hope to be living on my boat by 2011

[tortuga22]

im not really thinking about living aboard, im about 99.9 percent sure im going to do it. i've always had a dream of being in the gulf with the (now being Ruined) beautiful water.. i wanted to have a beach house, but i also wanted to be able to explore all of the little island chains down there and enjoy their culture. (some im sure i should avoid) but i thought about a boat and well you can go anywhere for free on a sailboat, so it was my first choice.
problems. i have no sailing experience what so ever. but im a pretty smart guy, i imagine it will be easy enough. and i no nothing outside of what research i have done online. i visited my local sailing club and i've been on a few boats. never been sailing.

i have no problem with not having space, i can throw everything i own (with the exception of a few cars and a motorcycle) in the back of my truck. i dont like to keep anything i can replace or wont need. and on a boat i imagine that will be even less crap.

i dont know what luxuries i will want to embark upon (ac, fridge) i intend on having solar power for most everything i will have led lighting installed. a bangin stereo, and what ever else is needed. im not worried about the shower. but the toilet idk about, i have heard about horrific mishaps with the mechanical ones. and think im going to opt for the port a potty. though im not sure how pleasant that may become..

i plan to get a boat needing probably alot of work which i am not opposed to, as long as the hull is solid, the mast/boom is there i think i can fix the rest.. i can do plumbing, fiberglass, mechanical. ect. looking for maybe a macgreggor 25 or catalina, im thinking maybe a 31' trimeran, i found one online for $500 but it needs total referb. but i also need a title and havent talked to the guy yet..

im in augusta GA close enough anyways, and i plan on relocating, but i want to bring the boat here to prep it. it will take months im sure..

then im moving to florida on the boat. and im hoping with the lords help to maybe start up my own little business repairing boat engines. or boats in general, but im a deisel mechanic here, been working on cars my whole life. and i can do anything really. got my associates in electrical engineering. i hear finding work on a boat isnt to hard for a mechanic. any truth to this?

dont plan on living in a marina for anytime at all unless it is necessary..

so anyone think it'll work out?

i do plan on sailing it on the lake a few times before i take it out to big blue, but i also intend to be a coastal sailor for the most part. maybe bahamas or the keys, but nothing too far away till im sure of myself. i also dont plan on staying in my first boat forever. it's just a stepping stone

i already told my gf if she wasnt up for living on a boat, she might as well look for another guy

[eryka]

I'd suggest you either take a sailing course or two, or make friends with someone with a boat, to get a better idea of what you're getting into and make sure you like it. You'll also get some better ideas about learning what you don't know you don't know ... navigation? What will you do about hurricanes? Legalities?

A good mechanic will likely never lack for work around boats

Not being saddled with a lot of material possessions makes the transition easier, but I'd be skeptical about thinking you will be able to get by without air conditioning in the Florida summer, and that means either a marina slip or a genset for power. Think about the other things you are questioning: prta-ptty, no fridge, etc. Sounds okay at first, but how long can you do without them before you start to feel more like you're camping out than liviing aboard?

Good luck if you decide to go for it; we've been living aboard for 8 years & loving it.

[sailingdog]

I'd second what Eryka has said. Unless you plan on living a very spartan lifestyle, not having things like refrigeration and A/C will not be a viable long term proposition.

As for not staying in a marina....that means you'll have to have a holding tank and decent pumpout services available. There are many advantages to living aboard a boat at a marina—you can use the shore-based toilets and showers, you can have shorepower at your boat, you can often have free WiFi high-speed internet, etc.

As for solar power on boats, I'd recommend you read the primer on it I wrote on my blog.

I'd point out that buying a boat that is in decent shape is generally a lot less work and money than buying the exact same boat in lousy shape and refurbishing it. I'd also point out that some boats will actually have a negative value, and really cheap boats are usually priced that way for a reason. A boat that has a negative value is one where it will cost substantially more to fix it to the point it is usable than it would ever be worth. There are special cases where a boat with negative value is worth restoring—often these are sentimental, like the boat belonged to a favorite relative or something similar, or the boat is an unusual model/make, but these are not generally the case.

You really should learn to sail and get some experience and spend some time on some of the boats that you might be considering buying.

[CaptainForce]

Originally Posted by tortuga22

.......i already told my gf if she wasnt up for living on a boat, she might as well look for another guy

I said this same thing to "my gf" back in 1969. We bought our first boat to live on in 1971 and we're still cruising. Be careful, this could be terminal! Take care and joy, Aythya crew

[thorrad]

It was my wife that got me onto our boat and I have never regretted it. I would say that as I was looking for the "Bargain Boat" of my dreams I discovered that there were some financing options that worked to allow me to purchase more than I thought I could. when I coupled this with a very decent factory costal cruiser boat the result was the home I have had for the last two years. It's more affordable that living on land and I have most of the amenities that I had there (Marina life is great in Seattle I even get High speed internet over 4G!) above all figure out how you can be really comfortable and most of all SAFE. stay away from places that may blow away in hurricanes and have fun cruising and learning to sail.

Thor

[tortuga22]

can you cover refrigeration and ac with solar power on a boat? has anyone seen it done before?

[wind_magic]

People did live in the tropics before air conditioning, and even Florida was settled before 1902.

You can live just fine w/o air conditioning.

[QuickMick]

if that tri is the same one i saw (its on the hard in the guys backyard down by padre or nearabouts?) it needs a heck of a lot.... anyway, i found that most anything under at least 28' required far too much crouching to be comfy. im alone on my 30' with 6 4 headroom and that is about perfect size for me... and the occasional guest...

[QuickMick]

oh, speaking of 'wanting the boat here to prep it' boats are not cheap to move, especially if you are planning to do it twice. you may want to find something in your area that you can work on then only have to move it once. heck, you might find a deal on something in the water that you can have fun with while you work on her. most marinas have sales depts. and some boats have been taken out of receivership.... some good deals out there.

[sailingdog]

Refrigeration is pretty easy to cover, A/C not so much, unless you want your boat to look like SKYLAB.

Originally Posted by tortuga22

can you cover refrigeration and ac with solar power on a boat? has anyone seen it done before?