on the verge...

[blove8]

Originally Posted by dnbchrd

Well done! Looks like you'll hit the ground running in the spring.

Thanks, dnbchrd! Good to "see" you again, mate!

Most definitely; there's not a whole lot of work to do during the off-season...

• Wire up the previously installed Marinco shore power inlet.
• Install AC panel (JuJu has been on a mooring ball the past 22 years (while in the water), I'm going to move her to a slip with AC and potable water next year).
• Update the charger (I've learned the current antique charger (Nautilus-25) will wreak havoc on the AGM batteries by overcharging).
• Install a battery monitor and GFCI outlet.
• Install refrigeration in the icebox and its display/controller.
• Strengthen companionway hatch.
• Make new cabin cushions.
• New coat of anti-fouling.
• General maintenance and cleaning.

Then I will spend next year learning more about what JuJu may want/need.

[blove8]

Originally Posted by laika

Congrats! I really admire your 12 years of perseverance! We've found fellow youngish cruisers are more often than not part timing it, often keeping a home base to go back to and work seasonal jobs while taking winters off to cruise. Others do it for a year or three as more of a sabbatical. Relatively few (young) cruisers we've met have been full timing it for long periods. Everyone's approach is slightly different though.

I had a job doing web development for most of the time I was full time on the boat. It paid good but kept me tied down to a computer more than I would have liked. Something that's project based is usually ideal.. you work and make some money, then cast off the lines for a while without concern for schedules and obligations.

Some of our cruiser friends work for cruise ships and found that to be a good source of project-based income. Some recently started selling stuff on Amazon, outsourcing the logistics. Others are landlords who cover some of their costs with rental income. Yet others live much more hand-to-mouth.

Good luck! You might find a few years of roving the seas is enough to satiate your needs, so the only advise I'd give is don't tie yourself up in knots right away making sure you've got a long term plan that's sustainable. Make sure you budget in just getting out there and having some fun. If it's something you want to keep doing long-term, the people you meet along the way will present you with good opportunities if you've got the right attitude.

Thanks, laika! I do have skills in web development and IT, but not sure I want to work on a computer much anymore (did so for 20 years). If I were to do that, I like the idea of your project-by-project method. I continue to pick up new skills and hope that some of them will be useful when I make a move to cruising (a few more years down the road). I have had the idea in mind to head out by the time I turn 50.. that means I'll have 2 more seasons in the Great Lakes, and 2023 will be time to start heading south.

I'm curious, I am enjoying learning more about marine electrical and am considering getting more deeply involved outside of my own needs for JuJu. Would a cruiser with marine electrical skills/knowledge and perhaps an ABYC or NMEA certification be able to earn some coin while cruising, or am I best off utilizing IT or hospitality skills to keep myself going once on the trail? Still trying to sort out the plan,as I continue learning and moving in the right direction.

[Stu Jackson]

Originally Posted by blove8

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
I'm curious, I am enjoying learning more about marine electrical and am considering getting more deeply involved outside of my own needs for JuJu. Would a cruiser with marine electrical skills/knowledge and perhaps an ABYC or NMEA certification be able to earn some coin while cruising, or am I best off utilizing IT or hospitality skills to keep myself going once on the trail? Still trying to sort out the plan,as I continue learning and moving in the right direction.

^^^Both. I can't begin to share how many times we've heard "I don't know much about..." or "I can't learn electricity." And those people are out there, somehow having gotten themselves there because nothing had broken or stopped working . . . yet.


If you are a good detective, you should be able to help many folks.



Congratulations, lovely boat.

[blove8]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Well done, mate! Looks like a nicely kept boat, one that can indeed fulfil your needs.

Now, get the hell outta Chicago (as I did in 1955) and go somewhere a bit more climatically suitable for a live aboard/sailing life. With the sticktoit capability that you have already demonstrated, I am confident that you will work out a viable plan to live the life you want. But it is nigh unto impossible in your current location, so shake the dust (and snow and ice) from your boots and get ye hence!

good luck... the life afloat is a good one.

Jim

Thanks, Jim! Wow, you left here in '55, eh!? There must be some things you must miss here. Have you been back since?

I tell you what, though, it's beginning to leave a lot to be desired, especially since the virus hit. Favorite hangs are closing for good and the live music scene that I grew to love so much, has for the most part faded away. The sailing season and the people I've met here are a couple of the few redeeming qualities that are left.

I'm not quite ready to leave Chicago at this point, but certainly plan to when it is time. I must say, my sailing family/community here has been so generous in so many ways and while I do want to cruise far and wide in the future, it will be very difficult to leave the sailing culture here in Chicago. Part-time afloater here, and next year, while I'll have my apartment a couple miles from the harbor, I plan to pretty much live aboard JuJu and get some ideas of what it might be like to live aboard full-time.

[blove8]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

^^^Both. I can't begin to share how many times we've heard "I don't know much about..." or "I can't learn electricity." And those people are out there, somehow having gotten themselves there because nothing had broken or stopped working . . . yet.


If you are a good detective, you should be able to help many folks.



Congratulations, lovely boat.

Thanks so much, Stu!

Edit: I just realized I passed through your neck of the woods on my bike trip that got me thinking about all of this. I love the Pacific Northwest so much and hope to sail there some day!

[Jim Cate]

Thanks, Jim! Wow, you left here in '55, eh!? There must be some things you must miss here. Have you been back since?

Well, I left the good ole U of C to continue my education in Palo Alto... and never went back. Not really... whilst my parents were still alive I was a regular visitor, and when they were gone I'd come to see my sister who refused to leave Hyde Park. Sadly, she passed away last November and we returned to say goodbye (coldest November day in history!). Now I have no reason to visit, and no intention to do so!

A comment on your latest posts: I can understand your feelings of connection to the sailing community there in Chicago, but let me assure you that such communities abound, most anywhere there is a big patch of water. We've made sailing and cruising friends everywhere we've been... it's one of the reasons we've kept cruising for so long (34 years now)... a world wide network of fellow yotties... it is grand!

Jim

[aDemilich]

What an inspirational thread! That Cape Dory looks like a real beaut. As a fellow new 27' boat owner/aspiring liveaboard (who has jumped into this much more haphazardly/recklessly than you did), I wish you the best of luck, although I doubt you'll need much of it with the perseverance you obviously possess.

[blove8]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Well, I left the good ole U of C to continue my education in Palo Alto... and never went back. Not really... whilst my parents were still alive I was a regular visitor, and when they were gone I'd come to see my sister who refused to leave Hyde Park. Sadly, she passed away last November and we returned to say goodbye (coldest November day in history!). Now I have no reason to visit, and no intention to do so!

A comment on your latest posts: I can understand your feelings of connection to the sailing community there in Chicago, but let me assure you that such communities abound, most anywhere there is a big patch of water. We've made sailing and cruising friends everywhere we've been... it's one of the reasons we've kept cruising for so long (34 years now)... a world wide network of fellow yotties... it is grand!

Jim

Thanks for sharing, Jim. 34 years of cruising, that's fantastic! Did you get your start here in Chicago? I know that you're right about the sailing community, and when I leave here, my Chicago friends can always come visit wherever I may happen to roam.

[blove8]

Originally Posted by aDemilich

What an inspirational thread! That Cape Dory looks like a real beaut. As a fellow new 27' boat owner/aspiring liveaboard (who has jumped into this much more haphazardly/recklessly than you did), I wish you the best of luck, although I doubt you'll need much of it with the perseverance you obviously possess.

Thanks aDemilich! I like your way too... just do it, and just do it now. I admire that and hope to see you out there some day.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by blove8

Thanks for sharing, Jim. 34 years of cruising, that's fantastic! Did you get your start here in Chicago? I know that you're right about the sailing community, and when I leave here, my Chicago friends can always come visit wherever I may happen to roam.

No, despite spending the summers of my youth on the lakefront in Michigan, and having a canoe that I enjoyed both on the big lake and local streams, I had never set foot on a sailboat until in my early thirties. I lived in Livermore then, an hours drive from the SF Bay. A daysailer followed by a Catalina 22 trailer sailer kept me amused, first on local lakes and then on the Bay... a great place to learn the ropes, aided by a 12 month sailing season.

And that seasonality spoiled me for good: I simply can't imagine being a sailor who hadda store his boat (at great expense) for half of the year. I don't think I would have ever persevered had that been my situation... and that's why I encouraged you to relocate.

In our years of full time cruising we've stayed in lots of different places... and in every one we found like minded and friendly people. Anywhere there are sailboats you will find friendly sailors to hang out with... you'll see!

Jim