Welcome to the asylum, Tim! There is a lot of expertise and knowledge available on CF, along with a lot of BS. OFten hard for a
newbie to tell apart,so pay attention to the sources as you wander through the forum.
[QUOTE]However, in the past year or so I have had a dream/need take hold of me and I am putting a plan together to buy a
boat and use it as a
charter business. The plan is fluid right now as I am
learning all I can about boating and seamanship.[QUOTE]
An observation relative to the above: Learning to sail and the basics of seamanship is pretty easy. Learning to run a charter biz is not. There are not very many successful individually owned and operated charter boats that make it long term, and the ones that do make it
work like hell to stay afloat. IN your place I'd be spending some time talking to such operators and finding out what is different about their approach, compared to the guys who are not making it.
Yours is a common dream path... we hear it often here on CF. It ain't as easy as it sounds!
Good luck,and enjoy sailing, even if you don't follow through with the charter plan.
Jim