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Funding the sailing lifestyle

8K views 43 replies 34 participants last post by  Sailmon 
#1 ·
So, I'm fairly new to the forum and some of you may have seen my previous post about the Catalina 27 I was looking at...I can't help but get frustrated and I suppose a bit jealous of all the folks that have nicer boats than me...Although, all I really want is a moderate boat that gets me out on the water...sometimes I feel like I'll never make quite enough money to do this...even if I find the boat I want there are still mooring fees, storage, insurance, maintenance...it really adds up...

I'm only 28...currently working in IT project management and I feel like I'll never find a job that pays more and can afford me the boat I'm looking for...anybody hiring :)

Seriously though, I am curious as to the best ways to make this happen, financially...
 
#31 ·
40 years ago.. this is what I started with.. there are times, when I consider going back..
And trading in my boat for a small easily transportable sailboat and a kayak..

CastleCraft Sunflower Sailboat | Snark Sunflower 3.3 Sailboats

I could put it on the roof of my car and take it anywhere. It was a blast.
Someone asked me once " where I docked my sailboat" and the look on their face when I said the roof of my car was priceless.

There's a lot to be said for keeping it simple and fun!

Anyone looking for a used Sabre? ;-)
 
#32 ·
Please don't take this personally but it sounds like you don't want it bad enough. I cant tell you how to do it but I can tell you how I did it. First off I have been more or less unemployed since 2006 and no I'm not a trustafarian. After loosing everything I had in the world I bought an old Westerly Cirrus and restored it while sailing it. I sold that boat for a small profit and purchased a Flicka, restored that and sold it too. I found an old derelict Allegra 24, at that time I had been living in my car for over a year, I did a full restoration and sold that boat for a huge loss. When I sold that boat I found my current boat in pieces in CA, I live in WA I had exactly enough money to purchase it and ship it here, When it arrived my life savings was 2 bucks. I have spent 14 months putting every penny I can earn into this boat. I am on year 4 with no car and yes it rains every day here, I take my dog every place I go and it can be quite a pain. I have had to sacrifice everything often living on a single can of beans a day. Now that I'm less than a year from sailing off to see the world everyone in my marina thinks my parents flip the bill, they are always teasing me about my trust fund. People often wander the dock and comment on how lucky I am to have such a wonderful boat. Luck?? it has nothing to do with luck. If you want it badly enough then go take it, this is America, you can have anything you want.
PS I live on less than $500.00 per month, my boat is insured for now and I'm in a slip. some days are feast and some days are famine. I will continue to finish the boat as I sail. Just in case you are wondering what my budget is to set off and sail the world, its about $200.00 not per month or year, that's all I have. I could spend another 10 years here waiting for the boat to be perfect but I'm not going to.
What I don't have.
debt
engine
electronics
GPS
oven
depth sounder
ice box
What I do have.
Yuloh
lead line
compass
paper charts
brain
fun
I say make it happen and when you do people will wonder how you are so lucky to be living the lifestyle :)
 
#33 · (Edited)
The "sailing lifestyle".....or the "cruising life"....unless you've made your fortune and are retired.....

It's like Scuba...as an Instructor I can't tell you how many folks come into the shop dreamy eyed...with the "I want to chuck it all, live on the beach, and teach scuba"....the dream is much better than the reality.

There is a part of me that would love to "chuck it all" and live like a hobo, no worries besides my next meal....live on the boat, moving from place to place....I can teach scuba so I can get work all over the world when I need it.

Same part of me would like to "chuck it all" and live on an island, teaching scuba and living in paradise.

Well...what is stopping me? The fact is, I DON'T want to be an old man, broke, unable to work anymore, living in poverty and squaller, depending on welfare, government medicare, charity of others. It's gonna happen...I'm gonna get old (hopefully)....and right now I'm in my prime earning years. I have 20 years to retirement....and I'm aggressively funding my retirement accounts and investment portfolios. I'm working to get a mortgage paid off. In 20 years I'll have no debts and 5 solid income streams to produce funds for the rest of my life. Hopefully I'll have some years.

It's a gamble. I could die before 65 and then I'd rather have run away and played. But if I run away and play and then DO live a long life....I'm financially screwed.

So, I take the middle road. Conservative sailboat and toys to enjoy on the weekends....Corporate suit during the week.....waiting....hoping I make it.
 
#34 ·
I'm sorry but I totally disagree with two of the replies you have received. Unlike the two people that posted them, I am actually living aboard my boat and have been for years, I'm not living in a marina and working on a boat that I plan to sail. I'm also not worried about my investment portfolio. You're 28 years old NOW, in the prime of your life. If you wait and retire at 65, that's almost 40 YEARS from now! Also, you will be 65 years old! It's not as easy to single hand a sailboat at 65 as it is at 28, I know that for certain. Also, by that age, if you've been living on land and working some 40 hour a week plus job, you're most likely married by that age and have children, probably grandchildren, and you're "obligated" to the family you have created. They're not going to want you to take off sailing for who knows how long to who knows where, especially at that age, so I disagree with the post that says plan, plan, plan, and enjoy later. You could die tomorrow.....no one knows how much time they have on this Earth....what if you do all of that planning he suggested and then drop dead from a heart attack at age 62....what good did all of that planning do? Absolutely none.
However, I would not take off on a boat without a depth gauge and some sort of GPS system, even if it's just the less expensive hand held one, which is what I started out with, b/c when you're out in the open ocean, especially at night, it's easy to get disoriented. I also wouldn't leave on a boat that does not have an engine unless I planned to stay on the Intercoastal Waterway or not go more than a couple miles off shore because weather can change quickly and you may need to get into an inlet quickly and without an engine to fall back on, you're at the mercy of the winds, and if they're not in your favor, it can be nearly impossible to get into a tight inlet in rough seas. I know because I've actually done it.
Sometimes in life you just have to take that leap of faith and build your wings on the way down. Get the basics together on your boat so that you can travel safely. Other than that, there's nothing holding you back but you.
 
#35 · (Edited)
There's no right or wrong answers...everyone has different needs and priorities.

@ Sailor Wench, Your story begins with you and your husband..owning a boat and sailing...with your husband and perhaps yourself filling the sailing kitty between adventures.

The OP doesn't have a boat..and doesn't have the money to buy one. He was looking at a Catalina 27 without a working engine for $1,000. Pretty Limited budget.

So before he begins your lifestyle he at least needs to work and save some money to Purchase the boat, the GPS, the engine.... and he would need a plan, at least an outline of one, to earn money along the way, once he had all that together, so he could slip the mooring and sail away.

I'm sure you and your husband didn't fall from the sky onto your sailboat. Some thought and planning went into it, and it took some money to purchase your vessel and outfit it.

What seems to be holding him back right now is a lack of adequate funds.
 
#36 · (Edited)
I sailed down to Central America in 1990 with the boat my grand father left me. (worth $4000) A soveral 28. It had an engine and I knew how to navigate. I think G.P.S was just coming out, so I did'nt have that. The Engine sh!t the bed in Belize and I have'nt had one since. Been sailing back and forth for 22 years now. no engine and a hand held G.P.S. that I buy used when I leave, and Pawn when I get back. I only use it out of sight of land. If I can see land, I can pilot using a paper chart and my hand held compass. I tried the boat yard work but the money sucks....Bar's, that's where you make bank and quick. Now I'm a merchant marine which is perfect, great money, lot's of free time. Never had depth sounder, that's what lead lines are for.
I sold the boat in 1998 to freind for $4000 and traveled around Guetamala for a year. I hitch hicked to California with a Hippy chick I met and then traveled around the country for a year doing odd jobs, ended up back in Key West, bar backed for a few months, and bought my Boat back for $4000. Short version of a long story, getting involved with " The Life" is Cheap and easy. I've seen a 20 year old girl, move to Town, waitress, buy boat, Sail to the Caribbean alone, in less than year.
 
#37 ·
Wow. I have read this thread with interst.

Capt Aaron, Tempest, Sailor Wench, and many others have given some incredible advice. I respect what they did and have done. In fact, I almost made Capt Aaron's thread on how he survives in Key West a sticky. What a great story! I respect how you, and pretty much everyone else on here has made your way. I hope you and everyone else will show me the same respect as I hesitatly show the OP (or anyone interested) mine...

I could not do it how you folks did. No interest. I am not disparaging your methods, but that would not work for me.

Me... well, I was not born with a silver spoon either. I never went hungry growing up, but had my share of episodes that changed me. By 18, I was convinced that there were things in my life I wanted, and I was going to make it happen. I went to Baylor University, and as I recall, I was the only one with a double in Biology, CHemistry, and Premed (a totally different course structure than non-premed). I enjoy science, but also planned my career around what I saw as marketable in the future (physician). I am not a physician now, thank goodness, but after graduation followed my strengths and ambitions to further my goal of getting what I wanted. I will leave it at that.

THe difference I see bewteen me and many others is that I set my standards very high. I have owned many Lexus, houses, and boats. I have bought all my boats new. I bought my first boat in 1995ish (A C250) at the age of 25/26. I paid roughly 26,000 for it. I bought my next boat a few months later (new). It was a C320. I think it pushed close to 100k. I bought my next boat to go cruising on a few year after that. I think I was 29. It was a Catalina 380. I think I paid circa 160 for it. Kept it, lived aboard on it, raised my kiddo on it for some time, and sold it and not long after bought my last boat, a C400. I paid circa 225,000 for it and have put a LOT more into it. Lived aboard her, cruised her, and now (just sold my car... yeah!!) taking off to do it again but this time long distance with both boys. I bought this boat when I was 36 or 37 IIRC. In all of this, please excuse the years or exact prices as I don't keep track very closely.

Let me tell you what worked for me and how I did it: I saw what I wanted, then I made my mind up to get it and make it work. I worked the hours to make it work - nights or weekends. I found careers that made it capable to afford such a vessel or life(style). I always kept focusing on a career that would afford me my desires, not making my desires on what I could afford. I have no boundaries. I have no limits. I never see limits. I only see what I want and then focus my attention on what I need to do to get it.

You live in America, right? You have no boundaries or limits. None. THe only ones you have are self imposed... especially in your 20's. You want a Oyster 6x? THere is no reason you cannot have it, and in a reasonable time. ALl you have to do is figure out the means to the end. THe getting it is the easy part... the figuring out how to get there is the hard part. Others will tell you the opposite. THey see limits. I do not.

I could have a nicer, more expensive boat now. I could have a big house on the water. I could have another new Lexus or (insert item of choice). I simply have no interest in it. I like my boat and my life and am comfortable with what I have. THat makes me no different that Aaron or SW, or Tempest, or any of the other respondents here. My only difference is I have ZERO interst in making me fit into what I have now. I do not begrudge those who envy others for their possessions... as long as that envy is with a desire and understanding that they too can have it. I see what I want. If I want it (bad enough), I make it work to get there.

Incidentally, as I mentioned, I am taking off with my family yet again (41), 8 yo boy, 12 yo boy, wonderful wife, fat bulldog, to do this thing again in the next many days. I must be doing something right?? Everyone else is too that is enjoying this life... whether on a multimillion dollar yacht or a free trailer sailor. No matter the yacht, we all get the same view. But my path to passion was a completely different road than what I have read here. I did it. You can too.

Brian

PS - Bill Gates, Jobs, Buffet, etc... never saw limits. You want it? Go get it. Then look back on this thread as the motivation to change your life. Can't wait to see the pic of your Oyster.
 
#38 · (Edited)
The only reason I bare bones it, is due to my personal finances. If I set out to follow Cruising Dads path when I was 18, I'd like to think I could have reached the same level of success. (We are the same age) and often wished I had. It's only now that I've gotten serious about a career as A Tug Boat captain. All the expierience I have gained as a young bare Bones Cruiser play's into my rapid climb to the wheel house in the commercial boating world. Weather you're on a nice, gadget boat, or a hull with a mast and rudder like me, I'm glad we are out here doing it to what ever capacity we are capable of and am glad, as I sit in my bunk on the Tug, I have a place like sailnet to have these discussions. It inspires me to work a little more on my boat when I get home. At 41, I now own a house in the Bay Islands of Honduras, two old cars, a Dive ,Kayak, and Snorkle charter boat, a studio apartment in old town key west and am married. I spend exactly half the year, (Or my life) on tug boat making a decent daily wage with all the benny's. But I still keep my sail boat bare and simple. What started out as necessity has become some kind of ritual passion. It's my ace in the hole, anchored out in a creek. A tough little sloop, pulling on it's mooring like a race horse ready to run. When I motor slowly away from it in my skiff, I stare back at it till I'm out of sight and only then get up on a plane. Funny, I pay $900 a month slip rent for my 40 foot dive boat and skiff, but I keep my sail boat out in a mangrove creek and call my neighbors to see if it's still there every day I can't get out to it.
 
#41 ·
I started at 22 years old and with less income than you probably make, and things are looking good now from a boat and financial perspective. It can be done, but I believe it requires creativity.

Buying small undoubtedly decreases costs. Going as small as you can is REALLY going to help. We bought much bigger than we needed, and while we got a really good deal on the boat, we're paying for it's size every time we turn around.

Living aboard is really what made it possible for me. I wasn't paying rent AND moorage, AND boat payment. Once rent (and all the utilities) went away, it was really quite affordable.

Another idea to look into is buying your slip. We did this, and while it was difficult to come up with the down payment, and there are very few banks willing to lend on a slip, we made it work. We pay slightly more (maybe 15-20%) than we would if we were renting but in 10 years we'll have a slip that we own. With 15 year terms we'd be paying less than if we were renting.

We consider our slip to be the majority of our cruising kitty. It's always difficult to save money each month for sailing years down the road, but even on the months when we don't put any extra away, our slip payment DOES contribute equity to our cruising kitty. When we get ready to leave we'll sell the slip and have a good sized pile of cash to cruise with, and the money will have all come from money that would have been vaporized as moorage payments. I wish I'd done this 11 years ago when I got started. I would own the slip now and wouldn't be looking back on so many years of $$$ per month checks that I wrote to the marina.

MedSailor
 
#44 ·
Jumping in....

I am going to go ahead and chime in, even if only to echo what others have said. I was where you are and am about finished with my goal of restoring a boat to go cruising.
I believe determination is rarely taught. It's like jazz. If you have to ask you'll never know.
Don't listen to.the naysayers. Make your dreams happen even if it means pushing all else aside. Do it and do it now.
 
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