I want to be a liveaboard

[Dignity too]

Originally Posted by barbienana

Hi everyone, so my husband and I are wanting to take the leap however we have been told so many different things we are so confused. Like we here you must be reach to make this work "we are not" then I hear you need strong desire and a make it match your budget....pl someone that is actually doing it and "not rich" please give us some honest advice.
We have not purchased our boat and not sure what we want besides not wanting a sale boat.
I have been looking at Trawlers? Our boat budget is around $10-$15k
We desire to do the Great Loop and eventually cruise over to the Bahamas as well. I'm looking at 50 and hubby is under 45...lol
We have around $2k a month disposable income coming in to play with each month....and all the time life has to offer.
So what do you all think?

you have the monthly income to live comfortably, I have always said 1k per person per month, but have been doing it for the last 10 years on less than half of that.

[Bentwings]

I Judy moved to live aboard in July this year. It’s very cold to very hot here in Minnesota. Requires AC and winter heat. These require power so you need 120 volt and 12 volt. With sufficient amperage. I’m marginal at 30 amp service.
Your budget is just too low. Even a decent sized sail boat is well over you limit. 50k would be the minimum in my mind. Now, I have a 34 foot cruiser rather than house boat or trawler. It’s my preference. I also do all my own work. I installed the new AC and currently the new heating system. I had to purchase some quality tools to do this. Here are a few items I fixed this year so far .
Replaced cabin door tracks and rollers required removing helm console to access the tracks.
Repaired shower sump and pump.
Installed electrical wiring for AC and heat.
Installed new converter for battery charging.Installed three new batteries rebuilt both main motor carbs,
Rebuilt generator carbs.
Installed additional hand rails
Made and installed new transom hand rail.
Made and installed new transom riser.
Added new dock lines.
Repaired anchor winch.
Repaired nav light wiring.
Made new boarding steps.
Repaired cabin sink drain and faucet.
Cleaned head and pumped out several times
Msd’s engine room floor risers.
Added engineroom bilge blower
Repaired one seacock.
Made new cabin table.

So you can see some of the issues that come up. You will need to do most of this yourself as outside help is very expensive. It means enough in the bank for what ever comes up because you usually need it right now.

Also investigate insurance. All marinas around here require 1/2 million liability alone. Your boat USA additional. It may have to be surveyed and the insurance company may charge a prienium if you don’t meet their standards.
I noticed mine only covers up to 5 miles off shore but we are a long way from big water.
I grew up in mother Minnesota along Lake Superior. The Great Lakes are very challenging Waters. They can be viciously cold and rough. I don’t know what clothing would cost Firth’s, but anything under a couple grand per person might be a bargain.

To be blunt, I would suggest you rethink som plans. You will need a lot more capital for boating than you have allocated.

I th
I think you need to get some over night experience on the water. I spent only 3 hours in total darkness navigating the river with only the port motor running. It was cold and raining to boot. I learned a lot here that I won’t forget.

Right no the water temperature us 40 deg F. Hot water you might think but if you have never been in water like this you have an experience of s life time waiting for you. I wear a PFD all day if I’m out on the dock. It’s only 25 yards to shore but but it would be very touch and go to survive a dunking here.

So in the end, do some more thinking and ask questions.

[BlackHeron]

It can be done in your budget on a sailboat, don't know about a trawler. Fuel costs are much higher. Used sailboats are much less expensive -even free sometimes.

Our budget is similar to yours, and we do it. But we stay on anchor most of the time and don't stay at marinas if we can at all help it. We skimp and rarely eat out, cooking from scratch without meat. We live VERY frugally. Lots of rice and beans and grains bought in bulk. Nothing fancy or expensive. It isn't a luxurious dream retirement lifestyle on the beach.

Maintenance costs are higher for a boat that moves compared to one that stays in one place all of the time But if you are very handy and know how to fix and adjust stuff before it breaks hard and gets ruined the costs are not all that bad. It is mostly labor and minor supplies. But you have got to WORK at it and not let it get ahead of you. The learning curve is steep. Mistakes or being lazy costs $$$$$

We don't have pressure water or hot water, no refrigeration and a lot of other expensive to maintain systems we go without.

We are full time cruisers who migrate up and down the East Coast, we don't stay in one place all year, and don't have heat or AC. So we really need to move and adjust the latitude to match the temperature that is comfortable outside without heat or AC. This summer we got as far north as Montreal to beat the heat, so yeah, we put some miles on. We don't head far south until the hurricane season is over. Right now we are still in North Carolina.

Fuel costs are not much since we are a sailboat and always try to have a sail up, even on the ICW, which means we burn much less than one gallon per hour when motorsailing yet still maintain 7 knots on average. Usually 1/2-gallon ler hour on average. I imagine even a small trawler would burn at least twice that, if not much more. A gas engine(s) will burn way more than a diesel too -which I doubt will be in your boat budget.

Insurance is expensive -especially medical insurance. We aren't old enough to get Medicare yet. It's all part of our budget and even Obamacare is damned expensive. You could always go without but what happens if you get cancer or other curable but really expensive disease? Just die because you can't afford the cure? Go intonthe poor house? Skip out on bill-collectors following you for the rest of your days?

Boat insurance is expensive too, but you need it many places. Some marinas won't even let you in without at least liability, and there are times you will need to stop at a marina for repairs or haulout that can't be done at anchor.