Retire on a Sailboat – From Just $1,000 a Month

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.

I liked the size and room in a sailboat, but Cap’n pointed out that once they turn over, they stay over, and, they tend to skate when high winds catch them wrong.

Ours is a heavy displacement boat with a full cutoff keel. She won’t go fast but it goes where we want her to go safe.

She survived Katrina in Alabama (long before we met her), and still holding strong.

We have owned a 40 ft sailboat for about 15 years now. Me, alone, I could live on it perfectly comfortable. 2 people? I’d need a bigger boat and preferably an aft cabin motoryacht.
The key to owning a boat is like owning a house. You have to be able to do most of the maintenance yourself. Other than the big stuff like bottom paint, etc.
I have redone the whole inside of our boat. Pulled a lot of the wood out and redid it with white, vinyl beadboard. Looks great and really lightened up the interior. I redid the flooring myself. Pulled all the nasty, old flooring out and put in vinyl wood boards. Looks great. Pulled all the old portlights out that had finally started leaking and put in new ones. I’m pulling the old batteries out next week and putting in new ones. Also getting ready to replace the sanitation hose to the black tank. The big stuff it goes to the yard but overall doesn’t cost any more than maintaining a home.
I have liveaboards all around me. Mostly older bachelor guys who retired on their boats. We help each other a lot. At our dock BarBque’s we wind up talking about heads, galley faucets and sinks, etc. lol I cook for them and they help me with stuff I can’t handle by myself.
Our marina has great facilities. The bathrooms are all granite and tile with plenty of showers and toilets. We have a huge laundry room and an exercise room full of equipment.
I have a diver who cleans the bottom every other month and a guy who lives in the marina that dumps my black tank when I call him. I pay $100 every other month for the diver and $10 for each tank dump. In comparison for our house I have a gardener at $75 a month, a pool guy for $100 a month, and a housekeeper (because our house is so big) for $80 per month. I’m essentially maintaining 2 houses with the boat and the house but would prefer to live on the boat. There’s nothing better than having my coffee in the cockpit and an evening drink there watching the sunset. To me it’s heaven on earth.
If you have any questions about the lifestyle and are serious about it message me. We used to actually sail the boat all the time until Hubby became disabled. Now it’s my floating condo but I still won’t give it up.

BTW...everyone here....should read Matt Bracken's books.

You will be better for it....

"Castigo Key...."

"Enemies, Foreign and Domestic.."

"Domestic Enemies"...and "Foreign Enemies"..

You want to read some things...that I think...could happen....maybe have already happened....

Read Matt's stuff,,,,You will like it...!!!

http://enemiesforeignanddomestic.com/order.html

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