I want to learn more about retirement cruising

I amoughts getting ready to make a life style change to retirement cruising.
Selling my express cruiser and shopping for a trawler.
Interested in reading about the lifestyle and boat th

Well, assuming that you mean full time live aboard cruising, I think that you will find that the many books on this subject don't distinguish between being retired and just taking off from work for a few years to cruise full time. We did the latter for a few years.


The Tom Neale books are good and are biased towards sail, but that was the nature of the beast until recently. Trawler cruising is catching up, but just like retirement or sabbatical cruising the difference between sail and trawler cruising is minimal.


David

Thanks for your reply.
Nice to hear from a CT boater
My plan is to work full time for 2 years and prepare my new(used) trawler for cruising part time after that heading South.
Initially I plan to head for Wilmington NC for the winter and come back here for the summer. I have family in both areas.
At some point I would like to rent our condo in Enfield and cruise full time for a period of time.
This is the first time I have committed my plan to print.
I have been reading books about cruising in sailboats. I am surprised to hear you say that Sail and Trawler cruising are similar.

There are dozens of books on cruising. Start with amazon.com. Buy the books and read them.


Not everybody "cruises" the same way and even if you think you know how you will cruise, your actual cruising may turn out to be different from what you thought when you started.


BTW: I suggest several shorter cruises in your area before you set out on a thousand mile cruise. You need to make sure the boat is working properly and you need to learn what you need to have on the boat.


BTW: There are also dozens of cruising "blogs" on the Internet that you can read for free.

Welcome! Lots of good advice from the TF group (most of the time). We bought our boat in Sept. 2013. I retired in December. We are heading to Alaska this summer, actually in about 12 weeks! We are very very excited.

I would start looking at boats now. www.yachtworld.com will become your best friend and I must caution you addictive. Go look at boats, walk docks, go to all the boat shows you can. Draw up a plan on what is considered a go-no-go for your next boat. This process took us 3 years before we bought our boat.

Once you settle on what you want, buy with your brain and not your heart!! Always always, have the boat you want to buy, have a survey and engine survey done, ALWAYS!!!

Buy at least a few years BEFORE you retire so you can do all the upgrading, lean how to handle her etc. Buy as early as you can.

Any questions just ask here.

Good luck and again welcome.

Your idea of cruising will likely take on its own form, just like your ashore routine is different from others. Some smaller excursions will help you realize if you want more cruising.

For us it's all about the experiences. We find that we don't need (or want) much stuff on the boat when cruising. We stay pretty busy - row the dog to shore/walk dog at marina, food prep, cleaning, visit local attractions/dining, moving to a new location, anchoring/mooring, exploring in the dinghy, exploring on foot, etc. Of course we loaf in the anchorages and marinas, too. If we like a particular spot, we just stay another day.

We also meet lots of good folks that we learn from, and we try to pass a few things along. It's nice to disconnect from the phone and internet and not have a schedule.

Once you get the mechanicals on the boat to 100%, it's easy to fit regular repairs and maintenance into the daily routine. I don't sit still for long and I always have things to putter with.

It's a great lifestyle, one we will certainly undertake full-time as soon as its financially prudent.

Best Wishes

Trawlerfests are good to meet other cruisers, see the boats and usually have good classes on a variety of cruising subjects.

In your research try and figure out what you want to being doing the next three years. Do you want to marina hop, convenient with lots of socializing, or spend time at anchor. Are you interested in the great loop around the eastern US, or just the east coast. Does Mexico or the Caribbean beyond the Bahamas interest you.

These are different styles of cruising and to some extent call for different boats.

See what attracts you and then read up on that style.

Al Levis said:

I have been reading books about cruising in sailboats. I am surprised to hear you say that Sail and Trawler cruising are similar.

Click to expand...

Live aboard cruising on a trawler is surprisingly similar to doing it on a sailboat. Cruising sailboats motor probably 75% of the time and in that mode are no different from a trawler.

Some of the common issues: docking, anchoring, towing and stowing a dinghy, provisioning, DC power management, the list goes on. The only real difference is that some trawlers can go faster.

I have spent a total of three years and almost ten thousand miles as a full time live aboard sailor. Now I just do overnight or weeklong cruises in LI Sound. But I see very little difference between the two, except for the size of my engine now ;-).

David