How did you get from house to boat?

[Buzzman]

Then there's the food / cooking arrangements...

Small or no refrigeration means a WHOLE new learning curve for 'the cook'.

And the meal choices and recipes are DIFFERENT to what the family will have been accustomed to.

Suggest reading this thread to get an idea:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ed-113368.html

[LF4]

Originally Posted by Buzzman

Then there's the food / cooking arrangements...

Small or no refrigeration means a WHOLE new learning curve for 'the cook'.

And the meal choices and recipes are DIFFERENT to what the family will have been accustomed to.

Suggest reading this thread to get an idea:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ed-113368.html

Mainly plant based works really well for us. We are vegetarians...(But we do eat clams)

But is no refrigerator really a thing? Even a mini-fridge?

Additionally, our family loves to cook and our kids take to actively participating in the process whenever we allow.

[SY Kelpie]

Originally Posted by LF4

But is no refrigerator really a thing? Even a mini-fridge?

Yes it can be a thing, and it used to be the norm. Today, though, most boats do have a fridge.
Some people prefer the simplicity and self sufficiency that comes from accepting a non-refrigerated lifestyle. It forces you to seek out local fresh produce, and therefore actually go and meet people in the places where you are cruising. Secondly, it stops you being beholden to a slightly temperamental and unreliable system.
The bigger and more complex the boat, the more time you are going to spend sat in port waiting on parts arriving, or trying to find a reliable tradesman to fix it for you.

Having said all that, our next boat will definitely have a fridge...

[Buzzman]

I think it ought to be pointed out that even if a boat DOES have a fridge (and most new or modern boats do) it will be SMALL in comparison to the one in your home kitchen. Especially the freezer compartment. Hence why this is a problem for carnivores/omnivores especially. It is particularly a problem on longer passages, where there are no stops (and so no shops) for days at a time.

If you're only coastal sailing, you can get by.

So my purpose in highlighting this was to get "the family" used to preparing and eating "boat meals" prior to getting aboard. Introduce some of the "made from dried or tinned food source" meals and find the ones you all like.

There are many on the Recipes thread, but there are other sources too, such as cookbooks specifically for pulses and dried foods.

Plus investigate fermented foods and preserved foods - from the basic olives in olive oil and tinned dolmades through tinned fish and tinned meats, to canning and preserving for yourselves.

Dried fruit and even experimenting with a food drier is a useful thing to get your head around.

Dried mushrooms are much more common these days, but are expensive if you buy them dried, for example.

Guarantee, your diet will change.

Or you'll be spending a LOT of money on marinas and restaurants!

[LargeMarge]

Originally Posted by LF4

[B]
[edited for brevity]...thinking about THIS post - 5 years, we want this...[/LIST]

2003 == Very Significant Other got sick, so we did what anybody would do... we acquired a used commercial truck to convert to a HouseTruck-slash-Expedition Vehicle. In less than a week, we left Oregon headed in the general direction of South America.

Twenty-four months twenty-four thousand miles later, we were back in Oregon. Alaska Panama, all over north and central America. Wintering on Baja beaches.

Many zany madcap misadventures together before VSO checked into the Great Boondock In The Sky.

Call us 'impetuous'. We called it 'prioritizing'.

Some folks get off on planning.
Some folks prefer the edge.

I don't judge.

[goeasy123]

As bankers you'll probably understand discounted cash flow and the long term probability of returns from various asset classes. You're starting younger that us, but you might consider this...

1. Right size to a property in the right location and the right size to maximize the rental utilization and ROI.

2. Buy your final and only boat, that is fully equipped for the type of sailing you want to do. Buy something that resells easily and big enough for the whole family. It's cheaper to buy a used boat that's fully equipped that equipping it yourself.

3. Rent the house and go sailing.

4. If everything goes well, after you're comfortable sell the house and put the money in a better asset class than property... bearing in mind your requirements for liquidity and growth.... probably a broad spread tracker fund like Vanguard Lifestrategy 100.

In the meantime bare boat charter, initially with a skipper and get your ICC (or what ever's relevant where you live) and VHF license.


Have a look on Youtube at Zatara, Sailing Britican, Britaly, The Sailing Family, Mother Ship Adrift.... and for the extreme and scary... Dario Schwoerer... He took his family through the North West Passage... that's some 'home schooling'.

[LF4]

Originally Posted by Andy Todd

As bankers you'll probably understand discounted cash flow and the long term probability of returns from various asset classes. You're starting younger that us, but you might consider this...

1. Right size to a property in the right location and the right size to maximize the rental utilization and ROI.

We nailed this one in our current house. We bought in the "Brooklyn of Philadelphia", or so people say, and can easily rent this place out for pretty well above our current payments. In fact, we keep getting new neighbors moving here form Brooklyn, LA, San Fran, you name it. I know it won't always be hip...but I hope property values keep on doing what they are doing.

I have thought about buying the boat and paying it off over a number of years and banking the excess rental income and continuing to grow the equity in the house...not sure it makes sense yet. There is an additional benefit of parking the boat in a marina in the cities best neighborhood schools. The other issue is living on it in the winter. Can you do this?

As for the investments. I may go the path of local city municipals...not 100% clear on the tax implications of that yet. I need to do more research. In the meantime...debt is getting smashed.

[goeasy123]

Originally Posted by LF4

We nailed this one in our current house. We bought in the "Brooklyn of Philadelphia", or so people say, and can easily rent this place out for pretty well above our current payments. In fact, we keep getting new neighbors moving here form Brooklyn, LA, San Fran, you name it. I know it won't always be hip...but I hope property values keep on doing what they are doing.

I have thought about buying the boat and paying it off over a number of years and banking the excess rental income and continuing to grow the equity in the house...not sure it makes sense yet. There is an additional benefit of parking the boat in a marina in the cities best neighborhood schools. The other issue is living on it in the winter. Can you do this?

As for the investments. I may go the path of local city municipals...not 100% clear on the tax implications of that yet. I need to do more research. In the meantime...debt is getting smashed.

Maybe some help on your investment strategy... Read Tim Hale's, Smarter Investing. It's based on John Bogle's, Little Book of Common Sense Investing. Hale's is newer and UK based, but still relevant to US and more reasoned (the 1st edition is the one to get). Bottom line is that equities return 5.9% vs property at just under 2%. Variance and volatility is about the same. Unless you need a house to live in it's not and investment. Also search Youtube for 'Tim Bennett Explains: Property or Shares'. I don't know about local city municiples. We don't have such things over here in Blighty.

Don't tell too many people. If everyone understands how the property market really works Western economies will collapse.

I didn't find formal sail training any use compared to the real experience of sailing with experience people. You just need enough qualifications to satisfy various authorities like insurance companies, marinas, bare boat charterers. In Europe that's a VHF operators license and a ICC. Do your qualification in tidal water, but make life easy when you start your own sailing in non-tidal... i.e. the Med or Carib.

I don't agree with some of the comments about staging up. A small boat and coastal cruising is a very different experience from a family on a circumnavigation. And as commented by someone else it's expensive (and stressful).

Yes you can live on a boat in winter quite comfortably, but get a boat that's insulated, has a good diesel heater and a dehumidifier.

When I was looking at the numbers I spoke to a few liveaboard families. Initially I was surprised at the large size and quality of boats they bought (in Europe things like 50ft Oyster's, Rassy's and Najads). However, it turns out that you can live on a boat more cheaply than a house and if you invest the difference wisely you retire richer. The $250k budget you have for the boat is just about right.


BTW... I spoke to a couple of London bankers last week. They sold their house in London and now live on a Southerly in Southampton Marina. They've invested the residual in a tracker fund paying a monthly income. I guess they're in their late 30's and don't need to work another day in their lives... well that London property for you!!

[emilecantin]

We're not gone yet, but we just bought the boat this weekend, so we're getting real close. We've done a few things:

1- We've started homeschooling our children. This seems to be one of the most daunting things for most cruisers, so we started with that.

2- I started working remotely. First freelancing, then as an employee, and now freelancing again. My goal is that instead of taking a long "vacation", I'd just continue working from the boat. This is one of the big unknowns in our project right now, so we plan to try it out for about a month this summer.

3- We downsized our project. Instead of a multiple-year circumnavigation in five years, we're planning for a 9-10 month cruise down south (Bahamas, and maybe other Caribbean countries) in two years (1.5 now). This made it much more accessible! Also no more ocean crossings, much less daunting. We'll still have time to do the big project later if we still want.

4- We bought a starter boat. We got a Tanzer 22 four years ago, and we've learned navigation, docking, boat maintenance, etc. We've also gone on a few test cruises (10 days in 2017, 5 days in 2018) to validate that we really do like it, and it's not just a pipe dream (turns out we do, but our current boat is way too small).

We're also going to keep the house, so it's not (yet) a "sell everything and go" adventure.

[tarian]

Hey done if completely different from the last post , but nothing is righ or wrong just what is right for you and your family.
Bought he boat last year knowing this was the one, I have spent the ;last year getting her up to speed and refurbishing,(medically retired so can do a lot myself) spending this season and half of next to get a feel for this boat , how she handles , any shakedowns we need to attend to , then we point the bat South and go , rent out our home tell the school my daughter is leaving , and I might phone my brother:0
I have always believed in going head first into things as the more I plan the more I wait the more life seems to get in the way, and change my plans,
Get started and go do not be too bogged down with the finer points , as they will always be one more thing, the world is a small place and airports are a plenty and most places can get your mail
Go for it dont look back

[emilecantin]

Yeah, jumping head first is one way to do it, we prefer to remove obstacles one at a time :-) I'm a bit more cautious by nature.

At the moment, the only thing really keeping us here is money, basically. More precisely a lack thereof! Oh, and winter. Hard to sail away when the boat is buried in snow.

[SY Kelpie]

Originally Posted by emilecantin

We're not gone yet, but we just bought the boat this weekend, so we're getting real close.

Congratulations on the new boat, what did you get?

[emilecantin]

A Hughes Columbia 31. Canadian-built boat, was 80% through a refit that the guy couldn't finish (older guy, health problems), got it for a very good price.

It's the end of January, and the marinas around here are closed until at least mid-May (we're in Québec), so I figure I've got the time to finish it.

[Smart555]

Good morning!
Why wait for so long? You never know what would happen. Or another is the true as well that if you go on as before there is almost nothing would change! If you have a strong desire to try this life just start doing that, go out your “comfort zone” and start living your dream! And believe us, this life is worth trying. Anyway, you can come back any time on the land
We’re family of 6 (4 kids onboard) and we started sailing with no experience 9 month ago. And since then we are living aboard, homeschooling and traveling nonstop. There are around 30 countries we have visited so far! And it’s amazing! We got addicted and falling in love with this lifestyle more and more!
Our experience: we sold the house and got 40” catamaran Lagoon in the Caribbean , move to it and got a learning course with sailing instructor. Before we had spent around a year to watch sailing vlogs trying to make up our minds how to realize in with kids and searching for advices here, in the cruisers forum. Of course, the most we have learned from our own experience when started cruising by our own. Actually, when we got our boat in Antigua we wanted to spend only the summer hopping from island to island until we come back to Florida before the new school year. But in the middle of the journey, we changed our mind and decided to keep going. We enrolled to Calvert homeschooling program as many of cruisers recommended. And made a 4 days trip across the Caribbean Sea to Grenada to hide from the hurricane season. That’s was amazing!
Sol we encourage you not waste time and not wait for so long! When you start moving toward your dream the way will appear!

[Exile]

Originally Posted by Smart555

Good morning!
Why wait for so long? You never know what would happen. Or another is the true as well that if you go on as before there is almost nothing would change! If you have a strong desire to try this life just start doing that, go out your “comfort zone” and start living your dream! And believe us, this life is worth trying. Anyway, you can come back any time on the land
We’re family of 6 (4 kids onboard) and we started sailing with no experience 9 month ago. And since then we are living aboard, homeschooling and traveling nonstop. There are around 30 countries we have visited so far! And it’s amazing! We got addicted and falling in love with this lifestyle more and more!
Our experience: we sold the house and got 40” catamaran Lagoon in the Caribbean , move to it and got a learning course with sailing instructor. Before we had spent around a year to watch sailing vlogs trying to make up our minds how to realize in with kids and searching for advices here, in the cruisers forum. Of course, the most we have learned from our own experience when started cruising by our own. Actually, when we got our boat in Antigua we wanted to spend only the summer hopping from island to island until we come back to Florida before the new school year. But in the middle of the journey, we changed our mind and decided to keep going. We enrolled to Calvert homeschooling program as many of cruisers recommended. And made a 4 days trip across the Caribbean Sea to Grenada to hide from the hurricane season. That’s was amazing!
Sol we encourage you not waste time and not wait for so long! When you start moving toward your dream the way will appear!

Wow. Impressive! Thanks for sharing your remarkable story. While the lifestyle is certainly not for everyone, the most consistent regret I hear from those who became addicted is a wish that they hadn't started sooner.