Who is truly hoping to do this indefinitely?

[Stillraining]

Originally Posted by Cruisingdad

Good thread. It reminds me, on a side note, that I need to start a forum or at least a running thread for parent cruising with kids (hehe... assuming they did not leave them at the dock).

Ok - my wife and I can work and live anywhere in the world. We really need an internet connection, that is it. We saved and sacrificed for years. Last September-ish, we decided to sell and liquidate everything and go live aboard and cruise again (our oldest has done it with us but the youngest had not). Well, our house sold in almost 2 hours. My wife saw that as a sign.

Here we are in SW Florida waiting for my mom and dad to come (they are going cruising with us on their Tayana 42) and trying to earn a little change along the way. I have lived here and cruised here before so I find my eyes straying a little too long on the distant horizon versus the local seashore. We are trying to get the pieces in place to just go ahead and go to the carribean and Bahamas. I have had a lot of support from the community here (many of which have responded on this thread and thank you).

I though all of that might be helpful to know and understand my comments. Please understand, I have done this before too.

I think to plan it all out - how long you are going to go, when you are going to come back, when you are going to go because you now have enough money to stay forever... etc.... well, that can set up bad expectations. I have seen people (and see people) who save up their whole lives and get ready, only to not go because something happens to them or someone they love or any other thousands of reasons that can keep you from your dreams. I want to point out that when your last days on this earth come, you will not sit around thinking about wishing you had not done something but rather wishing you had. I firmly believe that adage. I also think it is a mistake to go before you are fully prepared mentally and with a buffer in the bank for the shoreside excursions and marina visits. It is a very rare person that can live aboard and cruise, a rarer person that can do it for many years, and an even rarer person that can do it without enjoying some of the comforts of technology or that land can provide (and I am not talking about air conditioning!!).

Very few of us have been raised on a boat. I never had. My kids have, more or less, but they still have spent a lot of time in a house. So when you talk about go cruising, imagine on planning to live in a confined area about as big as your master bedroom at your house... with a closet off the side. Even that is much bigger than most (yes, most) of the boats I have been on for those that actually are cruising. Many people (no, most people) simply do not adjust. This does not make them failures, but we are all built different and to say you are going to do it for X without actually having done any real long term live aboard is unrealistic at best.

My advice to anyone that cares or might take my opinions seriously: go. Make the sacrifice. Sell your house. Put your crap in storage for the first X-months. Put the pieces in place to walk away from life... for a little while. See some of the world. Plan on coming back. Be happy if you do. Be happy if you don't. But try and make the sacrifice. Your bedroom might be a bit cramped and might leak, but your backyard will be to die for. Hopefully you don't before you get a chance to see it.

We made the sacrifice with kids, certainly you can too - especially those of you without them. We have not looked back.

Brian

Ah ya newbie...tell us all about it after you have been out there 5 years..

Good to have you posting again Brian!..

[CaptainForce]

Originally Posted by Stillraining

Ah ya newbie...tell us all about it after you have been out there 5 years.......

Nancie and I don't spend much time thinking about the original question in this post. We never sold a house to go cruising,- we never had a house. Back when we were fresh out of school and all we owned would fit in our volkswagon we bought our first liveaboard boat, November of '71. We moved aboard in June of '72 on the same day as the notorious Watergate break-in. We are now anchoered in Sunsert Cove off Key Largo and headed south to meet our daughter who grew up aboard with her brother. We'll be taking our grandson sailing. There are other terminal cases out here who are not looking for ownership of anything ashore. 'take care and joy, Aythya crew

[Stillraining]

I have shared what I know of your life story with a few friends and relatives..Kind of one of thoes... "I know this guy" stories...its hard for some of them to fathom how you have managed to keep the desire going all theses years....I have to admit I would not have been able to do it either.

You are a true Sailor/Cruiser through and through no doubt about that..


Im just giving our Hideous looking Moderator ( pore wife, can you imagine being stuck on a boat with that mug...this could have the reverse ending to the Natalie Wood/Robert Wagner story) his due is all..

[Cruisingdad]

Originally Posted by danielgoldberg

I hear the bridge height point. That's a fair comment, though I think there are plenty of cats in the 40+ foot range that have rigs less than 65'. In terms of room, I'm not sure I agree with you. A 40 something cat is going to have a whole lot of room compared to a trawler of comparable length/size.

You got me on the marina thing. We don't spend a whole lot of time at marinas, so I'm not all that sensitive to that point. We usually are on the hook or take a mooring, and go dockside only when there's no other option or it's so bleeping hot/cold that we want ac/heat.

In the end, I certainly won't argue that a cat is a compromise like everything else and that a trawler will do some things better, but if you're looking to move from sailing to power because of age, it strikes me that a cat might be a good compromise.

And yes, I'm sailing to Bermuda this coming June. I actually need an extra crewmember who's got bluewater experience (new insurance carrier being a pit of a pain). You want to come along? You can see how one of the good production boats sail. Serious offer btw.

Dan,

I just PM'd you on Bermuda. Please take a look.

Regarding the tralwer, I like them. You know that... but I am pretty selective on them too (strongly prefer the Nordhavn). It is a top notch, go anywhere in teh world boat.

The marina aspect is a real problem down here, especially in season. The shallow water is a HUGE plus of a cat. THe other huge plus is that it sails. That adds enormous safety. The bridge aspect is a huge negative. Forget 65 feet. Down here you better be concerned about 55 feet.

For liveability, I guess it depends on the Trawler and the cat. The trawler, typically, will have more space. The Krogen 42, for example, feels very much like a condo inside and is bigger than most 40's that I have been on (IMHO). However, teh Nordgavn 46 is probably comparable in space and size to a 40' cat. I think a 46' cat would be even larger. But their boats are made a little tight by design.

Anyways, I certainly would seriously consider a cat. I am not opposed to them at all. But like all things (like you said) everything is a tradoff.

Brian

[Cruisingdad]

Originally Posted by Stillraining

I have shared what I know of your life story with a few friends and relatives..Kind of one of thoes... "I know this guy" stories...its hard for some of them to fathom how you have managed to keep the desire going all theses years....I have to admit I would not have been able to do it either.

You are a true Sailor/Cruiser through and through no doubt about that..


Im just giving our Hideous looking Moderator ( pore wife, can you imagine being stuck on a boat with that mug...this could have the reverse ending to the Natalie Wood/Robert Wagner story) his due is all..

Ahhh... and your comments did not fall on deaf ears! I will just keep posting pics of me drinking coctails (at 1130 am on Moday mornings off some deserted and beautiful island) to get even!

Take care!

Brian

[danielgoldberg]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

I'd point out that most of the cats that are 40'+ with a rig less than 65' air draft are undercanvassed, charter trade, motorsailers with really poor sailing performance.

If you're talking about an older couple looking to go from sail to a terminal trawler, I suspect having an undercanvassed cat probably would not be deterent. Also, our charter a few weeks ago was on a Leopard 40, and that rig has less than 65' air draft, and she seemed to sail OK to me, particularly considering that the sails were well-exercised and I'm not an experienced cat sailor so I surely didn't get the most out of it. Obviously I wasn't racing her or counting tenths of knots (not even close), but that's how most older cruising couples probably sail anyway.

[Bene505]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

...there are often shallow areas where the marina might allow a catamaran to tie up that a deeper draft monohull could not use.

And I suppose that puts you closer to the showers, pool and laundry too.

Regards,
Brad

[2Gringos]

We were seeing 11.5 kts. on a chartered Leopard 42 in December. it was pretty light, with just the two of us and a skinny little ASA instuctor on board...

[sailingdog]

And if you're on a mooring or anchored, the dinghy ride is often shorter...

Originally Posted by Bene505

And I suppose that puts you closer to the showers, pool and laundry too.

Regards,
Brad

[damies]

Originally Posted by sailingdog

And if you're on a mooring or anchored, the dinghy ride is often shorter...

I hear you on that one. At High tide I have a 1km row, at low tide I row 500m and carry the ducky 500m, My Tri sits in under 1m of water at low tide on its mooring (so I can jump in the water and walk around it ). The Mono's around me either are further out or healed over with keels on the bottom at low tide.

So it really is something to think about, could be the difference between a 1km row or a 2km row. I don't usually use an outboard on the tender even though I have one because the ducky is hard enough to carry 500m on sloshy sand, the outboard just means an extra round trip over the sloshy sand.

Here's a photo at 1/2 tide, I don't know how deep this mono draws, but this photo was taken about when the water was at least 1m above low tide and with 2m highs as usual.


Dave.