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Need advice from cruisers

3K views 26 replies 19 participants last post by  travlin-easy 
#1 · (Edited)
Id just like to ask, How'd you Do It? I'm slowly prepping for cruising but, at times, it just seems overwhelming. I have the boat that I'll be using which is a Morgan 33 OI. The boat is in pretty good shape and I've been sailing her for 2 years now. I've been sailing for about 10 years altogether. I won't be leaving for at least another 4 years. At which time, I'll be able to collect a small pension which, should be enough to keep me going. I know 4 years sounds like a long time but, it seems like there's no limit to the things I need to do before leaving. My question is: did you just get to a point where you felt you've done the best you could and shove off? I don't want to fall into that rut where, I never feel prepared and, never end up leaving. Any advice would be greatly appreciated .
Jeff of Gypsea
 
#2 · (Edited)
A fool and his life are soon parted.

I met a guy the other day who has been fixing his boat for the last 10 years.
He says he is about to leave.

Ho Ho.

If you are retiring in 4 years and really can not retire earlier then organize yourself so you can leave in 4 years and 1 days time.

There are many out here cruising. But there are vastly more who are wasting their lives pretending to get ready.

We are out here doing it and not waiting for you, nor others, to get out here too.

If that sounds harsh, let it motivate you. :)


Mark
 
#3 ·
Cruising isn't something you "do" it's something you "are." There's not really a getting-ready phase and then you're done and you don't do anything any more except sail and play. As long as you're on your boat, you're repairing and modifying and maintaining and improving. So, in the 4 years you have left: figure out how you're going to get your mail and pay your bills while traveling; whittle down your possessions; install in your boat the critical systems for safety and comfort and whatever makes you feel like you're not camping out. Sail a lot, anchor out on weekends to get those systems further refined. Move aboard before the 4 years are up, if that's practical - you learn a lot while living aboard even at the dock.

Then go! If necessary, you'll stay in some port for a while making modifications and upgrades, but you'll be having adventures!
 
#4 ·
Yes. As usual my friend WNW has it.

First, forget the term cruiser and remember the term 'mobile-live aboard'. That is what you have to start thinking. Sell the house and store the things you simply do not think you can sell. Just forget about that stuff for a while. Now, focus on being a live aboard. We all are. Some are just more mobile than others. Who cares? Get your boat early and start learning her. Don't wait until you are retired, then have the pension, then start selling the house, then start researching boats, etc. you will bee 900 years old before you get out. Instead, start your process now. It will take longer than you think. Enjoy living in a marina and learning. THEN start putting together the pieces so when your job is done, the only thing holding you back is dock lines. Sounds easy, but it isn't. You will be tied up another year before you are ready to go.

My point is to start the beginning of your life now. Btw, as I type this, I am anchored off Snead island, then Venice tomorrow, cabbage key next day, fort Myers beach, then tortugas for A week...

You could be here too.

Brian
 
#5 ·
Cruisingdad has it right. People get excited about the idea and start thinking non-stop about it. Truth is it's not as complicated as we make it. Past 5 years we are now over 30,000nm and leaving Puerto Rico now for Colombia and then South Pacific. We departed Lk Mi out the St Lawrence in 08 with little planning and have not looked back. You learn most as you go but... a couple suggestions

I think one of the most important aspects is to learn as much as possible about the mechanics and electrical systems first. Personally I am not so "mechanical" but in the past 5 years I have learned a lot, usually with the help of other cruisers. The way things breakdown in a never ending fashion can be most frustrating. I am very careful about maintenance, even to a fault, but still there is no stopping the crap from failing.
Understand your diesel, the alternator and the charging/inverting system. Actually as I am typing I realize I could go on and on. Bottom line learn everything you can during this "wait Period" about your boat and it's systems. Being a good troubleshooter and fixer guy will do more for your cruising life then you can currently imagine. Welcome to the "club"!
 
#7 · (Edited)
Some great advice unfortunately, It would be financially foolish for me to leave before the 4 years. My company is one of the few that still offers a pension after 30 yrs. I'm at 26. So, if I left earlier, I would get zip until social security, ha, ha.
I have started prepping the boat and myself. I take week or two trips on it every summer along with the daysailing here on lake Mich. I work in an engineering lab for a major diesel manufacturer. So, I have a pretty good knowledge of diesels.
I realize that cruising will not be all play. I wasn't planning on that. I would go nuts!
My long term plan goes something like this. Mississippi down to the gulf, to keys etc. then over to Bahamas. Island hop my way toward the Panama Canal. Through the canal toward Hawaii. Then, try to figure out a way to live aboard in the Hawaian islands. If its doable, I'd sell the house and upgrade to another boat. Does anyone have experience with sailing around the Haw. Islands??
 
#9 ·
Some great advice unfortunately, It would be financially foolish for me to leave before the 4 years. My company is one of the few that still offers a pension after 30 yrs. I'm at 26. So, if I left earlier, I would get zip until social security, ha, ha.
I have started prepping the boat and myself. I take week or trips on it every summer along with the daysailing here on lake Mich. I work in an engineering lab for a major diesel manufacturer. So, I have a pretty good knowledge of diesels.
I realize that cruising will not be all play. I wasn't planning on that. I would go nuts!
My long term plan goes something like this. Mississippi down to the gulf, to keys etc. then over to Bahamas. Island hop my way toward the Panama Canal. Through the canal toward Hawaii. Then, try to figure out a way to live aboard in the Hawaian islands. If its doable, I'd sell the house and upgrade to another boat. Does anyone have experience with sailing around the Haw. Islands??
No way I would walk away from that pension either. My point was to start putting things in place now.
 
#8 ·
Gypsea,

I am in the same situation waiting to retire and am getting as much experience and outfittting doen as I can in the next few years.

Cruising will be what you determine it to be. Some go out and never come back and liveaboard forever. Some cruisers Take a 6 month hiatus and travel but come back to a home base. Cruising is what you make of it and want to make of it. It should be a way of life that you want to live and live it the way you want to. Some of the stuff you can prepare yourself for, and some you cant.

For us cruising will be a 6-7 month of the year journey. We dont want to give our land home up as we enjoy it also. Something to be said for seeing deer and owls outside, robins and Baltimore Orioles in the spring, seeing the tulips, crysanthumunms and black eyed susans. We also want something oither than a boat to have when we eventually have an illness and want to have a good home base next to hospitals like Johns Hopkins.

Cruising is custom tho the person doing it. Do what YOU like, Go where YOU want to go. Experience that part of your life and may it be as rewarding as your life has been to this point.

Dave
 
#11 ·
Gypsea, agree with Cruisingdad, of course, stick around for the pension. I had thought perhaps you could live aboard at the dock in a marina while working those last few years, but Michigan is kinda cold for that. (BTW, our hailing port is Northport, MI, near Traverse City. Still miss that place!) Even living on land you can study navigation, prepare your personal affairs, work on your boat, deal with your accumulated possessions, etc. Great advice on all the nuts and bolts from people here.

Where in Michigan are you starting from? This next advice makes more sense if you're in Lake Huron or Lake St Clair on the east side than if you're in Lake Michigan on the west side. Your initial plan has some backtracking as you go east to the Bahamas, then turn west toward the Canal. If you're down at the Gulf, why not go directly to Texas, then the western Carib and thru the Canal? Alternatively, you might consider going through the Great Lakes and down the US East Coast rather than the Mississippi to the Bahamas to start with, depending on your timing. It's a popular, and easy route to start with, (not to mention interesting and pretty) and you'd have lots of company and assisstance as you work the kinks out of your boat's systems.
 
#12 ·
.

Wonderful thread~ I enjoyed it especially all the talented writers which make up this group of sailors /unique individuals

I like what chef said about having a place to go because I miss New England enormously- can one have their cake & eat it too- depends on resources

if you are a nomad you can make it work with just things in storage- it's up to you
the advice about living in a marina is fantastic it's replete with mechanical types wondering around with endless 'free' advice- or you could use that stellar diesel knowledge to trade back; I've seen it happen many times here in South Florida

As a side note: I'm not sure about the Panama Canal- the Chinese have their hands deep inside it already if you haven't read~ behind the scenes I met someone from the Carter Center last year who shared those imperialist details- yet meeting the kind folk in Panama would be an experience never forgotten

cheers
-JD
 
#13 ·
It took us a total of about 5 years after the decision was made that cruising was what we wanted to do. We bought a small 'learner boat' first and sailed on that for several years, took courses through the US Power Squadron.

We needed to wait until our daughters (twins) graduated from High School, then sell the houses and all of our junk and buy the boat. Then it took about 6 months prepping the boat and more importantly - us - before we set off down the Intra-Coastal Waterway.

We have gained much experience over the last 15 years and in an effort to give back to the cruising community, we have chronicled much of what we have learned in our website, "The Frugal Mariner." Take a look when you've got some time.
 
#14 · (Edited)
Thanks all for the great info. It's nice to hear from folks out there living their dream. I do agree with Bubble that my boat is not quite suited for the crossing to Hawaii. I think it will be excellent In the Caribbean. Unfortunately, I can't have a boat for every situation. I think if I planned the pacific crossing as carefully as possible (weather,etc) it should be doable. Keep in mind that I'll probably have been living aboard for at least a year, probably more, before I'm at that point. That should give me enough experience and confidence to make an educated decision on when to cross.
As a response to Wing, I do not live in Mich. I live in the Chgo area. Boat is kept in Burnham harbor if you know where that is? I did buy the boat in Muskegon and have sailed in your area a few times. I have to say that if I lived in that area, I doubt if I'd be able to leave. You have some of the most beautiful harbors with the friendliest people I've ever met (pentwater comes to mind). So, I guess you can see my choice of going down the Mississippi. I'm right on the Illinois river. I also have family in the Miami area that would would visit for a while before jumping off to the Bahamas.
Getting back to my original post. I would like to hear from folks about that first day they left. Like, what was going through their mind, we're there doubts, did they feel fully prepared. There has to be some reason that only a very few follow through with their plans. I'm just wondering what separates the dreamers from the doers? I don't want to fall into that dreamer category. Thanks everybody.
 
#16 ·
Getting back to my original post. I would like to hear from folks about that first day they left. Like, what was going through their mind, we're there doubts, did they feel fully prepared. There has to be some reason that only a very few follow through with their plans. I'm just wondering what deprecates the dreamers from the doers? I don't want to fall into that dreamer category. Thanks everybody.
Gypsea,

The old axiom "perfect is the enemy of good enough" really does hold true in this case. As others have mentioned, if you dither around trying to get everything done you'll never cast off and will be tied to the dock forever.

Part of the satisfaction of cruising (for me, at least) is in overcoming challenges -- and life underway certainly gives those to us in spades.

We faced similar issues twice: after we purchased the boat; and after an extended refit.

After we bought the boat in GA, we knew we wanted to head north. We spent about six weeks getting our stuff packed (and unpacked, repacked, rearranged, etc.), giving the boat a thorough cleaning, inventorying (and culling) the extensive spares aboard, and addressing apparent safety and general livability issues. Had we waited until everything we knew to needed to be done had in fact been done, that six weeks could have easily stretched into six months.

We later pulled the boat in Holland, MI for winter storage one year. I expected to splash early spring and spent the summer sailing in Lake Michigan before we headed south again. That didn't happen. I wound up opening a big can of worms that kept us out of the water until we finally splashed to go south at the very end of the season. And we got underway with many, many items on the "to do" list glaringly left to be done. The fridge died over the winter; that didn't get replaced until we got to Mobile, AL. The course computer for the autopliot had to wait until we got to Marathon. Etc, etc.

Anyway, just a kind of long-winded way of saying that you shouldn't let your apprehensions keep you from taking action. Manage your risks (as opposed to gambling, which is never good), prioritize your efforts, and get underway once the retirement's squared away.
 
#17 ·
Gypsea, We lived aboard and cruised our Morgan OI 33 for 13 years before moving to our OI41. My wife and I were on that Morgan 33 until our children were 7 & 9 years old. If you are single-handling there's no reason not to find easy ability to move on board with no possessions off the boat except your bank accounts. When you do make the move I would agree with Wing n Wing that the Hudson River route and down the East Coast offers much more for cruising,sailing, diversity and learning than the "log plume" down the rivers to the Gulf. If you can find the slip for a commute to work, living aboard some time before you leave for good will make the break all the easier.
 
#18 ·
Let me put it this way.
There were probably 300 boats in the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor in 1970 preparing to go "cruising". Every week one or two had to put off their trip because something had broken or wasn't done. By mid 1972 only three had actually left.
Almost everything that was holding up everyone was really something of little importance or could be fixed, replaced, painted, varnished or rebuilt ANYWHERE (even at sea in many cases), so why not go? You do not need a working radar to go sailing, you do not need to convert from a 110 volt A/C refer to a brand new 12 volt system to go sailing, you do not need the newest, fanciest chartplotter to go sailing, though of course any or all of these things may make your life easier.
At that point, watching our friends' dreams fade into oblivion I set a date, no matter what.
We left and as we sailed through French Polynesia, only one other boat got out (we were there 9 months).
It is always hard to make that first long distance jump. Even if you've done it before, especially if you are quite comfortable where you are; it can be a big step.
So I'd suggest you just set a date, weather permitting, and go for it. After 4 years you should have all the important stuff done. The rest can wait for a lovely anchorage where you can cool off from your labors in the crystal clear warm water (as if you're going to want to work then....).
Good sailing!
 
#21 ·
Try to time your departure so the last six months or so are live aboard, that gives you time to do a shake down cruise AND a break down cruise.
For example, move on board in June, and depart in October or so.

Save some of the upgrading for while you are out and about on the way down south as there are great deals to be found on the way, and some of the 'stuff' you think you must have now will be things you've found you can live without.
 
#22 · (Edited)
I'd just like to describe my situation as its probably a little unique. My wife probably wouldn't be coming along on this trip as she's never been crazy about sailing (believes she gets seasick so, she does). I will probably be going with a friend. I plan on flying home whenever convenient. And her fly to me wherever and whenever possible. I'm thinking it wouldn't be hard to get her to live aboard in a location like Hawaii. At which time I could try to convince her to dump the house? Of course, she knows nothing about any of this at the moment. Just wondering how most women out there would feel about this scenario? Of course this isn't too fair of a question to post on this site as most of the women are sailors and would jump at the chance to go. But, just thought I'd ask.
Jeff of Gypsea
 
#25 ·
At which time I could try to convince her to dump the house? Of course, she knows nothing about any of this at the moment. Just wondering how most women out there would feel about this scenario?
Let me start with the caveat that you should be asking HER this question, not a bunch of strangers on the internet. If your relationship is such that you can't talk about what's on your minds, you will NOT survive the close quarters of living aboard. That said ...

You dump the house when you both realize that it's just not supporting your goals anymore. You move aboard (or she meets you in Hawaii and joins you aboard) and after a while you realize that you don't miss the house. That's when you let it go. But there's lots of ways to achieve that: you can put your stuff in storage and rent the house until you're sure living aboard suits you both. Expensive? Not compared to peace of mind, the sometimes very real sadness of parting with some sentimental things, and much cheaper than repurchasing everything if it doesn't work out.

One other thought - seasickness is one of the few things that gets better as you age and your sensitivity decreases. Depending on when she last tried sailing, might be worth another go.
 
#23 ·
We have just begun our cruising lives .
It got to the point that it was time to go , no more ifs , and, or, buts

There were things I still wanted to do to the boat , so it was either stay home and work on the boat till the money ran out or just GO !

We chose GO !
We have been living and cruising aboard our Gypsy since July , with one trip home for maintenance and minor repairs . We are headed home for Christmas then its a cruise to Key West .

At some point you say "ITS TIME TO GO !"
 
#27 ·
I'm aboard a 33 Morgan OI, love the boat, it's fantastic, sails very well, has lots and lots of storage space, relatively large cockpit, and the only regrets I have is not doing this many years earlier.

DON'T walk away from the pension - you'll need it. I've been saving and planning for this trip to the sunny south for more than a decade. I wish I would have made the trip a decade earlier. Now, at age 72, there are some things that are a bit too difficult to do, but fortunately, in the cruising community, there are lots of wonderful folks that are willing to help when you get in a bind. Of course, I do the same for them as well.

In contrast to others, I would NOT suggest selling everything, jumping aboard the boat and sailing off into the sunset. Instead, try living aboard for a couple weeks, then go for a couple months, etc..., and see if this is truely the lifestyle you wish. For many, it's not the way to go. It takes a lot of moxy to live aboard, and there are lots of things to consider, especially when you get older. Healthcare, good dental care, etc..., they're all very important factors to consider. For example, I cracked a tooth on the ICW in norhtern FLorida, saw a dentist in Palm Coast. Nice guy, wanted to sell me dental implants and dentures - cost $22,000. NAH! Still have the cracked tooth, but I'll baby it along until I get back to Maryland in April.

My best advice - take your time, think things over carefully, then make the decission.

Good Luck,

Gary :cool:
 
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