Do I have Issues?

[AlanT]

Magna - I have considered between 42' and 55'. Largest boat Ive owned an operated was a 27' Albin Family Cruiser. Today I run a 24' fish boat. My retirement dream boat from about 10 years back was a 44 Nordic Tug with flybridge...Then I saw/considered Full Displacement hulls including Defever, Kady Krogan, Nordhavn, Selene, then shifted to Semi Displacement hulls where I have settled. Looked at Krogan Express, Marlow's, Grand Banks and somewhere in there my favorite .... the Fleming 55. Well engineered and beautiful classic lines.
The jump up scares the living hell out of me!

I think you will be fine with the jump up. I went from 28' to a light (Bayliner 4788) 50' then from 50' to 72' which as you put it, that last jump scared the heck out of me too! I have had the 72' for only 6 months so it is very early days but my observations;
- So much more comfortable, feels solid, like a home.
- Ease of maneuvering. The 50' had twins and I felt was easy to maneuver, without thrusters in most situations. However it was highly subject to wind drift. The 72' is heavy, it does not turn as quickly, as I expected. It is far less subject to wind. It has bow and stern thrusters and I feel that I need them.
- I can walk into my engine room
- I can walk around my bed
- I can climb into many of the other spaces that contain equipment, that on the 50' required reaching in, leaning in for access.
- I am spending a lot of money catching up on deferred maintenance. So far within budget. I haven't been surprised by the incremental cost of repairs to the much larger boat, I budgeted +50% on what I would have spent on the 50' and it is coming within that envelope.

All in all I say the bigger the better, if you can afford the increased costs and can find moorage.

Good luck!
~Alan

 

[83GB]

I would triple check the insurance... have a friend who owned a 32 foot trawler for about 7 months... before that, he had (and still has) a 20 center console outboard.. The trawler was a total lose in hurricane Sally. Now he has a contract on a 48 foot Navigator. He called Geico/BoatUS and they said they would not insure him because (as they stated to him), "you do not have experience in a boat that big".. Not sure if that is the real reason (or if behind the scenes, it was because he just declared a total loss)... I assume he will find insurance somewhere, but he may be paying more than he wants too.... As you do your research, call like you have for a quote and tell them you have no on the water experience with a boat like this... see what they say...

 

[Capt Ray]

I like what everyone else has offered for advice. All good advice on the technical merits and enthusiasm to make your dream come true! I think the most important piece is to keep the Admiral 100% involved with the planning and dreaming. Together, watch and post process the tons of videos on Youtube like this couple's series/channel

.

So long as Covid or other unforeseen problem does not impede us, we will be cutting the cord from our earth-located address next season, and either do the Loop or follow the seasons up and down the eastern seaboard on our trawler, purchased this year after the sale of our home. The best gift I have going for me is a wife who is into this as much as I am. I have a close friend who was less fortunate. He is now continuing his cruising dream but only after an amicable divorce. It was just not her thing.

 

[PaulB.]

Ditto the recommendation to charter a couple of boats with your partner before you buy. Before we purchased our Mainship 400 we chartered from Southwest Florida Yacht Charters. They have several boats in your size range. They have training Captains available who may be able to qualify you for Chartering on your own and sign you off for big boat insurance. Dreams and reality can be vastly different and it would be nice to be sure you are both on the same track about what type and size of boat to buy. Hate to have to sell and lose 10% commission and sales tax% on a quick resale due to a poor decision. If you plan on cruising the boat, as opposed to having it at dockside for long stretches, my vote is for the smallest boat you will be comfortable living on. Paul. Blue Moon

 

[Recb]

I thought only magazines and periodicals had issues.

 

[CarlF]

83GB has a good point.

Insurance companies are asking a lot more questions about the captain's experience. They like to see several years captaining a boat that's of similar size to the new boat.

This is especially true when someone is moving up from a small boat to an expensive and complicated boat like a Flemming 55.

I have a friend who was buying a 50' cat and could not get insurance coverage unless he hired a captain for the first year.

 

[Selidster]

I've seen research that says more than 50% of the joy of vacation is the planning and anticipation. Maybe your getting a lot of joy from the planning and anticipation, but the joy of the cruising is wonderfully life changing.

 

[FIRE]

Together, watch and post process the tons of videos on Youtube like this couple's series/channel

.

Great advice - thanks for your input. I am an avid follower of MVFreedom and did watch that on my own and watched it again with my wife who is all in on our next chapter. Admidtedly I am overly enthusiastic on this topic, (hence my original post) then she so I need to measure the doses of boat talk I subject her to and pepper in conversations about little things like our children and other interests she has. Yes, that was sarcasm.

 

[FIRE]

I've seen research that says more than 50% of the joy of vacation is the planning and anticipation. Maybe your getting a lot of joy from the planning and anticipation, but the joy of the cruising is wonderfully life changing.

HA! You are probably right.

 

[FIRE]

I have a friend who was buying a 50' cat and could not get insurance coverage unless he hired a captain for the first year.[/QUOTE]


Holy smokes - Hire a captain for the first year? I had always figured if an insurance company was anxious about the risk you would need only get a captains sign off on your ability? Either way I have submitted my experience to several different insurance companies and all have given me a quote without requiring a captain of any sort.
I am thinking I will put together a better boat resume specifically for insurance adjusters that will include my boats owned, training, and general preparedness prior to purchase. Maybe no substitute for big boat ownership but I figure its all about assigning risk. I want them to know I am not a fool with enough money to buy a big boat and arrogance to think I can captain it just because I have money.

 

[FIRE]

Ditto the recommendation to charter a couple of boats with your partner before you buy. Before we purchased our Mainship 400 we chartered from Southwest Florida Yacht Charters. They have several boats in your size range. They have training Captains available who may be able to qualify you for Chartering on your own and sign you off for big boat insurance. Dreams and reality can be vastly different and it would be nice to be sure you are both on the same track about what type and size of boat to buy. Hate to have to sell and lose 10% commission and sales tax% on a quick resale due to a poor decision. If you plan on cruising the boat, as opposed to having it at dockside for long stretches, my vote is for the smallest boat you will be comfortable living on. Paul. Blue Moon

GREAT ADVICE - I am researching Southwest Charters today.

 

[smitty477]

.... and I have traveled for work my entire career, at my own expense and to mostly non glamours places. Even when I visit a cool place for work I am in and out so fast that I get very little feel for it. One night spend in a mid level hotel off of the interstate in one place is pretty much the same as one night spent in any other place.
The one thing that sounds different is that we took a step up into bigger boats about 15 years ago. We bought a 1973 36' Gulfstar in 2005, then moved up into our current 2005 Mainship 400 in 2013. For us, that was a good thing that took some of the steepness out of the learning curve.

Maybe you should buy something now, something more manageable, use it for 5 or 6 years and then sell it? Just a thought.

Amen on the travel routine - Although I have been using other peoples money for all expenses! I always longed for the unique in a sea of sameness across the United States. We can be so boring with one city identical to the last. Chain stores and restarants repeat repeat repeat... There are few towns where if you were helicoptered in blindfolded you could tell where you were. That said I truly enjoy(ed) the experience, the people, and finding the unique places.
Okay on to boats....Wish I had moved up early like you but life circumstances dictated otherwise. We had access to a beach house which we now own so it never made sense to buy bigger as that would directly compete against an asset in hand.
Same story today. Don't necessarily want to buy up until we are ready to cruise without worry of pesky work getting in the way and use the beach house during the summer months and my Robalo to stay connected to the water.[/QUOTE]

"Don't necessarily want to buy up until we are ready to cruise without worry of pesky work getting in the way and use the beach house during the summer months and my Robalo to stay connected to the water"

The other possibility has merits as well - purchase now and get time to experience and debug the larger boat while you are near your home port and have the best access to all the supports you are accustomed to. I do not know where you are on LI but 'shorter' travel desitination for a larger boat are plentiful here from Block Island NYC and up to Kingston NY - perhaps work some from the boat and be able work out any shortcomings. Good luck with whatever you do.

 

[BandB]

I like what everyone else has offered for advice. All good advice on the technical merits and enthusiasm to make your dream come true! I think the most important piece is to keep the Admiral 100% involved with the planning and dreaming. Together, watch and post process the tons of videos on Youtube like this couple's series/channel

.

So long as Covid or other unforeseen problem does not impede us, we will be cutting the cord from our earth-located address next season, and either do the Loop or follow the seasons up and down the eastern seaboard on our trawler, purchased this year after the sale of our home. The best gift I have going for me is a wife who is into this as much as I am. I have a close friend who was less fortunate. He is now continuing his cruising dream but only after an amicable divorce. It was just not her thing.

Wifey B: Is your wife interested in captaining the boat as well? Perhaps she'll want to be renamed from Admiral to Captain. You're so wise to heavily involve her but encourage her to do everything. It's fun. It's got to be both partners equally involved and interested from beginning, all the way through. I know not everyone will have an interest but I also think a lot have been turned off by not being a full partner from the outset.

I know one lady who was turned off by the idea of a long cruise up the east coast. Her husband had approached it only as boating and all she thought about was water, anchorages and marinas. I spent a couple of hours with her, talking about places we'd been that she might enjoy. She went home and shocked her husband when she said she wanted to talk about the trip. Suddenly she didn't think of Charleston as the huge marinas, but she thought of touring and seeing all the incredible anti-bellum houses. She told him she'd like to go see a show in Atlantic City. She scared him with NYC but then her real desire wasn't anything like going shopping, it was to see the city from the water, to make that magnificent approach with the Statue of Liberty in view and the skyscrapers. He nearly broke up when she told him she wanted to see Plymouth Rock, not just the town, but the rock, the famous one. By the weekend they had decided to add a month to their trip. Oh the hubby called me and told me I cost him thousands of dollars and "thank you." He admitted he was so focused on boating her overlooked all the great places they were going. They had gone through together each area and listed things they'd like to see, then accepted couldn't see them all in one trip. He'd added a couple of train museums and the Naval Academy and they'd both added lighthouses. However, they'd also picked up things like exploring the Savannah River in their Rib and seeing all the incredible wildlife they could see. And she'd added an Instant Pot to their galley.

Seeing the country by water is so freaking amazing.

It's a vacation, not a boat delivery. There's so much to enjoy every day. I see boaters just like land RV'ers often going from place to place but failing to stop and smell the roses. For all of you who have cruised to NC and failed to see Bald Head Island, shame on you. I just toss that out because it's so wonderful. It's not the marina, it's the natural beauty you get to roam and see on an island with no cars. I can't imagine cruising the Chesapeake but never going to St. Michael's.

You can learn more about this country doing the loop than you might imagine, if you take the time and make the effort. Most of our loop we had several teens or barely beyond with us. One thing they said was that they always thought of history as boring, but learning it at each town they visited, it was fun. I've found even the smallest local museum told you so much about the area and the people. Finding the old time soda fountain in town still run by the family with the 80 year old grandmother there is, like the commercial, priceless. Just to sit with her and here about her childhood there. Then, that town, which from my view was about as quiet as could be, from her view had too much congestion now and she hated that they had a major supermarket now.

I love being on the water. I love what we see on the water. I love being at the helm. However, I also love what can be seen along the way and not far from the water.