[bigbeam]

Thanks everybody for the comments. Part of our problem is we are a 4 hour drive from the ocean so in alot of respects owning a boat that far away is not financially practical. Also taking our son out of school for short periods of time is not fair to him, hence my position being that if we were to do something like this we need to do it over a long enough period of time to adjust and prepare for home schooling. Although I don''t know what our financial position will be in a few years, my initial plan is to sell our house and use a portion of those proceeds to purchase a boat suitable for the duration. Sounds radical but I have spent a long time thinking about it (with both ups and downs).