Intro and Advice

[Trvs]

Hello all, new to the forums and wanted to introduce myself as well as go ahead and begin soliciting advice (I will be researching previous threads as well so please don't attack me with "that question has been asked a million times replies").

I recently retired from the Navy. I'm a mustang and spent the second half of my career as a helo pilot. I was fortunate enough to be stationed in Key West when I retired and my family and I still live here and I still work for Uncle Sam. My son has another year of high school left then it'll be just me and the wife. She was in the Navy for a few years and she also worked as a mate on a couple of sailboats for a few years here in Key West. We do have a small center console fishing boat and I have my Captains license. All in all, we do have boating experience and are knowledgeable on short term nautical living. In fact, we are currently on vacation in Ibiza where we spent a few days on a friend's sailboat.

For several years my wife and I have talked about buying a boat and living on it. Now that my son is almost finished with high school, and with the US possibly going to hell in a political firestorm, we again want to start looking at buying a liveaboard and cruising. My wife has stated that she has no desire whatsoever to sail. We have a financial plan for the next two years to eliminate the little debt we have and put together a nice down payment for a boat. We do have a house and the value of the home over the next few years will drive our decision to sell the home and purchase a boat outright or rent the home out and finance.

So, I am looking for advice on boat types, brands, and sizes to look at. Ultimately we want something for just the 2 of us to cruise the Caribbean. I know we won't be buying for up to 2 years, but I do like to plan and research, and daydream. Feel free to include any input whatsoever regarding liveaboard lifestyle, expenses, etc. I look forward to your comments and thanks in advance.

[boatpoker]

it's all about the budget.
How much do you want to spend on initial purchase.

[Trvs]

Initially I'm looking at up to $200k. That will obviously change over the next 2 years. My wife had a friend visit Key West with his 50 something foot Carver. He invited us to hangout and it was a gorgeous luxury boat, but obviously too big and too pricey for us. Price notwithstanding, I'm looking more for advice on type, size, and brands. I've been looking at trawlers for years, but should I be looking at motor yachts as well? I've also been looking at 40'-50', but is a 35' sufficient for just the wife and I to liveaboard exclusively? Are there any brands that it's suggested I avoid? What brands should I focus on?

I forgot to mention, we are willing to live on the hook as well as mooring, it all depends on where we are.

As I said, 2 years is a lot of time to research, so I'm not looking for hard and fast answers. Thanks again.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by Trvs

I've been looking at trawlers for years, but should I be looking at motor yachts as well? I've also been looking at 40'-50', but is a 35' sufficient for just the wife and I to liveaboard exclusively?

"Trawler" is a marketing term. It more often refers to styling than anything meaningfull about design or structure or systems. You have a budget that gives you a pretty wide field but only you can determine a comfortable size. I have lived on a very small 37' (interior space wise) comfortably and a very volumnious 47'. I preferred the smaller boat, my wife preferred the larger.

As a starting point .... hang around marinas and if you see something interesting ask the owner for a tour. I have been doing this for years and have never been turned away, everyone wants to show off their boats.

[Trvs]

That's pretty easy to do. My wife works at Key West Bait and Tackle (shameless plug) and she meets many people who come to town and are moored there at Key West Bight, A&B Marina, etc,. That's how we met the guy with the Carver.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Trvs.

[barnakiel]

Hi,

One type I would definitely consider is a power cat.

Good fuel economy, good speed, stability, space, light, etc.

I think power cats are effectively the future of all cruising and charter.

Something like this:

X5 Power - Xquisite Yachts

or like this:

Lagoon catamarans : building, sale and chartering of luxury cruising catamarans

or like that:

http://www.sail-csu.com/wp-content/u...at-Anchor1.jpg

http://www.multihulls-world.com/imag...jpg_500_2000_2

Cheers,
b.

[Trvs]

Good call on the power cats. I've started looking at them and really like what I see. Not many for sale in my price range, so we're gonna have to do some driving to check some out.

[boatpoker]

PDQ 34 power cat

[model 10]

Originally Posted by boatpoker

" I have been doing this for years and have never been turned away, everyone wants to show off their boats.

I have nothing to be ashamed of but I only let friends and cops onboard. I've found most cruisers know too much to be very interested in somebody's else boat.

[DA89]

My wife and I are probably at the same time out on our dream, maybe only one year if we find the right boat. I am 50 she is 48. We have been researching for about 6 months now. We really had no desire to sail but originally I thought that was the only option especially for the distance we eventually wanted to go, which is all the Caribbean. We found the Power Trawler Cats and said this is us. Space is great, stable at mooring and travel, on top of that they are fuel efficient. Now which manufacture? We are fairly confident we have settled on Endevour 36 or 44. Leaning more on the 36 for a few years to get our feet wet with short trips, getting boat ready, learning systems and how to work on it. One of the reasons we like Endevour is that it has 3 staterooms as we want to share this with friends and family. The Yanmar engines are easily accessible and all space is utilized pretty efficiently. We have been to look at 3 different ones and one even 15 years old was still in great shape and reasonably priced. We were just in Key West in April our first trip there, stayed in our Class C on Stock island. We will be back. Hope this helps some.
Keep the dream alive.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, DA.

[ranger42c]

Originally Posted by Trvs

My wife had a friend visit Key West with his 50 something foot Carver. He invited us to hangout and it was a gorgeous luxury boat, but obviously too big and too pricey for us. Price notwithstanding, I'm looking more for advice on type, size, and brands. I've been looking at trawlers for years, but should I be looking at motor yachts as well? I've also been looking at 40'-50', but is a 35' sufficient for just the wife and I to liveaboard exclusively? Are there any brands that it's suggested I avoid? What brands should I focus on?

You'd probably do well to look at any boat in the size range you might need and with the features you might need/want... without regard to whether it's called a trawler, motor yacht, long range cruiser, sport bridge, whatever. Many of those are mostly marketing terms, to an exact definition of each is fairly squooshy.

I can tell you we couldn't live on our 42 sportfish for more than a couple months at a time. That's maybe not particularly useful, since tastes differ and so forth... but to give you an idea about area, a 42 "trawler" or "motor yacht" (latter, of the aft cabin variety) would give us about 50% more interior space, and that might make the cut.

For your start, I'd suggest you actually look at boats in the 40-45' range at first, see how that might feel, modify from there. First, shop on boats on yachtworld.com to get an idea about what exists, and look at features mostly, not necessarily boat brands or models. Second, go round boat places to look at actual boats. Sometimes you'll even get a chance to view in person one of the on-line candidates you may have seen.

Also... you might get some useful info from the folks on trawlerforum.com (sister site), since that fraternity is well-attuned to power boats. Many of which aren't trawlers.

-Chris

[ranger42c]

Originally Posted by DA89

We are fairly confident we have settled on Endevour 36 or 44. Leaning more on the 36 for a few years to get our feet wet with short trips, getting boat ready, learning systems and how to work on it. One of the reasons we like Endevour is that it has 3 staterooms as we want to share this with friends and family.

Seems to me their 42 sailing cat is the one with an almost full-beam master, sort of in between height compared to the main deck the two hulls?

If so... that was the one we gravitated toward. We've not been enthused about the idea of wall-to-wall berths in the cat hulls.

Maybe if the 36 or 44 power cats offer something like that, it could get our attention.

FWIW, assuming budget is not a road-block, buying the 44 in the first place will save you from two-foot-itis when (OK, if) you decide relatively quickly that the bigger boat would have been the better option. Difference in handling and systems would be minimal, and you might even get a bit better access to some of the systems for maintenance/service.

-Chris

[DA89]

36 is a 15 foot beam and 44 is an 18 foot beam, big difference if you are in a marina in way of cost per month. 36 fits easily in to most marina slips and cost of boat would allow us to buy a boat sooner and learn, then we are ready to go full in we are much more prepared in experience and financially to move up. We figure once we are full time we are mooring mostly but will have to dock for the obvious, fuel, water, dumping, maintenance etc.