Return of Wanderlust

[sailorboy1]

It has been 8 months now since our nighttime collision with a commercial fishing boat ended 7 years of cruising and living on a sailboat. It is 6 months since we sold the boat and were 100% out of boating and it is 4 months now that we have been living in a dirt dwelling.

I can say that we like the dirt dwelling life a lot more than we liked living on a boat in a marina when not cruising. But we both miss the actural cruising and travelling. Facebook seems to take pleasure in reminding us of that by showing us memories from postings almost everyday. So I have been mentally entertaining a return to some cruising.

My goals, wants, and wishes are a lot different now than when I first put us on a boat cruising life path 15 years ago. So, I don't feel we need the same type of boat and I also don't want to tie up a lot of our assets. That kind of leads me to a mid to upper 30-footer power boat in the $20-30k range. This seems livable for a few months at a time and which I wouldn't feel the need to maintain to the same level as a "nicer" boat to reduce ownership costs. I know the market for this boa would almost nothing in a few years so the low price would me to just "walk away" if needed.

I come to this knowing a lot about our spending habits from the 8 years of detailed monthly cruising records. That means I think I understand the costs of the boat living and I feel it is easy to know the cost of maintaining our house while not there. The biggest cost problem I currently see is the cost of storing the boat when not using it. But I will need to think it through more with time.
I mentioned to my wife, and she definitely is not mentally ready to be on a boat again yet. So, I feel I have a year or so to sort it out more.

In the meantime, anyone with more lessons learned of the part time cruiser I welcome them being posted here.