My 2nd life

[Scottb4u]

Hello,
I'm new to the boating world, so new in fact that I have yet to buy my boat. In June I plane to move to Florida and buy my boat. My house is for sale. I'm waiting till June because my daughter, 12, is in school. We plan to spend the summer learning the boat. She will be a live-a-board, our new home.
I would really appreciate any advice anyone can give me as to what to look out for, prepare for and do on.
I have been reading a lot and that's why I've decided the trawler is the right boat for us. We plan on cruising as much as we can. The Great Loop is on the list!
Thanks for reading this and hope to learne all I can. Oh, yes, I'm a handyman. I remodel houses and I'm and art professor, makes lots of sense right. Haha.
Thanks again.
Scott

 

[gaston]

Hello,
I'm new to the boating world, so new in fact that I have yet to buy my boat. In June I plane to move to Florida and buy my boat. My house is for sale. I'm waiting till June because my daughter, 12, is in school. We plan to spend the summer learning the boat. She will be a live-a-board, our new home.
I would really appreciate any advice anyone can give me as to what to look out for, prepare for and do on.
I have been reading a lot and that's why I've decided the trawler is the right boat for us. We plan on cruising as much as we can. The Great Loop is on the list!
Thanks for reading this and hope to learne all I can. Oh, yes, I'm a handyman. I remodel houses and I'm and art professor, makes lots of sense right. Haha.
Thanks again.
Scott

I dont know about America but the one thing here is one would look out for is selling bricks and mortar and expecting to return to land and buy a house.

Good luck you have bigger balls than I do

 

[Seevee]

Scott,

Wow, that's a hugh move....
New home
Moving to new state
Changing employment
Moving your kid, too... new school
What else?

There's tons to think about....
What boats have you owned and what's your boating experience?
You can make a good living in FL as a handyman so you have that covered.
Are you looking for a job at a university, that will limit things?
I'll let the liveaboards make more comments/questions.

 

[hfoster]

Welcome Mate.


The best advice I can give you is this. Research and ask questions. It will take time to learn the things you need to know. No matter how much you thing you have learned, keep researching and asking question.


I have been cruising vessel all my life and I still do not know it all. So I research and ask questions.

Best of luck to you Mate.

Cheers.

H.

 

[Drake]

Welcome aboard. Where in Florida are you planning to settle? What boating experience do you have?

 

[Scottb4u]

Gulf Breeze

Thanks. I am researching and asking questions now! Haha. I will be moving to the Gulf Breeze, Destin area.
I'm a college professor and I have moved all my classes to online so I will still have my income. Plus I hope to pick up a few classes in the area once I'm there.
I hear that the schools are great there for my daughter. My son already lives in the area and my parents are relocating there as well so I'll have a place to a long hot shower from time to time.
As far as my boating experience goes... I've owned a jet ski about 15 years ago and I've jumped on every chance to be on the water that I could. But nothing like this. So I would say my experience is NONE! I've been watching YouTube and trying to learn as well as reading laws and regs.
This is what I'm calling a life change and adventure.

 

[Scottb4u]

Thank you!

 

[Seevee]

Another thought... hang around the marinas and ask questions.

Perhaps you could get into the Trawler Fest at Joe Wheeler State Park in Oct. It's sold out but maybe they have an opening. Or perhaps show up before or after. There will be plenty of trawlers there.

Also join AGLCA (https://aglca.clubexpress.com). Tons of good info, especially on doing the loop. You can even follow where the boats are going, and perhaps meet up with a group somewhere.

Getting exposure and seeing a bunch of boats would be good to figure out what would work for you.

You might even offer to crew on someones boat for a few days... offer to help, contribute and pay some of their expenses. Could be a great experience.

With family on shore is great.

And how does your daughter feel about this? This is a critical time in her life, with friends and social groups. It's tough to move a 12 year, but even tougher when she's in high school. If you plan to self tutor, you might still want to get her into some social groups of kids her age. BTDT.

 

[Drake]

Read "Seven Miles An Hour". It's a free download book on Amazon. Great read and it will give you a lot to think about.

Try to spend as much time as you can on boats in your price range to get a feel for how much space you realistically need for your family to live in. Hours of dock walking and talking to owners is a great source of info. Be realistic about whether your family will be happy living in a very small space.

Look at boats in your price range on Yachtworld. Without much experience handling boats, I think you should lean toward something with twin engines and a bow thruster if possible.

Trying to get to Joe Wheeler for the Rendevous is great advice.

Most of all, enjoy. It's a great adventure!!

 

[BandB]

Hello,
I'm new to the boating world, so new in fact that I have yet to buy my boat. In June I plane to move to Florida and buy my boat. My house is for sale. I'm waiting till June because my daughter, 12, is in school. We plan to spend the summer learning the boat. She will be a live-a-board, our new home.
I would really appreciate any advice anyone can give me as to what to look out for, prepare for and do on.
I have been reading a lot and that's why I've decided the trawler is the right boat for us. We plan on cruising as much as we can. The Great Loop is on the list!
Thanks for reading this and hope to learne all I can. Oh, yes, I'm a handyman. I remodel houses and I'm and art professor, makes lots of sense right. Haha.
Thanks again.
Scott

You remind me of someone we had here a few years back. She was a house flipper. Bought a boat, moved aboard with large family. Lasted about a year. Now there were many other factors involved including bad location to live aboard. However, your plan concerns me because you don't have enough knowledge or experience to have fallen in love with living aboard or owning a trawler or any other aspect of it. You've fallen for the romance.

Is this a lasting treasure
Or just a moment's pleasure

Will you still love it tomorrow?

I'm also concerned about whether this is your daughter's dream as well. Are you a single father? Recently divorced?

Destin schools highly rated? Per who?

You call this a life change and adventure. Is it that or a mid life crisis?

This could be the most wonderful decision you've ever made or the worst mistake of your life and I don't see you having the knowledge or experience to insure it's the former, not the latter.

Have you figured out how you're going to handle teaching? Do you do live classes online? What kind of connectivity do you need? Do you plan on using WIFI or Cell?

No one loves boating more than we do. Do you have a Plan B?

You're definitely not ready to select a boat. I'd suggest perhaps you charter a couple of times this summer. You say you're a good handyman and that is very helpful. How are you with engines?

What kind of purchase budget do you have? What kind of annual boating budget?

 

[Comodave]

Not to rain on your parade, but consider insurance for your new boat. With your level of experience on a boat big enough to live aboard, it may be very difficult to find an insurance company that will insure you. Most marinas will require you to have insurance. They may insure it with the endorsement of port risk only, meaning you can't take the boat out. I would get into any and all boating classes that you can find right now. As others have suggested try to crew for others. Anything to build your resume. Good luck with your dream, just do some research now to make it happen.

 

[Seevee]

Not to rain on your parade, but consider insurance for your new boat. With your level of experience on a boat big enough to live aboard, it may be very difficult to find an insurance company that will insure you. Most marinas will require you to have insurance. They may insure it with the endorsement of port risk only, meaning you can't take the boat out. I would get into any and all boating classes that you can find right now. As others have suggested try to crew for others. Anything to build your resume. Good luck with your dream, just do some research now to make it happen.

I'd bet insurance would be a slam dunk. I've had friends get insurance with zero experience jumping into 35 ft boats. Perhaps they would ask for some training which would be reasonable.

 

[Lepke]

Forget all your house remodel methods and products. They don't work or last in a marine environment. Of all the one part waterproof glues recommended, all fail when they get wet. Home store caulk fails, as do their "stainless" fasteners. Cheap products give cheap results.
I'm a former shipwright. As a boat owner and yard owner, I've never been able to get a house carpenter to do a proper job w/o a complete retraining. Everything I had them do had to be torn out and redone by myself or a proper marine carpenter. Even after explaining step by step. On a house, everything is square. On a properly built boat, almost nothing is square.
My advice - learn before you do.

 

[Seevee]

Forget all your house remodel methods and products. They don't work or last in a marine environment. Of all the one part waterproof glues recommended, all fail when they get wet. Home store caulk fails, as do their "stainless" fasteners. Cheap products give cheap results.
I'm a former shipwright. As a boat owner and yard owner, I've never been able to get a house carpenter to do a proper job w/o a complete retraining. Everything I had them do had to be torn out and redone by myself or a proper marine carpenter. Even after explaining step by step. On a house, everything is square. On a properly built boat, almost nothing is square.
My advice - learn before you do.

Lepke,

Agreed, but basic mechanical skills working with tools, materials and building things helps. Retraining is doable.

BTW, I've never seen a square house, they're always crooked.... but I know what you mean.

 

[Lou_tribal]

Forget all your house remodel methods and products. They don't work or last in a marine environment. Of all the one part waterproof glues recommended, all fail when they get wet. Home store caulk fails, as do their "stainless" fasteners. Cheap products give cheap results.
I'm a former shipwright. As a boat owner and yard owner, I've never been able to get a house carpenter to do a proper job w/o a complete retraining. Everything I had them do had to be torn out and redone by myself or a proper marine carpenter. Even after explaining step by step. On a house, everything is square. On a properly built boat, almost nothing is square.
My advice - learn before you do.

Well this is a difference between a carpenter and a cabinet maker. One has a tolerance of 1/8 of an inch and join beams while the other has a tolerance of 1/32 of an inch and masters joinery.

L

 

[f508]

His insurance will be fine if his driving record is good. I just bought and insured a 48 DeFever, and all I owned before this was a kayak. BoatUS is about 1400 a year this first year, boat value is 85K and the liability limit is 500K. They wanted me to get instruction from a captain until I felt comfortable, but no set curriculum.

I'm not living aboard, and my parents always had boats when I was growing up, but the learning curve this year has been incredibly steep.

The path to success for me started with a GREAT Broker. He helped me figure out what type of boat I needed, and he was able to introduce me to great surveyors, and has continued to help me find the technical specialists I've needed. He was acting as a Buyer's Broker BTW.

This forum has been an incredible help too.

I think the live aboard lifestyle is a bold and exciting choice, but it wouldn't be for me. I think it looks more fun on YouTube than it will be in real life. But as they say.... "Whatever floats your boat."

 

[Seevee]

His insurance will be fine if his driving record is good. I just bought and insured a 48 DeFever, and all I owned before this was a kayak. BoatUS is about 1400 a year this first year, boat value is 85K and the liability limit is 500K. They wanted me to get instruction from a captain until I felt comfortable, but no set curriculum.

I'm not living aboard, and my parents always had boats when I was growing up, but the learning curve this year has been incredibly steep.

The path to success for me started with a GREAT Broker. He helped me figure out what type of boat I needed, and he was able to introduce me to great surveyors, and has continued to help me find the technical specialists I've needed. He was acting as a Buyer's Broker BTW.

This forum has been an incredible help too.

I think the live aboard lifestyle is a bold and exciting choice, but it wouldn't be for me. I think it looks more fun on YouTube than it will be in real life. But as they say.... "Whatever floats your boat."

Good post and good info.

Yea, whatever floats your boat works, but gotta figure out what boat. I'm not a live aboard either, there's no way I'd give up a dirt house, and even doing the loop I'll take trips back to the dirt house for a "breather"....

 

[Scottb4u]

Thank you

This is a lot of good advise. Thank you all. As for the midlife crisis part, I had a good laugh. Maybe so! Haha.
I'm a single parent, yes, but I've been divorced and raising my daughter for 9 years. I'm 47. I think my midlife crisis came when I dated a 20 year old. Now that was crazy!
My daughter is really looking forward to this idea. I have family there in Florida so dry land and hot showers, as well as a place to dock, are there.
My fear comes from doing things wrong, being at the wrong place or getting in the way. But I'm a fast learner. And as far as my "handyman" stuff, I've done a little boat work. Small engine repair, wood work, fiberglass... I get it. And I know the difference between HomeDepot house stuff and salt water boat stuff. But let's face it, the ocean will eat anything if you don't maintain it.
I'm going to see about heading to Galveston and seeing what classes I can take.
If anyone is in the area and needs a free hand to help with anything boat related, I'm more than willing to help and learn.
Thanks again everyone!
Scott

 

[Sparks5501]

Welcome Scottb4u,

I am a newbie too. I bought my first power boat early this year. I went up on Boaterexam.com and took the safety course. Then I started crawling all over boats and talking to other boaters. To took us about 6 months of looking and research before we made our choice. My boat is a pocket cruiser. We bought it cheap and fixed it up ourselves. What we couldn't find at Lowe's or Home Depot we ordered from marine shops or salvage yards. I know almost every knuk and cranny, nut and ss screw on the boat because we have done most ourselves. No problem with insurance either, full coverage with riverside towing.
It is a little scary stepping off the hard, but others will envy you if you are successful. Good luck

It has been a lot of work. Now it's time out get out on the water and go. My goal is toa spend as many hours on the water as we have working on it.

 

[Scottb4u]

Very cool! Thanks for the encouragement.
How big is your boat? Are you living on it?

 

[Scottb4u]

I really appreciate the hard truth. I have thought of these things. I'm hoping people like you will be there when I fall to help me.

 

[Drake]

Which Huntsville are you from, Texas or Alabama?

 

[FOG]

I have always felt that if you have a dream, you should go for it.
If it doesn't work out, you'll have another dream.
To me that is truly living.
Good luck.

 

[JLD]

One piece of advice, if you haven't already thought of it, is that I think that all live-aboards (full-timers in the RV world) need to have an exit plan.

What happens when you either no longer want to live on the boat (or RV) or may not be able to live on the boat (or RV). You need to have a plan (including financial) in place for when this might occur.

One more thought is that you need a big enough boat, for your daughter to have her own space.

In the meantime, enjoy the live-aboard life!

I think that it could be a great bonding experience and offer your daughter a chance for some experiences that she otherwise might not be exposed to.

Jim

 

[Scottb4u]

Which Huntsville are you from, Texas or Alabama?

I'm currently in Huntsville, TX.

 

[Drake]

Very cool! Thanks for the encouragement.
How big is your boat? Are you living on it?

Take a weekend and drive down to the Clear Lake area south of Houston. There are thousands of boats around the lake. Walk docks, talk to people and look at boats. Go to Jay Bettis Yacht Sales and talk to Darrell Cottle. He's a great guy and very knowledgeable. You'll learn a lot about what size boat is likely to fit your needs.

 

[Delta Dog]

Welcome! Don't let all of the negative people get you down, they are just trying to make sure you really want to do this. Maintaining a boat is a lot of hard work, but it's worth it if you really love being on the water.

My wife and I are slowly working into full time live aboards, we plan to be fully divested of brick and mortar sometime next year. We've been sailors for many years, but look forward to living on our trawler, the room compared to our sail boat is amazing! Best of luck to you!

 

[Seevee]

I'm currently in Huntsville, TX.

Texas, ah! You may want to disregard my note about Trawlerfest, it's over by Huntsville, AL, a bit of a hike. Take up Drake's advise.... but you'll want to spend some time at marinas that cater to trawlers and live a boards.

 

[cardude01]

If it was me, I would get a modest house/apartment in Florida, then get a fast, trailerable boat you can explore with, go to the Bahamas if you want, etc. Then put it on a trailer when you are done cruising. Less maintenance, less worry.

A big issue for me, if I was a live aboard, would be the threat of hurricanes. It was stressful enough trying to get my boat out of harms way the past few weeks, but if the boat was also my house that would have been double stressful.

 

[Seevee]

If it was me, I would get a modest house/apartment in Florida, then get a fast, trailerable boat you can explore with, go to the Bahamas if you want, etc. Then put it on a trailer when you are done cruising. Less maintenance, less worry.

A big issue for me, if I was a live aboard, would be the threat of hurricanes. It was stressful enough trying to get my boat out of harms way the past few weeks, but if the boat was also my house that would have been double stressful.

Cardude,

Yes, the hurricane was stressful and glad it's behind and most of us are cleaning up.

However, I'd bet if most of us had to trailer, we would not be in boating, myself included. Trailering is a HUGE pita. It's really nice to just untie the boat and go... and easy to go out for as little as 30 min... or go out for a month.

I could argue, if one wants to "taste" living aboard, is to get a boat big enough to have some creature comforts, and that would preclude trailering.