Soon to be a liveaboard - advice?

Capn Chuck said:

Thank you and good luck whatever your decision. I guess my advise would be to not go all in at the beginning. You have some of the most fabulous cruising grounds in the world and it might be easy to begin locally and expand your horizons as your comfort levels and confidence increases. At some point you will have an ah-ha moment and the decision will become obvious. At least it did for us. We envy you in your options. Fair winds and stay safe. Chuck

Click to expand...

Again, much appreciated, Chuck. We'll start with the west coast of Brittany next summer and work our way up to Holland and maybe winter there, before going to the Balic and up to St Petersburg. Beyond that, who knows?

Well, March 9th 2013 is the date we become liveaboards.

As you know from above, the house was sold last year and we are currently renting. Following forum advice we are selling and giving away as much as possible but keeping the family heirlooms and 'specials' which we are putting into store until we finally decide what to do with them.

The boat has had a huge amount of work done on her to ensure she is as perfect as possible so we can cruise wherever we want, including fitting Webasto central heating and making sure the air con works properly.

We will be based in the Channel Islands. Although part of the British Isles, they are much closer to France.

So, we raise our glasses to all on the Forum for a great New Year, and to ourselves for an exciting new adventure.

Mr and Mrs 'Great Papa Bear'

Fleming 55
Play d'eau

Don't sell to many tools....I got rid of too many and had to go and buy them.....

Greetings,
Hah! GREAT excuse for new tools. Mr. and Mrs. gpb. I wish you well in all your future travels.

greatpapabear said:

Well, March 9th 2013 is the date we become liveaboards.

We will be based in the Channel Islands. Although part of the British Isles, they are much closer to France.

So, we raise our glasses to all on the Forum for a great New Year, and to ourselves for an exciting new adventure.

Mr and Mrs 'Great Papa Bear'

Fleming 55
Play d'eau

Click to expand...

In that beautiful boat you will be the envy of many!
Bon voyage!
Steve W

Thanks for the wrds of encouragement, everyone.

It's my wife's (Mama Bear) birthday in a couple of days, so I'm off to book her a special 'her' day at the local spa, whilst I go to the hardware store to buy a new set of tools as recommended by RT Firefly!

Seriously, though, we are both so excited. A change in life style (oh yes!), a move from the UK to the Channel Islands (although Guernsey is part of the Bitish Isles, it's not part of the UK. Therefore, we have to emmigrate from the UK), and a whole new raft of friends to make.

With a population of 67,000, Guernsey's land area is 24 sq miles. Wiki has some good info on the Guernsey and the associated islands, here.

The Channel islands as a whole - Channel Islands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Guernsey itself - Guernsey - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

If anyone from the forum ever plans to visit Guernsey, do send a PM and let's see if we can organise a tour of the Islands. There's so much history, so many excellent restaurants, and the beauty has to be seen to be believed.

I'll stop now - I'm in danger of getting too excited....

Great Papa Bear

Don't get bogged down by material things.. keep life simple and enjoy your time on the water. All these things can be replaced if you need them again.. enjoy the freedom.

Well you sure have the right boat, only thing better would be the 65 or 75 Fleming. I like them all.

I am looking for a live aboard for myself now. I too am going to try the 5 year plan over 20 years. I've already dumped the house and stuff, I just need the boat........ But I've been on board as captain for the last 2 years, so I'm ready for my own gig. Our 65 Fleming is headed to Panama now with a new owner.

Sharkey said:

Well you sure have the right boat, only thing better would be the 65 or 75 Fleming. I like them all.

I am looking for a live aboard for myself now. I too am going to try the 5 year plan over 20 years. I've already dumped the house and stuff, I just need the boat........ But I've been on board as captain for the last 2 years, so I'm ready for my own gig. Our 65 Fleming is headed to Panama now with a new owner.

Click to expand...

Hi Sharkey. I agree that the Fleming is a great boat. I know every inch of her inside and out. Just completing a 10 year make over on her (she's a 2003 boat) in preparartion for us to liveaboard.

Like you, I like the 65 (and the 58 as well...) but the 75 looks a different build given the fly bridge has been brought forward. Doesn't quite look right in my book.

Have fun in choosing the boat for you!

Best reards

GPB

The 75 is a beast! But I still would love own one. You have a great time on your 55.

Sharkey said:

The 75 is a beast! But I still would love own one. You have a great time on your 55.

Click to expand...

Hi Sharkey. Thanks for the encouragement. 8 weeks 2 days to go!

7 weeks 3 days left in the UK. Furniture is off to the auction house with the 'special' bits going into storage.

Can't believe how much 'stuff' we've collected over the years. It's extraordinary. So much clobber. So much duplication.

The experience is becoming quote cathartic and liberating, which only serves to increase the excitment. Could this be called Pre-liveaboard foreplay, I wonder!

Yes! Get rid of all your stuff. It's not needed.

greatpapabear said:

7 weeks 3 days left in the UK. Furniture is off to the auction house with the 'special' bits going into storage.

Can't believe how much 'stuff' we've collected over the years. It's extraordinary. So much clobber. So much duplication.

The experience is becoming quote cathartic and liberating, which only serves to increase the excitment. Could this be called Pre-liveaboard foreplay, I wonder!

Click to expand...

Indeed. When I moved onboard, it was terrifying and liberating all at the same time. I went from a large house with all the trappings (3 car garage, shop for the race car, lots of square footage, etc) to a 38' sedan- and have not looked back. Where once I had all the tools I'd need to rebuild an engine in a weekend, I now have a basic set of tools...

Getting rid of stuff is liberating, for sure!

There was a good article in Sea magazine on the top 16 reasons to be a livaboard. Great article but they don't have it posted online.

I am jealous as I am in the LONG process of becoming a livaboard

What is so long about the process? Once the decision is made, its just execution of the plan....

Pau Hana said:

What is so long about the process? Once the decision is made, its just execution of the plan....

Click to expand...

We are setting up for retirement in a few years. So we are currently buying a private dock on the lower Columbia River to stick our trawler as home base. The farm is up for sale in Missouri. Once that sells, we will buy our trawler. By the time I retire the goal is debt free and starting the new life. If the farm sells this spring, we plan to move aboard sooner.....I am excited, which is making things move so slow.

Roger that- I like it!

We're doing the same this Spring - moving onboard, that is. So, this xmas we took a business class flight with Egyptair (they give you DOUBLE the luggage allowance, so are great for when you have to lug great boxes around the world) and carted 160kg of our most prized possessions off to the in-laws. In the boxes were curtains (you just can't get curtains like them anywhere but Kuwait for that price), pictures we like (mostly gifts, and painted by friends), presents from the kids, half a dozen pairs of shoes (I know) and some candlesticks.

The rest is going. We are turfing out room by room. Most of our stuff is old, since for years we have bought NOTHING that won't be coming on the boat with us except food. Therefore it has limited resale value, so the maid and drivers friends are getting bags of clothes, TVs, old printers, folders (these guys re-use EVERYTHING).

And you know what? It's only stuff. The real hard bit is going to be euthanising the 17 year old cat and 11 year old St Bernard who are too old for the transition - although the younger pups will come with us!

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

We are setting up for retirement in a few years. So we are currently buying a private dock on the lower Columbia River to stick our trawler as home base. The farm is up for sale in Missouri. Once that sells, we will buy our trawler. By the time I retire the goal is debt free and starting the new life. If the farm sells this spring, we plan to move aboard sooner.....I am excited, which is making things move so slow.

Click to expand...

I understand that! It is a process... you have a good plan!

I've known so many people who paid for a storage unit for YEARS and never touched anything in it. One couple comes to mind who cleaned their unit out after at least 15 years and did not keep a single thing. THOUGH, they had a house so they had all those "precious keepsake" type items in their home already. It is a long way off for me, though so I can easily give others advice.

6 weeks 2 days to go! So where are we with sorting everything? On target. House sold, nearly all of the furniture sent to auction, leaving us with just the very few cherished items, some of which will be stored with the rest given to the children.

Now it's down to the last few boxes of 'stuff' left in the garage. So, charity shops, jumble sales, car boot sales and the local dump will be the final destinations.

The additional work we've had done on the boat is almost finished (I'm snagging the boat for the next two days) after which we clean her, re-stock her, and motor away on the 9 March for Guernsey, maybe stopping in Cherbourg, France, to get some Raspberry flavoured vinegar which just cannot be found in the UK and it's so gorgeous to use when making mayo and vinaigrette dressings. It's only a small detour, but hey, who cares? We'll be liveaboards!

I'm very happy for you! Life is not a rehearsal, grab it by the balls!

Daddyo said:

I'm very happy for you! Life is not a rehearsal, grab it by the balls!

Click to expand...

Consider life so grabbed!

GPB

5 weeks to go....and counting.

Less than 4 weeks now...

The plan's coming together with one hiccup. We have a small library that's proving hard to get rid of. We were going to throw most away but after a quick search on the web it seems most have a reasonable value - but we don't the time to fuss with selling them! So today, I'll hit the phones and see if a book shop will take them off our hands.

An unforseen problem with the timeline - maybe.

They'll give you pennies on the dollar, but at least they won't go in the trash. Have you thought about donating them? You might get a better value by writing them off your income taxes.

Keith said:

They'll give you pennies on the dollar, but at least they won't go in the trash. Have you thought about donating them? You might get a better value by writing them off your income taxes.

Click to expand...

I think that's the best course of action. Interestingly, over the weekend we found nearly 500 first editions, most of which are Penguin and Puffin books with the rest from the 1930s! Hmmmm.

I gotta admit that the old books I had stashed away - mostly my Grandad's from a long long time ago - got taken to my in-laws house for storage.

We got all the electric stuff valued yesterday. $300 for the lot. Wasn't expecting anything more, but that's like nothing, so we're gonna give the lot away to the poor folks. And we have a lot of them in Kuwait!

Two months to go... ish!

SaucySailoress said:

I gotta admit that the old books I had stashed away - mostly my Grandad's from a long long time ago - got taken to my in-laws house for storage.

We got all the electric stuff valued yesterday. $300 for the lot. Wasn't expecting anything more, but that's like nothing, so we're gonna give the lot away to the poor folks. And we have a lot of them in Kuwait!

Two months to go... ish!

Click to expand...

We've done a reasonable amount of business in Kuwait with the British Schools, so know it quite well. What are you doing there?

Was a teacher until I got sick and tired of the factory approach to schools here. What do you do? Recruitment? Author? Stationary supplier? I give up!