How did you get the money for your first sailboat?

[IamJohnGalt]

Originally Posted by wind_magic

if you are accustomed to having all of the comforts life has to offer, it's going to be a real bitch to start living on a simple boat.

If you change your lifestyle first, then moving to the boat is really just a change of location.

everything you listed sounds like student life. I work two bartending jobs, and am joining the reserves to try and get some extra summer employment, already cut my budget down to start saving cash and paying off student debts.

I am still planning on starting small. I am going to try and get my bronze in spring, and try to find a boat to crew on. Figured A. I still get the experience, and B. It doesn't cost me anything (well probably just club fees).

[wind_magic]

Originally Posted by IamJohnGalt

everything you listed sounds like student life.

Yes but even as a student you probably still had running water, still had heat, probably air conditioning, a telephone, you probably had cable television, high speed internet, some kind of refrigeration, someone preparing food for you, etc.

Life on a simple no frills boat isn't anything like that.

Life on a simple and inexpensive boat is like camping, except your tent is with you where ever you go, and carries all your equipment with you.

I'm all for it, but it is a change from the way that most people in the U.S. live and unless you grew up in shack with a dirt floor somewhere it'll be a big lifestyle change, you may find yourself wishing for the days of student life when all you had to do was turn a knob and there was warm water for a shower. It isn't just about saving money by cutting back on movies and beer, it's also about figuring out how to wash your clothes in a plastic tub with a plunger using water you carried from a gas station, it's just too much for some people.

Of course, with money you can invest in systems and have hot and cold running water, windlass, refrigeration, lots of electricity, satellite phones, etc, but the price goes up and up ...

I am TOTALLY NOT trying to discourage you, I'm just expanding on the point in my last post which is that I think if you want to do something that can help you prepare (which is what you said in a previous post) then my advice would be to focus on the lifestyle changes, learning to cook your own meals from ingredients you will have on your boat, etc.

[imasaluki]

I sold a piano and junked a car then put that equity in a boat.

[rhr1956]

My wife won the Grand Prize on Wheel of Fortune...1990 West Wight Potter!

[sealover]

I rolled some spare change. I own my boat. It's not the other way around.

I was dumb when I got out of college. Credit card debt, loans for stupid stuff and I gave away a perfectly good car to take out a loan on a new car that cost 3/4 of my yearly salary as a high school teacher.

Eventually I pulled my head out of my arse and sold the "new" car and got an $800 Volvo. haven't looked back. All subsequent cars, computers, motorcycles and boats have been CASH. The last two (within 6 months of each other) were brand new. Haven't carried a credit card balance since '04 and our only debt is a 15 year mortgage on a 5 year old house. You can't borrow your way to financial freedom.

You'll have just as much fun on a $1000 21 foot trailer sailer with orange plaid cushions. And if you buy it right, you can sell it for $1500 when the next "better" boat comes along.

Just some advice from someone who has been there. I didn't listen to it either.... Have fun either way!

[BrickPearson26]

I got my first boat by going to the local boatyard and asking which boats were for sale or derelict. I ended up scoring a water/ice filled Pearson 26 for dirt cheap. I drained the water out by drilling a hole in the floor (that I later patched) and it was a great first boat.
Also - I was a sophomore in college at the time. The boat was not "perfect" but it was solid and it was a fantastic boat to learn the ins and outs of "big boat" sailing.

[KnottyGurl]

Like most saved up for it and when i found it i bought it.
Got my G26 for a great price and have put alot in to her. I just ordered new sails (main and 130 jig) and a new furler as well.
Great times to be had while fixing up and sailing. I can say i am now saving for my next boat and when the cash and boat appear I'll buy that one.
Until then its my blue water Grampian for me.

[anachronism]

I traded a VW beetle for my first boat

[finefurn]

A client had inherited a boat but did not have the time to repair it. I took it as partial payment on a job.

[schelli]

sell everything and live on it !