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Old 07-13-2021, 01:29 PM   #1
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Mid50s life change...

Hey all!!

Been wanting to go RVing/Live Aboard a trawler for many years now. Well... That Time is Now... Retired Military Bachelor with no children. Parentless now and selling my home on a Market HIGH! 27' RV ready to go but no Boat...

Looking for advice going into it. What to be aware of and all the little things that Really matter but arnt mentioned. Like Seasickness... How do I get time on a boat to find out? Buy that 100k Grand Banks and cant stand to be on open water for an hour?? LoL

Im going to scout around the forum and see what I can find.

Thanks!
Mike
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Old 07-13-2021, 01:45 PM   #2
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Welcome aboard. Try chartering a trawler for a week or two. I believe Southwest Florida Charters, or something like that, do charters and training if you need it.
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Old 07-13-2021, 08:03 PM   #3
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"Try chartering a trawler for a week or two." This..! Welcome to TF. More advice than you can shake a stick at on here...
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Old 07-13-2021, 08:17 PM   #4
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The housing market is high and hot right now..but, so is the boat market. It's probably a wash/ The good point is that interest rate is low.

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Old 07-13-2021, 08:26 PM   #5
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Don’t laugh. People move on boats all the time only to move off in less than a year. Try a charter first.
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Old 07-13-2021, 09:14 PM   #6
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At about a grand a day. Wouldn't it be cheaper to just buy a beat up boat and Upgrade after I'm done 'beating and learning' on it? You wouldnt lose $10k if you buy carefully.

Boats and Everything are up right now. But that is going to Pop pretty soon! THEN ill be investing. ��
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Old 07-13-2021, 09:50 PM   #7
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To find out if you're susceptible to sea sickness try offshore sport fishing. Book a room at a place like Westport Washington. Go out on some fishing trips. You'll be out half a day or more. Come back with fresh fish and knowing about your reaction to rocking and rolling.

In your last post you used the word investment. In financial terms personal boats are an expense.
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Old 07-13-2021, 10:13 PM   #8
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The person who says, "I dont get seasick", should say, "I haven't gotten seasick yet." It's gonna happen. It wont kill you and you will eventually get used to the motion. Once you get used to the motion of the boat, you will have difficulty walking on shore. WINK
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Old 07-13-2021, 10:48 PM   #9
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Originally Posted by Psychowolff View Post
At about a grand a day. Wouldn't it be cheaper to just buy a beat up boat and Upgrade after I'm done 'beating and learning' on it? You wouldnt lose $10k if you buy carefully.

Boats and Everything are up right now. But that is going to Pop pretty soon! THEN ill be investing. ��
Poor logic. A $10,000 boat will most likely get stuck to the dock and cost you much more than a grand a day.

Boating is rarely cheap.
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Old 07-14-2021, 09:09 AM   #10
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Boating is rarely never cheap.

Fixed it.
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Old 07-14-2021, 09:18 AM   #11
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You can make a profit on used boats, but it’s tough and takes a lot of knowledge. I’ve done it a couple of times. However that never accounts for the huge number of man hours you’ll put in. Still, it’s quite satisfying to own and use a boat for whatever length of time and when you sell you’re NOT losing tons of money
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Old 07-14-2021, 09:32 AM   #12
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Old dan... Thats another issue. Getting used to the rolling/constant motion... with bad knees.

Portage... I like the idea of the Fidhing trip �� I can easily justify That! LOL... I'm just using the financial term in general. IMO- Expense is more a Non-returned money transfer, like Food or Utilities while in an Investment the purchased item isnt expended. (Well, not completely!) I know they can be money pits and cost a lot to upkeep sometimes. But so can Homes. Boats have Storage and Dock fees. Houses have utilities and taxes... ��

Tiltrider... you missunderstood me. If I find a deal on a beater and have 'invested' 50k over a year and sell it for 40k. IMO That 10k expenditure is a much better value than a week on a Charter. And as OD said 'Everyone gets Seasick...' So I take Portages advice and take a Fishing trip to see 'How touchy' I am to getting it.

Onto Boats... I like the Grand Banks look. But then I come across a mid 80's Bluewater Yacht trawler. I liked the low ride, the rear open deck and stuff. My only issue is the dual DetroitDiesel 8L motors- Im not looking for 500HP and I read up that if abused, they can be damaged easily/over heat/headgasket issues... HOW do you guys decide??? SO many styles and models out there!

Well... I appreciate the pointers guys, but back to getting the house cleared out and on the market.
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Old 07-14-2021, 05:34 PM   #13
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The person who says, "I dont get seasick", should say, "I haven't gotten seasick yet." It's gonna happen. It wont kill you and you will eventually get used to the motion.
Not sure I agree. Have been offshore and in 30ft seas and haven't gotten seasick yet.

Only time I ever threw up on a "machine" was sitting on a moped in Saigon. After an hour of 2-stroke scooter exhaust in my lungs I couldn't handle it anymore.
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Old 07-14-2021, 06:05 PM   #14
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At about a grand a day. Wouldn't it be cheaper to just buy a beat up boat and Upgrade after I'm done 'beating and learning' on it? You wouldnt lose $10k if you buy carefully.
Sorry, but that approach, even with the intention to buy carefully, will cost you a lot of money and even then probably won't give you a safe and serviceable boat. The cost of chartering will look like much the better plan in hindsight. In boats you can put lipstick on a pig but it still goes oink.
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Old 07-14-2021, 07:27 PM   #15
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+1 on chartering. My wife and I have been chartering to get a better feel for the type of boat we'd like to own in the future which is quickly approaching in our case. We have split up our charters 50/50 where we are alone part of the time then we may have friends or family on board for a couple nights. It's given us a great baseline for what works for us. I consider the cost a fair trade for knowledge gained. There are a lot of costs to keeping boat in top shape on top of the fixed costs like moorage and insurance. Don't understatement the cost of boat ownership if you like to keep your stuff we'll maintained. A run down boat could be cheap to keep if you're okay with stuff not working.
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Old 07-14-2021, 09:00 PM   #16
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I would try to crew on a boat as a volunteer first. You'd probably learn more that chartering and no cost to you. Absorb all you can
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Old 07-14-2021, 10:51 PM   #17
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Tiltrider... you missunderstood me. If I find a deal on a beater and have 'invested' 50k over a year and sell it for 40k. IMO That 10k expenditure is a much better value than a week on a Charter. And as OD said 'Everyone gets Seasick...' So I take Portages advice and take a Fishing trip to see 'How touchy' I am to getting it.
.
I’m saying you will buy the boat for $50,000. It will break, you will spend another $25,000 and if you don’t like it you will sell it for $45,000 but after you pay commission you will get $40,00 and the whole experience will have cost you $35,000. You are not figuring in moorage, taxes, insurance and other miscellaneous. After you figure in everything you will see that a charter is actually a very fair price.
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Old 07-15-2021, 10:37 AM   #18
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Welcome to the forum!! You will get all kinds of advice here, most of it very good, even if it is not what you want to hear.
First off, Thank You for your Service!
Now my 2 cents worth..... From what I can gather from your posts, you don't even yet have an idea of what you want, and certainly not what you need. Slow down a bit, especially since you seem to thing you won't be buying for a bit due to market conditions improving. That may happen, and I think it will (buyer's perspective).
First step is look around at the many makes, model, and sizes of boats. Walk the docks, talk to boaters, ask questions about likes and dislikes, how they use their boat, etc. Try to talk to liveaboards for the pros and cons. Get an idea of what you like. At the same time think about what you want in a boat, especially with how you are going to use it in your mind. Make lists like: Must have features, Nice to have features, and Do not want features. For me (and boating can be very personal), a few things on my do not want list were: screwed down teak decks (leaks and can be maintenance heavy), exterior wood work (nice to look at but lots of work), and twin engines (cramped engine rooms, access for maintenance can be difficult, and more expensive to maintain and repair).
It sounds like you have not been on boats much. So get some training. There are boating schools, the US Power and Sail Squadron, etc. where you can do that.
Next, after you have a better idea of what kind of boat MIGHT suit you and your ideas of how you want to use it, charter a boat of that type. Tiltrider1 has given good advice about not buying first, but chartering. You might try the fishing trip idea ahead of the training part to get a feel for boat motion, etc. and to ensure that boating could be for you.
After all that, armed with your new knowledge about boating and especially how you plan to boat, you are as ready as you can be (in a relatively short time frame) to start looking at boats to buy.

This will ensure that you have the best chance to "be happy" with your choices. Doing much less, especially rushing in, will probably prove to be very expensive, and leave you at least somewhat unhappy.
As an analogy, take buying a car. All types out there. Do you need (want) a McLaren or a Honda Civic. Well depends on many things, but certainly on how you are going to use it! If you are mainly a commuter to work for a short distance with a couple of car pool friends, then the Civic wins hands down!
Owning a boat, especially an older boat that has had a questionable service history (most boats have little in the way of a service history in my experience), can end up being very expensive in either time, money, or both. Don't spend more than you need to.
Good luck.
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Old 07-15-2021, 10:56 AM   #19
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Originally Posted by Psychowolff View Post

Onto Boats... I like the Grand Banks look. But then I come across a mid 80's Bluewater Yacht trawler. I liked the low ride, the rear open deck and stuff. My only issue is the dual DetroitDiesel 8L motors- Im not looking for 500HP and I read up that if abused, they can be damaged easily/over heat/headgasket issues... HOW do you guys decide??? SO many styles and models out there!
Go to some marinas walk the docks and be the friendly inquisitive type.

People like to talk about their boats and often have varying, but strong opinions.

Like this one.

In my opinion Bluewater Yachts are neither bluewater or yacht. There is a big stretch between a Grand Banks and a Bluewater Yacht. I may be dead wrong, but they look like pointy ended houseboats; which removes one of the better attributes of houseboats, the big front deck/porch on the scow shaped hull.

That said, I really have nothing against houseboats. They are perfect for the rivers and big lakes of the US, and would really make a great liveaboard, in the right location.
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Old 07-15-2021, 11:44 AM   #20
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OK, let's address this seasick think quickly. You could pick a bad day doing a fishing charter and be sick not realizing that virtually all us trawler/ex-trawler owners avoid poor conditions like the plague. Many of us cruise only inland waters most if not all the time, rarely venturing offshore. There are plenty of ways, as mentioned to get a variety of waterborne experiences to test your susceptibility to mal-de-mer. I have a brother-in-law who cannot step aboard a boat in the calmest of conditions without getting wuzzy; you could test yourself for this extreme condition by walking the marina piers and maybe getting an invite to look around a vessel. I once commanded a 205-foot long Navy salvage tug out of Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and if we spent a week or so in port and then had to go out for something like a target towing job for a day or so, half of my 69-man crew would take a seasick pill from the doc before we got underway because the waters out there are ROUGH. However, once we deployed to the western Pacific and stayed pretty busy, everybody was fine except one guy who got so sick in a several day storm the corpsman had to sedate him - we discharged him permanently ashore once we got to port.
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