My partner and I are fairly new sailors in the Washington, DC area. Recently, we've been thinking about getting a weekend home as an escape from the city on the weekends. But it recently occurred to me that we might also want to consider a boat that we could live aboard and sail around the bay on the weekends as well as looking at country properties nearby.
Is this a crazy idea or a good idea? I've sailed boats but never owned one, much less slept on one.[1] What factors should I consider while researching possibilites? Is this a probitively expensive plan - would boat costs, maintainance and marina fees make a country house look cheap in comparison?
And lastely - I've posted this question on the buy a boat forum as well but I'd like to hear your take - what would be good candidates for a weekend home on the Chesapeake? I doubt we'd do off-shore sailing, and both of us are fairly rugged outdoorsy types - we wouldn't need something fancy to live aboard but would not like to be completely cramped.
Thanks!
[1] I am however planning to take a live-aboard cruising course this year so would be able to test how much I like living aboard well before this plan would be executed.
pretty much any boat 27 feet or longer, but try em on for size first, as some boats are bigger for length. i would start with early 80's hunters catalinas, etc.
a boat would be much cheaper, figure 10 grand for a decent ( not great but decent ) early 80's 27 to 30 foot boat. then slip fees from 2 to 4 grand a year plus the electric is nothing compared to a house. other fees like pulling it out for paint, winter and other stuff might be 500 a year ( dry storage figured in the slip fee ). then figure 2 to 4 grand a year in paint and other maintenance, which will be more than a house needs.
so yearly cost not including the boat will be 4 to 6 grand, so high end it will average 500 to 600 a month, or equivalent to a 80,000 mortgage. the nice thing with a boat it you can move it when you want a different view.
now you could get away cheaper some years, some it might be more
Lots of people do something similar... and it is far less expensive in most places to own a boat than it is to own waterfront property.. and you can move it...
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Sailingdog Telstar 28
New England
You know what the first rule of sailing is? ...Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take
a boat to the sea you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps
her going when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home.
—Cpt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity (edited)
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Okay, I'm in Annapolis, so I'd double Scotty's numbers, but the point's the same. A brand new, 40-something footer from Hunter/Catalina/Beneteau may cost as much as a small house - for comparison. An older boat makes sense; you don't need the latest electronics, etc if you're not planning to do a lot of sailing right away. My personal opinion would be to aim a bit larger than Scotty suggests, in the low 30-feet, much smaller and you're sleeping in the main cabin and cooking on a coleman stove (which feels to me like camping out)
A lot of folks do exactly what you're describing and love it. On the flip side, realize that if you do a vacation house, you can use it 12 months of the year. Count on only 9 months comfortably on a boat; winters are doable but not so much fun.
__________________ I have this feeling that there's a new star in the sky tonight ... and even though it's very small and far away, its light reaches us here and makes the night a little less dark.
Thank you, Courtney.
Thanks all, for weighing in. I've been talking about it more with my partner and a boat really does have some numerous advantages over a house. In particular, I'm attracted to having a weekend getaway I can go exploring in - something that isn't as expensive to buy or maintain as a house - and something not so far away that I couldn't just go down for the day. A lot of the vacation properties we've been looking at in the mountains are 3-4 hours away. There are plenty of marinas within a 2 hour drive.
A nine month vacation getaway suits me fine. In the winter I always want to go north anyway, to visit my family and go sledding and skiing. Winterizing a cabin is enough of a pain that I probably wouldn't visit my vacation home too much in the winter anyway.
As part of the point would be to get out of the city, I think we'd rather be in a quieter more desolate marina, which would hopefully be cheaper than a slip in Annapolis. I've only begun researching marinas - currently we daysail out of Belle Haven near Alexandria; several people have mentioned that we investigate marinas down near Solomons, which is only a 2 hour drive out of DC.
Easy to fix... go south.. the boat moves after all.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MMR
Every time we think about how far upside down we are on our house/mortgage, we consider moving onto the boat and being done with it all!
Contemplating winter on the boat always gives us pause, tho....
__________________
Sailingdog Telstar 28
New England
You know what the first rule of sailing is? ...Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take
a boat to the sea you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps
her going when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home.
—Cpt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity (edited)
If you're new to the Sailnet Forums... please read this POST.
Picky, picky, picky....I give you a perfectly workable solution and you have to go ruin it with a reality check...
Quote:
Originally Posted by MMR
If only the JOBS moved south with us... Have to work on THAT part of the plan...
__________________
Sailingdog Telstar 28
New England
You know what the first rule of sailing is? ...Love. You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but you take
a boat to the sea you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turning of the worlds. Love keeps
her going when she oughta fall down, tells you she's hurting 'fore she keens. Makes her a home.
—Cpt. Mal Reynolds, Serenity (edited)
If you're new to the Sailnet Forums... please read this POST.
the boat moves after all. 
Have to work on THAT part of the plan...
