looking for advice in planning stages of moving family of 5 onto a boat

[TrentePieds]

Quote: "When you rent out a home it becomes a leased fee estate. In essence the tenant takes possession of the home & you lose the right to call it your residence or store your things there. "

Depends entirely on where the "estate" is located. In this jurisdiction, what the relative rights of owner and renter are depends on the terms of the Tenancy Agreement, which owner and tenant are free to draw up as they please, PROVIDED that the legally mandated terms as set out in the Residential Tenancy Act are included in the Agreement. Once in force, the tenancy is regulated by the Residential Tenancy Board in as per the provisions of the Residential Tenancy Act, the Regulations thereto and the specific terms of the Residential Tenancy Agreement.

Note that the nationality of the owner of the property has no bearing on the operation of the RTA. Only the location of the property has.

TrentePieds.

[Tingum]

Before you sell anything charter a couple of times and see how everyone gets along. Charter both a cat and a monohull, but for your size family I too lean towards a cat.

[FecklessDolphin]

We are at the end of a 10 year plan and are currently in the final implementation stage. We plan to move on board with our two kids, 8 and 10, in July. Some of the best things we did:
We bought smaller and spent less than we budgeted. That left us room to spend the amount of the purchase price again in getting the boat just like I wanted her.
I went on an offshore passage with Andy Schell at 59 North.com. I was very happy with that experience. Other people offer a similar program.
I made sure that everyone learned to sail small boats. Ten years ago we got a practice boat. Made all the mistakes.
The kids had years of swim. lessons. We invested in comfortable youth life jackets, two per kid so they always have a dry one.
We bought our boat three years ago so we all have a good idea of the space we are moving on to
The timing of our trip is based on what we decided are the best ages for the kids to live on a boat, but we are just going for one year
My kids would rather have a catamaran. For me that would never be an option, but to each his own

[JPA Cate]

The kids don't get to choose for the adults. The adults are the ones paying the bills. When the kids can pay the bills, they can make their own choices. Offer financial consultation for them. Worst thing I ever did was to assume (yeah, I know!), assume my kids would pay attention to how we made ends meet. They didn't.

So to the OP, you choose the boat; they adapt. Hopefully everyone is all fired up about the exciting changes that are in the making. But please share the hard parts with the family: it will help them to treasure the experience.

Fwiw, there are places where catamarans pay for two berths in marinas, their rigs are more expensive than mono's because mono's heel to relieve pressure on the sails, and the cats have to stand up to the stresses. I'm biased in favor of monos, but I really do think they're more seaworthy. For me, there are also aesthetic considerations. Others mmv. Not that lovely voyages haven't been made on cats, but really, the "lead mine" assertions do not come into play often.

Ann, sailing on monos since 1978

[hamburking]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

The kids don't get to choose for the adults. The adults are the ones paying the bills.

I bought a sailboat when my kids were young. To get them excited and vested in the process, I told them they could name the boat. Big mistake. We ended up with WAVEY, simply because the first time they went on the boat when it arrived, it was quite wavy in the marina. Could have been worse.

[Singularity]

Originally Posted by JPA Cate

The kids don't get to choose for the adults. The adults are the ones paying the bills. When the kids can pay the bills, they can make their own choices. Offer financial consultation for them. Worst thing I ever did was to assume (yeah, I know!), assume my kids would pay attention to how we made ends meet. They didn't.

Of course the counter-position is including children in all decisions, even if given less weight, so the children will learn from a young age how ends are made to meet.

Keeping the kids out of the loop and hiring a financial consultant for counseling after adolescence is probably not the most time-proven effective methods to use. But I am familiar with the parent-knows-best method, and stereotypical results that this method provides.

[sliceoflife]

Originally Posted by ArmyDaveNY

You did not mention a time frame. If you have a year, I recommend that you consider joining a yacht club in your area while you prepare to leave. This may give you a good bit of experience with different boats. While it is important to see what you like, it can be equally important to see what you don't like. Generally speaking, yacht club owners have a good variety of boats and that will help you get a fairly quick bit of experience.


In my marina, there was a family of five and the three children were all teenage boys. They lived on a 32 foot boat and all were quite happy. I personally think it was a bit tight but then each person and each family is different. Consider the ability for each person to get some bit of space when they need it. One person on this site mentioned that he reconfigured his boat to have more, but smaller cabins so that each person could have a small but private space when needed. Others find that a center cockpit provides some breathing room when needed.



A good dodger and Bimini combination with the right side curtains can also add quite a bit to the available space. Depending upon how long and how often you will be on the boat, you should think about side curtains that can roll up and still offer screens, as will as allow for covers on the outside.


Consider also the ability to carry your activities with you. For example, you may want some room for kayaks (inflatable?) and a hard dinghy (perhaps a Port-a-bote). If you are in warm climates, will you want SCUBA gear?


I also would watch some of the cruising videos on YouTube. The glossy productions are good, but don't rule out others that are less refined from a production point of view. They can give you ideas on activities, things to prep for, repairs you're likely to encounter, etc.


Another advantage of being a yacht club member is that all boats need maintenance and repair. By helping out the members, you'll get a good feel for what sort of things need tending to on a lot of different boats. You'll also get a feel for what spares to bring. This won't make you an expert but it will give you a good beginning.


The Great Lakes are a great place to start cruising. There are a good number of individuals who go cruising on the Great Lakes who are active on this forum. Mike O'Reilly comes to mind (very knowledgeable and friendly) but there are others too. Starting out on the Great Lakes is serious cruising; these waters are not to be taken lightly. You may also find there are financial advantages too in that you may be able to keep you present insurances for a while longer until such time as you head out to international waters.


Good luck with your quest!

Thanks for the suggestions ! We have booked a 32' mono for a week in July on Lake Ontario. We watch a bunch of the sailing channels on Youtube (vagabond,delos,zatara), seems as though no matter how big or expensive your boat, there's always issues that arise. So learning how to tackle them in advance is a great idea. I've reached out to a friend in the local sailing community to connect me with boat owners who have repairs to do and are looking for an extra hand.

[sliceoflife]

Originally Posted by hamburking

I bought a sailboat when my kids were young. To get them excited and vested in the process, I told them they could name the boat. Big mistake. We ended up with WAVEY, simply because the first time they went on the boat when it arrived, it was quite wavy in the marina. Could have been worse.

hahahaha, that is GREAT ! I wouldn't even begin to consider most of the names my kids have been throwing around.

[sliceoflife]

Originally Posted by Tingum

Before you sell anything charter a couple of times and see how everyone gets along. Charter both a cat and a monohull, but for your size family I too lean towards a cat.

Definitely going to do this. Currently in South East Florida for a couple more weeks. Trying to get a couple day long charter booked before we go home. Have a week long charter booked on Lake Ontario in July on a 32' mono, should be interesting how we function as a family in quarters that tight.

[hamburking]

Originally Posted by sliceoflife

Definitely going to do this. Currently in South East Florida for a couple more weeks. Trying to get a couple day long charter booked before we go home. Have a week long charter booked on Lake Ontario in July on a 32' mono, should be interesting how we function as a family in quarters that tight.

Hi. Pardon my curiosity. Wondering what model 32 you have booked? The wide beam, modern boats have so much more space than the older, IOR influenced racer/cruisers. Each having their own bunk goes a long way to getting along. No one likes to sleep in the main cabin and have to stow/hide their stuff every morning, or have other people farting on the the bunk where their face will be that night.

Also, where you go on Lake Ontario will have a big impact as well. Drop a hook in the 1000 islands and you are guaranteed a great time. Stay at a dock in whitby and you are headed for disaster. I highly recommend anchoring, wherever you go, then use the dinghy for excitement and exploration.

I'm a local in Kingston (Lake Ontario), and have been to most places on the lake with a family of 4 crammed into a small boat. Feel free to ask specific questions if you have any. There are several other CF members on Lake Ontario and the great lakes too.

[sliceoflife]

Originally Posted by hamburking

Hi. Pardon my curiosity. Wondering what model 32 you have booked? The wide beam, modern boats have so much more space than the older, IOR influenced racer/cruisers. Each having their own bunk goes a long way to getting along. No one likes to sleep in the main cabin and have to stow/hide their stuff every morning, or have other people farting on the the bunk where their face will be that night.

Also, where you go on Lake Ontario will have a big impact as well. Drop a hook in the 1000 islands and you are guaranteed a great time. Stay at a dock in whitby and you are headed for disaster. I highly recommend anchoring, wherever you go, then use the dinghy for excitement and exploration.

I'm a local in Kingston (Lake Ontario), and have been to most places on the lake with a family of 4 crammed into a small boat. Feel free to ask specific questions if you have any. There are several other CF members on Lake Ontario and the great lakes too.

Hey, just checked, its a hunter 34.5' , I wasn't able to find any modern mono's for bareboat charter outside of Fractional sailing programs ( ones in Toronto don't let you leave the general area anyways ) . Funny you mention Whitby Harbour, that's my nearest marina. Aside from the pancake breakfast on weekends its pretty dull !

[hamburking]

Originally Posted by sliceoflife

Hey, just checked, its a hunter 34.5' , I wasn't able to find any modern mono's for bareboat charter outside of Fractional sailing programs ( ones in Toronto don't let you leave the general area anyways ) . Funny you mention Whitby Harbour, that's my nearest marina. Aside from the pancake breakfast on weekends its pretty dull !

OKAY...now I'm REALLY curious.

Hunter made a 33.5 and a 35.5 (the legend series)
There's a 34, a 35, and even a 340.

But to the best of my knowledge, there's no Hunter 34.5. So what boat is it that you have chartered?

I hope you'll excuse my nitpick, but the name tells more than the boat LOA...the model number tells the years built, layout, standard features, engine, and so much more.

FWIW, I owned a 94 Legend 35.5, and that's why I'm so familiar with this model range. Plus google. LOL.

[ewaldorf38]

Get the Catamaran, you cannot beat the space as well as storage, if you have that kind of money, buy a Katana, forget about the charter ****, pack up the family, get the school books ready and do your shakedown trip to the Bahamas. Then re-evaluate your needs after the trip and either head on out to Grenada for hurricane season or pull out in Ft. Pierce and hang out at the beach for a few months, re-provision, get everything In Order and take off for the real journey.

[spughy]

Beneteau owner and liveaboard-with-kids here! Fore and Aft is right - the amount of room in Beneteaus and Jenneaus (and some Hunters as well) is amazing, and more than sufficient.

I have 2 kids and they each have their own cabins on the boat - they are with their dad half the time so they have some suburbia time too, but as he lives with his parents (don't ask) their space there isn't really their own and their cabins on the boat are really theirs, and they love them. Our galley is more than sufficient for food storage and prep for 2 adults and 2 kids over an extended cruising period (we went out for a week last month and barely restocked at all en route) - and I like to to cook and used to do so professionally. We have 2 heads (one wet, one not) and 2 water tanks.

Our cockpit is also very usable living space - big table, icebox, comfy seating, and a bimini and dodger. We eat outside most of the summer.

Feel free to PM me if you want to ask detailed questions about kids and boats. Mine are 13 and 6, and we're on the west coast - but still Canada :-) There are some fun things I didn't anticipate about having no street address and being treated like some kind of circus freak for living on a boat, but it's a lifestyle that's working really well for us.

[spughy]

Originally Posted by hamburking

I bought a sailboat when my kids were young. To get them excited and vested in the process, I told them they could name the boat. Big mistake. We ended up with WAVEY, simply because the first time they went on the boat when it arrived, it was quite wavy in the marina. Could have been worse.

LOL I let the kids name our dinghy. It's officially "Cutie-pie Kraken". Because they wanted to name the big boat "Kraken" but it already had a cool name I didn't want to change, and a 9' Walker Bay doesn't justify a full-on "Kraken" name...