03-06-2011
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Swab
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: At Sea
Posts: 451
Rep Power: 6
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On costs: Everything goes by Length Overall (LOA) in feet. the bigger the boat, the more everything will cost - moorage, haul out, survey, gear - everything. Get the smallest boat you can be comfortable on. For me that is a 27 footer. Recognize that all boats of a given size are not equal so no hard and fast rule can be applied as to "Minimum" I have known people to live quite comfortably on a 20 foot Flicka or be miserable on a 42 foot Alden.
My minimums are:
Standing headroom at least somewhere in the boat
Separate sleeping cabin so guests don't have to sit on your bed
A table to eat and write at
A sink and water tank (Pressure water on a cruiser is IMO a liability, not an advantage)
A cook stove securely mounted.
Head with holding tank or Porta-Potty
If you will be at a dock, a proper marine shore power hookup and battery charger (Probably required by the marina anyway but if you don't want to come home from work and find your boat a charred ruin, a very good idea)
We are in the South Bay. Marinas here charge about $400 per month plus metered electricity for live-aboards in a 30 foot slip (Everything is by the foot). They require liability insurance (As do most marinas everywhere nowadays) which we get from Boat US for $135 per year. The insurance company will require a haul-out survey. YOu will want one anyway before you buy the boat. Price will vary but budget $1000 for the surveyor and yard fees and plan to lay on a couple of coats of bottom paint and replace the anodes at the same time. Don't waste a haul out. Plan to have the boat hauled and your pre-purchase/insurance survey done at tha same time. Travel lift fees at KKMI in Sausalito were $10 per foot LOA in January 2011 each way or $600 for an out and in haul for a 30 footer. Bottom paint will run $45 for cheap stuff to $100 or more per gallon. A thirty footer will need a couple of gallons for two coats. You will need to go through this ritual every one to four years depending on the quality of the paint, what kind of critters inhabit your local waters and, for the anodes, how electrically "hot" your marina is. this can be extended by having a diver wipe your bottom and check your anodes, aka "Zinks" every few months. I don't know what divers charge in the Bay Area. It was $1 a foot in Hawaii - cheap. $7 a foot in Seattle - not so much. You shouldn't have to have the boat surveyed again until you sell it or let your insurance lapse and have to renew after a break.
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