newbie (Planning to) liveaboard in the SF Bay Area

Hey all, been wanting to do this for a decade or two, not tied up to anything, so may as well tie up to the dock. Well, need to sell the house first. But other than that.. yeah.

Lurked TF for awhile, signed up, a couple PMs later, here I am. Lots of very helpful and generous folks here. Hopefully I'll earn my keep on board.

Probably still a few months off, but I have heard that it likely WILL take that long. Maybe November, more likely December, before I even have money to spend on a boat.

Toughest decision looks like I'll be confronting thus far: Hull type and LWL. How can I get a "wondertrawler," full-time liveaboard for a couple, w/cook-friendly galley, cruises at 11-12kt, sea-kindly 25 miles offshore, handles 8' following seas well, fishable for salmon and halibut from the aft deck (4 or 5' freeboard aft, max... oh, and no exterior teak to bloody up), with two heads and sleeps 4 below and 1 up, for about $100-125K. (I am single at 50 y/o, but will be plotting a course to find an Admiral to cruise with, in the decades to come.)

I have given up on anything in the 1990's vintage, and am browsing 1970's and 80's trawlers.

Thanks to all for the thoughtful and sincere posts here! I look forward to participating, as soon as I start to learn what the hell I will be trying to talk about.

Get your boat first, before any admiral. Most women don't like boat living. The ones here are the exceptions. Living aboard is harder than life in a house. Once you have the boat you can give your prospective admirals a taste of life aboard. Walking slick, wet docks carrying groceries, laundry and so on in good weather and bad. You need someone that enjoys the boat life first so the differences between city and boat life are not as noticeable.
Men are the dreamers. We want to sail off into an adventure. Women are practical and often end up doing many of the things that are harder in life aboard. I'm old enough and been on the water long enough to have seen many couples fail either as boaters or as a couples.

Thanks! Yeah, been single for too many years to count, so the boat will definitely be the easier of the two. I have a friend of a friend single girl who has been living aboard her Formosa for awhile. Hopefully she will teach me the ropes, and who knows, maybe introduce me to some ladyfriends of hers who like bein on the water? We will see.

You're right, for now I want to get aboard into something, figure out what all I have done, what it all means, what to do from there, and then after awhile start venturing out and about. Might actually take a class or two in diesel mechanics. But first things first - get off the dirt and go from there...

You should pick the boat as much for the engines as the boat. Pick a reliable engine and then look at boats that have them. Then get schooled on that engine.

Makes sense, good advice for me to keep in mind... Have heard good things about the Lehmans, and Detroits and Cummins, but Volvo parts are pricey and can be hard to get, and also heard that some older Cat turbos might have issues (pre-2003 3176B C12, is that one of the questionable ones?).

And.. I haven't piloted any boat over 24 feet in length. Is 53+ too long for an inexperienced skipper to single hand? (For the sake of that question, let's assume I can pay the slip fees, fuel and maintenance costs in the 53-60' range.)