So here's an update: I spent the weekend looking at boats and we have discovered that our minimum space requirements are in the 34'-38' range. There will be 3 of us initially for several years.
The original plan was for a
power boat because of the space vs a similar size sailboat. And we wanted our coastal cruising range to be from the Norfolk area up to
Long Island and back or down to Orlando and back.
That was before we started calculating
fuel costs of hypothetical engines.
Would it really cost $500ish to travel 200nm on a 30-40' boat with twin merceuiser engines or have I totally miscalculated? In other words, and if that is anywhere in the general ballpark, it would cost $1500 in
fuel alone for the shorter trip north. That adds up to about $7500 a year if we do it several times a year.
That might not be too bad if we were strictly
living aboard, but we hadn't planned to do so for several years. Am I totally off with those figures? If not we will be looking at
motor sailers instead.
Gary