Do Not Pass GO!

[Jim Cate]

A simple and effective mantra: live below your means!

WAY below is even better. Work like hell, don't spend money on frivolities, give up smoking and drinking (both expensive habits), don't eat out, don't go to movies, etc.

What? That doesn't sound like fun? Well, in many ways it is rather like long term low budget cruising! If you find one oppressive, it is fairly likely that the other will be too. On the other hand, if you thrive on that regime you will probably do well as a cruiser, so it is a good experiment for you.

And while socking away your earnings, sail on OPBs, for that costs nothing. It may require moving to a coastal area to find boats to crew on, but you did say that relocation was ok. While deciding where to go, consider mostly areas where sailing is a year-round activity. I'm not familiar with the East coast of the states, but in the SF bay area we sailed all year long, and there are many opportunities for getting on crews.

As others have said, many of us here on CF and out cruising started just about where you seem to be. Get off your butt and get going!

Cheers and good luck.

Jim

[Cheechako]

If you've been a bit of a drifter, then the good thing is your needs may be smaller! If you had a sound boat with two sails anywhere from say 28 ft on up. You could be living aboard in the carribean. You just need to find that boat, keep some of your money, get used to operating and maintaining the boat, and when you're comfortable enough... go! Most cruisers with resources think they need watermakers, refrigeration, chart plotters, radar, life rafts, parachute anchors etc etc.... The basics are good enough, they were good enough for most of the round the world cruisers my generation dreamed of: Hal Roth, Lin and Larry Pardey, Josua Slocum etc etc. The good news right now is that there are boats that need TLC that are or nearly are giveaway's due to the economy and the cost of moorage and maintenance. Go to Florida and start!

[jSnyder]

Four years ago I was exactly where you are now and now I live in my Ranger 28 in lake Michigan, If you are determined enough you will find a way. by the way you should have no problem finding a decent boat in that price range, I spent a fraction of that and my boat is ready to go today!

[WhereAway]

Thank you all for the comments. I have been reading them throughout yesterday and today. Nothing I would consider harsh or over the top. Just a lot of "get your butt in gear".

I do have plans to get back to a coastal area. Although I don't specifically have a set coast in mind or even country for that matter.

With the stress of my job and a few other things it is easy for me to forget how possible my dream really is. Again Thank you all for the help.

Scott

[denverd0n]

I lived in Denver for a long time (hence the screen-name). All the time there, my wife and I talked about wanting to eventually move back to Florida (which is where we met and were married, and where our daughter was born). In 2008 I got laid off from my job. A lot of people would have looked at that as a very negative thing, and would have let it get them down (in fact, a lot of the others, laid-off at the same time as me, did just that). We did not. Instead, my wife and I looked at it as an opportunity--the universe was telling us that now was the time to move back to Florida.

So we did. Wasn't easy finding a job, but I managed. We sold our cruising boat when we moved away from Florida the last time. Now we're looking for another one. In the meantime, we've bought ourselves a little daysailer, and we charter larger boats when we feel like it. We're moving towards where we want to be in life. And that's the key. You just have to keep taking whatever little steps you can towards your ultimate goals.

Telling yourself that it is hard, or that you are unlucky, only makes it worse. I have found that the more upbeat my attitude, and the harder I work at things, the luckier I become. Or, as Richard Bach once wrote: "Believe you can, believe you can't; either way, you're right."

Good luck.

[sww914]

As long as you continue to find reasons why it isn't possible you can maintain that condition. Failure is 100% guaranteed when you give up.
We have a son who has endured 30 surgeries. We lost our house to a lying cheating bank. My wife was in a wheelchair 3-4 years ago. My business failed and I had to sell the equipment. We got screwed by a worker's comp insurance company really bad for the last 5 years, and we managed to buy a cheap boat, fix EVERYTHING, and we're cruising.

[captain58sailin]

Just keep on plugging! You have to eat a mountain of cold oatmeal to find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

[tigerregis]

Jim Cate, this sailing/cruising life is supposed to be fun and enjoyable, so to each his own, but I kept my boat in the Chesapeake because RUM was $10 per handle and I SMOKED cigs from Reservations. If I wanted a life like you suggest, I would have been at The Order of The Holy Cross in Kingston with a 3 knotted girdle and looking out the cell window at the boats going south down the Hudson. One knot I never could untie was poverty.

[nosinglesource]

Originally Posted by ozskipper

I will ultimately be after something for blue water. But a mere 20k will get you a 30 footer you can call home and do coastal trips.

Heck, even less than that! We were looking at Grampian 30s last night (Cruising World had a review of them online, Aug 2009 edition, I believe), which apparently are very passable coastal cruisers. $10k was the median price we saw them for sale for on various sites online.

We've found out over the past few years that you really can't tell what's just around the bend for you.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by nosinglesource

Heck, even less than that! We were looking at Grampian 30s last night (Cruising World had a review of them online, Aug 2009 edition, I believe), which apparently are very passable coastal cruisers. $10k was the median price we saw them for sale for on various sites online.

Good recommendation nosinglesource. Our previous boat (still for sale: www.elysian.ca) is a Grampian 34. I can attest to the quality of all these boats. They are simple and solid. Although designed as coastal cruisers, many 30s and 34s have crossed oceans. And thanks to the current economic malaise, these boats have become very cheap.

[nosinglesource]

Nice boat, Mike! Also nice to see we're not the only ones going to be living with the critter fur aboard.

Cindi

[AllezCat]

Get to the coast. Get work around boats. Laborer at boat yard. Deck hand on fishing boats. The more you know/learn before buying the more sustainable your life aboard will be. No matter the purchase price - maintenance is expensive -and exponentially so if you have no skills. Walk the docks and (bone)yards. Heaps of vessels available. Being in the locale could give you 1st choice at a "bargain" fixer-upper.
How old are you/what trade?
cheers

[susanna reiter]

All good advice..but do not go to CALIFORNIA....that is the worst place for people on a shoestring....or anything else for that matter...Southern Florida is getting as bad..the Atlantic side of Northern Florida is still a reasonable and practical place for folks of modest means. Reportedly down around the Texas Gulf Coast/ Corpus Christi area you will find lots of boat related opportunity, the cost of living is very reasonable and the life style, according to what I hear is very laid back and reasonable too....but get out of CO if you want to follow the dream of living life afloat...good luck and get going.

[Mimsy]

Susanna, while you are correct about the Texas coast having a good cost of living and low unemployment, I think the OP would find the Clear Lake/Kemah area to be better than Corpus Christi. Houston has much more job opportunities and Kemah has a larger fleet than Corpus- supposedly the third largest in the US but I haven't counted them all myself so who knows...

[surfzombo13]

Originally Posted by susanna reiter

..but do not go to CALIFORNIA.....

LOL, too late, I live here.

As far as I can remember, this is my first post here, so here goes....

Hi, everybody, I'm Dave. I joined this forum a few years ago when a mild sailing bug bit me, but soon quit checking it out when other priorities took precedence. But, the bug's bit me again, and in a few months I'm coming into a little money. Not much, but enough to get started with my dream of buying a sailboat to live on, learn to sail, and eventually cruising (After saving more money).

I'm really digging this thread, lots of great encouragement and advice. In a lot of ways, I can identify with Scott. Always had the yearning, but circumstances (A long story.) held me back. I've never really sailed, unless you consider sailing with mom & pop's friends from Long Beach to Dana Point when I was a little kid.

In the next few months I am going take a few sailing classes here in the Los Angeles area (Any suggestions for a reputable sailing school would be much appreciated!!!). I've got a lot of books on sailing and living on a sailboat (Though they collected some dust in last few years, they're being read and studied again.). I love the ocean and surf as often as I can. Yet, sadly, I do not know anybody personally who sails, but hope to change that. So, if anybody here in the LA/Orange County area is looking for a deckhand who is a bit of a newb, yet learns quick, let me know!! All the same, I look forward to reading the posts here and in other threads to keep my motivation flowing.

Namaste!!!