurtsch]

Originally Posted by AKA-None

You can just live in your bathroom for the weekend?

Don't forget to burn hundreds in the trash in to keep warm

[S/V Illusion]

Originally Posted by AKA-None

You can just live in your bathroom for the weekend?

While tilted, add a diesel odor, close all windows, eat bad food, rock it in 3 dimensions, add heat and humidity, soak clothes in salt water while experiencing a tooth ache.

[Seaslug Caravan]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

While tilted, add a diesel odor, close all windows, eat bad food, rock it in 3 dimensions, add heat and humidity, soak clothes in salt water while experiencing a tooth ache.

Then for a little outing, catch public transport to the market, buy 3 months worth of food, drag it back to your bathroom and spend the rest of the weekend trying to figure out how to fit it all in .

[SailingPNW]

I guess on question is what are you thinking by live-aboard as it has a huge variance. At a marina? Off hook? 26 foot 40 year old Catalina or are you think more the million dollar condomaran or something in between? There is no right answer to that.

Really the big challenge with boats and living aboard comes down to a few things

Size, do you have enough room? Be careful on this one because it's easy to get to large where then your dealing with a big boat you might not be comfortable with, don't have something you are apprehensive about as then it will kill your desire to take it anywhere.

Power, while you can run generators they aren't super efficient and if things like AC are a must as long as your happy on the dock you will be good, then you can then go out sailing. This of course is a bit more $$$. If you can do without more options are available, just understand what's important for your happiness.

Repairs, salt water and the salt in the air create more maintenance issues then most home owners can comprehend. If your handy you can do a lot yourself, if not anything Marine, including labor costs more, but if you can afford it your good.

So assuming you can afford the lifestyle as you want it to be, the real question comes down to size.

Me I wouldn't want to go back, but you will find when you tell people you live on a boat there are 2 types, those that think it's a great adventure and who would love to do it, and those who think you are crazy. Probably both are right.

[Sand crab]

Guys, lighten up. They just want to spend the weekend on a cat. Trust me, the Lipari and Leopard will not feel like living in your bathroom and they won't be "tilted" unless they had a few.
It'll be fun.

[CatNewBee]

They have a power boat, so they know what it means to be on the water and do boat maintenance, provisioning, burning money, having sun downers etc. They are only new to sailing and are looking for a nice weekend on a cat with some chat about cruising. Nothing wrong with that.

Bareboot chartering is not yet an option because of lack of experience and no idea about sailing, and a charter captain for a weekend is not about cruising, but about entertaining paying guests for a holliday. The charter boats have very little in common with a cat equiped for long term cruising. I assume they have enjoyed snorkelling, diving an laying on the beach with their boat already, they want to know how it feels like on a real cruising boat and what it takes to refit it for living on board.

[Paul L]

Originally Posted by FlyingScot

If you want the liveaboard experience, go to the dock, ask if you can do boat projects all day, then the next day go for a sail, then spend the rest of the day cleaning the boat.

Just kidding, or am I?

Good luck

I read the title of this thread and immediately thought about the Dennis Connors quote about standing in an ice cold shower tearing up hundred dollar bills