Howdy from a newbie dreamer

As my title and signature suggests, we are dreamers right now. Wife and I have about 11yrs until retirement. I am doing the research now of what kind of trawler we should purchase probably about a year or two before retirement. We are weighing whether to purchase a boat in the florida area as it would be our desired cruising grounds, or purchase in the PNW where we live and move the boat on her own bottom to our desired area. We do intend on living on board for at least 50% of the year and 50% in our RV. We'll see what happens in 11yrs, though.

Some of the boats we really like (on paper anyway) so far is the Great Harbor N37/N47, Marine Trader 50 MY, Hatteras 42LRC, Island Gypsy 44 Aft Deck. Boats we like but will never afford unless we win the lottery is the Nordhavn 47, 55, 62. The Nordies are undoubtedly much more boat than we need.

As most dreamers are, my interest is in knowing maintenance issues/expense, reliability of systems (engines especially), problem areas, and generally the lifestyle. We are not large boat owners and intend on gaining training and chartering various boats to get our feet wet. I will be searching the archives before I post questions.

Thanks!

Wade & Maureen: Looks like you've caught the fever. We should warn you that once one gets to the fever stage, the opportunity to cruise often comes sooner than you think. Start getting aboard the boats you like now, and you may be surprised how boat ownership and cruising become possible, even in a hectic, budgeted life. Welcome aboard.

Greetings,
Welcome aboard.

Welcome, we also had an RV and a boat but quickly figured out there was not really time or need for both and the boat has become our RV as well. Sold the RV last year. Good luck and have fun with whatever you buy.

Welcome, if you primary cruising grounds willbe in Florida keep the baots draft in mind, the waters there are quite shallow especially on the west coast.
Steve W

Wadosan said:

As my title and signature suggests, we are dreamers right now. Wife and I have about 11yrs until retirement. I am doing the research now of what kind of trawler we should purchase probably about a year or two before retirement. .

Thanks!

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Dreaming is always fun, and if you have eleven years yet to go before retirement plenty of time to plan, research, charter, visit with friends who have trawlers, whatever.

So welcome aboard. Whenever I drive down to St. Pete or Tampa (Florida) I always pass through a little town which has a street named "Follow That Dream Boulevard." Have always wondered what it pertains to.

John

healhustler said:

Wade & Maureen: Looks like you've caught the fever. We should warn you that once one gets to the fever stage, the opportunity to cruise often comes sooner than you think. Start getting aboard the boats you like now, and you may be surprised how boat ownership and cruising become possible, even in a hectic, budgeted life. Welcome aboard.

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Healhustler: Anything is possible and we're keeping all options open. We've discussed once the housing market gets good enough where we wouldn't lose our shirts selling, we'd consider down-sizing into our RV or purchase a boat.

LaBomba said:

Welcome, we also had an RV and a boat but quickly figured out there was not really time or need for both and the boat has become our RV as well. Sold the RV last year. Good luck and have fun with whatever you buy.

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Thanks LaBomba. I have a feeling we might end up as you have done. We may still keep a smaller RV so we could still see the country.

Steve said:

Welcome, if you primary cruising grounds willbe in Florida keep the baots draft in mind, the waters there are quite shallow especially on the west coast.
Steve W

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Steve: Thanks for that tip. I've read that especially in the Bahama's one must be very vigilant. Of the boats I've mentioned in my initial post, only the Great Harbor has a really shallow draft (under 3'). The rest are running in the almost 4' to near 6'.

jwnall said:

Dreaming is always fun, and if you have eleven years yet to go before retirement plenty of time to plan, research, charter, visit with friends who have trawlers, whatever.

So welcome aboard. Whenever I drive down to St. Pete or Tampa (Florida) I always pass through a little town which has a street named "Follow That Dream Boulevard." Have always wondered what it pertains to.

John

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Jwnall: Yes I agree it is fun to dream and making it a habit to do so regularly, keeps it alive.

Thanks everyone for the greetings.

Welcome Aboard Wade & Maureen, It's time for you to start chartering. Trawlers of various types are available for charter in the Florida Keys and on the Florida west coast. I'm sure they're available in the PNW as well.

HopCar said:

Welcome Aboard Wade & Maureen, It's time for you to start chartering. Trawlers of various types are available for charter in the Florida Keys and on the Florida west coast. I'm sure they're available in the PNW as well.

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This is great advice and the PNW is the trawler charter capital of the world, fantastic cruising grounds that will fill the next decade with adventures. You will have the opportunity to try many sizes, shapes, brands etc. This will be much cheaper than buying a boat while you are still working. There are also good training programs up there so you can graduate to operating yourself.

Chartering accomplishes many good things: it let's you figure out from first hand experience what kind of boat works for you two, it helps you decide if this is really the life for you, and best of all it gets you out on the water NOW. Finding these things out before sinking a bunch of money into a purchase is invaluable. Boats are a very personal decision; what is best for us may very well be a very bad fit for you.

HopCar said:

Welcome Aboard Wade & Maureen, It's time for you to start chartering. Trawlers of various types are available for charter in the Florida Keys and on the Florida west coast. I'm sure they're available in the PNW as well.

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caltexflanc said:

This is great advice and the PNW is the trawler charter capital of the world, fantastic cruising grounds that will fill the next decade with adventures. You will have the opportunity to try many sizes, shapes, brands etc. This will be much cheaper than buying a boat while you are still working. There are also good training programs up there so you can graduate to operating yourself.

Chartering accomplishes many good things: it let's you figure out from first hand experience what kind of boat works for you two, it helps you decide if this is really the life for you, and best of all it gets you out on the water NOW. Finding these things out before sinking a bunch of money into a purchase is invaluable. Boats are a very personal decision; what is best for us may very well be a very bad fit for you.

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We've looked into a couple of charters in Anacortes which offer multi-day training sessions where we stay on board during the evening. We've also looked into, and have tentatively planned, to charter a Great Harbor trawler out of Fort Meyers FL next year for our vacation. We'll see if that will pan out. Much of what we will do will depend on whether our Congress can pull their heads out.

Ft. Meyers would be a great area to start. You can easily spend a week cruising Charlotte Harbor and not see it all. It would get you used to shallow water cruising as well.

HopCar said:

Ft. Meyers would be a great area to start. You can easily spend a week cruising Charlotte Harbor and not see it all. It would get you used to shallow water cruising as well.

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A great place to cruise. The bottom is usually soft if you stray into the shallows. A very good place to learn as well as good stops along the way.

Wadosan said:

We've looked into a couple of charters in Anacortes which offer multi-day training sessions where we stay on board during the evening. We've also looked into, and have tentatively planned, to charter a Great Harbor trawler out of Fort Meyers FL next year for our vacation. We'll see if that will pan out. Much of what we will do will depend on whether our Congress can pull their heads out.

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Good plan. when we lived in Dallas, we'd charter in both areas. Infinitely more to see and do in the San Juan/Gulf islands area, but we also definitely enjoyed the warm waters and beaches and undeveloped areas of SW Florida, especially places like Cayo Costa and the 10,000 Islands and Cape Sable. Make sure the boat has a good dinghy! I strongly recommend you do the training charters in Anacortes for starters, you will likely need them to qualify for bare boat chartering if your prior boating experience is sketchy or undocumentable or not demonstrable.