The long, rambling thoughts of an indecisive man.

Wayfarer said:

That got everyone's hopes up, and made sure I ALWAYS had an audience for docking maneuvers... No pressure, right? Lol. I think this time I'll tell people I'm the ship's cook.

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I've had no formal captains training, but somehow I always end up driving everyone's boat... I don't know why that always happens.

Wonderfully put.

I did much the same for five years before we bought Dauntless. However, I did not get rid of enough land stuff.

If you buy right, you can sell right.

Have fun, good luck

Wayfarer said:

Thanks for the vote of confidence Dave. One mistake I learned from with my last boat, was letting too many people know what I do for a living. That got everyone's hopes up, and made sure I ALWAYS had an audience for docking maneuvers... No pressure, right? Lol. I think this time I'll tell people I'm the ship's cook.

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LOL, yeah I can see that.

On my cruise a couple weeks ago I hung out at times in the pilothouse. Captain’s standing orders were that no passengers were to be in the PH during anchoring, docking, crossing bars, or passing through narrow channels. As I got to know her I found that if I kept my mouth shut, the Captain didn’t mind if I was there when she was at the helm.

As such, I had the chance to watch the Captain training one of the deckhands on how to run the boat. The deckhand has a 100 ton license herself and has hopes of becoming Mate on this vessel. A couple times I watched as the deckhand made some rather obvious errors that the Captain had to point out and correct. I felt a lot of sympathy for the deckhand as things are always harder with an audience.

Wayfarer said:

Thanks for the vote of confidence Dave. One mistake I learned from with my last boat, was letting too many people know what I do for a living. That got everyone's hopes up, and made sure I ALWAYS had an audience for docking maneuvers... No pressure, right? Lol. I think this time I'll tell people I'm the ship's cook.

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No matter what you say you do on the ship, the other boaters will expect a lot from you. That's just how people are. They respect you more. They will seek you out for advice. Be happy they think so highly of you. You could tell them tell them, there is a big difference because on the ship, you do have a crew to back you up.

Do ships still have cabin boys? LOL

Just do it, you don't even need 50k. I did it with half of that (but have had to do a lot of boat work) and have zero regret. In fact if someone told me it would be this good before I did it I would not have believed them. I'm 32 and moved in 1.5 years ago BTW.

OldDan1943 said:

Do ships still have cabin boys? LOL

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I wish! Alas I still have to make my own bed, and scrub my own toilet.

Nopistn said:

Just do it, you don't even need 50k. I did it with half of that (but have had to do a lot of boat work) and have zero regret. In fact if someone told me it would be this good before I did it I would not have believed them. I'm 32 and moved in 1.5 years ago BTW.

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I'm very happy to hear such a rave review, especially from someone close to my age. Thirty somethings seem to be few and far between in the liveaboard community, at least to someone on the outside. Have you met many?

Do you cruise much, or are you based at a home port? Would you mind sharing some parts that were better/worse than you expected? Anything that you didn't expect?

I definitely could do it sooner, but like you said, I'd end up doing a lot more boat work. I'm happy to do routine maintenance and repair on something that was reasonably well maintained by a previous owner, but I don't think I've got a major refit in me. I'm not that handy, and I'm not that motivated... lol. I love watching people do it on youtube, but spending a year replacing windows and seacocks and fiberglassing and sanding and painting, before I can even start using the boat, sounds just awful, lol. I'm hoping for something a little closer to 'turn key.'

I am hoping to get to the magic number ahead of schedule, though!

Wayfarer said:

I wish! Alas I still have to make my own bed, and scrub my own toilet.

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So YOU are the cabin boy?!? Lololololololololol

toocoys said:

So YOU are the cabin boy?!? Lololololololololol

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What!? Psh.... no... I’m not the... the cabin boy. YOU’RE A CABINBOY!

... sigh... I’m totally the cabin boy.

Wayfarer said:

I'm very happy to hear such a rave review, especially from someone close to my age. Thirty somethings seem to be few and far between in the liveaboard community, at least to someone on the outside. Have you met many?

Do you cruise much, or are you based at a home port? Would you mind sharing some parts that were better/worse than you expected? Anything that you didn't expect?

I definitely could do it sooner, but like you said, I'd end up doing a lot more boat work. I'm happy to do routine maintenance and repair on something that was reasonably well maintained by a previous owner, but I don't think I've got a major refit in me. I'm not that handy, and I'm not that motivated... lol. I love watching people do it on youtube, but spending a year replacing windows and seacocks and fiberglassing and sanding and painting, before I can even start using the boat, sounds just awful, lol. I'm hoping for something a little closer to 'turn key.'

I am hoping to get to the magic number ahead of schedule, though!

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I'm based at a home port and the longest trip I've done in this boat is 5 hours, which would have been 45mins by car. I'm too inpatient to travel at this speed right now. Mainly I do short day trips and restuarant/bar hopping in the evening/nights. Ibwas fortunate that most of my issues were minor electrical that I figured out myself. The worst issue left to deal with is the fuel tanks, one of them has a rust hole in the top. Knowing this I just drain the racors frequently and don't top it off and it seems to be ok.
Before the boat I had an apartment on the water and I can say the boat is infinitely more fun... I was hoping it would be cheaper but honestly if you factor in the garage/shop/hangar I'm paying for and all of my upgrades/maintenance/fuel/slip/ect. It's probably not cheaper. I use my boat hard and constantly improve it though. I lot of livaboards let their boat/running gear/bottom go to **** and save money but never take their boat out.

Wxx3 said:

If you buy right, you can sell right.

Have fun, good luck

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Amen....And it's not just price....Brand, reputation, desirability etc weigh more than heavily into the equation..

Heron said:

Amen....And it's not just price....Brand, reputation, desirability etc weigh more than heavily into the equation..

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Absolutely. Perception is reality, after all.

Dave: In my neck of the woods there's lots of liveaboards our age. But most of them have sailboats. Lol

I hope you are following your dream. There are probably many of us that have been looking at videos of boats and wish we could just cruise off into the sunset, so to speak. For many of us, there are some little things that make it a bit complicated, such as a spouse that isn't quite as anxious to sell everything and buy a boat, family issues or even a job that isn't quite mobile. Some of us might even secretly like to leave all of that and take off on a boat and say the hell with it all.

As many have recommended, I would go for it. In a heartbeat. And I wouldn't look back.

Mark

South of Heaven said:

Dave: In my neck of the woods there's lots of liveaboards our age. But most of them have sailboats. Lol

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Honestly, if air draft wasn’t a consideration, and if I wasn’t too chicken **** to climb a mast from time to time, I’d probably have one too, lol.

hayesdvm said:

I hope you are following your dream. There are probably many of us that have been looking at videos of boats and wish we could just cruise off into the sunset, so to speak. For many of us, there are some little things that make it a bit complicated, such as a spouse that isn't quite as anxious to sell everything and buy a boat, family issues or even a job that isn't quite mobile. Some of us might even secretly like to leave all of that and take off on a boat and say the hell with it all.



As many have recommended, I would go for it. In a heartbeat. And I wouldn't look back.



Mark

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Thanks Mark. I’m sure you’re right. It is an awfully romantic idea, isn’t it? I try to regularly remind myself that it’s not going to be all peaches and cream.

I’m still on track, though. In fact, I’m a little ahead of schedule at this point, so hopefully I can keep that up and get aboard sooner than planned.

Yesterday I did a little reality-check exercise. I found the boat I was most likely to buy if I was ready to move aboard today, and made a list of all the things I’d want to buy to make her my own. Then I went to Defender and put all of those things in my cart. The total came to 18k lol.

I may have gotten slightly carried away...

Wayfarer said:

Yesterday I did a little reality-check exercise. I found the boat I was most likely to buy if I was ready to move aboard today, and made a list of all the things I’d want to buy to make her my own. Then I went to Defender and put all of those things in my cart. The total came to 18k lol.

I may have gotten slightly carried away...

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Wifey B: But making it your own is important. I know people often say wait, but that's really more major things and I think it's important on a boat or house or anything to add those touches that make it your boat rather than Mr. Previous Owner's boat. That's the difference in owning and chartering. It's hanging your own pictures, your own living room pillows, your own bedspread and comforter, your own special chair on the aft deck, but it's also other things like the charter you really like or a different shower head or a different head. To some it's a special coffee maker. But I think it's wise you've priced those things a bit. You can always cull the cart a bit but good to identify it all.

Wayfarer said:

Yesterday I did a little reality-check exercise. I found the boat I was most likely to buy if I was ready to move aboard today, and made a list of all the things I’d want to buy to make her my own. Then I went to Defender and put all of those things in my cart. The total came to 18k lol.

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When I bought this boat in July 2015, I considered it to be in excellent shape (except the genny), but I wanted to make some improvements to make it a more reliable mini-cruiser instead of a marina hopper. I had the fresh-in-my-mind example of the trawler I had just sold on which I lavished money for 29 years.

I brought the boat home; put it in the new lift; and I did not run it again for three months until I got the first round of improvements done. Then I took a few months break while I ran the dog-doo out of it considering the next round of improvements. Now 3.25 years later, I am at $12.2K into material bought for improvements (all labor is zero dollars) plus $5.1K for the new generator. So 18K does not sound terrible for an older trawler.

Remember, you won't be spending it all at once but rather dribble it out as you find time and energy to make the individual improvements.

BandB said:

Wifey B: But making it your own is important. I know people often say wait, but that's really more major things and I think it's important on a boat or house or anything to add those touches that make it your boat rather than Mr. Previous Owner's boat. That's the difference in owning and chartering. It's hanging your own pictures, your own living room pillows, your own bedspread and comforter, your own special chair on the aft deck, but it's also other things like the charter you really like or a different shower head or a different head. To some it's a special coffee maker. But I think it's wise you've priced those things a bit. You can always cull the cart a bit but good to identify it all.

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rgano said:

When I bought this boat in July 2015, I considered it to be in excellent shape (except the genny), but I wanted to make some improvements to make it a more reliable mini-cruiser instead of a marina hopper. I had the fresh-in-my-mind example of the trawler I had just sold on which I lavished money for 29 years.

I brought the boat home; put it in the new lift; and I did not run it again for three months until I got the first round of improvements done. Then I took a few months break while I ran the dog-doo out of it considering the next round of improvements. Now 3.25 years later, I am at $12.2K into material bought for improvements (all labor is zero dollars) plus $5.1K for the new generator. So 18K does not sound terrible for an older trawler.

Remember, you won't be spending it all at once but rather dribble it out as you find time and energy to make the individual improvements.

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I think less than a third of the stuff on that list would be the sort of stuff I'd want to get right away. Mostly safety stuff like life jackets, flares, PLBs, bilge pumps and detectors various. There would be a few creature comfort items for sure, and stuff I'd use every day, like galleyware.

A few of the things I added to the cart were big ticket 'nice to have' items. I threw a couple of anchors in there, a new dinghy and outboard, and a new radar/chartplotter system. There's a very good chance that I won't need to buy any of that stuff right off the bat, and I'm sure I could get better deals on most of it just by doing a little more research.

I am glad that I took the time to familiarize myself with some of the prices though.

Wayfarer said:

Yesterday I did a little reality-check exercise. I found the boat I was most likely to buy if I was ready to move aboard today, and made a list of all the things I’d want to buy to make her my own. Then I went to Defender and put all of those things in my cart. The total came to 18k lol.

I may have gotten slightly carried away...

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What you THINK you need or want, and what you ACTUALLY need or want are two very, VERY different things.

You know my story, its been about a month and a half now. When we started doing thing this, I'm sure that I could have come up with 18K worth of stuff that I thought I'd need as well.

As it turns out, I don't NEED anything that I thought I would - right now, this minute, today. Part of the fun that I've found so far is having little projects to work on here and there. Sure I want to build and NMEA2000 network, get new furniture for the aft deck, redo some of the wiring in the helm, etc etc etc, but the fact of the matter is that the engines run, the water and lights work, and we're good.

The internet has a very persistent way of scaring people out of doing things. No one ever gives you a reason TO DO something, but they give you 50 million reasons HOW to do something, or HOW NOT to do something.

Find you a boat that floats, and has an engine that runs. That's all you need. The rest is an adventure. Go for it!

hayesdvm said:

Some of us might even secretly like to leave all of that and take off on a boat and say the hell with it all.

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Some of us?

Definitely more than you think!!

BandB said:

Wifey B: But making it your own is important. I know people often say wait, but that's really more major things and I think it's important on a boat or house or anything to add those touches that make it your boat rather than Mr. Previous Owner's boat. That's the difference in owning and chartering. It's hanging your own pictures, your own living room pillows, your own bedspread and comforter, your own special chair on the aft deck, but it's also other things like the charter you really like or a different shower head or a different head. To some it's a special coffee maker. But I think it's wise you've priced those things a bit. You can always cull the cart a bit but good to identify it all.

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Really nicely said and spot on.

I went driving around town last night with my best and oldest friend. We both grew up here. We were pretty amazed by how the place is changing so much lately. It seemed like this place was frozen in amber for the longest time. No change at all for better or worse. Now it's changing fast, and almost none of the change is for the better. We had some fairly bad flooding two or three years ago, and some entire neighborhoods were condemned, and a lot of them have been torn down. Otherwise, the place is continuing to slowly die. It really makes me feel good about digging up my roots, and transplanting myself into a movable pot. I'm ready to go now.

I just increased the rate that I'm saving by 25% which makes my five year plan a four year plan. One down, three to go. Somebody keep a late model Monk 36 in really good shape for me for a few more years.

Wayfarer said:

I went driving around town last night with my best and oldest friend. We both grew up here. We were pretty amazed by how the place is changing so much lately. It seemed like this place was frozen in amber for the longest time. No change at all for better or worse. Now it's changing fast, and almost none of the change is for the better. We had some fairly bad flooding two or three years ago, and some entire neighborhoods were condemned, and a lot of them have been torn down. Otherwise, the place is continuing to slowly die. It really makes me feel good about digging up my roots, and transplanting myself into a movable pot. I'm ready to go now.

I just increased the rate that I'm saving by 25% which makes my five year plan a four year plan. One down, three to go. Somebody keep a late model Monk 36 in really good shape for me for a few more years.

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Wifey B: I think people err in two ways. Some are way too scared of change, but then that fear makes them handle it poorly. On the other hand there are those who fall victim to the "grass is always greener over the septic tank" routine.

In our case, my hubby had lived all his life in a 30 mile area. I'd lived since marriage so 11 years there at the time. We liked where we lived on Lake Norman near Charlotte, NC. However, we always knew when we retired we wanted something different. We didn't know anything about coastal boating even though we had "family" in Myrtle Beach. We'd always figured on retiring to the TN River, probably Chattanooga, as we loved and still do love it there. Our only boating outside our home lake was with an acquaintance there and led us down the TN River and even part way down the TN Tom. The idea of being able to go from lake to lake to lake was incredible to landlocked us.

We'd never traveled on vacation, just enjoying the lake in our back yard, other than the one TN River trip. Then we decided to take a FL vacation. Two weeks, starting in South FL, flying in to Fort Lauderdale, then Disney World and then the West Coast and then back to South FL and the rest of it. We fell in love with FLL and did rent a boat for a day our first stop there. It was a small boat but "On a Clear Day, You can see Forever." We saw all the boats there, cruised mostly the ICW that day but did go outside and to Miami. Suddenly, we were thinking maybe not Chattanooga. However, still figured years away but we had hopes for sooner. Then during our trip there the hopes turned into reality and one night in a Tampa hotel, we decided "Let's do it Now and in FLL." The moment we realized we could, we did and we've never looked back and never had any regrets. We were exceptionally lucky or it would have been years later. We called and extended our vacation and gave our notices to our employers and went house hunting. Now, Fort Lauderdale is home like NC never really felt. We just felt it.

Now, had it not turned out as we hoped, we would have changed course. But it felt right from day one. It also made us realize how little social life we had in NC. Mostly, we saw daily those we worked with but we didn't have a lot of other friends. We were reserved in what we did due to our work positions. You don't realize how it limits you plus we still had restrictions making it essential we maintain our privacy on top of jobs where doing anything questionable in public would have been serious. He was a CEO and I was a teacher. I had a teacher friend get fired over kissing a girl in a restaurant. Hubby got her reinstated. In FLL, we're nobody and free to just enjoy our retirement. Our extended family has widened and brings us so much joy.

We didn't move because we suddenly disliked where we lived, but we just knew there was somewhere else we could like more. There are no guarantees change will work out like you hope, but if one is too scared to try, they'll always wonder "what if." I think also because you do look forward to it, you'll find it to be great. Now in the four years your lust may change from the Monk to something else and find you like it even better. You don't sound at all indecisive, never did, just sound like someone wisely thinking it all through. Huge change.

We never felt terribly restricted by the seasons when we were working and only had vacations in the summer. Some people are very happy with winter activities. Not us though, we like warm weather recreation. Just having year round fun as opposed to half the year is worth the change. Oneida is beautiful but just being able to boat year round will double or triple your pleasure. Being able to move where you want to at any time is such freedom. I think you'll be very happy in four years or whatever it turns out to be.

BandB said:

...We fell in love with FLL ... Now, Fort Lauderdale is home like NC never really felt. We just felt it.

...But it felt right from day one. It also made us realize how little social life we had in NC. ... In FLL, we're nobody and free to just enjoy our retirement. Our extended family has widened and brings us so much joy.

We didn't move because we suddenly disliked where we lived, but we just knew there was somewhere else we could like more.

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This is how I felt about San Francisco. I fell hard for that city. I bonded with it immediately. Most cities I'm happy to be out of, but that one felt like home more than anywhere else I've ever been. If it wasn't so stupidly, outrageously, criminally expensive to live there, I never would have left.

BandB said:

There are no guarantees change will work out like you hope, but if one is too scared to try, they'll always wonder "what if." I think also because you do look forward to it, you'll find it to be great. Now in the four years your lust may change from the Monk to something else and find you like it even better.

We never felt terribly restricted by the seasons when we were working and only had vacations in the summer. Some people are very happy with winter activities. Not us though, we like warm weather recreation. Just having year round fun as opposed to half the year is worth the change. Oneida is beautiful but just being able to boat year round will double or triple your pleasure. Being able to move where you want to at any time is such freedom. I think you'll be very happy in four years or whatever it turns out to be.

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Central New York really is lovely for half of the year. I'm looking forward to coming back to visit in the summer and fall. But for the other half of the year, there are other places I could rather be.
And there's an excellent chance that the Monk won't be the one I end up with, knowing my history of boat lust. Who knows what the market will look like in three more years.
Either way, I hope you're right!

Wayfarer said:

And there's an excellent chance that the Monk won't be the one I end up with, knowing my history of boat lust. Who knows what the market will look like in three more years.
Either way, I hope you're right!

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Three years?? I wouldn't be able to wait that long! That's why I took the leap this fall and am so happy I did.

What's your reason again for waiting that long?

South of Heaven said:

Three years?? I wouldn't be able to wait that long! That's why I took the leap this fall and am so happy I did.



What's your reason again for waiting that long?

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I’m just taking time to save up a chunk of change. If I made the move now, I’d end up having to finance more than I’m comfortable with. I’ll still wind up financing about a third of the cost of the boat, but I’m fine with that.

Wayfarer said:

I’m just taking time to save up a chunk of change. If I made the move now, I’d end up having to finance more than I’m comfortable with. I’ll still wind up financing about a third of the cost of the boat, but I’m fine with that.

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Oh, okay. Good plan dude.

My kid brother, (ten years younger than me) worked until he was 65 and bought a house in Florida after spendin' all of his life in New York (Long Island.) He died before he spent one night in that house.

ancora said:

My kid brother, (ten years younger than me) worked until he was 65 and bought a house in Florida after spendin' all of his life in New York (Long Island.) He died before he spent one night in that house.

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Good grief, that's rough. I'm sorry he didn't get to enjoy it.