Posted on 07/19/2018 10:29:09 AM PDT by sodpoodle
You’ve just weighed anchor on another night of bliss, lulled to sleep by the gentle rocking of your sailboat in the calm sea. Before you is a small cove lined by craggy cliffs. Clear blue waters end at a white-sand beach. You’ve had it all to yourself for the last week.
It was supposed to be just an overnight stop. But it was so beautiful, you decided to stick around. After a quick dip, you’re enjoying a cup of coffee and a light breakfast on deck as you contemplate which island paradise you’ll go to next.
This life could be yours. Plenty of everyday people are choosing to live on the water full-time—in their retirement, no less. After a bit of training and hands-on experience at home, they’re tying up beside mega-yachts in the Mediterranean…finding large floating communities of like-minded expat sailors in the Caribbean…and island hopping in the Gulf of Thailand, heading wherever their fancy takes them.
This lifestyle is more affordable than you might think, often costing folks less than staying at home. For under $100,000, you can buy a well-equipped, used sail boat around 40 feet in length—plenty of room for two people. And you can live on it for as little as $1,000 to $1,500 a month, including marina fees. That fee usually gets you a full-service facility with water, power, WiFi, and other amenities.
When he was not boinking some hotty
Or constantly yelling at Monihan or Dr. Astin or whoever else.
Don’t forget the dining wrap-ups at Danny Tovo’s place.
all kidding aside i loved that show and his life style was pretty awesome and having grown up in marina del rey it was fun to see on tv
“Canoes in a pond it ain’t”
Well over half of the sailboats made would not survive a blue water cruise.
Even as preachy as Quincy could be, I still love the show.
I’ll take it over the CSI garbage.
I stick to fiberglass boats. Wood is extremely expensive. I can’t do my own aluminum or steel work.
With fiberglass, you can do your own repairs for the most part.
Just do it with a Bing! Bang! Bong!
Is that Sophia Loren, the sexiest and most beautiful woman that has ever lived?
Yeh, but, we plan on going to Australia in our boat. Try that in a house.
It’s a great lifestyle. And I don’t have to do yard work.
Here, this website has a blueprint of our boat. The photos are our boat too, but, the interior is different.
http://bluewaterboats.org/tashiba-36/
Try going to Australia in that though.
I’ll post when we get there.
Also a hot nanny and houseboat painter!
“Boats mean work.”
Let me introduce you to my house. Heck, I’ll sell it to ya....putting it on the market next Spring. I’m tired of it...and the work.
My friend’s parents spent a lot of time in Ireland and Tonga, of all places. I think Aus was a bit too spendy for them. France was a bit too taxey.
If I had the Paul Allen levels of money, I wouldn’t be searching for WWII era shipwrecks, I’d rather get a refurbished Fletcher class DD and rule the oceans blue.
(dream on)
Maybe I could buy a small trap freighter type boat and take donations from gullible hippies to sail around and harass Japanese ships?
(hahaha)
Anyway, good luck with your journeys.
My ideal yacht: 80 ft. Aluminum hull PT boat with twin 50s port and starboard, 20 mm oerlikons fore and aft. Dump the Packards and replace with twin PW turbines. Out fit with modern GP system, radar and comms. Would easily sleep eight to ten. Go where you like and don’t worry about pirates. Of course you’ll have problem licensing crew served weapons and a lot of countries, probably most, would not welcome you.
I can dream can’t I?
There are folks that can do this for $1000-1500/mo as the author tosses out. However, this usually is going to take a pretty frugal lifestyle of spending the majority of your time at anchor, cooking for yourself and fishing for dinner. If marinas are going to be your thing, budget $100-150/day same as if you were on a car trip. Marina rates are based on $$$/foot of boat, drop some for weekly and like a rock for monthly stays, paid in advance. Off season rates are less as well.
Food and fuel costs at destinations can be all over the place. Bahamas and most Caribbean islands are generally more expensive than the US and sometimes lots more. In the smaller Bahama islands and some other islands, water for your water tank can be towards $0.50 per gallon.
The $1000-1500/mo leaves no allowance for maintenance. Sailboats nickel and dime you then whop you with a bigger bill every once in awhile. Diesel power boats have greater fuel bills but tend to not nickel and dime you near as much
Honestly and critically assess your and your partner's compatibility living very close with little private space. Will you drive each other nuts? Assess your and your partners physical abilities. I have been a sailor and a power boater. At this point in my life, I physically do not want to commit to the constant physical exertion of sailing, living at an angle and moving from hand hold to hand hold. YMMV.
Whether buying a sail or power boat, get a competent surveyor to critically examine the boat. You may want to coordinate with the surveyor to have a second expert in engines to inspect the engine, transmission and generator. Make any offer to buy contingent on a survey satisfactory to you or the deal is off and your deposit returned. You can also contract a buyers broker that will search for boats meeting your specifications and geographic areas of interest. This is normally at no cost to you as the buyers broker splits commission with the seller's broker. If buying from a private party, I suggest getting a lawyer to handle contracts and escrow $$$.
Finding a seaworthy sail boat with respect to offshore cruising capability is easier than finding a power boat for this purpose. If you go the power boat direction, you will primarily be looking at trawler type boats and for gawds sake don't get gas engines or any go fast boat. For example, check out www.yachtworld.com and search for used Nordhavn, Kadey Krogen or Nordic Tug for a different style power boat.
With that $100k dollar figure tossed out for a boat cost, you're going to be looking at boats a decade or three old. Before even getting a surveyor involved, do your own inspection. Is the wiring a rat nest? Oily bilges? Odors? The boat is just sloppy or dirty? Dirty oil in the engine or generator? Obsolete or non-functional electronics and electrical stuff? These can be red flags of neglect that will cost you $$$ to fix. Learn the term boat bucks. One boat buck is $1000. Boat bucks are the unit to think of when replacing or fixing stuff.
Lots of rambling I know and better stop! BTW, pretty good chance I will be moving onto a boat in a few years. A used smaller diesel powered trawler is what I am targeting. Winter in FL, Gulf Coast and Bahamas. Hurricane season in inland lakes or the upper east coast.
One of my dreams is to go to Kwajalein, and see the remains of the USS Prinz Eugen (formerly a Kriegsmarine Heavy battlecruiser).
After VE Day, the Brits, who captured her, gave her to the US. We changed the name to USS Prinz Eugen and sailed her through the canal and it was nuked twice. That famous film of the bomb blast with all the ships around... the P.E. was there.
After the second blast, it STILL hadn’t sunk, but, no one could go on board to maintain the bilge pumps. They tried towing it to Seattle, but, it turned turtle and sank.
Who knows where we will end up.
As a variation of the saying “The whole point of being human is knowing when the party’s over”, in this case: “All the fun of sailing the world in small sailboat ends when the pirates arrive”.
Agree. When stationed with the USN in the Norfolk VA area, my wife and I joined a sailing club at Willoughby Bay. Spring through fall we’d rent a 28’ - 32’ sailboat for two-three day weekends and enjoyed exploring the southern Chesapeake.
No maintenance, no repairs, no worries. Bliss.
Yes it is .....Matt Bracken.
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