Greetings from Ohio

[jarali]

Hello everyone! We are a young couple currently living in Ohio but have begun the preparations of transitioning to a live-aboard lifestyle. Chiefly Mr. Jarali will be doing the posting but Ms. Jarali will still be around. As far as experience goes, I (Mr. Jarali) have the most sailing experience but it was mostly on a 16ft Sea Sprite with my grandfather as a child on the lakes of Ohio. We are still in the market for a boat as we are on a budget and have to accommodate my height at 6'4".

Our goal is to live in a marina stateside for a year or two while we cut our teeth at sea and take a few certificate courses. We have tons of questions and hope to learn much from this community, but we fully intend to use the search function before we start on asking the questions that you are probably asked on a daily basis.

Thanks for having us and we look forward to seeing you on the boards!

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Mr. & Mrs Jarali.

[Hi Ho]

Welcome, we look forward to your participation!!

[maxingout]

You are at the right place. Welcome aboard.

[CaptainBW]

Greetings fellow Buckeye! Wife and I are based in Ohio. Been sailing inland lakes, Great Lakes, Caribbean, and Atlantic since 1975. Let me know if I can help your search in any way.

[jarali]

Thanks for all of the support! Currently our budget for the boat and immediate repairs will likely be $3000-4000 plus a 68 Plymouth Valiant if I can bring myself to part with her. As far as I can tell that is only going to get us a mid 20s vessel without the repairs potentially getting out of my depth. We have lived in extremely small spaces so the size of the boat really only limits the distance we can cruise. Unless we get the appropriate experience and suicidal tendancies to take our little boat over the pond lol

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by jarali

... Currently our budget for the boat and immediate repairs will likely be $3000-4000 plus a 68 Plymouth Valiant if I can bring myself to part with her...

Wow! Forty + years !!!
We had a 64 Valiant - got 20 years out of her. Still ran great, but PB Transmission failed, and no one would touch it.

[dergon]

Greetings from 50 miles East!

It's been a cold couple of weeks ain't it?

You've got a great location for Lake Erie sailing play. I wish I lived out that way. (Actually I wish the islands were off of cleveland... but you know what I mean)

[jarali]

Believe it or not she was my day to day driver too until recently. I have to do a little front end work on her now that my dad got in a fender bender that has her in the garage now. We eventually plan to move to the east coast or gulf before cruising so I will inevitably havr to sell her. There are a lot of people looking to make rat rods out of them so I hope it will get me a better boat.

[jarali]

Yeah the weather has been strange this winter. At the turn of the year I worked in a tanktop then full winter gear in the same week!

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!
Good to have you here. Does your Valiant have a slant six?
kind regards,

[jarali]

Actually its the 312, 4 door. It was typically used as a police cruiser because it sits between the utility of the slant six and the performance of the 340.

[campuscab]

Hi
I am in Detroit here. I am in the same position. I have sailed on inland lakes and am venturing out to Erie. I am looking everywhere for a boat. I have found a few that could handle Erie or the Bahamas. Do not forget to check marinas also.

[ReMetau]

Greetings. We also started out in Ohio around the Akron area. We knew that this is what we wanted to do, and it was winter at the time so we took Power Squadron courses and a HAM course to pass the time.

While in one of the classes, we met a couple who were selling their 24' 1961 Morgan located in Sandusky since they bought their cruising boat and were preparing to move. We spent that summer constantly up on the lake sailing around the bay and over to Bass and Kelly islands. That made us make the jump. We started selling our stuff and looking for a boat.

We have been living aboard in Florida for going on 8 years now. We move around the west coast and the Keys and have been down to the Exumas. We are now planning our Carib trip next year.

Congrats on your decision and enjoy!!!

[Large Luke]

Greetings from the northeast corner of Ohio! Mrs. Large Luke and I are in the process of boat shopping as well. Paid off the house in october and are now putting as much money in the bank as we can. We will be traveling in june to look at some of the boats on our short list. I'm 53 and used to be 6'4" but have shrunk to nearer 6'3", so I feel your pain in finding a boat to fit you. We live in a great area to find the boat you want. Being in fresh water with a short season, you can find great lightly used boats at reasonable prices.Good luck with your search and, welcome to the forum!