Looking for the right path to embark on buying liveaboard

[AdLeSails]

Originally Posted by OldManMirage

I would vote for buying a Catalina 30 in Florida - EXCEPT that it's not the best time of year right now. If you can wait till hurricane season is over it's a great way to start.

A Catalina 30 in good condition is a 20K boat all day long. It's got plenty of room for 1 or 2 people, sails great, and is easy to find and easy to sell if/when you want to. Even better buy one up north - or anywhere along the east coast - and work your way down to Florida. You will learn so much along the way. Maybe stay in a marina where you buy it for a couple weeks to start if needed. But by the time you get down to Florida you can either sell it and buy something you like better, or take it over to the Bahamas for some serious cruising/liveaboard fun.

You'll learn everything you need along the way. Did I say that already ? But it's true and it will be fun and exhilarating. Ask questions here and watch YouTube vids. You're comfortable on and in the water, you've been on boats, all you need is to learn the sailing/anchoring stuff and on ICW it's not that hard to do.

You got this.

Appreciate the advice. Not a bad plan.
Thanks for the push.

[TrentePieds]

Photo:

You are making a mountain of a molehill.

Handling a 30-footer I can teach you in a long day on the water. About 12 hours in all. Chuck in another three for some special attention to anchoring. All assuming that you are an attentive student of course.

From there on it's all about racking up the hours since hours is a proxy for experience.

You don't even KNOW if you are cut out to be a sailor, so spending some time in UK winter conditions would tell you that. A little closer to home you could do a one week "Croose&Learn" vacation via Cooper's in Vancouver, Canada. In the summer - as today - absolutely balmy in the Salish Sea, but in the winter it can be snarly. Best of everything. Cooper's would charge you five grand but you'd get a slip of paper saying you're a "competent" coastal skipper. Whoop-de-doo! All eyewash, of course, but as Pete7 sez, it might make it easier for you to get insurance.

Spend three times that, and you could buy a primitive 27- or 30-footer to learn on. "Primitive" boats are the best to learn on :-)! Then you could sell it on if it turns out that really DO want to be a sailor. and it would have cost you no more than taking a course.

But be aware of this: If you really ARE gonna be a "yacht owner", then on the day you buy a boat, you should put a sum equivalent to the purchase price into a special savings account, ironically called a "sinking fund". Thereafter, every month, year in, year out, you should put a thousand bux - "a boat buck" - into the sinking fund if the boat is a 30-footer. If it's a 40-footer, make that two grand!

After some years of ownership of a yacht, say five or ten years, you will find that all that money has been only JUST enough to cover the ownership costs!

Bonne chance :-)!

TrentePieds

[leecea]

We did something similar to what you're trying to do, and chartering was a big part of it. The difference is that we are a couple and you appear to be solo. I don't think anyone will charter a boat for solo sailing.

[Adelie]

Welcome to CruisersForum!

I would suggest updating your profile with your general location and your boat make & model or “Looking” in the "Boat" category. This info shows up under your UserName in every post in the web view. Many questions are boat and/or location dependent and having these tidbits under your UserName saves answering those questions repeatedly. If you need help setting up your profile then click on this link: https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ml#post3308797

I would happily help more if the link above is not enough.

[Mike Crothers]

Since the USA does not require any certifications other than a one day boating safety course in some states. You could buy a fifty foot boat here and no one would question your abilities. So replies you get from us may not be very helpful. If a British certification is important to you go with option 2. If not go with option 3, maybe cruise, motor and anchor on the US east coast and learn to sail on the go. Good Luck and we will see you out on the water.

[dwightsusan]

[QUOTE=AdLePHOTO;3798398]Hello all. Newbie here.

3. Throw fate to the wind and buy a sub 10-20k boat somewhere with a slip and learn/live on the boat? Try learn to fix all of the issues myself as practice (not investing a lot)

Good options at <20K along my part of the Gulf Coast, especially Houston / Corpus Christi. Don't worry too much about making the boat functional for sailing. Concentrate on making it safe, secure, and comfortable for living aboard. In and around most marinas with sailboats, there are typically options to crew with others, especially if you don't expect to be paid. The biggest issue would be finding a marina willing to let you live aboard, a hurdle, but one that can be overcome. There is still some offshore petrochemical activity along the Texas / Louisiana coast, and there may be diving work options.

[conchaway]

Please contact Capt. John Virginio, 207-671-0677 or John@floridacoastyachtsales.com.

He is a USCG licensed 100 ton captain and an excellent instructor.
He is based in Fort Pierce, Fl.

I have worked with him many times.

Good luck, Conchaway