Wifey B: We moved in 2012 from Lake Norman in NC to Paradise, otherwise known as Fort Lauderdale.
Don't be too fast to sell your Meridian. Why not use it on the coast for your first season and then figure out what you want, what it does great and where it comes up short. People often say buy less boat than you may need, get started and then move up if you need. Well, you already have that boat. There are members here who bought a boat on the coast they were going to move back and forth between the coast and Lake Norman but fell in love with coast, used it, and then moved up.
Budgeting will be your first huge challenge. Coastal boating is going to be much more expensive than lake boating. How much more, you'll have to figure out.
But here's the joy. The lake is great, lake boating is great, but you can only go 25 miles or so and you can go back and forth but keep seeing the same stuff. Do you realize yet how far you can go on the coast? Infinity. Not in your Meridian, but anywhere in the world is ultimately yours. Imagine the great loop and 7-9000 miles of seeing something new every mile you go. Oh what joy it is.
