So.... You want to cruise on a sailboat

[Davy J]

Originally Posted by Lasivian

Why not just wait for calmer winds? **ponder**

Because, the shrimp and lobster tail shells you threw in there stink to high heaven and you now have three bags of trash..........

Not to mention I have a dog, he's been trained to do the doo-doo on the boat. Those little blue bags start to get ripe.........

Ask me how I know about these things........

[Shrew]

Originally Posted by sailorboy1

Now, .......................... Are you ready for the truth?

I spent $20,000 US on my boat just in repairs and upgrades in 2020. This is not a project boat. We lived on it from June - Oct. We spent many weeks on anchor.

Generator Rebuild
New Shaft
New Cutlass bearing
re-bedded shaft strut
re-packed rudder post
new dripless shaft seal
new shaft coupler
tuned prop
new steering ram
new steering linkage
new steering arm
replaced/upgraded head
new sanitation lines
new pressure pump
new holding tank discharge pump

Cruising at $500/month......that just ate up 40 months (almost 3 1/2 yrs) of cruising kitty.

None of this includes the cost of winter storage, a slip for the summer, fuel, or any other boat related supplies (A bottle of 3M wax runs almost $20 and I need more than 1.).

[thomm225]

Most folks can learn about all this just coastal cruisin' on the weekends and vacations.

So when you do finally go, it gives you a pretty good idea of what to expect.

It really helps to get a bit of experience before just "doing it!"

[Supers0nic]

I know the truth and it’s even better then the dream.

[Jim Cate]

There must be something wrong with me... I've lived aboard, full time cruising, mostly at anchor, done a lot of offshore miles...

and I'm still enjoying it after 34 years.

Jim

[edlepera]

Boat doesn’t always mean break out another thousand. It means finding a sailboat you can sail away immediately. Not sailing around the world just to sail. Getting used to the sailboat. Solo, or a willing partner to follow your dream? So many answers follow by so many questions. I bought a project boat a 50 year old Catalina 22 five years ago and next spring I will have put 4K into it, but it will be in the water and I will be sailing it. At least for a season. Then maybe a bigger boat.

[tradrockrat]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Running out of wine is very very serious

This might be the most important post on this forum. Ever.

[Lasivian]

Originally Posted by Davy J

Because, the shrimp and lobster tail shells you threw in there stink to high heaven

THROWING AWAY GOOD CHUM?? :O

[Lasivian]

Originally Posted by skipgundlach

Try the livaboard simulator first.

I like this. Tho it does imply the comforts of a marina! LOL

I suppose I can handle it, since when I first moved to Washington State I lived in a 113sqft yurt, 4 miles from a small town, without running water, and with only 1 10-amp circuit.

"Do you want to be roughing it for the rest of your life?"

I think most people just can't handle living without "modern" life in all it's simplified convienient glory.

My main "I gotta have this" convienience on a boat will be a small washing machine.

[Lihuedooley77]

After reading this really fun and interesting thread, I am headed onto the kitchen, since we are on land, at the beach, in Dana Point. Time to pilfer my own rum locker, put on the Jimmy Buffett, or Hawaiian music, and hoist my pussers co. BVI map glass of dark rum to all of you.

Many of us, originally were introduced to the great world of sailing by, yes, reading a book. Mine was long ago , Log of the Mahina, by John Neal. And I also dreamed of learning to sail and navigate, and cast off lines for French Polynesia.

Another magnet pulling me was the music of Harry Belefonte, and the upbeat songs of the Caribbean. Life occured, and eventually I was able to experience those and other harbors, and islands, on board sailing vessels .

Endgame : I eventually took sailing lessons, and then after gaining some experience, i started instructing with the Newport Sailing Club, Newport Beach, Ca. That eventually morphed into a parallel careers of sailing along with flying. I loved both of those fabulous adventure lifestyles.

I amassed my 720 days of documented time, and attained my U.S.C.G. Merchant marine capt. license 100 tons. I did not buy a boat, or become a live aboard cruiser, altough those thoughts are still activating the few brain cells that are still functioning.

Instead of full time cruising, a did achieve those dreams. Sailed Australia, Tahiti, Tonga, the coastal waters of southern california and the channel islands, delivered boats from Cabo, Mexico to Los Angeles, and also bareboated the British Virgin Islands ( 17 trips ), The Abacos, Bahamas; French West Indies, Windwards and Grenadines, and flew across the Atlantic to skipper a M/V for 2 weeks up the River Shannon, and acted as watch capt sailing Greece. Many of those sailing vacations we did several times.

It has been a marvelous life, and we have been able to have experienced great adventures, meeting new people, making friends, enjoying new cultures, having loads of fun, and great sailing, with a few challenges tossed into the mix.

One of the best things was meeting Erica, thru sailing, and we have shared all of the above together as a team. Having a significant other that you can count on in all situations, mild and mean, has allowed me to have shared these sailing adventures with someone very special.

Point being, I did not put the sailing life, and those island dreams off into the unknown future. I worked with what I had, and did the best I could. That has been about 37 years of special memories.

Thank you all for your many posts, your adventures, and grand and honest tales and experiences cruising, and how some are in the planning stages.

To ya lads and lasses.

Time to splice the mainbrace.

Denny

[tradrockrat]

Originally Posted by Lasivian

I like this. Tho it does imply the comforts of a marina! LOL

I suppose I can handle it, since when I first moved to Washington State I lived in a 113sqft yurt, 4 miles from a small town, without running water, and with only 1 10-amp circuit.

"Do you want to be roughing it for the rest of your life?"

I think most people just can't handle living without "modern" life in all it's simplified convienient glory.

My main "I gotta have this" convienience on a boat will be a small washing machine.

It's always been amazing to me the things some people consider "roughing it"

I grew up in a house with no AC and a wood burning stove for heat. That was in Maryland - a 4 season state. The driveway was a 1/4 mile steep hill (up hill both ways in the snow? ;-) ) Yet nobody would say I was roughing it growing up.

My boat has AC and HEAT! The dock walk is a flat 1/10 of a mile to my car. I have a fridge and running water. A shower and toilet, and electricity. A freaking stove! In no way whatsoever is a modern boat "roughing it". A modern boat is often "inconvenient", but roughing it? No.

[thomm225]

Originally Posted by tradrockrat

It's always been amazing to me the things some people consider "roughing it"

I grew up in a house with no AC and a wood burning stove for heat. That was in Maryland - a 4 season state. The driveway was a 1/4 mile steep hill (up hill both ways in the snow? ;-) ) Yet nobody would say I was roughing it growing up.

You don't need AC in Maryland.

Who are you kidding here?

You most likely had a house with trees around it or did you grow up in the projects in downtown Baltimore?

If you did, then that was roughing it!

[NedX]

Originally Posted by tradrockrat

This might be the most important post on this forum. Ever.

And getting the man a case of Brunello di Montalcino might be this forum's purest quest.

[Eclectic Always]

Originally Posted by goboatingnow

Running out of wine is very very serious

It’s not that I’m out of wine. There’s probably 50 bottles in the cooler in the other room.

The problem is that I have my 19yo cat in my lap and to get to the wine I’d have to disaccommodate him and I’d feel guilty for doing that. His 15yo buddy passed away a couple weeks ago and he feels a bit lonely.

So I guess I’ll wait until he decides he wants to move and then I can get the wine.

[Viking1300]

I can’t tell if it’s a bunch of bitter respondents, piss poor planners, or people who are just trying to add a negative slant because there’s not enough room at the next Marina for all the new want to be sailors. Either way I say “cheers to you!” Live your best life and if you’re hoping to live anywhere let alone on a boat for 500 bucks you should probably put the glass pipe down, Sell your boat or the boat dream and move into the back of a van down by the river.