Is this even a feasible idea? living far away from your boat

[Debmar]

Some info.

My Wife and myself are both going to be 50 in the next year. We have almost no sailing experience. We live far from the ocean, and far enough north that in order to sail in the winter months (which is the only time our schedule allows currently) the boat in question would have to be kept at a warm location far away from where we are.

We would be looking at buying a used but decent seaworthy sailboat in the 35-40 ish foot range we think. (remember, we don't know what we are talking about, but have tried to research this and be grounded in reality in the process)

The question....is it being realistic on our part to think owning a boat in say Florida (or other warm locale) and having it stored out of the water for a significant part of the year could work? without being anywhere near to be able to check on it? without the storage costs being so prohibitive as to make it not worth it. we would hope that each year as our schedule and experience sailing allows the time on the boat would increase (we would initially probably be able to be on her for a month (after fixing her up and getting her in the water) but hopefully that would increase by a couple weeks per year. ) we realize that we have piles to learn, but if this dream is to become reality we have to start somewhere, and sooner the better.

we have looked at charters but that appears to get really costly quickly and although a great experience that $ is just gone.

anyone doing something similar out there with any advice for us as we try to keep a dream alive? We would really appreciate any insight from those who are or who have tried such a thing.

thanks

[gaucho]

I live far from my boat. I have owned it for 3+ years. It's true, I can get away every three/four months for maybe 2-3 weeks. That helps. I can barely keep up with all the boat things that pop up. Im single, in my 40s, my own boss, and still the boat takes a lot of my time, income and effort

Honestly if all you can give to the boat is a month a year, look into being a charter customer. Trust me, it will make more economic sense. You can learn sailing, cruising et al, while going to some fantastic location like the Eastern Carib, BVIs, or even find something around Florida. Yeah, you will not learn about boat ownership, or a lot about systems, and all that portion that has to do with sailing. But you can make strides in sailing and navigation. I usually think of "cruising" as three different stages:

- sailing and understanding boats in general (you can learn most of this anywhere there's a body of water)

- navigating and being a captain (you can learn at least half of it chartering)

- systems & maintenance (boat ownership is the only route)

Again, you can get the first two, through chartering. Maybe dabble a little bit on the third aspect. Right now, if you budget 10k a year for boat maintenance (easy to reach figure once you add insurance, storage, and stuff that WILL come up that the boat needs done), you could charter whatever you want wherever you want.

That's what I think of course. If you can dedicate at least 1/4 of your year to your boat, it might start making sense to invest in your own boat, even if it's gruesome, it would make a bit more sense. But 1 month a year .... stick to renting for the time being.

[gaucho]

You call chartering expensive. I think you need to do the math. Thinking about an average 35-40 ft sailboat, in the 60-100k price range for example, you would be talking 300-500 usd a month on storage (and Im going for the lower end here, on St Agustine or the West Coast of FL), plus what, 2k for insurance? And leave the boat in a hurricane prone area like FL, does anybody even insure you anymore if you are not a resident of FL?

I think you need to run the numbers. It all depends on several factors, but me thinks that if you find chartering expensive, you are going to find boat ownership (and in particular REMOTE boat ownership) way more expensive :/

[tkeithlu]

Welcome, Debmar.

Better figure on several hundred per month for a slip.

At this point you have, regrettably, no way of knowing that you will even like sailing/cruising or liveaboard. That's not the time to invest in a cruising boat. Given your location, it sounds like a vacation needs to be spent on a charter with a captain. You need to be shown the ropes, literally.

Don't stop dreaming. Just apply your dream with the least non-refundable deposit, for a bit of comparison between the dream and reality. I hope you love it.

[model 10]

There are a thousand boats down here doing the same thing. They come in November and leave in May. $4-5 US per foot per month, dry or wet storage. Europeans, Russians even!

[ohthetrees]

Agree with Gaucho. If you think chartering a boat is expensive, try owning one! Yes, the money is “gone“, but you also have a cap/certainty on your spend, and it wont suck you dry like owning a boat can. Trying to maintain and store a boat from far away would make it even more difficult and expensive.

You can save a lot of money by chartering in the off-season. I really don’t think there is a cheaper way to learn if owning a boat is for you than charter. The exception of course, is if you have friends or family with a boat.

[gaucho]

Whatever you pay on insurance, slip/storage fees and basic maintenance (not add-ons) is also money that's "gone". As gone as it is on a charter week.

[Macblaze]

Define winter. And assess your desire to sit around in the sun. If winter is closer to October or April and you really aren't looking for the lying-around-getting-a-tan experience then you could consider the PNW. I suppose there might be other places in the world where this would work but...

Charter boats in the PNW tend to be older models that owners have placed in charter to help offset the cost of ownership. The season is so short no one realistically expects to make money, but depending on the boat and luck you might break even. So in return for putting your boat in charter you get maintenance, security and a turn key boat when you show up for your month-long sail with little or no delay before you cast off. The fact that you can do this with an older model even helps with depreciation as the boat will have taken its biggest hit already.

Its not for everyone. And it's like owning a retail property: you can't get too emotionally attached to it as dings and scrapes will occur. Last time we ran the numbers I think you needed to be cruising in the neighbourhood of 5 weeks/year for it to make any kind of sense and that time should be in the off or shoulder season.

Anyway, it's a thought.

[Debmar]

For sure there will be some chartering before pursuing owning our own
This was kind of "high altitude" planning on how to get from point a to point b

If point b is not a realistic option then might as well not work to hard to get there

[FlyingScot]

Boats are more expensive when you are remote.
Travel
Haul out fees
Storage fees
Paying for work you can do, but don't have the time at the boat to do it

These are just the things that immediately come to mind.

There is also the 'worry' when you are away from a boat.

[model 10]

How much does a shrink cost? How much is getting away from Donald Trump wanting to nuke hurricanes worth? Our boat may be a money pit but it can be somewhere else anytime I want.

[Shenandoah52]

Also consider your exit strategy. If you find having a long distance love affair with a boat turns realistic at some point you cannot just turn off the money spigot at will. The second happiest day of boat ownership can sometimes takes years to reach. Case in point...
A friend of mine plunked down $200K on dream boat in 2015 when he got some inheritance. The boat is now 400 miles away from his home and has been on the market for 2 years with no offers and his total cost for his dream after all the ink is dry will be around a $150K loss. I know that sounds unlikely, but that is what he is looking at.
Don't be that guy.

[Pizzazz]

Boat ownership only makes sense if you are actively using it, sailing, living aboard, etc. otherwise you are better of chartering.

Now, it does not need to make sense. You can still have a boat that sits unused half of the time if you can afford it. It will give you pleasure that only you can measure. Newer boats have the depreciation expense, older boats have the maintenance expense. It is a wash. Also, actively sailing the boat is also costly because you break things (more on the rigging and sails if you are performance minded, more on the systems and comfort if you are cruising minded).

That being said, the feeling of being on your own boat on the water vs. in a hotel near the water is very different. I would charter a couple of times then decide.

Lastly, do not underestimate the time needed to sell a boat. It is typically years.

SV Pizzazz

[valhalla360]

Originally Posted by gaucho

Whatever you pay on insurance, slip/storage fees and basic maintenance (not add-ons) is also money that's "gone". As gone as it is on a charter week.

And don't forget...if you pull the plug on the cruising idea, you never pay another penny for a charter.

If you pull the plug on the cruising idea...you are still paying slip fees, insurance, repairs, brokerage expenses, etc... until it sells which can easily be 6-12months unless you sell at a big loss.

We have experience with similar: After 10yrs full time on a US based boat, we thought we were going to do 3 months on 3 months off in Europe. Bought a boat there but then life got in the way...after a couple years, we were only using the boat 4-6weeks per year and it just didn't make sense to pay several thousand per year to feed and care for her, so we sold. Eventually when we have more time we will probably get another but if you can't use it a lot, it doesn't make sense to buy.

[mvweebles]

I moved away couple timezones away from my boat in San Francisco. I travel a lot for work so figured I would visit often, at least use it as a base camp for San Francisco. Logistics and expense of travel is a barrier, and there are always distractions - weddings, other vacations, etc,.

Over a few years, the boat deteriorated due to neglect, and I'm very handy and it still got away from me. In a way, might be better if I were not handy and used to paying others to do the work for me. But keeping a boat - especially an older one - in operating condition is no small feat.

Last year, as my wife and I approach 60, we decided to put a solid cruising plan in place - a plan put on hold 10-years ago due to work opportunities. It took a lot of time and money, but we made her seaworthy again and brought her to Mexico for a refit. We will begin our cruising next year, probably head north to SE Alaska for a season, then south and eventually end up in Florida, our new home port.

A few years ago, we arrived at about 9pm. Unfortunately, a couple rats had taken up residence and trashed the interior of the boat. We ended up getting an upgraded hotel room in SF and had a nice night looking out over the city - really memorable. We then spent our vacation repairing the damage from the critters, which was substantial.

Do I regret the 10-years of occasional use? Yes and no - I'm a. "own" vs "rent" type of person. Not everything in life has to make financial sense - lord knows boars would not exist if judged only by financial sense. But I can't ignore that it cost an easy $10k/year to keep the boat plus it depreciated badly over the period. That's at least $100k (I stress "at least")

But for us, she's the right boat. And we are super excited about our cruising future. And we had great times in San Francisco visiting. And we had a great time getting the boat ready to head to Mexico last year - the 3-day passage to Ensenada threw gasoline on our fire to cruise.

Intellectually, buying/owning a boat makes zero sense. Emotionally, it's very fulfilling for us - after 25-years (including about 7 as liveaboards) we just love being on a boat even if at a marina. But it comes with a cost - a steep cost. We had done mini-cruises for 15-years prior to hatching the plan to leave the boat in SF and commute--cruise and it still got away from us. My wife and I have roughly similar levels of enthusiasm about boats and cruising so it's something we do together and it has just become part of our lives - an evolving journey. I'm not sure it would have worked out as well had one or the other been lukewarm or ambivalent - the expense may have become a wedge.

A famous saying is that in the end, you will regret things you didn't do more than the things you did.

Good luck with whatever your decision is.