Any other veterans living aboard or wanting to?

[Luckyknot]

Good luck man! I'm a Navy vet (nuke '03-'09) on wife #2 hoping to find boat #3 to live aboard and travel the world. We have some years left though. Have a solid $100K in student debt to take care of first. I think I'm somewhat fortunate though. My wife is pushing for a boat at least as hard as me. I fear I may lose her if we don't get one soon!

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Luckyknot

Good luck man! I'm a Navy vet (nuke '03-'09) on wife #2 hoping to find boat #3 to live aboard and travel the world. We have some years left though. Have a solid $100K in student debt to take care of first. I think I'm somewhat fortunate though. My wife is pushing for a boat at least as hard as me. I fear I may lose her if we don't get one soon!

then get one a small day sailor like a 22 to 29 ftter will satisfy your need on the weekends till total retirement.

[Luckyknot]

Originally Posted by newhaul

then get one a small day sailor like a 22 to 29 ftter will satisfy your need on the weekends till total retirement.

I'd love to but we just don't make enough to pay for the loans, mortgage, and slip. We're in the heart of Baltimore right now. It's a relatively cheap city but that is also reflected in my pay. Also, marinas seem to have doubled in price since we bought our home 3 years ago. At the time we were actually in the process of trying to purchase a classic 45' powerboat to live aboard. It didn't work out

We've been considering making some huge life changes recently to help us get closer to that dream. We'll see if it all plays out in our favor.

[Luckyknot]

Man, now you got me on Yachtworld looking at daysailors rather than working on whatever it is I do here

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Luckyknot

I'd love to but we just don't make enough to pay for the loans, mortgage, and slip. We're in the heart of Baltimore right now. It's a relatively cheap city but that is also reflected in my pay. Also, marinas seem to have doubled in price since we bought our home 3 years ago. At the time we were actually in the process of trying to purchase a classic 45' powerboat to live aboard. It didn't work out

We've been considering making some huge life changes recently to help us get closer to that dream. We'll see if it all plays out in our favor.

trailer sailor? Heck even a while or star would get you on the water

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Luckyknot

Man, now you got me on Yachtworld looking at daysailors rather than working on whatever it is I do here

there are a couple on your craigslist that were cheap and looked good to boot

[Lepke]

I'm 70 and lived on the water most of my life. There's many vets on the water. Many single, especially older ones like me. We like quiet. As you get older, you'll figure out men are the dreamers, but not most women. They don't want to sail off to some adventure. They want a house and some poor bastard to pay the bills. And they'll say or do anything to get that.
You can live your dream or your wife's dream. Pick.

[svMarite]

I planned 5 yrs from retirement to sail to the Med. Bought a 78 Morgan 382, learned the ropes as they say and in June '99, I set off across the Atlantic 2 weeks post retirement. 9/11 screwed up my cruising plans so I singled handed back Stateside to continue the fight as a contractor. After too many years of running around the DC beltway, while living aboard the last 5 yrs, we just went into what I call semi-retirement. I'm travelling overseas 6mos yr in 6 wk stunts and my wife is a special needs pediatric PT and she's landing gigs while I'm gone and she's loving it! We just moved the boat to NC, where cost of living is FAR cheaper.

So yes many of us vets retire to the cruising lifestyle because we're adept to roughing it and have vagabond lust.
We almost moved to Bremerton 2 yes ago when she got a job offer, but it was too far from family...I'd have been there in the next flight....

[Luckyknot]

Originally Posted by newhaul

there are a couple on your craigslist that were cheap and looked good to boot

I appreciate your support newhaul and we're going to do it. It's going to take another year or two though. We love our house but it's tiny. I mean, a solid 1,000 sq. ft. but divided among 3 levels. We also have a yard but it's 14'x14' and a food/flower garden. My intermediate plan to get on the water will either be to join the local sailing club or build a folding boat that can be towed behind my bike (Oh yeah, we are also car free).

We have a sallyport that is about 20" wide by 30' long. I think that would make a great folding boat dock

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Luckyknot

I appreciate your support newhaul and we're going to do it. It's going to take another year or two though. We love our house but it's tiny. I mean, a solid 1,000 sq. ft. but divided among 3 levels. We also have a yard but it's 14'x14' and a food/flower garden. My intermediate plan to get on the water will either be to join the local sailing club or build a folding boat that can be towed behind my bike (Oh yeah, we are also car free).

We have a sallyport that is about 20" wide by 30' long. I think that would make a great folding boat dock

sounds good about joining the local club and for diy folder something like this ?
Barquito a homemade folding dinghy row sailboat

[laika]

Originally Posted by Bgonzalez262

Does anyone else have this itch to get back on the water? I recently quit my job, started writing, and designing web pages so I can do what I think I was meant to do. Now I just have to convince my wife....

Ex-wildland fire guy who's since been doing web work to pay the bills. Lived aboard solo for 6 years and got some of it out of my system. The gal now farms the arable part of the year and we cruise winters, leapfrogging the boat, currently in the W Caribe.

The itch starts coming back strong after 8-9 months. Nothing beats the adventure and fulfillment of being out there. It's a true bastion of freedom in the world.

[Luckyknot]

Originally Posted by newhaul

sounds good about joining the local club and for diy folder something like this ?
Barquito a homemade folding dinghy row sailboat

Exactly! That was the one that got me thinking it would be possible to have a boat at all right now.

My only hesitation with the club is that we did join a couple of years ago but it is just far enough away that we only made the effort to get out there a couple of times in a year.

[sailcrazy]

We're a 22-yr retirees....the best retirement plan is to keep the 1st wife (we're 2 weeks from our 50th aniv). We lived aboard our 43' for nearly 3 yrs (in Asia), have sailed Asia, 3 yrs in the Medd, and now on our 4th season in the Caribb doing 6 mo on the boat and 6 mo on land(on a lake in MN!). The boat can get small, even for only 2, and if you're sailing there is no place to get off/get out of the way. On the other hand, it's a great way to see places, meet other cruisers, and (we think) a great life style. But....it can get small! We love it. And if you get the chance-go cruise Asia! From Aus, to Indonesia(think Bali), to the Philippines, to Malaysia, and to Thailand....it's all good. Not crowded, easy going, your $$ go a long way, folks are friendly, the sea is clear and full of (Live) coral and fish, and a real "kick-back" life style. The only down side....it's a long way back to the US. But a great life style!!! Go for it.

[CaverCop]

I'm also up here in Washington albeit the wrong corner of the state, northeast. Ive had a small trailer sailboat for a while but have been spoiled quite extensively with yearly week long sailing sojourns in the salish sea and just this year I got to spend three weeks on board a leopard 48 catamaran doing a circumnavigation of Vancouver Island which was incredible and really cemented my desire to liveaboard. If only I could sell my wife on a monohull instead of a catamaran I would save so much money lol. Oh and 100% service connected and a great government job to boot.

[ek1]

I am a retired Navy Captain, multiple tours to the sandbox recently married to an Army Lieutenant Colonel (#2), also sandbox vet. When we decided to buy a new boat that would eventually be a live aboard, we worked together through the entire process. She even did a PowerPoint decision brief about it (she's Army, should have seen that coming). After two years of boat shows, discussions, etc. we bought a new Fountaine Pajot Lucia 40. Amazingly it was her idea, I had to be convinced (they are not cheap). The key is to talk through the entire process until you are both on the same sheet of paper. Personally I think it is easier for two vets to work it out because there is no hesitation on either part to speak your mind. I also agree with a lot of the others here, if you don't work this together, look for wife # whatever.