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Wanted boat for summer

2K views 10 replies 7 participants last post by  davidpm 
#1 ·
I hesitant to post this because I'm pretty sure I will get some comments that I probably deserve. But what the hay, here goes.

I'm looking for a boat to live on for the summer in CT or maybe RI or NY.

I have my captains license, I teach sailing and do deliveries. IOW I know how to operate a marine head and take care of a boat in general.

I can pay whatever needs to be paid, I own my own home and business. This is only partly about money.

The possibility of selling all our crap and buying a boat to live aboard for retirement has come up.

I could live on anything and be perfectly happy. My wife thinks she can, but I'm not so sure. I would like to give it a try for a summer.

If someone has a boat and for whatever reason know they can't use it this summer but they are not ready to sell it, income from me may just give them another year to decide.

I know this is a long shot but it doesn't hurt to ask.
 
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#2 ·
I hesitant to post this because I'm pretty sure I will get some comments that I probably deserve. But what the hay, here goes.

I'm looking for a boat to live on for the summer in CT or maybe RI or NY.

I have my captains license, I teach sailing and do deliveries. IOW I know how to operate a marine head and take care of a boat in general.

I can pay whatever needs to be paid, I own my own home and business. This is only partly about money.

The possibility of selling all our crap and buying a boat to live aboard for retirement has come up.

I could live on anything and be perfectly happy. My wife thinks she can, but I'm not so sure. I would like to give it a try for a summer.

If someone has a boat and for whatever reason know they can't use it this summer but they are not ready to sell it, income from me may just give them another year to decide.

I know this is a long shot but it doesn't hurt to ask.
How big a boat do you need? And would you go to Maine?
 
#3 ·
Tell me what you have. We had not thought of Maine but who knows.

I figure 35'+ would probably be OK.

What do you have and where.
 
#4 ·
Not me... a friend. But his boat's not that big. He wants to sell it, but has no offers. I think you probably want to be in a slip, not out on a mooring anyway. Almost nobody up here has a slip unless they are very very wealthy.

I was just exploring, and extemporizing for you. There are a bunch of boats up here in land dock. Perhaps you could live in one of them. You'd be on land, but you'd have the opportunity to see whether you could survive the space.

Personally, this is like living in a really really tiny house(like on HGTV).

I live in Bar Harbor, Maine. My own boat is only a 19 foot micro cruiser. Good for a weekend or even a long week, but not good for much longer unless we took a break every five days or so and stayed in a motel.
 
#5 ·
...

I know this is a long shot but it doesn't hurt to ask.
Absolutely.

Have you explored charter companies? Perhaps they can provide a quote for a summer-long charter. Might be a bit expensive but also might be worth researching.
 
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#6 ·
Reading Zarathu's comment ..... have you considered walking the local marinas and looking for boats that have been for sale for a while? Or looking for boats on other listings that they're having trouble selling? You might very well find an owner willing to rent to you for a summer to help cover costs or maintenance and make a little if they can't sell a boat...
 
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#8 ·
If you look hard enough, I'm sure you can find someone who would take you up on this offer.

One consideration for you, however, is liability. What happens if you accidentally cause damage to the rented vessel, or damage occurs and it's unclear whether you caused it or not. Your scenario would be renting from a private owner, who almost definitely doesn't have commercial insurance on their vessel, so their policy may not respond at all. Even if it does, the insurance company will pay the owner and then come after you (subrogation) as the party that caused the loss. Perhaps you could insure yourself aboard. Worth knowing how this would work before you step aboard. A simple fix may be to have yourself added as an insured party (not just authorized user) of the vessel. I would also want to know the policy was paid in full and would be independently notified of any cancellation.

Another option is to look for work as a liveaboard boat Captain or boat manager. The downside to this approach is that you'll be staying in crew quarters and having to endure the owners being aboard occasionally. Not exactly the scenario you're trying to test out, with your wife.
 
#9 ·
I just want to add one wrinkle to all of this - its my impression that there are a lot of boats being marketed through airbnb and they are essentially not for sailing - but just floating apartments.

Personally if I can't sail it, I'd rather be in a land based apartment but you might feel otherwise, especially if you have something else you can sail and you want to see if you can stand the spacial constraints.


I think part of airbnb is they help with insurance, although I have never used airbnb.. I just read this.
 
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#10 ·
OK, how about a crazy suggestion: Find a boat that needs some TLC, and buy it. Negotiate the free use of a slip, if they have already paid for it. Fix the boat a bit during the summer, and sell it next season. The biggest risk you run, here, is that you wife may like the boat, and you will need to keep it!
 
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