Biggest surprises from your first year or two of cruising

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Yeah, I know. But I prefer to try and recycle into the human systems if I can. I know… doesn’t make a lot of sense . But there ya go…

So what makes up your trash load? Is it mostly plastic?

You, know, it's hard to answer that question. Trash seems to magically grow beyond any seemingly possible volume.


Before leaving on that trip, we depackaged as much as we could, and got rid of the packaging, especially plastic, as much as possible.


And of course we don't toss anything in the sea, except organic matter, when inshore. So a lot of junk accumulates at your destination, between offshore passages.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

You, know, it's hard to answer that question. Trash seems to magically grow beyond any seemingly possible volume.

So true… Must be one of the lesser knows laws of thermodynamics .

Originally Posted by Dockhead

And of course we don't toss anything in the sea, except organic matter, when inshore. So a lot of junk accumulates at your destination, between offshore passages.

Well there ya go… Most of my cruising time is spent inshore. Passages have been few so far. I suppose I could head offshore if I had to, but seems kinda like overkill for this problem.

[sailorboy1]

It seems half my trash is drink cans. Even though I crush them down to less than 1/4 of the size they still seem to take more trash room than stores room.

[Bracus]

Keep it going, this is so useful. I am making notes as I am reading.
thank you.

[dcssteve]

Compared to a Pickup and a trailer, No comparison. More issues and more things to maintain and fix. Salt water is not a kind mate. The rewards and motivation have to make it worthwhile. In sailing, the experience is a big part of the joy. You go nowhere fast. Did anyone tell you that you have to clean the bottom of your boat on a regular basis, or if you use salt-water in your head too much things can clog up with marine life. Your heat exchanger can stop working due to salt water and marine life. Your stuffing box can wear out. A sail can blow out on you. Anyways, all those things have happened to me and I am still living on my boat. Though I did move up to a 42 form a 36. I did not nearly cover everything. It is common to find you totally underestimated the costs of owning a boat. I forgot, marine parts are very expensive due to limited production and 316 sunless steel. There is a reason BOAT stands for Bring On Another Thousand or a variation of that.
Have fun, it's an adventure.

[zboss]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

It seems half my trash is drink cans. Even though I crush them down to less than 1/4 of the size they still seem to take more trash room than stores room.

True - we were shocked by the volume of trash we produce.

We were shocked at the volume of food we buy that goes uneaten and [as a corollary] how quickly food can turn bad on a boat. When we have access to cheap/plentiful groceries we step up efforts to only buy what we are going to eat in the next few days and to set an approximate menu.

[KP44]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

Other things:
Our dingy needs evolved over the years.

We cruise the Sea of Cortez in the winter / spring and go home to the high desert for summer / fall.
I like to fish but all the fish have razor sharp chutes, fins, spines, and teeth. Next season I will have a port-a-bote in addition to our RIB. I will not fish in our inflatable.

Batteries have a very difficult time during the summers while the boat is on the hard. My AGMs leaked (!) and were worthless. The heat was too much for them, I was told. I bought a new bank of golf cart batteries and they are good but need distilled water every month. Now I take home my starting batteries and have a yard person check my house bank every month and keep them safe, watered, and charged.

[JPA Cate]

When we left the States the second time, it was our plan to fly back and visit every year. Jim kept his car and stored it at a friend's vineyard. We duly came back, and he spent 2 days lying on his back getting the brake system working. Next year, same thing, but different stuff to fix. At that point, he decided that it was more effective to rent a car if need be, than to re-up the insurance (which had put us in the assigned risk bin, because we had dropped it as the car was going nowhere) and work on it. This all was a surprise to me, because the car had been quite reliable while he was there to maintain it.

Later on, we bought a car in NZ, to car tour there, and never regretted it. We bought in the middle of the used car market, and sold it two years later, for $100 less than we'd paid. However, it had required a wheel bearing replacement, and an alternator, and a windscreen (windshield to the Americans). Still a good deal.



Ann

[svmariane]

Unexpected: Foreign visa problems. Costs, restrictions/regulations, time.

My wife carries a German passport, I carry one from the USA; we fly the Austrian flag because the boat is registered in Vienna (our legal permanent home of residence).

Places like Canada and New Zealand were straight forward - three months upon arrival for free, extendable to six months for about 150 USD each. Come time, we downloaded applications via internet, printed, and submited with cheque via post.

Mexico. We applied for one-year "retired" folk visas when in USA. Got them in two days for about 220 USD each. (We wanted the time to explore Sea of Cortez and down to Zihuatanejo.) Renewed for another year while in La Paz, again for approx 220 USD. Took an afternoon.

French Polynesia. As member of the EU my wife was allowed to stay - for free - as long as she liked. Me? I had to pay a bond of approx 1,700 USD. Refunded upon departure in local currency. (We were allowed time to hit the local bank and convert currency to USD. Needed only a couple of hours.)

America Samoa. Opposite of above. Me free, wife's bond approx 2,000 USD. But.... apply for refund upon departure and the Govt snail-mailed a refund check about six months later. YMMV. Result: while we visited Independent Samoa several times over the years - visa for free upon arrival, less than about 150 USD harbor fees - we never returned to America Samoa.

Tonga. One month free visa upon arrival. One month extension for approx 440 USD each per month. (Hey, ya can't really visit many of the 165 isles in a fortnight, ya know?) While immigration folk appear at the boat on first arrival, filing for extensions require a bit of legwork and standing in line - and no matter when we appeared there was always a queue. A long queue. Strange. Pack a lunch and arrive early.

If there is a non-America aboard, this was our experience in USA:

Me - free, no restrictions. Cruising permit about 35 USD. For my wife, she needed and had pre-obtained an USA visa that's required for arrival by sailboat unless we wanted to pay about 600 USD at the Port of Entry. Free stay for ninety days then out. Extendable to 180 days - but maybe not. Depends on Homeland Security. {Submit application with fee of approx 300 USD and wait. Application fee is non-refundable.} We secured her extension and on day 180 departed for British Columbia. Upon our attempted return after six months in Canada we hit a snag. Even though we showed our marriage certificate and that her passport and USA VISA was valid for another six years, she was required to fly back to Austria (our legal residence) and obtain a new USA visa. Seems the Homeland Security "lady" thought our being retired and living full-time on a sailboat was suspicious. Or something. So... my wife took a ferry boat ride back to Canada, bought round-trip airline tickets to Austria - just for a two-day visit to the American Consulate in Vienna - then return ferry ride. (Side note: turns out she had swiped my Lufthansa frequent flyer card and upgraded herself to Business Class! Smart cookie, wot?) Anyway, t'was a good thing I'd taken the ferry to meet my wife at the Canadian airport. With her new VISA obtained my wife again tried to cross the Canadian/US border and (coincidentally?) was confronted by the same Homeland Security official - and my wife's USA entry was again denied. That is, until I made one heck of a stink and demanded to speak with the "lady's" supervisor. YMMV.

Primary lesson learned: Many cruisers suggest carrying carrying a stash of boat-cash. Heed their advice because you never know if an ATM will be available, or if a local bank will accept your out-of-country cheque, and even the latest available on-line info about various arrival or other fees might be out of date. Not to mention the "receiving costs" for international shipping of that must-have boat-part. And not everyone accepts credit/debit cards.

Safe travels! Keep the water on the outside and the stick in the air...

James

[carlwk3c]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Hard to say. I think the sources of my challenge is that I hadn’t really given this aspect much consideration — certainly not the same level that I applied to other aspects of moving on board. I’m not sure what I could have done differently, and it’s not a huge issue because we do have working solutions in place for everything, but it mostly relies on the good will of our friends.

I think you’ve got an immediate plus on your side since you plan to keep a chuck of land as a some sort of foci of operations. Our challenge would be less if we had a chuck of land to call our own. Although this might introduce other challenges. The other aspect is the damn large size of Canada, and the challenge of moving “stuff” around.

As far as the other aspects of this life, there haven’t been any unexpected surprises — yet . Boat maintenance, general costs, lifestyle expectations, all have fallen within expectations and plans.

Oh, wait… there has been one unsought surprise. Living close on our smallish sailboat has improved my relationship with my spouse. We’ve discovered that we actually do better when we’re on board. So that’s a nice surprise .

We found that getting rid of that chunk of land, and all the mortgage, taxes, utilities, insurance, and other garbage that went with it, not to mention the mountain of “stuff” that we’d accumulated, but rarely if ever used, was an extremely liberating experience. We haven missed any of it and we’ve saved quite a few tens of thousands of dollars by getting free of those shackles.
If it’s not on the boat, we don’t need it.

[pufferfish]

Originally Posted by Mike OReilly

Oh, wait… there has been one unsought surprise. Living close on our smallish sailboat has improved my relationship with my spouse. We’ve discovered that we actually do better when we’re on board. So that’s a nice surprise .

Second that. While we are only part time cruisers (still working some 7 months a year), the time on the boat keeps improving our relationship (and we have been happily together already for 40 years) - but also contributing towards keeping our relationship with our 4 already adult 'children' and their partners alive and interesting - they all love hopping on board for a few weeks and spending time offshore with us.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by pufferfish

Second that. While we are only part time cruisers (still working some 7 months a year), the time on the boat keeps improving our relationship (and we have been happily together already for 40 years) - but also contributing towards keeping our relationship with our 4 already adult 'children' and their partners alive and interesting - they all love hopping on board for a few weeks and spending time offshore with us.

Ain’t it great .

Originally Posted by carlwk3c

We found that getting rid of that chunk of land, and all the mortgage, taxes, utilities, insurance, and other garbage that went with it, not to mention the mountain of “stuff” that we’d accumulated, but rarely if ever used, was an extremely liberating experience. We haven missed any of it and we’ve saved quite a few tens of thousands of dollars by getting free of those shackles.
If it’s not on the boat, we don’t need it.

I agree. We sold most things, including house and most of our stuff. We kept a family items (mostly hers), and some basic household stuff to set up a home should we ever sink. It’s in a cargo trailer parked (for free) on a friend’s farm. We also have two small motorcycles which are stored at another friend’s place (for free). And finally, we have a small car, which we still use in the off-season.

Getting rid of the house is what has allowed us to live our current life. It costs a lot to own, and maintain, a land home. Heck, it costs a lot just to work for a living. We got rid of house, and jobs, and now spend a fraction of what we once did.

[Rimica]

My surprise was day in marinas versus days at anchor. We are in the Mediterranean and winter are brisks.



Overall in 2018 we spent 239 days in marinas and 126 at anchor. The 239 includes 120 days on the hard for wintering. If you are south not a problem. Then there are the unforseen circumstances: wedding attendance (5 days), funeral attendance (10 days), friends pick up and drop off (8 days) and the foreseeable: grocery shopping (17 days) and 14 days due to weather (can't get out or can't stay out). Note that we do not like leaving the boat at anchor unattended if this is ok with you then you are saving some.

[chuckr]

We have been underway for 12 years and still remember our first years out. We bought a brand new boat and got to know her a bit before cutting the dock lines but some of the repair issues were beyond me - such as a cutlass bearing or thru hull or windlass problem - but we learned and over came most of them


Second was the cost - it is much less expensive than we thought. We have put out our cost data for each year - 10 years of cost data -


Third we are anything if not less than average sailors but we can get there. We were never really aware of the weather until we got out here. We used Chris Parker and met him once and had a heart to heart and we became something of weather geeks - and not to bad a forecasting it. We now do everything based on the weather and timing of fronts and wind angles.


Fourth - the amount of planning to do a major summer sail when we did the entire Black Sea I spent a few months on and off working on winds, waves, ports, ect all the way from Kusadasi Turkey to Russia from the south to Ukraine down the east side and back. Right now we are working on next summer and I am spending 3-4 hours 2-4 days a week looking at distances, ports, wind angles, inland places to visit, as we will be in EU our Schengen days - off the beaten path areas such as the Red Sea or Algeria - spend a lot of time planning.


Fifth - when we left we stocked up on more food than you can imagine then we realized people eat all over the world. We adapted to local food and new foods. It was eye opening and fun.


Sixth - the amount of time sailing vs motoring. Last year we did a lot of short jumps along the Turkish coast - and with early out early in we generally had lite winds and spent more time motoring. Sometimes the winds just does not blow


Seventh - once out here you become a part of a huge family and what surprised us was the number of people who took rookies under their wing and helped and taught us. We have since done the same multiple times over. Family takes care of family.


Eighth - customs and immigration has never been a problem (except for the USA) - the officers have been for the most part professional and good natured. We have only once had to offer baksheesh and we knew what it would be - a couple of cartons of cigarettes once and two fresh tuna that we had just caught -


Ninth - people all over the world are kind, helpful and wonderful. In 12 years we have had one bad experience - dock master in Volos Greece - people are great and so kind - to us it is amazing that with such kindness all over why we can't get along better -


Tenth - propane does not go as far as you think it will.


Eleventh - did not catch as many fish as we thought we would.


Twelfth - we did not know what we did not know and learned along the way and now realize that we know so little and so much more to learn -


this is just a start

[Pelagic]

Great post chuck