Hello, from the State of Washington

[jm21]

Didn't notice there was an introduction section before so thought I would post to introduce myself.

When I was growing up my parents were far from well-to-do but we always had a small sailboat to go cruising on, for probably a total of 2-3 months a year when you include the weekend trips, in the Puget Sound, San Juans, and gulf islands. So, I developed a love of cruising early on.

After being a poor college and then graduate student and missing out on boating, I moved up to WA knowing almost no one and started my own business so I could be close to the cruising grounds I loved. I finally am making a modest income and bought a 50% interest in an ericson 27 for basically nothing around March of this year. It's a pretty stripped down boat (porta potty and camp stove) but it's fine for weekend trips and I've really enjoyed it.

Now I'm thinking about buying a larger boat and living aboard, which has always been a dream of mine. Just trying to save up and figure out the logistics of it, as well as deal with some of my concerns about living aboard in the winter up here. I lived aboard during December of last year on my parent's boat and it wasn't the most comfortable experience at times, particularly walking up steep icy ramps all the time.

Nice to meet you all and I'm very grateful there's a place with so many knowledgeable people willing to disperse their pearls of wisdom.