It's fun to read you guys talking about picking new cats.

[SpeedsterX]

Originally Posted by Cheechako

well.... the discussion has gone off track into building catamarans from scratch... haha... maybe you want to go cruising this century?
Your budget is fine. Alot of us talk the merits of various new, expensive designs out there, but not many end up with those!
For your stated trip there are options out there and your dream is attainable.

Thank you! I have plenty of time (maybe too much) to look around and learn. I will definitely not be building one from scratch though. lol

Originally Posted by FSMike

Not all multihulls are catamarans. As Sand crab posted earlier, just buy a tri. There are great bargains out there in used trimarans. You give up the space available in cats, but tris can be great seaworthy, economical vessels.

To be honest, I am not sure I will want to give up space for most anything. When I first started this dream, I was thinking of Trawlers but I decided to give up a bit of space for sails for the money savings and safety. I think that's all the space I'll want to give up.

Originally Posted by Seadog54

Dear SpeedsterX, We too are planning on retiring in between three and five years time and will not have a great pension. We will sell our home and use most of the dosh to buy a second-hand cat. We are carefully planning throughout the years leading up to retiring. I have my skipper's ticket and have sailed quite a lot. We are saving, researching and most important of all are going for it 100%. Please don't be put off visualise your dream go for it do the same there are cats out there if you're careful. and do your research. Its the only thing which keeps me going as I too am in Criminal Justice! Its pretty tough in there aint it!

Well you are ahead of me in planning and experience. I am hoping to research and gain the knowledge first and then gain as much experience as possible that I can in northern Indiana. I am near Lake Michigan so I am sure I can find a club that I can get some experience from. Financially, I am not worried about my needs because I am a minimalist so I don't want for much. Experience is what I am most wanting and needing. It IS tough in the Law Enforcement career. Lots of negativity. Just like you, this dream is the only thing that keeps me going at times. The ONE thing to look forward to, like a reward if you will. lol Good luck and keep us advised on how you are doing!

[SpeedsterX]

Originally Posted by Roy M

SpeedsterX, find an old copy of SAIL POWER, by Wallace Ross. It's a great textbook on how sails work, what we do to them to make them work better, and how to look at a sail and make some powerful judgements. It's not a book that is a page-burner, so take it a chapter at a time. The lessons learned will put you in a completely different class of sailors, ones who understand the why of sails.

Absolutely will do! Thank you! Just ordered a used copy from Amazon for 6 bucks!

[Sand crab]

And get these books.

REFERENCE BOOK: "CATAMARANS, The Complete Guide for Cruising Sailors" - Aeroyacht

For Sale - Chris White Designs

The Case for the Cruising Trimaran: Jim Brown: 9780972146142: Amazon.com: Books

I mentioned the Bums earlier and that would be the Bumfuzzles if you didn't know. They purchased a Wildcat 35 and set off around the world with no sailing experience at all. Love em or hate em their blog is entertaining. Start at the beginning.

Bumfuzzle

Slapdash is another although they had a Gemini.

The Slapdash | No Fixed Address

[SpeedsterX]

Originally Posted by Sand crab

And get these books.

REFERENCE BOOK: "CATAMARANS, The Complete Guide for Cruising Sailors" - Aeroyacht

For Sale - Chris White Designs

The Case for the Cruising Trimaran: Jim Brown: 9780972146142: Amazon.com: Books

I mentioned the Bums earlier and that would be the Bumfuzzles if you didn't know. They purchased a Wildcat 35 and set off around the world with no sailing experience at all. Love em or hate em their blog is entertaining. Start at the beginning.

Bumfuzzle

Slapdash is another although they had a Gemini.

The Slapdash | No Fixed Address

Ha! Good thing I have 6-7 years because you guys have a ton of reading for me to do and read them I will! Thank you!

[Sundancer628]

SpeedsterX

I suggest you try and find an old Nacra or Tornado to learn to sail. One of my first cats was a Sol-Cat and after sailing a Hobie, I'd rather sail the box it came in than a Hobie.

[SpeedsterX]

Originally Posted by Sand crab

Slapdash is another although they had a Gemini.

The Slapdash | No Fixed Address

This was an amazing read and enjoyed the hell out of it! Thanks!

[SpeedsterX]

Originally Posted by Sundancer628

SpeedsterX

I suggest you try and find an old Nacra or Tornado to learn to sail. One of my first cats was a Sol-Cat and after sailing a Hobie, I'd rather sail the box it came in than a Hobie.

Thank you! I'll look into those!

[jaa1025]

Fellow LEO.

I just found these forums a few months ago and have been lurking while planning my retirement. I too have been living vicariously through other peoples blogs and posts on here. I started at my department when I was 21 yo and wish I started saving then. Young and dumb! I'm 16 years away from retirement now and plan on having 300k+ along with a 60k pension I can draw at 50-51. This is my dream as well. If I need more, I'll retire here and get a second job for a few years while I take sailing classes and get used to the sea.

I'm sacrificing now to be able to enjoy retirement. Overtime. Nights. Weekends. Holidays. It sucks, but will be well worth it when I'm living life in the Bahamas and the Caribbean.

The first Cat that I road on was in Mexico on an excursion and fell in love. It was a power boat version and I still haven't sailed in one. My first sailing trip is planned next year with a buddy of mine's father that is really into it. I absolutely love being on the water though.

Originally Posted by SpeedsterX

While I sit here and read you guys talk about how to choose $100,000-$300,000 boats and discussing the pros and cons of each model and make has me daydreaming about being able to go through such a process and being able to choose things. lol You're very fortunate and I'm sure you who can do this has worked hard to be able to do this.

I'm a police officer in a medium size city and my dream is to sail in a catamaran through out the ICW and the Bahama's. I am retiring in 7 years with a very modest pension and starting now to save. I now have my home for sale to get my budget down to be able to save for a boat. I predict that I'll end up with about $60,000-$80,000 for the boat and start up expenses. After that, I will have approx. $1,500 a month to live on from my pension.

The whole point here is that I am in awe at how some of you guys/gals can shop around for new boats and I can live vicariously through you and daydream. I assume it's like how someone on welfare may find me shopping for a brand new car. I have the reality that when I am able to purchase, I will not be able to shop around and get that "perfect" boat of my dreams but will be getting the best possible boat in my price range. No matter, I am sure I will be ecstatic when the time arrives and I find something nice and new-to-me. When I see pictures and discussions of those beautiful NEW catamarans, I just think to myself, "Damn! I should have went to college and realized this dream sooner!" lol Here's to hoping in 7 years, prices go down on nice used cats!

[SpeedsterX]

Originally Posted by jaa1025

Fellow LEO.

I just found these forums a few months ago and have been lurking while planning my retirement. I too have been living vicariously through other peoples blogs and posts on here. I started at my department when I was 21 yo and wish I started saving then. Young and dumb! I'm 16 years away from retirement now and plan on having 300k+ along with a 60k pension I can draw at 50-51. This is my dream as well. If I need more, I'll retire here and get a second job for a few years while I take sailing classes and get used to the sea.

I'm sacrificing now to be able to enjoy retirement. Overtime. Nights. Weekends. Holidays. It sucks, but will be well worth it when I'm living life in the Bahamas and the Caribbean.

The first Cat that I road on was in Mexico on an excursion and fell in love. It was a power boat version and I still haven't sailed in one. My first sailing trip is planned next year with a buddy of mine's father that is really into it. I absolutely love being on the water though.

Welcome fellow LEO!

We are like minded, hope all goes well for you! If you ever see a cat by the name of 'Isabella", come by and I'll buy you a beer! You seem to have it all well over me. I predict about $90,000 saved, possibly around $90+ in my retirement plan and only around $1,900 a month pension (by then). In other words, your boat will be prettier than mine. lol But we'll both have the same view!

BTW, read theslapdash.com blog! Incredible!

[SV THIRD DAY]

The Cat trend has brought new people into the cruising world but as the first poster in this thread pointe out perhaps falsely given the perception that you need a $100 or $300 boat to go cruising...BS.

I could go on Yachtworld today and find plenty of GO NOW cruising boats for under $50K. These affordable boats don't get the 3 page Cruising World layouts and there is no real marketing of the dream behind them, but Amigos...the $20K boat shares the same anchorage as the $500K Cat and has just as fabulous of a tiime. Going cruising with a paid off boat with a nice fat cruising kitty trumps the boat names "Debt".

Don't let the DREAM be about the BOAT, but getting out there on whatever you can afford and doing it before you are too old to really enjoy it!

[Mr B]

1990, I had block of land with a caravan on it, And a large Mortgage to pay, 2 X exwives,

I went with out everything, I had a vision to retire and travel,

I have now realized that vision,

I retired, I had X amount of money, It had to buy my boat and it also had to keep me for the rest of my life,

I could buy a Cat in OZ, but I would not have any money left over to retire on,

So I bought one in Fiji, Its USA Made, The other one I liked was in San Diego, But shipping is too expensive,
And 12000 nautical miles for my first big ocean crossing, is a bit too unrealistic, even for me,

Fiji is close, That will have to do,

I now have boat and modest income, Retirement is good, And I have a very Nice boat,

You can do it, if you stick your nose to the grindstone, and keep at it,

And if you die in the meantime, You wont know about it, So dont worry about it,

The Boat you buy, is what ever you can afford, Enjoy it,

[SpeedsterX]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

The Cat trend has brought new people into the cruising world but as the first poster in this thread pointe out perhaps falsely given the perception that you need a $100 or $300 boat to go cruising...BS.

I could go on Yachtworld today and find plenty of GO NOW cruising boats for under $50K. These affordable boats don't get the 3 page Cruising World layouts and there is no real marketing of the dream behind them, but Amigos...the $20K boat shares the same anchorage as the $500K Cat and has just as fabulous of a tiime. Going cruising with a paid off boat with a nice fat cruising kitty trumps the boat names "Debt".

Don't let the DREAM be about the BOAT, but getting out there on whatever you can afford and doing it before you are too old to really enjoy it!

Originally Posted by Mr B

1990, I had block of land with a caravan on it, And a large Mortgage to pay, 2 X exwives,

I went with out everything, I had a vision to retire and travel,

I have now realized that vision,

I retired, I had X amount of money, It had to buy my boat and it also had to keep me for the rest of my life,

I could buy a Cat in OZ, but I would not have any money left over to retire on,

So I bought one in Fiji, Its USA Made, The other one I liked was in San Diego, But shipping is too expensive,
And 12000 nautical miles for my first big ocean crossing, is a bit too unrealistic, even for me,

Fiji is close, That will have to do,

I now have boat and modest income, Retirement is good, And I have a very Nice boat,

You can do it, if you stick your nose to the grindstone, and keep at it,

And if you die in the meantime, You wont know about it, So dont worry about it,

The Boat you buy, is what ever you can afford, Enjoy it,

I absolutely agree with you both, especially the "enjoy it while you're still young enough". Unfortunately, I have no choice but to wait another 6 years but I'll still be in my mid fifties so that's not too bad.

[Roy M]

You know, the journey is the experience, not achieving the destination. Enjoy the process of learning about cruising, stop worrying about leaving the dock. You only get to go this way once. This is your life, not that of all the folks of CF. You are going to do what you need to do, not what any or the "old salts", wannabees, or armchair experts exposite with gusto. Listen, but don't blindly follow. Read, sail, learn and enjoy. Your time will come, and if not, it hasn't been a complete loss because you dreamed.

[jaa1025]

Originally Posted by SpeedsterX

Welcome fellow LEO!

We are like minded, hope all goes well for you! If you ever see a cat by the name of 'Isabella", come by and I'll buy you a beer! You seem to have it all well over me. I predict about $90,000 saved, possibly around $90+ in my retirement plan and only around $1,900 a month pension (by then). In other words, your boat will be prettier than mine. lol But we'll both have the same view!

BTW, read theslapdash.com blog! Incredible!

Thanks! Until then, we can share the dream through other people .

[ArtM]

People talk about the "rich" and the "poor" as if they were all made of hard stuff, like we all came from the womb pre-destined to be "rich", "poor", or "middle-class".

There are several reasons people have trouble moving between social and financial classes, and with rare exception it is not birthright -
- Social inertia
- Parental imprinting
- Lack of relevant education on financial management
- Lack of motivation

The first two are easy to understand - or at least I see it that way. The last two I think are more difficult to understand. After all the bookstores are full of financial self-help books, and one would think that everyone would choose to be wealthy if they could - but it actually is not so.

Years ago I developed a system that allows people to choose a social/financial class, then learn to migrate into that class. Someday I hope to offer it as a published book and seminar, but for now I occasionally do lifestyle and financial consulting for people who I believe have the motivation to at least try it out.

If you or anyone else is interested, I'd love to help fellow cruising enthusiasts learn how to reach their lifestyle goals, and I don't charge for it - I consider it research and a hobby.

If anyone would like to discuss it, I'm available via PM, or if someone wants to discuss it publicly I'm open to that too.