Vacation Time...How much do you have?

Wifey B: Just curious as to how the group breaks down. I know we go from totally retired and life is a vacation to those who struggle to get one or two weeks a year. The two biggest limitations on boating are time and money. I often hear comments about dock queens but most just can't find the time to go. So, a little poll of where we are now and any elaboration people might like to do on their future and when it changes and even how they find time today. Also I know it varies greatly based on where we live. So Aussies speak up and embarrass us Yankees.

Greetngs,
Mr. BB. You might also ask how far members are from their boats as well. A member who has a vessel in their back yard or a short drive away may tend to use their boats more than those who have to drive for, say, an hour+ to visit.


In our case, both boats (northern and southern) are directly behind our residences. The northern boat being smaller is used much more simply because there is less effort to get it off the dock. We think nothing of hopping aboard after supper and going for a cruise. We can be underway in less than 5 minutes. We know the area intimately so coming back after dark is not an issue.


The southern boat (in FLL) is somewhat more work to prepare AND there is the Los Olas bridge opening schedule to consider. Off the dock is about 15 minutes and the same to tie up BUT, many's the evening spent with a cocktail (non alcoholic for me) on the poop deck. Dock queen? Perhaps but she's ready to put to sea after that 15 minutes (fully stocked).

I’m 63 and I get 2 weeks .

vacation

Aahh, and Canadians. We do have some open water for awhile eh,

RT Firefly said:

Greetngs,
Mr. BB. You might also ask how far members are from their boats as well. A member who has a vessel in their back yard or a short drive away may tend to use their boats more than those who have to drive for, say, an hour+ to visit.

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It's Ms. BB here. Good point. Hopefully people will mention that too.

Wifey B: Ok, I'll answer since I started it. We do have a business but we don't run it so we just do a little work here and there, whenever we're home. A little on the phone or cam when we're away. But we have total flexibility and our work is more hobby than work. Boat is at our house.

Pack Mule said:

I’m 63 and I get 2 weeks .

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Wifey B: Well vote in the poll.

I'm sorry, but that's just so wrong to have worked hard all your life and at 63 you only get 2 weeks vacation a year.

Greetings,
Oops. I forgot...I retired 8 or 9 years ago but the Admiral is still working so I'm a kept man and therefore limited by the A's available time. She says she will retire but I find that hard to believe at this point. She is in the education field so her work load appears (ya right!) to be less in the summer. Maybe by the time I'm 75 or so....

Tough one for me. I'm in a fly in fly out (FIFO) camp. 7 days on 7 days off. 12 hour days minimum. I work it so I fly and work same day. So I'm home 7 nights/6 days. I get paid for four 40 hour weeks vacation. On the occasion I take a week off (84 hours), I'm off for three weeks. Has it's plusses and minuses. The biggest minus is that I'm away from home half the year.

This is a pretty common arrangement for oil and gas workers in northern Canada.

A quick note to say that I am reading this on my phone which does not show the poll for voting.

45
3 weeks vaca

I don’t own a boat but just spent 5 days sleeping on one.

We're 2-2.5 hrs from the boat. We live in New England. We use it every single weekend from Friday to Sunday for 5 months a year. We squeeze in as many long weekends as we can and spend at least 2 weeks a summer. This year, I managed 28 consecutive days during one long vacation.

Long drive to the boat, that’s why we spend so much time on her.

Northern Spy said:

Tough one for me. I'm in a fly in fly out (FIFO) camp. 7 days on 7 days off. 12 hour days minimum. I work it so I fly and work same day. So I'm home 7 nights/6 days. I get paid for four 40 hour weeks vacation. On the occasion I take a week off (84 hours), I'm off for three weeks. Has it's plusses and minuses. The biggest minus is that I'm away from home half the year.

This is a pretty common arrangement for oil and gas workers in northern Canada.

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Wifey B: Much like commercial crew jobs too and half the time you work your ^%$# off but then you have the other half or close to it for family.

You're away from home but when you are home you're all there. I know many with such schedules spend more time with their kids and spouses than those with normal work schedules, whatever normal is.

I think nurse rotations (hospital) work well with 12 hour days and you work 3 or 4 and once a month you flip schedules and get a full week off or something. I don't know exactly. Hubby's used it in Manufacturing but he's tied up at the moment (not literally, although is giving me ideas....rope, silk, or cuffs.....now I'm distracted but back on topic) so can't ask him the specifics.

Shrew said:

We're 2-2.5 hrs from the boat. We live in New England. We use it every single weekend from Friday to Sunday for 5 months a year. We squeeze in as many long weekends as we can and spend at least 2 weeks a summer. This year, I managed 28 consecutive days during one long vacation.

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Wifey B: How did you manage that? Arrange it? Make it happen?

62 with 3 weeks vacation. 2-3 nights per week on the road / out of town so it is hard to boat during the week. Boat in the water 6/1- 10/1. Boat is 9 miles away. We normally get a week or 10 days away on boat along with most weekends. Recently up sized to a trawler in anticipation of more free time / longer cruises. Probably semi retire at 65 and work for beer money until 70. God willing.

We are 63 each. I own and manage residential rental properties (4-plexe's, and duplex's) - mostly long term tenants, so I'm comfortable taking off several weeks at a time, several times per year. I have plumbers, roofers.... on speed dial so if there are issues while I'm gone they can handle them. My wife gets about 4 weeks vacation, plus holidays and school breaks (college) and she is retiring next year. Our new boat is about 1.5 hours away on the Tenn/Tom waterway.

Easting said:

62 with 3 weeks vacation. 2-3 nights per week on the road / out of town so it is hard to boat during the week. Boat in the water 6/1- 10/1. Boat is 9 miles away. We normally get a week or 10 days away on boat along with most weekends. Recently up sized to a trawler in anticipation of more free time / longer cruises. Probably semi retire at 65 and work for beer money until 70. God willing.

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Wifey B: If next year you were given the choice between a 4% pay raise or 2 additional weeks of vacation per year, which would you choose?

Greetings,
Ms. WB. I'll take the 4% please...

RT Firefly said:

Greetings,
Ms. WB. I'll take the 4% please...

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Wifey B: But you already have 52 1/2 weeks a year vacation.

I voted in the 1 to 2 weeks category. I own my business and it's difficult to be gone for a week at a time. I've really come to value a 3 or 4 day weekend. It's a getaway without the hassle of catching up when I return.

I've also decided I'd rather take a day or two when the weather is good, rather than taking a week, scheduled long in advance, that turns out to be a weather fiasco.

It's amazing what a day or two "anchored out" can do for your attitude.

I’m 60, retired 5 years ago, and live 30 minutes from my boat in Seattle.

From April to January I work month on, month off. I get two to three months off in the winter, depending on how the lakes freeze. It generally works out to about 6 months of work per year on average

I'm currently in between boats, but when I did have one, I kept it about 15 minutes away, and would visit the boat probably 4-5 days a week when I was home during summer season. I rarely slept aboard, since my bed at home was about 1000% more comfortable and was only a short drive away from the marina.

I'm really looking forward to having a boat that I can keep in the water all year. Some summers I'd only get about 4 good weeks with the boat, which really makes all the work and money hard to justify. I can't wait to be able to replace these long, dark winters with cruising adventures.

Greetings,
Ms. WB. "But you already have 52 1/2 weeks a year vacation." Well DUH!!! Why do you think I picked the 4% raise?

Retired for 2 years and 20 minutes from the boat.



Oh, and then there were those 3 years in my 40's but that was just a trial retirement.

I was semiretired until the age of 32, got a real job that started at 3 weeks vacation a year, and now get 6 weeks off per year.

Would I take a 4% raise instead of 2 more weeks vacation? No way!

I'm betting that in my last days I'll find more value in memories made, than monies in the bank.

We're a 10 minute drive from the boat & will retire in less than two years...unless I leave a year early for 'Quality of Life' reasons. (See paragraph above).

Retired now, but had 4 weeks pa when employed. Boat is 15 minutes away by bicycle, but I drive when I have a pile of stuff to cart to or from it. Seems to happen a lot!

5 weeks and a day of vacation per year, plus 11 holidays, so placed wisely I get 6 weeks of per year. My wife has re or less the same but get off work 6 months every 2 years. Boat is 45min drive from home, season is from end of may to mid October. However we also have other things to do during our vacations, like dive trip during winter (2 to 3 weeks in misc. Caribbean islands depending on the year) or travel to Europe to visit family (every 2 years). Overall we are spending st of the weekend aboard and 2 to 4 weeks vacation aboard. As an example, next year will be 2 weeks for a diving trip, 1 week with visiting family and 3 weeks cruise + weekends aboard.

Cannot wait to be able to spend the full season aboard!

L

So I'm 60 and now fully retired. My 2nd current and final wife is 9 days younger and will likely work till 67. Someone needs to bring home the healthcare. She was a university dean (living 1,000 miles from home) until this past summer when she took a graduate professor position 3 miles from home. Interestingly, as a dean, she usually had 5 weeks of vacation a year. As a graduate studies professor with full rank and tenure, she has a little over 4 months a year. After factoring out additional housing costs, airfare home, and taxes, there was less than a 5% take home pay cut for a 250% increase in vacation time.

From age 26 to 46 I was self employed with a retail storefront. Averaged less than 1 week of vacation per year (although I throughly enjoyed my work). Towards the end, my salary declined every year as shopping online took over. At 46 I closed the storefront, ran my charter business, technical diving instruction, and repair work out of a building at our home. My vacation time increased to 6 months per year and my salary doubled. Wished I'd figured that out 10 years earlier.

I'm less than 40 minutes from the boat in both FL and MD.

Ted

We are 30min to the marina, try to spend every weekend out along with some extended weekends mid may-oct. This year we are hoping to do a couple of extended trips one being Block Island race week to watch our friends team take the cup. My job gives me 5 weeks of vac and flex time but cannot take it all during the summer due to issues that may come up at work unfortunately my wife only gets a few weeks. I spend the extra time working on the boat and fly fishing.

5 months. Nov 1st to April 1st.