An unfortunate addiction to boats

[Namoian]

I have been absent from sailing for many years having taken time off to: get married, have a family plus start and successfully sell a business (the other two happiest days in one’s life?). While one could certainly do these things and have a boat, that’s not the way it worked out for me. I owned several boats prior to the above including a pretty little Bristol Channel Cutter that I lived aboard for three years.
So here I am, starting over again with a new boat and a new wife who is for some reason highly motivated to go sailing. Our new boat is a yellow aluminum 43’ Dudley Dix centre cockpit design that has been under construction for the past year. We hope to launch “Namo” this summer while we still have a few dollars left. She is called Namo by the way because in the dialect of my wife’s home near Rome, they say ‘namo as a short for andiamo ("let’s go" in English). In thinking of a user name for this site, I decided to suffix the boat’s name with my name, thus coming up with odd appellation “Namoian”. We have arranged legal live-aboard moorage here in Vancouver (another story), with the ambition to go offshore. I had a great offshore trip three years ago with John and Amanda Neal on the Mahina Tiare from NZ to Tahiti. My wife has also done some offshore and Caribbean sailing.
While the technical discussions on this site are interesting and I think we may have something to contribute having just selected and specified all the stuff for Namo, I find the stories from those who have actually severed the cords that tied them to life ashore are the most interesting. I think that will be our greatest challenge as will be living together in the confined and for my wife, very different world of a boat.
Cheers,
Ian

[Fishspearit]

Originally Posted by Namoian

I owned several boats prior to the above including a pretty little Bristol Channel Cutter that I lived aboard for three years.
So here I am, starting over again with a new boat and a new wife who is for some reason highly motivated to go sailing......... I think that will be our greatest challenge as will be living together in the confined and for my wife, very different world of a boat.
Cheers,
Ian

Welcome to cruisersforum Ian. Your post caught my attention in that I have also returned to a boat after a fairly long hiatus. 7 years living on a 30' sailboat and then 7 years on land.
One significant element about our return to life aboard is how we have been viewing the space of our new boat. After 7 years living in a 2200 square foot house, I was really worried that I wouldn't 'fit' back into the small space of a sailboat. But strangely enough, we still compare the new boat to the old boat in our mind, and not the house, and we still constantly tell ourselves "this thing is huge!". It's been a pleasant surprise for us, this strange subconcious trick that our minds have been playing.
I'm sure you'll do fine in your new life.

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha Ian,
Welcome aboard! I have a great deal of respect for the Bristol Channel Cutter. Great boat. I don't know what a Dudley Dix is but if it is the least bit like the BCC then it'll be a good boat. Seems awfully large at 43 but whatever you like. Good luck with your building and cruising and hope you can help us with our threads.
Kind regards,
JohnL