Family of 9 Wanting to Cruise

[Tkeeth]

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1790459...ama&s=yQIAe2Zh

cut a deal on something like this!

[Kenomac]

Originally Posted by Barbar0ssa

Thanks everyone for the feedback! I really appreciate the help. I'm obviously so new that I don't know what I don't know but your feedback has left me with a few questions.

1. Are bow berths potentially dangerous?

2. How new must a boat be to get financing? Would a boat coming out of charter be financeable? I guess I should call a financing company.

3. It seems like any boat you buy, no matter the condition or price, requires a large amount of work to be ready to go. I was thinking more like real estate where you could buy a fixer-upper or you could buy a house ready to go. Am I understanding this correctly?

4. Can you set up long charters? From what I've seen, my $20k will cover maybe a month of chartering.

I'm sitting here today on CF while taking a break from installing a new water heater, repairing the davit system and finished diagnosing the washing machine failure yesterday, so now awaiting parts for the repair I'll do myself around June 10th. My boat is up to date on maintenance, I'll change the engine and genset hoses tomorrow and change the oil.

Trying to imagine how I'd get any of this done with nine kids running around to keep an eye on NEAR THE WATER. BTW: Does your newborn know how to swim? Our friends gave up after only 10 months of cruising with two small kids and a nanny.... and they were on a 54ft modern boat!

IMHO, without any experience, you're in way over your head on this cruising dream.

[Redline452]

Originally Posted by Barbar0ssa

I am the father of 7 ranging from 12 to newborn and starting to dream about a 6 month cruise in the caribbean.

Perhaps rather than focusing on the number of people, consider the number of berths. If it's only for 6 months, can some of the smaller ones double-bunk? A lot of aft-cabin "doubles" are more like triples for kids, assuming they don't thrash too much while asleep. I wouldn't suggest it for full time liveaboards, but you would have a broader range of boats to consider.

[akprb]

How to say this clearly? You made a decision to have seven children. That was a choice. You do not have the resources to purchase a suitable vessel and go cruising. You do have the resources to charter, a second thought airfare will eat that up.

20k 2k a month sounds like good start on a house hold six month of income emergency fund. Keep going for education, old age and to generally not become a burden on others.

I'm passionate about this topic as I've met you in Guatemala, Mexico, Key West and Tonga. The Mexico and Tonga cases the worst.

There was one case like this that was a success story who we met in the Society Islands. Family of six, bought a 60' steel monster, took a few lessons in Canada until the instructor left the boat with the parting words "you will all die".

They didn't and last we saw them we're doing fine. They had tripped into a large inheritance as a side note.

Teach those kids to sail locally, to race, to get "the bug". Raise them to live your dream but don't let them suffer through it now.

Shared in kindness.

[Lockjr]

I don't want to see you fail. I don't want to see you lose your dream. I have 6 children between the wife and I. We took our children our on or 1985 Hunter 33 for weekends and for week long vacations. It is possible to cram a lot of people into a small space when you all like each other. A week on a boat with kids was a lot. even the weekend runs could get long at times. It wasn't sunshine and guitar music with drinks on the deck all the time. It was amazing every time though. the children still talk about some of the trips and they appreciate what we were able to do as a family. I agree with the training ship theory for extended time. You are the only one who can decide if you have the funds to do what you want to with your families money. The cost of living does not go down just because your living on a boat. The cost of living doesn't increase either for the most part. I suggest you find a 800 square foot apartment and live like you will on the boat. No car and no dinners out. If that is too radical then a boat is way more radical. And honestly we have been living and sailing without a lot of the gotta haves we seem to take for granted now days. Your abilities are for you to judge and decide whether your family will be ok with it. But if you do a "dry run" now it may save you a ton later. only will take a few months away from you. Good Luck and I hope you and your family well.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Barbar0ssa

4. Can you set up long charters? From what I've seen, my $20k will cover maybe a month of chartering.

I have never Chartered, however I have a gut feeling that those people that own Charter boats are not living in Mansions bought from the proceeds of their Charter boats.
This boat stuff is expensive, especially when your talking about BIG and OLD. Either is bad, both together and costs can really get out of hand fast

This dream is for 6 months? Then what?
If for 6 months only and that is the end of it, may be that finding some kind of deal on a boat to Charter for 6 months is the way to go, that way the costs are at least fixed, there will be no Uh-Oh, the engine just blew and the yard wants $25,000 to fix it

[Barbar0ssa]

Originally Posted by Steady Hand

Instead, I suggest you consider a boat that has individual berths in "racks" (2 or three high) and has a layout (saloon, galley, storage) and systems to support a larger crew of people.

This boat definitely has a lot of potential for a large family. I had also seen another smaller boat that was used by the same group of scouts in MI.

http://www.sailboatlistings.com/photographs/42050

One question, how do you get to the water/dingy from either? The pictures look like you are several feet above the water. I assume you are going up and down ladders a lot?

I may need to add a swim platform as a requirement to my impossible list.

[LeeV]

We're in our 50s/60s with 4 kids off making their own futures. We aren't wealthy by any means, but plan to sell our trimaran, move to a 40' cat and spend months aboard as snowbirds, north to New England for summers and back down to Florida (or the islands) for winters. We'll need @ $90,000 for a deposit and in @ 7 years retire with modest house paid off, and buy a small place in Florida as our base. It's taken a lifetime to do this, and everything but the cat (which we'll sell when we can't sail anymore) is modest.

If I were you, I'd heed some of the advice offered by other wise members: take a lesson or two, buy a nice, used 22-30' Catalina, or some other known monohull and do some camping and sailing on a lake or bay or wherever you can keep it. Some/all of the kids may love it; some may not. Introduce them slowly and find out. Someday when you're ready with the means to cruise you may find you don't need that many berths, or that vacations revolve around, not aboard your boat.

Best of luck!

[Barbar0ssa]

I can see a lot of people are getting hung up on the money. The $20K is my current available money for the boat down payment, not my emergency fund and not my retirement account. So the question is more constrained than many of you are seeing.

I want to take my kids for a once in a lifetime long (6 mo?) sailing adventure. I have $20k + $2k per month until I start. So what are some ideas to make something like this happen?

The first idea of the ex-charter Bentenue 43.3 was something like:

$100K boat
- $20k down payment
= $80k financed at 12 years => $850/mo financing payment. ($5,100 for 6 months)

3% insurance = $3,000 ($1,500 for that 6 months)
10% maintenance = $10,000 ($5,000 for that 6 months)

That means $11,600 plus our normal budget for 6 months (~ $18k) as our cruising fund. I'm sure I'm missing some things and I'm sure that I'm over-simplifying the financing. But at $2k a month, it would take us 15 months to save the needed kitty.

If I can't finance the boat, I definitely need more $$ to get started. Also, if we need a more expensive boat, it gets plugged in above and the dream gets pushed back a set number of months if we still want to pursue it.

Is the math I'm using way off base?

[Barbar0ssa]

Thanks for the input, everyone.

I think that there will definitely be a charter vacation before attempting this dream to prove the concept (can we handle the space, etc.) before sinking in all the $$$.

[a64pilot]

Would you buy a house to vacation one Summer in it?
What is the plan after 6 months?
Where do you live?

[Tkeeth]

Seems you have it all figured out. Let us know how it goes.

[a64pilot]

Originally Posted by Barbar0ssa

I can see a lot of people are getting hung up on the money.
That means $11,600 plus our normal budget for 6 months (~ $18k) as our cruising fund.

We are obsessing over it because likely its the number 1 dream killer, and we do not want to see the train wreck, especially not with many kids involved.
While many will tell you that you can cruise on a nickel, I am planning on one couple to cruise on a well found, smaller boat, and my month to month estimate to pull it off is about twice what yours is.

Then there is the reality that no cruise ready boat really is, and you more than likely have a few months worth of work and thousands of dollars to spend to make it safe and ready to go.

However what is your long term goal with this may make it make much more sense, buying a boat for 6 months to cruise may well make it the most expensive 6 months of your life. You may loose tens of thousands come time to sell it, especially if your relatively inexperienced

[Pearly]

I would concentrate on toilet training! Or at least find a boat with a washer.

Boat with pipe berths and maybe a master cabin could give each child their own space.

Unless you or your crew can fix anything that breaks your budget may only keep a boat afloat... hope some of the flock are good fishermen and women.

[Tkeeth]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

We are obsessing over it because likely its the number 1 dream killer, and we do not want to see the train wreck, especially not with many kids involved.
While many will tell you that you can cruise on a nickel, I am planning on one couple to cruise on a well found, smaller boat, and my month to month estimate to pull it off is about twice what yours is.

Then there is the reality that no cruise ready boat really is, and you more than likely have a few months worth of work and thousands of dollars to spend to make it safe and ready to go.

However what is your long term goal with this may make it make much more sense, buying a boat for 6 months to cruise may well make it the most expensive 6 months of your life. You may loose tens of thousands come time to sell it, especially if your relatively inexperienced

the voice of experience there...