IS CRUISING DEAD or DYING, STABLE or GROWING?

[TheSarahTonin]

Gotcha

[Lou-In-NJ]

Originally Posted by jimbunyard

RESPONSE TO POST#141:
Why??

Good question jimbunyard. I have an interest in trends, especially about things I'm interested in, as I think they tell us more about society, and are predictive about more than just the trend itself.

Originally Posted by TheSarahTonin

SEE POST#143:

Very interesting TheSarahTonin. How do you earn a living now? And you wouldn't recommend other young people, or anyone to the lifestyle now? And do you mean you wouldn't recommend it because of the pandemic, or other reasons?

[TheSarahTonin]

I pick up side work, hull cleaning and boat repairs for people, I worked as a diesel mechanic in the past and I have some savings. I guess I can't really defend not recommending it but with the new Covid restrictions and the like it appears to be a new world for travelers and traveling is inherent in the lifestyle. I'm just scared I put all this work into this dream and the world is going to say no, you can't go now.

[Mike OReilly]

Originally Posted by TheSarahTonin

I pick up side work, hull cleaning and boat repairs for people, I worked as a diesel mechanic in the past and I have some savings. I guess I can't really defend not recommending it but with the new Covid restrictions and the like it appears to be a new world for travelers and traveling is inherent in the lifestyle. I'm just scared I put all this work into this dream and the world is going to say no, you can't go now.

The world is always saying "no, you can't go." There's a narrow and clear path carved out for all of us. Stepping off this path is always hard. The naysayers are loud, and the nattering voices* of security and safety and perfection and general What IF!?! always ring strong.

Sounds like you've already headed off on your own path. Just keep going .


(*These voices are usually inside our own heads ).

[kmacdonald]

Rules are big gray spots. Some see them literally and others look at them as suggestions.

[MicHughV]

Was talking to my boat broker this morning....Marine Max...he says they can't keep boats in inventory anymore, just flying off the shelf...never seen anything like it....not just your average $100K fishing boat, but lotsa high end boats....$500K plus...

I can't talk for the sailboat market....but gonna do some looking around this weekend..

I have yet to see a face mask on anyone at the marina....

Interestingly, 250,000 bikers have descended on Sturgis for " bike week"...and they pretty much have said to hell with the face mask thing....so we'll see how that all works our....bikers will stand 6 deep at a bar...no social distancing there...

[MicHughV]

couldn't agree more with Mike O' above, I look back at my life and at the countless people that told me " you can't go...you can't do this, that or the other...."

well, I never listened, strangely, well not strangely, those people have never done squat in their lives...while I, on the other hand have lived a full measure...

naysayers are typically people that are afraid of their own shadow's......why on earth would anyone want to take advice from them ??

[TheSarahTonin]

I worked for the government for a number of years I'm all too familiar with how bendy rules can be. A passport is just traditional accepted identification. It's not the only form of identification and with some pre planning and writing to foreign nations I really believe even without a passport I may be able to find a home somewhere out there where paramedics are valuable.

[TheSarahTonin]

Very interesting TheSarahTonin. How do you earn a living now? And you wouldn't recommend other young people, or anyone to the lifestyle now? And do you mean you wouldn't recommend it because of the pandemic, or other reasons?[/QUOTE]

Helping a fellow liveaboard or cruiser is incredibly rewarding to me. Encouraging people to pursue a lifestyle based on my opinions and experiences terrifies me. To me the live aboard life is worth the enormous sacrifices because it keeps me in tune with life so to speak. The more I get into it the more I love that my stressors are waking up to changing winds and moving to another anchorage, because those stressors are easily understood and overcome within the reality of my own senses compared to something say, policing for profit, or healthcare for wealthcare. As much as I try to look at is as I'm moving towards something, the motivation is ultimately to move away from something else. So far, it still gets me up and out out of the bunk everyday... Most days. But always when the vessel is threatened because it really is my home, and really does provide me with exceptional shelter, and I really do love the water and nature.

[barnakiel]

You are lucky to be in a place where 'helping a fellow cruiser' is legal!


In many places, one needs to be very careful taking up a job on another boat. Some administrations are very very nasty to people who ... work.


b.

[zboss]

Boats are flying off the shelf because interest rates are so low. Banks are lending like crazy.

This doesn't mean cruising is a trend... it just means more people are buying boats. I'm not sure that cruising can continue like it has. The cost of cruising permits and custom fees around the world are skyrocketing. I can see them going nowhere but up.

[MicHughV]

this is all pretty simple...

everybody on this planet is given one life to live, what you do with it is your business, not mine, not anybody else's....only yours........you can be "influenced" by others to follow " their" life or their circumstances....

or...

you can live your own life...in whatever way you please...good...bad....right...wrong...it's your show...if turning left didn't work for you....turn right...or go straight ahead....you are the skipper of your own life...nobody else is at the helm of your life...it's only you....if you run aground somewhere...wait for the tides to lift you off and go again....try a different route..there is no harm in running aground...the harm is in staying there...

don't piss your life away with fear or what others 'think" you should do or not do.....do good, life your life, at the end ....look back...and say...."I've lived a full life !!!".....it's that simple.....

[barnakiel]

Why are people borrowing to buy boats?


I understand a house is such a chunk that most of us cannot buy cash up front. Hence mortgages.


But boats?


Are people so poor really? Are the boats so expensive really?


Why create more risk and exposure in times so uncertain?


I would buy nothing today. I would save and keep my savings in commodities instruments secured from inflation.



It all sounds so strange. We are in the EU and boats (s/h) are dirt cheap here and the marinas are stuffed full. Nobody buys.



It never stops amazing me how very different the US and the EU are even though they both share the same capitalist economy structure.



b.

[MicHughV]

have you ever checked out a house mortgage payment....or any other long term mortgage or loan...????

it's rigged out the wazoo....!!!

The banks and other loan institutions are NOT your friends....their loans are all connived to earn "them" the most money....at your expense !!

The first few years, all you do is pay the " interest" on your loan, very little goes to the principle...your $1,500/monthly payment....might have $100 going to principle...the remainder goes to " interest" !!.... ie, you might as well, be tossing that money out of a window, it certainly does not go anywhere in your interest.....

It stuns me to hear that people have finally " paid off their house, boat, car, whatever" after 30 years or what ever the length of the loan was...a house that might have cost $100,000 has cost them $400,000 in monthly payments over 30 years.....and even though the house has now " appreciated" to say $150,000.....you have not made $50,000 profit as you might think..ha ha....on the contrary.....you have only reduced your loss to $350,000....

ah, don't get me started here.......

[Yihang]

Originally Posted by MicHughV

have you ever checked out a house mortgage payment....or any other long term mortgage or loan...????

it's rigged out the wazoo....!!!

The banks and other loan institutions are NOT your friends....their loans are all connived to earn "them" the most money....at your expense !!

The first few years, all you do is pay the " interest" on your loan, very little goes to the principle...your $1,500/monthly payment....might have $100 going to principle...the remainder goes to " interest" !!.... ie, you might as well, be tossing that money out of a window, it certainly does not go anywhere in your interest.....

It stuns me to hear that people have finally " paid off their house, boat, car, whatever" after 30 years or what ever the length of the loan was...a house that might have cost $100,000 has cost them $400,000 in monthly payments over 30 years.....and even though the house has now " appreciated" to say $150,000.....you have not made $50,000 profit as you might think..ha ha....on the contrary.....you have only reduced your loss to $350,000....

ah, don't get me started here.......

Where is that? I can't imagine a house in any metropolitan area to have a value trajectory as the one you described. Especially for a house that was 100k 30 years ago, that would have been a nice house in a nice neighborhood. Probably worth 3 million now...


Anyway. As someone in their mid 30s with a land bound career they love, cruising full-time is not an option, even if finances allowed it. But with covid-19, more and more people are realizing work can be done remotely. So I can see cruising sky rocketing in the near future. Many offices are working remote until mid next year or a viable vaccine. As long as you can have access to fast internet it doesn't really matter where you are.