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30-09-2018, 19:56
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 6
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Long distance ownership
My wife and I want to buy a Lagoon 450 in the Caribbean. Our problem is is that we are not ready to retire so we would only be able to use the boat for 3 - 4 weeks at a time and then not seeing her for another 6 - 8 weeks. Has anyone done this before? Are moorages safe to leave your boat? What problems have you experienced leaving your boat? We live in the Pacific Northwest so it not a quick trip to the Caribbean. Thanks for any advice.
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01-10-2018, 16:00
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#2
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Oregon
Boat: Seafarer36c
Posts: 5,563
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Re: Long distance ownership
We keep our boat in a marina that we can trust to keep an eye on things. **** happens, time flies and months can go by. We don't mess with a dehumidifier but there is some ventilation in our boat. I've used a mooring twice and it's too much worry.
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01-10-2018, 17:06
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#3
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Registered User
Join Date: Jan 2014
Location: Martinique
Boat: Fortuna Island Spirit 40
Posts: 2,298
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Re: Long distance ownership
Quote:
Originally Posted by glassgal
My wife and I want to buy a Lagoon 450 in the Caribbean. Our problem is is that we are not ready to retire so we would only be able to use the boat for 3 - 4 weeks at a time and then not seeing her for another 6 - 8 weeks. Has anyone done this before? Are moorages safe to leave your boat? What problems have you experienced leaving your boat? We live in the Pacific Northwest so it not a quick trip to the Caribbean. Thanks for any advice.
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Where in the Caribbean?
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01-10-2018, 17:50
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#4
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Senior Cruiser
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: 29° 49.16’ N 82° 25.82’ W
Boat: Pearson 422
Posts: 16,306
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Re: Long distance ownership
I lived in GA and kept a boat in the USVI for a couple of years and I wouldn't do it again. The boat was only a couple of years old and in good condition but leaving a boat for a month or three at a time in the tropics was rough on the boat.
No one big thing just lots of little ones. Mold and mildew and corrosion on electrical connections were constant issues. Bottom line, seems like most of the times I got down to the boat for a few weeks I spent the first half of the trip catching up on maintenance and had little time left to sail.
__________________
The water is always bluer on the other side of the ocean.
Sometimes it's necessary to state the obvious for the benefit of the oblivious.
Rust is the poor man's Loctite.
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01-10-2018, 18:22
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#5
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2018
Location: Kemah TX
Boat: Cruisers Yacht, 3870 - 43 LOA
Posts: 176
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Re: Long distance ownership
Quote:
Originally Posted by glassgal
My wife and I want to buy a Lagoon 450 in the Caribbean. Our problem is is that we are not ready to retire so we would only be able to use the boat for 3 - 4 weeks at a time and then not seeing her for another 6 - 8 weeks. Has anyone done this before? Are moorages safe to leave your boat? What problems have you experienced leaving your boat? We live in the Pacific Northwest so it not a quick trip to the Caribbean. Thanks for any advice.
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What year is the 450? Would it be something you'd put into charter (I'm not a broker or anything) so you could make some money and have the maintenance taken care of by the charter company. Just thinking out loud.
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01-10-2018, 20:48
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#6
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 6
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Re: Long distance ownership
Thanks for the questions and comments! The boat (2011) is based in Granada. Have thought about a charter company but don’t like the idea of the damage/ wear and tear that comes with charter. What if we dry dock the boat to try to keep the mold issue down? Is this option too expensive?
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01-10-2018, 21:50
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#7
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 39
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Re: Long distance ownership
My wife and I are trying to do exactly what you describe and honestly after 3 years it is getting old. I would wait until you can spend more time on the boat than off. My wife complains that she feels like I am always working on the boat and in truth she is probably right. The boat takes a lot of work to keep up and if you condense it into your 2-3 week trips you will feel like all your trips are to work on the boat. Even at that I feel like I am slowly falling behind.
Hope you can retire soon and follow your dream then !
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02-10-2018, 03:37
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#8
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Senior Cruiser
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: 29° 49.16’ N 82° 25.82’ W
Boat: Pearson 422
Posts: 16,306
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Re: Long distance ownership
Quote:
Originally Posted by cgebluewater
My wife and I are trying to do exactly what you describe and honestly after 3 years it is getting old. I would wait until you can spend more time on the boat than off. My wife complains that she feels like I am always working on the boat and in truth she is probably right. The boat takes a lot of work to keep up and if you condense it into your 2-3 week trips you will feel like all your trips are to work on the boat. Even at that I feel like I am slowly falling behind.
Hope you can retire soon and follow your dream then !
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Exactly what happened to me. I recall one trip to the VI when I spent the entire "vacation" working on the boat and never ended up leaving the mooring. It wasn't until we moved onboard that I was finally able to catch up with all the little maintenance and repair jobs.
__________________
The water is always bluer on the other side of the ocean.
Sometimes it's necessary to state the obvious for the benefit of the oblivious.
Rust is the poor man's Loctite.
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02-10-2018, 03:58
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#9
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Senior Cruiser
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: 29° 49.16’ N 82° 25.82’ W
Boat: Pearson 422
Posts: 16,306
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Re: Long distance ownership
Quote:
Originally Posted by glassgal
Thanks for the questions and comments! The boat (2011) is based in Granada. Have thought about a charter company but don’t like the idea of the damage/ wear and tear that comes with charter. What if we dry dock the boat to try to keep the mold issue down? Is this option too expensive?
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Too expensive is a relative term and something you have to decide for yourself. Just keeping the boat hauled out doesn't keep away the humid sea air. Better than hauling out is to just keep the boat anywhere, floating or hauled out, where you can keep plugged into shore power and run a dehumidifier (or two or three) or if in the water run the air conditioning on a moderate setting.
Either will keep the interior dry (or at least drier) and keep down the mildew and perhaps more important the corrosion on all the wiring, switches, connectors, etc.
If you are able to keep to a frequent schedule IE being absent no more than 6-8 weeks and spending 3-4 weeks on board this might work out OK. In my case I was there less often which significantly exacerbated the problem. Of course there is no exact rule about how many days use vs days absent to avoid the problems but again, your suggested schedule could work out.
__________________
The water is always bluer on the other side of the ocean.
Sometimes it's necessary to state the obvious for the benefit of the oblivious.
Rust is the poor man's Loctite.
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03-10-2018, 23:27
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#10
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Marine Service Provider
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Caribbean
Boat: Eleuthera 60
Posts: 167
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Re: Long distance ownership
Glassgal- DON’T DO IT!. We own a L450 and are moving aboard in January. She’s only been our liability since June and it’s beyond amazing how much crap goes on when everybody knows you’re no where around and can’t get there within a day or two. (Our boat needed to be moved out of a hurricane area for insurance and required lots of logistics).
I thought I had a decent handle being around boats my whole life here in So. California...not even close.
Ever had an international wire be seized at random by a foreign government and push your maintenance timeline off by months???
When you’re ready to move aboard or use it locally take the plunge. Good luck fighting your probable restlessness! Hehe, sorry.
__________________
Co-Operative Brokerage Solutions: For Cruisers, By Cruisers. You are half your sales team and keep 2.5%. You handle onsite, we handle everything else…
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04-10-2018, 06:45
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#11
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Registered User
Join Date: Sep 2014
Location: Mexico
Boat: Passport 40
Posts: 344
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Re: Long distance ownership
I have owned my Passport 40 for two years now. It has always stayed in a 3-6 hour flight from me. I agree with many opinions; you will have a LOT of catchup to do with maintenance. I did spent a lot of time on the boat compared to other remote owners. Maybe 3 months total throughout the year. If you can at least spend that much time, go ahead. If not, just charter, buy a charter, or nothing at all. It's just a lot of time and effort. I love it, and I don't have a regular 9-5 job, Im freelance. So I can choose when to fly out to the boat (as long as I can afford it). This is not something most people can do.
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09-10-2018, 08:38
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#12
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 6
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Re: Long distance ownership
Thanks for all the comments. It looks like I will be waiting a while longer until I can move in full time.
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09-10-2018, 09:03
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#13
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Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: 5 Mile River
Boat: Bristol 41.1 Keep on Dancin'
Posts: 837
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Re: Long distance ownership
I wouldn’t say don’t do it, just be prepared for all the expected and unexpected problems that could occur, as others have stated. Did it with two different boats. One was on the Moorings private dock when they were closer to Roadtown. Hired a local who was employed by Moorings to “watch the boat”. Always came back to issues, stories of hatches left open for days, mold and dirt, and a list of things to do. A hurricane hit one year, and he was to move it to Hurricane hole, getting it off the dock. Didn’t, he left the island. Boat sheared off the concrete finger. Boat suffer sever rash, and damaged toe rail. Morgan Out Islanders are a tank. The Crealock 37 seasoned over in Trinidad for probably 7-8 years. Power Boats was a great place to leave it, but after 3-4 months absence, it took effort to get ready to travel again. But, we did it, and those were the best years of our life. My wife developed severe physical limitations due to an accident, then passed away. In our talks we she would say her goal was to say “we did it”’ not “I wish we could have.” None of us are going to get
Out of this thing alive!
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09-10-2018, 16:30
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#14
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Marine Service Provider
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: Caribbean
Boat: Eleuthera 60
Posts: 167
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Long distance ownership
Keepondancin has great points. Getting out there is paramount. My own accident a couple years back made our cruising plans look undoable; alas the spine has stabilized and a few surgeries later my limbs are ‘okay’ enough. We decided not to wait also and take our six kids for a once in our lifetime adventure.
An L450 is our ‘small boat’ due to 8 people total onboard. If it was just my wife and I we’d go for 38-42’ all day.
“Go small, go simple, go now.”-Pardey’s.
...and I totally agree.
__________________
Co-Operative Brokerage Solutions: For Cruisers, By Cruisers. You are half your sales team and keep 2.5%. You handle onsite, we handle everything else…
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09-10-2018, 16:47
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#15
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: NYC
Boat: Adams 45
Posts: 237
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Re: Long distance ownership
Why not buy a boat and keep it near where you are now? Seems easier and less expensive, and you'll get more time on the boat. If you want to retire in the Caribbean you could either move or ship your boat there, or sell it and buy one in the Caribbean. I haven't sailed in the Pacific Northwest, but it sure looks like a beautiful area.
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