Continue Working, or Quit All-Together ?

[Bill_R]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

We need more young people out here!!!

Most people leave it too late.

Mark, we're trying! (I'm 28, my wife is 27)

[FxdGrMind]

Ok some of you have provided great information and ideas and how you made your decisions and dates.
It appears that more info on me and would be helpfull in how you answer my question.

Me: 43, College educated, Aviation business job in QA, No debt but the house which I have 7 more payments on then free and clear.
I own a 23' SJ and ended up rebuilding the rudder and repairs on the underside due to the prior owners neglegence. She is a lovely boat, I'll never sell as she can sit in on the trailer in the barn at no cost. I'll need a smal boat when I call it quits on the cruise and come back to my land and write my book... =) (just kidding, I can't write worth a darn) but I will keep the smal boat and the property as it's all paid for (only have to pay the taxes on the house to keep it).
I've wrenched on my cars for decades as I hate to take them to the stealerships for any kind of maint. I currently own a diesel (car and tractor) and don't have any issues with getting my hands dirty.
I'm not a wood mechanic, but I do ok with fiberglass repairs. I can work in wood (cabinetry and such, but I'm not in any way familiar with wood boat structures).
I know how to put elbow grease to good use and will tackle just about any job, knowing I'll do research along the way to get it done properly.

I'm not looking to cruise for a while then find a job again. Or at least not a job in my current field, if any at all. This is the last "Job" I ever want to have, other than managing my finances so as to live off them for the rest of my life. Ok it may not be I live like King Tutt or King Henry the Great... probably more like "Erik the Red"...

Currently the plan was set in motion 2.5 yrs ago with an end date of 2weeks notice from Jan 1st 2012.
I've been looking at Sailboats since the start of the 4 yr plan. But only recently made some semi clear choices on what I want/need/must have.
So I've narrowed down my search to just a few boats and am looking for the right one... I let one slip through the fingers this spring and by the time it happened I realizsed my mistake and hence it's lead me to thinking again on this topic and re-analyzing the plan.

I've lived on (less taxes and cash purchases which would be Tractor implements currently) $800/mo (including in that is Fuel for a 750miles/week commute, Food, Phone, internet, Direct tv, Audio book sub, inshurance, car/truck tabs, gym membership.....)
I'm frugal but don't skimp when throwing a party.
I'm Single, no kids, cook (I've been told to open a Pizza joint and serve my Zaa and My beer), self sufficient/reliant/dependable and will just "Help" (no you don't get to ask, I'll just do it when you aren't looking....)

Thanks again for the replies so far, the are great inspiration!

[Reckless]

Quit, sure every year you work you will have more money, thats how it works, but the dream just gets harder and harder.

We have a 9 year plan, April 1, 2019 we leave. It is our 15 year wedding Anniversary, the kids will have all finished school, our youngest will be 22 and the oldest 26. They won't need our daily support anymore, leaving while they were still in school is a personal choice for us. It allows us to see them finish school and start their own lives.

I will be 45 and my wife will be 47, so still young enough to enjoy the trip, we have a "plan" which will allow us to cruise for 10 years and still come back with a nest egg to start up again if we so choose.

My wife and I both write, I am a certified welder, she is also a operations consultant. We hope to pick up odd jobs as we cruise, to offset some of the costs.

We have budgeted almost double what we hope to be our actual cruising costs. Our house will be paid off in 4 years, and all other debt in 2 years. After that all extra money will be going into savings.

In theory we could leave in 2-3 years but the choice to be here for the kids while they go through school is ours.

I hear the same things from my parents, friends, even the kids. This is our dream not theirs, had we realized our dream sooner, I am sure we would be cruising the world with the kids as we speak. But the kids are now established and don't share the same dream, so we will stay landlocked, doing weekend cruising until they are old enough we can start our dream.

But regardless of world events, April 1, 2019, we push off.

Find your date, set it and go.

[knothead]

I get the opportunity to post this once in a while. This seems like a good time.

"To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea... "cruising" it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.

"I've always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can't afford it." What these men can't afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of "security." And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine - and before we know it our lives are gone.

What does a man need - really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in - and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That's all - in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade.

The years thunder by, The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.

Where, then, lies the answer? In choice. Which shall it be: bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?"

Sterling Hayden

[Surveyor]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

Absolutely concur.

We need more young people out here!!!

Most people leave it too late.

Workin on it Boss.....Im 48 and my wife is 22

[David_Old_Jersey]

Marry well.

or Inherit.

or both

Failing that, work hard

[FxdGrMind]

Originally Posted by Surveyor

Workin on it Boss.....Im 48 and my wife is 22

Holly Smokes!!! that'l keep ya young.....

MarkJ, we are try'n. Still looking for the boat... Not happy crusing in my 23'SJ ... So still looking for the right one. She will be there when I'm ready, just like my SJ23 was when I got her. Things just fall into place sometimes. Othertimes you just make it happen and the their is fate. It all comes in due time. I'll be 45 when I finally start out for my first lengthy cruise. SW Alaska here we come.

[SaltyMonkey]

2weeks notice from Jan 1st 2012.

I think thats a very reasonable date given the information of where you are.

You are also located on one of the best cruising grounds in the world, and a great training ground. I would in the mean time buy the boat, circumnavigate Vancouver Island, and hit a bit of Alaska. Keep the boat wherever. Fix her up more and get ready and acclimated. Don't wait for sailing where you are.

If something does happen and you return (guess what the world is round), if you get another job you will most likely find one with people of a like mind set anyway. Even if you didn't go away and you had lost your current one you would still look for that kind of job...so why worry?

[FxdGrMind]

Quote:
Saltmonkey:
You are also located on one of the best cruising grounds in the world, and a great training ground
EndQuote.

Yup, when I got my SJ23.... 6 yrs ago, I did a lot of day sailing, but after one overnight I realised that she is just too smal for me to "Cruise" in, even localy. I think that was part of the germination of the idea. A porto potty and only being able to stand up "Outside", confirmed that she is just too smal.

Still looking for the right boat... I think that she will appear, when I'm ready.

Cheers

[SaltyMonkey]

Where you are, I think the buyers season is in the fall when people want to sell out with the coming winter.

If you are planning to just do your cruising up north then look for a motor sailer. If you don't mind doing some real grunt work there is a Fisher 30 in Ketchikan which may be worth looking at.

if you are looking for something to take further south, then that opens up all sorts of options, and I would look to see as many boats as possible between now and then and get something no later than this late fall.

The plan for either to get some offshore experience and shake it down spring-summer 2011

But SJ23 - too small. I lived aboard a contessa for a year. It was tight.

[Mariness]

Personally, I don't see the need to quit working before you even have a boat. Use nights/weekends/days off to research & visit & consider - Yes this could be a full-time job, but with a little self control, this can be done part-time (you don't actually have to look at every single boat for sale )! Know when you want to leave, and start taking steps to make that happen on time, but until you actually need ALL your time to devote to it, might as well earn a few more bucks. But I could be biased, since that's about where we are now.

As for "We worked until we were 71" ... I bet when you were a kid you tried to convince your parents you should be allowed to do something because "everyone" did it. Well, yep, lots of people (even if not quite "everyone") work their entire lives - so now let's hear your best imitation of your Mom, and repeat after me: "If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you do that too?"

[FxdGrMind]

Mariness Quote:

I bet when you were a kid you tried to convince your parents you should be allowed to do something because "everyone" did it.

End Quote.

Well, I didn't bother asking.... Went Ski Jumping as a kid... Hmmm maybe that explains more than I should let out of the bag..

[Pelagic]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

.... Now Nic and I are the big stars in the nursing home. All the old timers sit around and look at our latest (printed off email) letter and then sing some song from South Pacific. It always brings the house down and one is dead by bedtime.....

Little bit hard on the old folks.....Must be some killer songs Mark? ....

[SabreKai]

I had an epiphany one night about 3 months ago. I realized that I could keep working to get in a better position to make the move to liveaboard status, and perhaps drop dead on the job. Or get layed off or the world could blow up, and the economy crash etc etc and never get back to sea. So I decided to sell off my stuff, stick with the boat I have, and just say to hell with the whole program. The house is gone on the 23rd, and I have until May 2011 to do what I have to do to get Sabre Dance ready. I've crunched the numbers, I won't be rich but I should be able to maintain the boat, pay for my meds and live on rice n mice for quite some time.

Rice n mice compared to the mindless drudgery of my job? Rice n mice it is!
I am shooting for June 30, 2011. Or sooner if the bastards lay me off.



Sabre

[sww914]

There are billions of jobs. You only get one life. One.