cheap liveaboard?

[koosh2]

hi im a college student interested in finding a live aboard boat. I was hoping some of you could help me. ive been researching sailboats for the past three days (almost nonstop) and still have little clue what will work for me.

my ideas:
1. a liveaboard boat (has a working head, galley and berth)
2. can fit in a normal slip
3. something reasonably fast
4. needs to be cheap, hopefully under 10,000 us
5. can be handled with 1 or 2 people
4. can be bought near LA
5. used boat would be best but i would also "consider" building

also i was interested in a cat or tri... is this possible with my needs?

is there anything else i should consider or you need to know??? thanks for any help!

[hellosailor]

koosh, use the search engine.

Fast and cheap are contradictions, and sailboats aren't houseboats. You can live aboard a sailboat, but it you want a cheap place to live, a houseboat might work out better.

$10,000 US will buy you something small and old and in need of another $20k in work, especially if you aren't familiar with the ways that a cheap old boat can be a very expensive hole in the ocean.

Not that I don't wish you luck--but read up threads on this topic, the odds are better for a disaster than a jackpot.

[Sailormann]

You don't have enough money to do what you want to do. Think seriously about the houseboat suggestion, or save up another 25 or 30 thousand.

[CrazyRu]

Originally Posted by Sailormann

You don't have enough money to do what you want to do. Think seriously about the houseboat suggestion, or save up another 25 or 30 thousand.

I’d say he doesn’t have knowledge, skills and dedication.
Money is a secondary thing in this picture and 10 grand is a huge amount of money in right hands.
Anyway, I think that sailnet is under troll's attack.

[RainDog]

I think you all missed the key point "I'm a college student." I think many boats meet your descriptions. For example and mid 80's Catalina 27 meets every criteria on your list and can maintained for a very reasonable price. I mention this boat because there are a million of them, but there are very many more that also meet your criteria.

[sailingdog]

Most multihulls in your price range WILL NOT FIT in a single slip. I'd point out that you're not going to get something that is reasonably fast, that is well-suited to liveaboard use and CHEAP.. you can have two of the three: comfortable, fast, cheap... cheap and comfortable will be slow... cheap and fast will generally be uncomfortable, comfortable and fast will cost some bucks.

You might want to look at James Baldwin's Boat List, as a starting point of some boats that might be suitable as small liveaboards... Also, many of the small coastal cruisers, in the 28-32' range would be suitable as well.

Originally Posted by koosh2

hi im a college student interested in finding a live aboard boat. I was hoping some of you could help me. ive been researching sailboats for the past three days (almost nonstop) and still have little clue what will work for me.

my ideas:
1. a liveaboard boat (has a working head, galley and berth)
2. can fit in a normal slip
3. something reasonably fast
4. needs to be cheap, hopefully under 10,000 us
5. can be handled with 1 or 2 people
4. can be bought near LA
5. used boat would be best but i would also "consider" building

also i was interested in a cat or tri... is this possible with my needs?

is there anything else i should consider or you need to know??? thanks for any help!

[koosh2]

thank you everyone for the replies, ill take everything into consideration.
i have a few comments and questions:

first what is your guys definition of a houseboat? when i was about 8 i was on a houseboat and that thing was a tank.

thank you raindog, i was hoping to hear something like that, and your right about the whole college aspect. comfort and beauty are not so important to me. I am a backpacker and am used to going to the bathroom behind some random tree and sleeping on a rock. now i dont think i could do that 24-7 but you get the point. anyways im looking into the cat 27s and have started finding stuff up my alley. still lots of work to be done though.

and thank you sailingdog for the help. i found that James Baldwin's Boat List link from one of your previous post a few days ago and have started to go through it. helps a lot.

well thank you all again ill continually keep checking this post and update.

[hellosailor]

Typically an engineless barge with a house built on top. Or engines that can move it but not very well. Or any variety of hulk that really is designed to allow living on the water--as opposed to actively boating.

[svHyLyte]

FWIW a slip rental in the LA area, or near any metropolitan area in California, will cost you as much, if not more, than the cost of splitting rent on an apartment or condo with a couple of other students, and slip rent is only the beginning. Getting approval for live-aboard status will be difficult, incur additional fees and subject you to arbitrary inspections to ensure you are not discharging waste into the water. You will also be confronted with the taxes on the slip, personal property taxes on the boat, and the need to provide proof of insurance, which isn't free. I could continue with this litany but shall not. Rest assured, however, that sharing a shore-side residence with other students and participating in one or more of the sailing programs offered by most of the schools—that will give you access to a much wider range of boats and experiences—will be far less costly.

Despite the foregoing, if you are bound a determined, simply take a drive to your nearest marina, Marina-del-Rey, Long Beach Marina et al, and take a walk along the docks. There are hundreds of boats sitting unused and ignored and one can usually find out who the owners are from dock-mates and/or the local harbor master’s office, that may also have a list of boats with delinquent rents. A friend of ours did this and just this past week picked up a 1978 Cal 2-29 that looked like heck but was actually not in bad condition for only $1,700 that he’s now paying in monthly installments over a year. His slip rent is, however, $450 per month; and, …

[ml7468]

My wife, 6yr, 4mth and I live on a catalina 27. Tight, but very managable. For a single, you'll have no problem. Get the dinette layout. It has more live aboard/usable space. We just got feed up with land life and rising prices of utilities for the house. I had a catalina 27 before and was very familiar with them. We bought ours for $6500, they could have gotten $9k easy. My live abaord moorage is $250 a month +elec. Insurance is $13 a month. we have a climate controled storage unit and use it as a pantry and closet. We only keep 1 weeks worth cloths on board at a time. Kids love it. Most of my paycheck goes into savings. We are saving to pay cash for MUCH BIGGER Boat. We get called crazy, but nothing beats the view. People pay millions for my view. The tight living is the price we pay for saving for my wifes dream boat, Catalina 42 with W/D. lol

You'll find lots of these boats in the LA area for way under 10k. I thought about buying one there and shipping it up to the NW.