Transitioning to full time cruisers...

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Muirgen Afloat

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Joined
Mar 13, 2021
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318
Vessel Name
Muirgen
Vessel Make
Beebe passagemaker 50
So feeling just a little overwhelmed here trying to downsize into the boat, sell a house, fix up an apartment by our workshop and general life crap.

Doesn't help that the boat is in Washington state and we are in Kentucky so no taking stuff to her and seeing if it will work and bringing it back here.. one shot deal on what we take and what we leave behind. :banghead:

Makes it a little crazier. Never had a move like this either.. where we are putting things in four piles.. ie Boat, Stay here at this place, take to thrift or throw away, and sell it. Usually in the several moves it's been take or leave.

Some days I feel like I need to breathe in a bag.

Anyway I'm sure it will all work out and we will be cruising soon enough, but any hints on how you all did the transition? Short of lighting a match and walking away?
 
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We went through the same thing about 20 years ago when we quit our jobs, sold our house and decided to go cruising. I made several trips to a facility that took donations and got more in tax deductions than I ever would get in selling them- welding machine, compressor, etc. Furniture was put in Pods. Other stuff we trashed and the boat stuff was loaded up in a U-Haul.

The boat stuff came from a 36' Jeanneau sailboat that we were selling, so it was fairly well defined. The new boat was a Saga 43 we bought and was delivered to Annapolis and our house was in Atlanta, so we too only had one shot.

It worked out ok and there was virtually nothing that I missed that we later needed on the boat.

Good luck with your life change.

David
 
The mistake most people make is putting to much in paid storage. Ten years later they realize they will never want the stored items again and all the money spent was wasted.

Mentally down sizing is the hardest job. Once you get there, you never look back.
 
As someone who has moved many many times over my life, including remote locations on islands etc:

Shipping is your friend. Don’t think that you have to get everything ready for the moving van or trailer. Find a POC in Seattle or Port Orchard who would be willing to accept and hold shipments and then send stuff in boxes, or even a uHaul pod or similar. Perhaps the marina manager would be willing to do this on either side of Puget Sound.

Even though most of my moves were paid for through the PCS process it was worth it to send some stuff ahead of us via UPS or whatever and have it waiting when we arrived.
 
The mistake most people make is putting to much in paid storage. Ten years later they realize they will never want the stored items again and all the money spent was wasted.


Agree with this. We were in the Middle East for 11 years and before we left we were able to reduce everything we owned into a single pod, including some sentimental furniture. I realize now that it was still more junk than we needed to keep.

In the next few years when I retire and we go overseas again I will likely store about 1/4 what I did last time. Definitely not furniture at all.
 
The mistake most people make is putting to much in paid storage. Ten years later they realize they will never want the stored items again and all the money spent was wasted.

Mentally down sizing is the hardest job. Once you get there, you never look back.

Yes.. I agree. At least we won't have paid storage as we still have a place. I'm looking forward to never looking back.
 
As someone who has moved many many times over my life, including remote locations on islands etc:

Shipping is your friend. Don’t think that you have to get everything ready for the moving van or trailer. Find a POC in Seattle or Port Orchard who would be willing to accept and hold shipments and then send stuff in boxes, or even a uHaul pod or similar. Perhaps the marina manager would be willing to do this on either side of Puget Sound.

Even though most of my moves were paid for through the PCS process it was worth it to send some stuff ahead of us via UPS or whatever and have it waiting when we arrived.

Definitely will keep this in mind. I've also told myself I can buy something there.. even if I had something back here that would have worked.
 
Agree with this. We were in the Middle East for 11 years and before we left we were able to reduce everything we owned into a single pod, including some sentimental furniture. I realize now that it was still more junk than we needed to keep.

In the next few years when I retire and we go overseas again I will likely store about 1/4 what I did last time. Definitely not furniture at all.


I am amazed at how much stuff I have that when it gets right down to it I really don't care if it's gone. Kind of liberating the more we get rid of..
 
Reminds me of the Richard Pryor routine about my stuff and your sh-t.

Still, there’s stuff you do want to keep for sentimental reasons and other stuff of value (collectibles, quality furniture etc.). Sooner or later you will return to land to live. Wife said “I’ll go anywhere with you but need a house to return to”. We sold our house. Bought a knockdown in a park. Between permitting inside a park and building we had no house for 2 years. Then saw that house on Xmas break but basically lived on the boat for just short of eight years. Had my sister (a collector) and father (another collector) pass on in that period so had 4 peoples stuff.
Did specialized auctions for the collections saving some of the museum quality stuff for ourselves. Secure environmental controlled storage is pricey. Choose wisely. Make sure anything you put in storage will be worth it’s purchase price plus storage costs when you take it out of storage. We donated a lot of stuff after doing that math and took the tax write offs. Garden and house tools went to the kids except for specialized metal and wood working tools I got from my dad.
All said and done got rid of 90% of the “stuff” and improved the cruising kitty. But still had that 10%. Now living in a house. Really glad we kept that 10%. Once we find another boat off we go again. This time we will use the kids (both have houses) and the house ( has ridiculous monitoring ) so it will be easier.
The reason I post this experience is to point out at some point you will return. Some of my cruising friends have swallowed the anchor. Many regret they got rid of everything. Just saying……
 
I had a bit of a head-start. A few years ago when Cat 5 Irma had a bullseye on my house in St Pete FL, we evacuated with only the stuff that fit in our two cars - a Rav4 and a Matrix. I really thought everything else was a goner - amazing how quickly our attachment to belongings comes into focus. Irma edged a bit in the right direction so we were safe, though in hindsight, I wish it had wiped us out - would have been easier than the down-sizing we just went through (well, sort of went through - I'd give us a B-).

Slow-forward to now, our house sold in under a week and we have no plans to replace the house. Cruising starts about this time next year, but here's some random thoughts on how we managed to get down to a measly 3 storage units. Full disclosure - we do have other properties, though all are tiny in comparison (a 650 sf cabin in Colorado, for example).

1. Ask your heirs what they want now. No need hanging on to stuff if no one wants it. I always admired my dad's Louis XVI writing desk.....until he asked if I wanted it (my tastes are mid-century).
2. Not possible to de-bond all at once. It takes a few iterations with about a year between. The only way to get away from paying too much for storage is to go through it periodically and toss stuff.
3. If you bring stuff with you, you will end up with too much stuff on the boat - "Boat Pile" should be damn near zero. Bring almost nothing. No dishes, no hand-towels, no throw-pillows, no extraneous clothes, no books, no Tupperware, maybe some basic tools. Buy as little as you need until you've been aboard for a while. Chances are even your shoes won't be suitable.
4. There's a good chance you'll be dirt-dwellers again. Be realistic about your future home. If you're coming out of a 5-bdrm/4500sf house, what are the chances you're going back to a large house and still need a dining table for 10? Even though it's a beloved table, might be better to part now.
5. Chances are, you and your partner will de-bond at different speeds. Be kind to one another - it's easy to get frustrated with one another. We don't have kids - why she would keep her grandmother's china was baffling to me. I had a helluva time de-bonding with tools. I got rid of the bigger stuff, but I ended up getting a small storage locker just for my tools.
6. Don't worry about equipping/furnishing the boat for guests. Buy stuff as needed. Only exception would be lifejackets.
7. If uncertain or given a choice, choose simple vs complex. A center-console dinghy with 40hp outboard is cool, but a decent 3.50 with tiller-steer 20hp will get you through 3-5 years.
8. Hardest part is deciding what you really want/need vs what you don't want to get rid of. Difference is subtle but significant.
9. Hosting a yard sale sucks. Rained like hell on our chosen day and we didn't sell much. I liked my neighbor's strategy. Day 1: Yard Sale. Day 2: Salvation Army. Day 3: had a dumpster delivered. BTW - we ended up hiring a local mover to bring everything to Salvation Army vs waiting for them to schedule/show.

I could go on, but that's a quick list off the top of my head.

Peter
 
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I live a very active life. I have several expensive bikes (road and mountain), his and hers scuba gear, ski gear, paragliding gear, boat parts that are not currently needed(doors, beds, spares), Xmas decorations, camping gear and some other stuff that I obviously don’t need because I can’t remember what it is. This takes up an 8x10 storage locker. The hard part is knowing when you are done with something. Like the China, silver and crystal for 12. Some day I will need that right, because odds are that when I’m to old to live on a boat I will have a house with a dinning room table that seats 12 like I had in 1988 instead of a view condo in a retirement community.
 
Setting realistic expectations is part of the How To Succeed.
The goal should not be to get every decision 100% correct. Plan ahead to get mostly correct and find tune as you learn and find out more.
Moving alone is a major life change add in a life style change and a distant location complicates things. Don't sweat the small stuff and find a way to take some breaks along the way to just enjoy the moment.
 
The reason I post this experience is to point out at some point you will return. Some of my cruising friends have swallowed the anchor. Many regret they got rid of everything. Just saying……

Yeah, I have thought of this. Keeping things that mean something or are useful and not easily replaced and getting rid of the rest.
 
I had a bit of a head-start. A few years ago when Cat 5 Irma had a bullseye on my house in St Pete FL, we evacuated with only the stuff that fit in our two cars - a Rav4 and a Matrix. I really thought everything else was a goner - amazing how quickly our attachment to belongings comes into focus. Irma edged a bit in the right direction so we were safe, though in hindsight, I wish it had wiped us out - would have been easier than the down-sizing we just went through (well, sort of went through - I'd give us a B-).

Slow-forward to now, our house sold in under a week and we have no plans to replace the house. Cruising starts about this time next year, but here's some random thoughts on how we managed to get down to a measly 3 storage units. Full disclosure - we do have other properties, though all are tiny in comparison (a 650 sf cabin in Colorado, for example).

1. Ask your heirs what they want now. No need hanging on to stuff if no one wants it. I always admired my dad's Louis XVI writing desk.....until he asked if I wanted it (my tastes are mid-century).
2. Not possible to de-bond all at once. It takes a few iterations with about a year between. The only way to get away from paying too much for storage is to go through it periodically and toss stuff.
3. If you bring stuff with you, you will end up with too much stuff on the boat - "Boat Pile" should be damn near zero. Bring almost nothing. No dishes, no hand-towels, no throw-pillows, no extraneous clothes, no books, no Tupperware, maybe some basic tools. Buy as little as you need until you've been aboard for a while. Chances are even your shoes won't be suitable.


Peter

Yep I've asked the kids already on stuff. Fortunately for them and unfortunately for us they are minimalist so not pawning off much stuff on them.
I'm treating the boat like the RV thing.. will take stuff and if it doesn't fit/work will get rid of it. Also if I bring one thing in.. two things have to go. I'm not going to buy stuff if I already have it, but have no problem dumping stuff on the other side. Want comfort not clutter..
Hoping to be on the boat for many years, but also understand we will probably have to return to land at some point.. just planning on a lot small piece of land at that point.
 
I live a very active life. I have several expensive bikes (road and mountain), his and hers scuba gear, ski gear, paragliding gear, boat parts that are not currently needed(doors, beds, spares), Xmas decorations, camping gear and some other stuff that I obviously don’t need because I can’t remember what it is. This takes up an 8x10 storage locker. The hard part is knowing when you are done with something. Like the China, silver and crystal for 12. Some day I will need that right, because odds are that when I’m to old to live on a boat I will have a house with a dinning room table that seats 12 like I had in 1988 instead of a view condo in a retirement community.

I'm kind of digging the minimalist idea that my kids have.. so trying to downsize to that without totally giving up my creature comforts.
 
Setting realistic expectations is part of the How To Succeed.
The goal should not be to get every decision 100% correct. Plan ahead to get mostly correct and find tune as you learn and find out more.
Moving alone is a major life change add in a life style change and a distant location complicates things. Don't sweat the small stuff and find a way to take some breaks along the way to just enjoy the moment.

This is perfect. Thanks for the reminder.
 
Anyway I'm sure it will all work out and we will be cruising soon enough, but any hints on how you all did the transition? Short of lighting a match and walking away?

One very small tip. When we were moving aboard full time from Washington State to our new boat in Florida we priced out a number of means of getting gear to FL. As it turned out the best priced and most easily handled method was shipping everything by ground shipment in medium sized cardboard boxes. From memory I think we filled 27 such boxes.

We shipped 5 boxes every day the 5 days before we left WA. When we arrived (by air) in FL we only had to deal with 5 boxes a day in deliveries. Which gave us time to sort and pack everything away without being overwhelmed.

~A
 
One very small tip. When we were moving aboard full time from Washington State to our new boat in Florida we priced out a number of means of getting gear to FL. As it turned out the best priced and most easily handled method was shipping everything by ground shipment in medium sized cardboard boxes. From memory I think we filled 27 such boxes.

We shipped 5 boxes every day the 5 days before we left WA. When we arrived (by air) in FL we only had to deal with 5 boxes a day in deliveries. Which gave us time to sort and pack everything away without being overwhelmed.

~A

Definitely will keep that in mind. Smart shipping 5 at a time.
 
The wifey and I had our epiphany about "stuff" years ago when we first started talking about moving onto a boat. We quickly, maybe surprisingly quickly, realized that most of our "stuff" had very little money value. Doing simple math of storage costs vs buying new furniture makes it really obvious to get rid of everything that is not going on the boat...

Some of my tools will be hard to let go. :nonono:

The problem with the word "everything" are the items that have sentimental value. Those are the tough ones. We have some stuff that we would like to keep, and thankfully, it would fit easily in a 5x5 unit so it would not be too expensive to keep. But, even a cheap unit costs a bunch of money after 10 years.

We will will inherit some furniture, which is has high sentimental value, but will be expensive to store and will NOT fit in a 5x5.

To make the calculus even more difficult, I don't think our kids will want much, if any of the "stuff", so WE would be only keeping the "stuff" for us. When we swallow the anchor, will we have room in a new place for this "stuff" or will we even want said "stuff" at that point?

The sentimental "stuff" is where the hard decisions lay.

The other hard realization about sentimental "stuff" is that it is sentimental because of the connections to parent, grandparents, etc. At some point, those connection are lost. Our kids never knew most of their great grandparents. They only have dim memories and the connections to that generation's sentimental "stuff" does not really exist. The connections WE have to sentimental "stuff" may not be there in our kids so why would THEY want the sentimental "stuff" and why should we pay to store that "stuff?"

Later,
Dan
 
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The sentimental "stuff" is where the hard decisions lay.

The other hard realization about sentimental "stuff" is that it is sentimental because of the connections to parent, grandparents, etc. At some point, those connection are lost. Our kids never knew most of their great grandparents. They only have dim memories and the connections to sentimental "stuff" does not really exist. The connections WE have to sentimental "stuff" may not be there in our kids so why would THEY want the sentimental "stuff?"

Later,
Dan

I agree that it's hardest with the sentimental stuff.
 
I love the thread, we too are planning and prepping our boat for a season abroad. Sure i would like to say its for good but i know the wifey will eventually want to come home to roost. So my plan is in action we have purchased a 26 ft car hauler trailer and will park in rear yard and plug into house with dehumidifier and hope for the best.
Mean time we plan to Air b the house for season and move to boat for November thru April as season rents well here in Naples Florida. your season maybe reverse up there but you will be surprised how many vacation rentals there are in every city. Sure people will be using your furniture but think of the marinas you can stay at with the money.
 
I love the thread, we too are planning and prepping our boat for a season abroad. Sure i would like to say its for good but i know the wifey will eventually want to come home to roost. So my plan is in action we have purchased a 26 ft car hauler trailer and will park in rear yard and plug into house with dehumidifier and hope for the best.
Mean time we plan to Air b the house for season and move to boat for November thru April as season rents well here in Naples Florida. your season maybe reverse up there but you will be surprised how many vacation rentals there are in every city. Sure people will be using your furniture but think of the marinas you can stay at with the money.

Congratulations on your new adventures! Hope the trailer works well. We will still have a shop/apartment and storage building here so don't have to dump everything. Great idea to do the AirB with the house. We've thought about renting the apartment while we are gone, but not sure if we will do that or not. It will be interesting.. looking forward to the adventure.
 
downsizing

We are downsizing to move on boat also. No tax deduction so yard selling, market place advertisements, etc. Best advise I saw so far was that you let go of things at different paces. Husband much more emotional and moving at slower pace, driving me crazy some days. going to try to be nicer to him about that. going from 4400 sq ft house, but always planned to downsize and move to warmer weather when retired anyway, so no point in keeping anything. Exit plan is view condo, but no idea where or when and no rush for that, hopefully 10 years from now. Take your time and enjoy all of it, sometimes the process to get there is half the fun.
 
Pragmatically you divide this into sections.
Finance- two major divisions.
1. Income stream when cruising
Rental income (then need to deal with management so deduct ~10%, assume need to deal with periods it’s unoccupied so need to assume carrying costs and need other sources etc.). We went with no rental income
2. Consulting or remote work. Beyond simple things like VPNs issues of having adequate communications and ability to leave the boat in short order for indefinite periods of time adds complexity. We went with being only dependent upon investment income.
We went with a plan that put nearly everything on autopilot. Between establishing a close team (accountant, financial planner, lawyer, family) we could have everything run on autopilot in our absence. Scheduled phone calls once a week or every two for some things meant we could focus on cruising and not worry about income stream or other things. Remote monitoring of assets occurred when we choose to do it. We also had a very reliable estimate of available funds which allowed conservative choices in boat, discretionary expenditures, and cruising plans. This level of reality check is required for sustainable cruising. But everyone I know who had a non investment income stream had some level of not having thrown off the chains. Rather at some level were working remotely. This created some level of stress. It also effected cruising plans.
2. Taxes- where will you declare residency, how will you establish income stream hence tax liabilities etc. how will you make this totally autopilot so quarterlies and other liabilities are addressed in your absence. If you go off the grid and don’t just marina hop this needs to be on autopilot. Inevitably communications will fail at just the wrong time.
3. Communications- this is huge. In spite of having WiFi boosters, satphone and data, SSB and vhf , local and international and domestic chips this was always a hassle. You need multiple ways to have secure communications to run financial affairs. You need multiple ways to stay in touch with advisors, friends and most importantly family. This was a significant expense in our cruising budget. A mail service and in our case a family member with power of attorney and an financial advisor with limited power of attorney worked out well.
4. Health care- this is determined by where your cruising grounds are expected to be. Health care in the Caribbean is dismal. I’m a doc and wife an RN so we have a leg up in avoiding need for outside care. Even if you don’t have that background a few s courses in wilderness medicine is a great idea. Add in knowledge about local diseases (for us it was local tropical medicine) is very much worthwhile. Medivac insurance is a must. Even if domestic if you’re laid up you want to be wherever you have access to family, and your network.
5. Boat selection- what you think you need and what you really need are two different things. I had been ocean racing and short term cruising for decades. I was totally clueless about the details required for long term cruising. I could write a book but suffice it to say.
KISS is BS. You will miss long hot showers, cooking gourmet meals, having a comfortable environment in your boat and all the various comforts of home. This adds complexity, knowledge base, maintenance and expense. But happy wife happy life. But the belt and suspenders principal still holds. We planned and outfitted to be as totally self sufficient as possible. We educated ourselves to achieve that goal. At just about anytime we could go ~ a month without putting our feet on the ground. Limiting factor was food and restocking spares. Regardless of how large a boat you have space is always an issue.

All the above is determined by what your dream is. Ours was cyclical travel from new England/maritimes to primarily leewards. We dislike tourist destinations. We like remote areas. Others seek ICW snowbirdiing or RTW doing the clock. It’s a back and forth. What’s your dream v can you do it. Just suggest write out the dream. Discuss it with your significant other. You need to be heart and soul on the same page. Do the math and take a cold hard look at yourself. Then judge what’s practical and achievable. My dream was RTW (round the world). After going through the above exercise decided not to. Two areas of failure. First wife wasn’t as invested in doing it as I was. Second, unless you’re on a crewed mega yacht with access to a Challenger 350 that’s what you’re doing for several years. It a big commitment. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be that limited. Wife was right on this one.
 
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We are downsizing to move on boat also. No tax deduction so yard selling, market place advertisements, etc. Best advise I saw so far was that you let go of things at different paces. Husband much more emotional and moving at slower pace, driving me crazy some days. going to try to be nicer to him about that. going from 4400 sq ft house, but always planned to downsize and move to warmer weather when retired anyway, so no point in keeping anything. Exit plan is view condo, but no idea where or when and no rush for that, hopefully 10 years from now. Take your time and enjoy all of it, sometimes the process to get there is half the fun.

Thanks. Yeah, I've discovered the different things... different paces too. Right now, I've just focusing on getting out of the house before it closes. The apartment isn't ready yet, so will have to put household stuff into our storage building for a bit. I've stopped worrying about going through everything at this point and just getting rid of obvious don't wants and packing up the rest. Will relook at it when I have time after closing. Congrats on your new adventure.. who knows maybe we will meet on the water one of these days and share our tales... Laura
 
Pragmatically you divide this into sections.
Finance- two major divisions.
1. Income stream when cruising
Rental income (then need to deal with management so deduct ~10%, assume need to deal with periods it’s unoccupied so need to assume carrying costs and need other sources etc.). We went with no rental income
2. Consulting or remote work. Beyond simple things like VPNs issues of having adequate communications and ability to leave the boat in short order for indefinite periods of time adds complexity. We went with being only dependent upon investment income.
We went with a plan that put nearly everything on autopilot. Between establishing a close team (accountant, financial planner, lawyer, family) we could have everything run on autopilot in our absence. Scheduled phone calls once a week or every two for some things meant we could focus on cruising and not worry about income stream or other things. Remote monitoring of assets occurred when we choose to do it. We also had a very reliable estimate of available funds which allowed conservative choices in boat, discretionary expenditures, and cruising plans. This level of reality check is required for sustainable cruising. But everyone I know who had a non investment income stream had some level of not having thrown off the chains. Rather at some level were working remotely. This created some level of stress. It also effected cruising plans.
2. Taxes- where will you declare residency, how will you establish income stream hence tax liabilities etc. how will you make this totally autopilot so quarterlies and other liabilities are addressed in your absence. If you go off the grid and don’t just marina hop this needs to be on autopilot. Inevitably communications will fail at just the wrong time.
3. Communications- this is huge. In spite of having WiFi boosters, satphone and data, SSB and vhf , local and international and domestic chips this was always a hassle. You need multiple ways to have secure communications to run financial affairs. You need multiple ways to stay in touch with advisors, friends and most importantly family. This was a significant expense in our cruising budget. A mail service and in our case a family member with power of attorney and an financial advisor with limited power of attorney worked out well.
4. Health care- this is determined by where your cruising grounds are expected to be. Health care in the Caribbean is dismal. I’m a doc and wife an RN so we have a leg up in avoiding need for outside care. Even if you don’t have that background a few s courses in wilderness medicine is a great idea. Add in knowledge about local diseases (for us it was local tropical medicine) is very much worthwhile. Medivac insurance is a must. Even if domestic if you’re laid up you want to be wherever you have access to family, and your network.
5. Boat selection- what you think you need and what you really need are two different things. I had been ocean racing and short term cruising for decades. I was totally clueless about the details required for long term cruising. I could write a book but suffice it to say.
KISS is BS. You will miss long hot showers, cooking gourmet meals, having a comfortable environment in your boat and all the various comforts of home. This adds complexity, knowledge base, maintenance and expense. But happy wife happy life. But the belt and suspenders principal still holds. We planned and outfitted to be as totally self sufficient as possible. We educated ourselves to achieve that goal. At just about anytime we could go ~ a month without putting our feet on the ground. Limiting factor was food and restocking spares. Regardless of how large a boat you have space is always an issue.

All the above is determined by what your dream is. Ours was cyclical travel from new England/maritimes to primarily leewards. We dislike tourist destinations. We like remote areas. Others seek ICW snowbirdiing or RTW doing the clock. It’s a back and forth. What’s your dream v can you do it. Just suggest write out the dream. Discuss it with your significant other. You need to be heart and soul on the same page. Do the math and take a cold hard look at yourself. Then judge what’s practical and achievable. My dream was RTW (round the world). After going through the above exercise decided not to. Two areas of failure. First wife wasn’t as invested in doing it as I was. Second, unless you’re on a crewed mega yacht with access to a Challenger 350 that’s what you’re doing for several years. It a big commitment. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be that limited. Wife was right on this one.

Thanks for all this. We are working on several of them, so have a good start to it. We are both pretty open to where we go on the ocean.. thinking of bringing her around eventually through the Panama Canal into the Caribbean, but even that's up in the air.
I think we are both just looking forward to the simplicity of the whole thing. Just being down to one thing.. the boat (for the most part) instead of running a business, taking care of the house, the RV... etc. Guess we will see on it.. Laura
 
Unfortunately it ain’t simple. End of day you’re trading one system of complexities for another. It’s about quality of life. Boat problems are real, physical problems. Something works or doesn’t. That’s the easy part. It’s the other crap that isn’t. When you go cruising you don’t leave it all behind. You create distance from those issues which often makes it more stressful. Maybe there’s people who lived in isolation on land so can live in isolation on the water. Haven’t met any yet.
 
Many full time cruisers schedule a period of weeks to months every year at about the same time to 1. Get time off the boat; 2. Take care of ‘home’ affairs be they financial, seeing relatives, doing the dr and dentist visits etc. Some have a condo or other home to go back to, some crash at a relative’s house, some rent a VRBO. For tropical cruisers they often coincide with typhoon/hurricane season.
 

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