Newbie needing some guidance about transitioning to life aboard

[Cadence]

At 22 your desires may change. Give it a try in something in the mid 20' range. It depends on how deep your pockets are.

[Scot McPherson]

So welcome to the obsession that is living aboard. You have received lots of good advice already, and I would like to add some of mine, some of which will reinforce what others have said, and some which will disagree a little.


First lets talk about the kind of boat, you mentioned trawlers vs sailboat. Well let me clear something up a little. A sailboat with a full keel is essentially a troller (like a trawler but a little narrower) that also has a mast and sails. You are not forced to sail, and a 30 ft sailboat under power is going to travel almost if not the same speed as a trawler with the same length. A 30 ft sailboat doesn't really need an engine more powerful than say 25HP. My 33 fter has a 21 HP westerbeke and it performs its duty honorably and it only burns about a 1/4 gallon per hour at a cruising speed of 5.7 knots 1/3 of a gallon per hour if I test her hull speed. That's plenty of power and its cheap on fuel when you are motoring. A sailboat gives you additional options. If you don't want to motor around, or say you want to go farther than your fuel can take you, then you can hoist the sails and go anywhere you want and save the fuel for when you get into port and need more maneuverability than sail will allow you.


$80,000 is a lot to spend on a boat these days. That's a good budget, and it would be best spent on an old boat that's been maintained well than on a new boat. Older boats have strong bones that are no longer made as strong unless the boat is a one-off built by or to an owner's specifications that included a beefy build. I took a chance and spent $7,500 on my boat without a survey, but the bones are very strong and I am handy enough to fix systems and/or learn how. In fact I have been updating the systems in my boat one at a time, starting with the A/C wiring for when on shore power because the old A/C wiring was pretty, and the fuse panel got hot when the A/C was in use for the grand total of 30 minutes before I said "Uh, no thanks." It cost me about $600 to replace the entire 30 AMP A/C electrical system front to back by doing it myself.


Ann mentioned you'll likely want to get heat. I am going to upgrade that to being an absolute necessity if you are going to spend any amount of time in northern winters. I am currently living aboard my sailboat and spent this past winter in the Piscataqua River, which is between Kittery ME and Portsmouth NH. Heat isn't just necessary for comfort, it's NECESSARY to keep your water systems from freezing, and to keep the bilge from freezing. Don't let Rhode Island being south of Maine fool you, it's not that far south, and my home which I go to every weekend is in Waterford CT. We had a few weeks of sub-zero weather this past winter, and my seasprite 23, which is on the hard in my driveway there had a hatch blow off in a storm, the bilge filled up and turned to solid ice....I am only praying the ice expansion hasn't damaged fiberglass that I had been working on this previous spring and summer. I'll only be able to tell when it melts and I intentionally fill it with water to see if there is any seeping.


For heat, you have a few good choices. If you dock up, you can use electric heat for a while. There are plenty of electric cabin heaters you can get from Defender (which isn't far from rhode island) and West Marine if you don't want to drive. I spent approximately $100 per month this winter on electric heat, with January costing about $150. That's not too bad especially considering that maine doubles the cost of electricity during the winter. You cannot run an electric heater off of an inverter, at least not a casual inverter. They just can't do it, so don't even try.


You other easiest but more permanent is diesel heat, easy because it draws the disel off of you main tank, and you just need to top off once a week or so after you learn what your consumption is going to be. In this case you MUST vent the exhaust outside.


An expensive backup solution to heat is alcohol. The heaters themselves are cheap, but the fuel is $16 per gallon from home depot (strip klean fuel alcohol), and you only get about 10 hours of heat from a gallon. It is however essential to have a backup source of heat for when the power goes or your fuel lines gets clogged out and it's -25 degrees outside. If you have an alcohol stove, you can use that as a supplementary heat source as well. Ventilation is important when the fire is burning the air that you are breathing though, and alcohol smoke although doesn't smell bad at all, does sting the eyes a little.


Winter dockage is pretty cheap where they allow you to stay docked in winter, but in the summer you can expect it to double or triple in cost. There is a great deal of value in living at a dock with facilities if you are going to work every day. A nice hot shower is sometimes what the doctor ordered in the winter, trust me.


Since you now live in the gulf of mexico, you will want a shoal draft keel, a sailboat with a full keel that draws no more than 6 feet, less is better. That will depend on the boat you pick, but a full keep "should" be less than that, once you are outside the gulf and past the florida keys, a shoal draft isn't as important but I personally like to be able to get that much closer into shore. If you like visiting the Bahamas, a shoal draft is much much nicer to have.


Practice sailing with someone who is experienced. With my current sailboat, I hired someone to take the trip from Connecticut to Maine. That person ended up not being very helpful, but at least I had someone there to get on the radio if I went over board. That person also allowed me to realize I was perfectly comfortable single handing my then to me new boat in a gale. Get some private lesson from a skipper who will sail with you on your boat. If you really have and do sail, then it's like riding a bike and you haven't forgotten how to sail, you just forgot you knew. Then it's really learning about how YOUR BOAT sails and how to sail her, rather than learning how to sail in general. Practice docking, a lot. Being a seasonal ferry captain, I get to dock a LOT in the summer. Trust me, it's worth the practice to not get stuck unable to dock because there's no one on the dock to catch your lines.


$3,000 to me is a huge monthly budget. I do it for about $1000 per month, maybe $1500 if you include money spent upgrading systems.


Again, learn how to work on your own boat. Learn not to be afraid to try (so long as you don't risk sinking your boat). Buy all of Nigel Calder's books. They won't give you a master's degree is systems maintenance, but they will give you a good start. Learn the ABYC standards so you know you are doing a proper job. If you want to make money on the water, carry a full set of tools for electric, mechanic, rigging, painting and even fiberglass work, get some schooling on how to do it, maybe get ABYC certified (it's not hard nor that expensive). I am working on getting my surveyers certificate from ABYC, that will be worth it with an average job being worth $500.


A sailor who can do pretty much any service needed on a boat is going to never have to worry about work, and because you can do anything on a boat, your name is going to get around fast.

[cajucito]

I agree with good refridgeration incl a good freezer and good shower with adequate water pressure. I have a beneteau 44cc perfect live aboard for me. 1/4 way thru a circumnav. Sell places on board have a guest cabin with private bathroom and sell weeks aboard in that when you cruise near an international airport. You will extend you cruising tome that way and meeting many interesting people along the way enjoy. Oh and very important learn how to fix everything yourself. Otherwise you will need lots of money and even more patients

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by cajucito

I agree with good refridgeration incl a good freezer and good shower with adequate water pressure. I have a beneteau 44cc perfect live aboard for me. 1/4 way thru a circumnav. Sell places on board have a guest cabin with private bathroom and sell weeks aboard in that when you cruise near an international airport. You will extend you cruising tome that way and meeting many interesting people along the way enjoy. Oh and very important learn how to fix everything yourself. Otherwise you will need lots of money and even more patients

Not sure what you mean by "Sell Places on board and have a guest cabin" but that can lead to legal trouble. At a minimum you would need a six pack. Only US built boats can be used for commerce in the US. There are also lots of local laws, both in and out of the US. While I am aware that this can be done under the table so to speak getting caught in the US can result in taking a big hit in the kitty. Getting caught out of the US can result in the boat being sized or even jail time. The big problem is that if you advertise, even by word of mouth, folks who are chartering legally may hear about it and report you.

[FutureStories]

Spend less money on the boat and have a bigger budget to refit to your comfort!

I think I just sold 2 guys a 35' Beneteau for under 30k. It's ready to go. Only should get a new jib.

The guys are also new cruisers, and it's a great set up boat to start out. Also they're in high demand so they'll be able to sell it in a few years to get a closer to perfect boat.

Like many people before have said buy this boat knowing it's probably not your forever boat.

[Don C L]

After rethinking things, as much as I love the classics, they may not have the room you need, unless they have been refitted to have a quarter berth. BTW, I think a quarter berth is also the best bunk for sleeping. Oh, and if there is too much rock and roll, you can always hang a flopper stopper out there to dampen it.
Quick story. I have a good old friend I grew up with who also had a boat and lived on it in college. He had an Ericson 27 and he anchored his right off Goleta Beach, and UC Santa Barbara. He'd row his Avon raft in early, lock it up and take his books and change of clothes somewhere to shower, and in the evenings he'd take his block of ice and groceries and things back out. As I recall that only lasted one spring and summer quarter.

[cajucito]

Dont do it as a business use airbnb to invite people to join as crew members like family or friends sharing expenses. Expenses typically 50- 100$ per night explain the situation to them that they are joining the boat in that context. It a great way to get crew an your guests get a cheap sailing holiday. It works for me i dont want to make money out of the boat but this helps with expenses.