Living on a boat..... - Page 2

[ceilydhmama]

$$
For us - the first time we were out (3.5 years) we lived off of our savings. We worked from the time we graduated until we left 7 years later and saved all of my income and lived on dh's. We also did one stint of work where we flew home to our old jobs and worked like crazy for 3 months. Our expenses came to about $500 a month and that first boat was a basic little monohull which we picked up and outfitted for about 40k. After our travels we kept living aboard in MD for 4 years before selling that boat and returning home.

This time it's similar - except we're on a more expensive boat. Once we sell our condo the boat will be paid off and we'll have about a 3-year cushion in savings. But we both have also cultivated careers we can maintain while we travel - I'm a writer and Dh can work on contracts with his engineering firm. The economy has added a bit of a complication - but we know how to live really frugally when required.

And if that doesn't work dd juggles and rides a unicycle and dh makes good balloon animals - so I'll send them out busking

[boatbaby]

Originally Posted by unlegal

Balloon tying, like balloon animals? I have heard people make good money doing that.

Fatty is a total jokester But balloons ARE easy enough to store on board just in case.

[onandon]

A couple weeks ago I replied to this thread saying that we'd buy a boat anytime between now and a couple years from now. I guess I was manifesting the NOW. This weekend we found a boat we adore, a beautiful restored Columbia 38, and we are trying to work out our offer for tomorrow.

So, would anyone talk me out of this? We've been planning/saving/dreaming/telling everyone this is our plan for years but now that it's around the corner it seems a little crazy!

We may have found a marina where we can live at least in a transient slip if not a real legal liveaboard. Bay Area boat mamas do you have any tips about getting liveaboard status with kids? DH works in Mountain View, so although the sailing isn't great we're hoping for a south bay slip, like maybe Redwood City. We are going to give ourselves 6 months to sell all of our house stuff, store what we need to, fix up a few things, finish potty training the little one, and move aboard.

[boatbaby]

yay Onandon!

congratulations to you and your soon to be floating family.

You may find more answers to you questions HERE at the Sailing Kids Yahoo Group.

(if that link isn't working let me know -- I am working on an old lap top that won't cut and paste. blah!)

[onandon]

Our offer is in and now we wait (a week at most, but likely we'll hear from the broker tomorrow). Boatbaby I got your PM, thanks! I'll be writing to you soon.

[mizzshannon]

Oh how I envy all of you floating families! I've only just come to know of the liveaboard life within the past year and was instantly drawn to it. Ironically for me, its DH that thinks I'm a whack-job. I would loove to raise a family on the sea.. off the grid. I think it would be a great way to raise my children too. ahhhhh... one day I'll win him over to the dark side.

But for now I'll just live vicariously through you all! Happy Sailing

[zakoh02]

Wow -- I am not alone

I am so happy to find this group. My French-Canadian husband and I live aboard s/v Sea Conquest -- our 1977 41 ft. Morgan Out Island with our 3.5 month old son, Sacha. We are currently in Ventura, CA, but just gave notice on our slip and signed up for the Baja Ha Ha in the fall. We plan to cruise around So Cal for the summer before heading to Mexico in the fall. If all goes well, we plan to continue cruising for awhile. I am really excited to find other cruising mamas.

[boatbaby]

Originally Posted by zakoh02

I am so happy to find this group. My French-Canadian husband and I live aboard s/v Sea Conquest -- our 1977 41 ft. Morgan Out Island with our 3.5 month old son, Sacha. We are currently in Ventura, CA, but just gave notice on our slip and signed up for the Baja Ha Ha in the fall. We plan to cruise around So Cal for the summer before heading to Mexico in the fall. If all goes well, we plan to continue cruising for awhile. I am really excited to find other cruising mamas.

Welcome! As I am sure you know, outside of MDC there is a much bigger tribe of floating mamas! We've had our son aboard since birth as well.

Drop in on the sailing kids yahoo group for more connections including families who are also heading the same direction from the west coast.

p.s. I have a soft spot for Morgan O/I --such a lovely boat!

[zakoh02]

Thanks for the warm welcome. Things have been pretty easy with the baby thus far, but I expect the challenges will emerge once he becomes more mobile. I must say that I am nervous about life afloat with a baby who can move about.

[unlegal]

Hi again, guys!

I posted a little while ago about being excited about the idea of living aboard and cruising. I told my husband about it, and he got all excited, too! Right now we are getting ready to put our house up for sale and really do this. We can't wait :

We are planning on living aboard for about a year in Portland, then cruising for awhile, probably just going south down to Mexico, as we ease our way into all of this. Both of us have not even been on a sailboat, so we have no idea what we're doing

Eventually, when we feel comfortable, we want to travel all over.

Right now, our kids are 5 and 2.

I think they will have a blast. Right now, my daughter (5) is having a really hard time parting with her stuff. I'm trying to get ready for a big garage sale, and she's right behind me, putting everything back.

[onandon]

Unlegal- Yah! Good luck with your house sale and boat search! Sadly, our offer didn't get accepted on the boat we love. We're still hoping it'll stay on the market and they'll call us and tell us they can sell it for less. But, anyway, one thing we did was contract with Bob Perry to help review some of the boats we are interested in. Since he's been designing boats for longer than I've been alive he has great insight into sailing characteristics of boats that we just wouldn't know until we've been around another few decades. There is also a book we keep referring to called "Twenty Affordable Sailboats to Take you Anywhere" that has been a good source. If there are "beer can" races in your area you can usually volunteer to crew on boats and get to learn in the process.

[cushsb]

this sounds really neat...
how much money do you think someone looking to do the same would need to start off?

where do you learn to sail? and is it safe for kids to go along with you on the journey? sorry for the 20questions. it's always been a dream of mine to go sailing around the world

[SamGroom]

Glad to see so many of you on here. My dh is active duty Coast Guard and we have always planned on sailing away with the kids. We are saving away for when he is done. He gets 30 days + between transfers so we are hoping for a few practice runs soon.

[boatbaby]

Originally Posted by unlegal

Hi again, guys!

I posted a little while ago about being excited about the idea of living aboard and cruising. I told my husband about it, and he got all excited, too! Right now we are getting ready to put our house up for sale and really do this. We can't wait :

We are planning on living aboard for about a year in Portland, then cruising for awhile, probably just going south down to Mexico, as we ease our way into all of this. Both of us have not even been on a sailboat, so we have no idea what we're doing

Eventually, when we feel comfortable, we want to travel all over.

Right now, our kids are 5 and 2.

I think they will have a blast. Right now, my daughter (5) is having a really hard time parting with her stuff. I'm trying to get ready for a big garage sale, and she's right behind me, putting everything back.

congrats on getting ready. boat shopping is tons of fun, DH and I joke that if we had lots of $$ we'd buy a new boat every few years just because we are boat nerds and love going through them all. Let me know if you have any questions that maybe I can help with.

Originally Posted by onandon

Unlegal- Yah! Good luck with your house sale and boat search! Sadly, our offer didn't get accepted on the boat we love. We're still hoping it'll stay on the market and they'll call us and tell us they can sell it for less. But, anyway, one thing we did was contract with Bob Perry to help review some of the boats we are interested in. Since he's been designing boats for longer than I've been alive he has great insight into sailing characteristics of boats that we just wouldn't know until we've been around another few decades. There is also a book we keep referring to called "Twenty Affordable Sailboats to Take you Anywhere" that has been a good source. If there are "beer can" races in your area you can usually volunteer to crew on boats and get to learn in the process.

So sorry your offer fell through. The right boat is waiting out there for you. crewing in races is a great way to get your feet wet in sailing. Aside from a little sailing as a kid, that's how I got started (and met my husband!)

Originally Posted by cushsb

this sounds really neat...
how much money do you think someone looking to do the same would need to start off?

where do you learn to sail? and is it safe for kids to go along with you on the journey? sorry for the 20questions. it's always been a dream of mine to go sailing around the world

You spend what you have. Just like a house. Learning to sail, you need to find people who have boats and bring them food and booze And yes, bring the kids along! They will pick it all up faster than you do.

[MomInFlux]

I found my new tribe! :

Hubby and I are on the hunt for the perfect sailboat for our family of 5. We already have a live-aboard slip arranged in Marina Del Rey, California, so we just need to find the boat. The plan is to be moved aboard by the end of the summer; hopefully the timing will work with selling our house. I think we'll live aboard for a year to 18 months while I keep working (I'll be working in downtown Los Angeles and DH will upgrade the boat while staying home with the kids) and we learn to sail the new boat. After that, we're taking off. The kids are 2, 5, and 8, and they're ready to go.

Our goal is to live lightly and frugally, and prepare for a post-oil future. That means being able to maneuver the boat without an engine, as well as not have engine dependent systems (refrigeration, water maker, etc.).

We're pretty excited about divesting ourselves of "stuff" and making our lives about experiences rather than things.

[LeoneLover13]

Yay boat mamas!!

I'm so excited to find this!! :

A quick background....
DH is Navy and we just moved to Guam 6 months ago with our baby girl, now 11 months. He tried to talk me into moving on a boat a few years ago when we were first together and I was not interested but now...I am SO excited by the idea! I wish we would have done it earlier, but now we are trying to figure out the funds for our dream.

We essentially plan to buy a boat, fix it up and move aboard whilst on our 3-4 year tour here in Guam.
We elected not to tell anyone about our plan yet (except our new close friends here) for obviously reasons i'm sure. I figure i'll call my Mom one day and just tell her we moved on a boat and plan to sail back to the mainland.......

boatbaby- HI!!! I feel like I am meeting a celebrity!
My husband found your incredible blog last week and was reading it for 3 days straight, told me about it and since then we have both been inspired to really get started on our dream together.

I'm sure I have 4000 questions (and once DH finds out he will too!) but i'll start with...

1. How big is too big? DH says past 40' would be too much for just the two of us to handle.
2. Is a Cat or a monohull more spacious at the same length? We have been debating this. I think I would prefer a cat (just based off your blog boatbaby!) because of space, but DH says they are harder to sail and WAY more expensive.?
3. We are considering buying a boat that needs fixing up so we can customize to our needs/wants. Smart or crazy?
4. I am most concerned about not having the following: a shower/bath, internet (I work online) and a washer (I really enjoy doing laundry and I'm cloth diapering so I use it ten times a day right now). How do you deal?
5. Are there any Military Mama's living aboard? How does the Military deal with your living situation?

I'll have more q's don't worry but i'm so happy to be here!

[iris777888]

Hello there! We've been strongly considering living aboard too, so I'm interested to see the answers and will eventually have more questions as well. It seems like all the families I'm reading about seem to live in Cats.

BTW boatbaby, congrats on the great article!

[HiBethany]

We'll be aboard (in a few years that is...)

Hi all,

We're still in the 'dreaming' phase, but will make the liveaboard cruising life our reality in a few years. Right now dh is making the money and I'm doing the research. We're living in England temporarily and moving back to Marina del Rey CA in March 2010. We're adopting and hope to have a wee one home shortly thereafter. I recognize a few of you on here via your sail/kid blogs! I blog at http://lifeonplanetearth.wordpress.com/. If any of you are passing by Marina del Rey, please do get in touch. I'd love to have you around for tea or dinner and hear more about your exotic lifestyle!

[MamaPhilly]

Hi all!

This is exciting to see an MDC thread on this! My DH and I can't WAIT to start sailing. We have two boys (almost three and just turned one) and are hoping to get #3 started soon. We wanted a larger family AND to be able to sail, so we decided to go for small spacing.

Here's our 5(or maybe 7) year plan---which we've already started. First, we bought a house in a great neighborhood, and have been doing a lot of fixing up ourselves. We live in Philadelphia. We are saving everything we can, including any bonus DH makes. I teach childbirth classes and we save that money too. Once the kids are all in school, probably pre-K, I will go back to teaching (I have a Master's degree)---all that money will be saved.

We should be able to pay off our house entirely, and then buy a boat (this is why it may be a 7 year plan, not 5). We may buy the boat first though, we'll see.

THEN we can RENT our house out---and make close to $2000 a month, which would allow us to sail---FOREVER!

I got this idea from Embarrassment of Mangoes

We'll see how this all works. My DH a former Navy submarine guy and is in the energy business, so there's a slight chance he could consult from the sea, but most likely, we're going to need to find a way to fund this without work.

I will start practicing my balloon animals though. Maybe we MDC mom's can corner the market?

[boatbaby]

Originally Posted by LeoneLover13

boatbaby- HI!!! I feel like I am meeting a celebrity!
My husband found your incredible blog last week and was reading it for 3 days straight, told me about it and since then we have both been inspired to really get started on our dream together.

I'm sure I have 4000 questions (and once DH finds out he will too!) but i'll start with...

1. How big is too big? DH says past 40' would be too much for just the two of us to handle.
2. Is a Cat or a monohull more spacious at the same length? We have been debating this. I think I would prefer a cat (just based off your blog boatbaby!) because of space, but DH says they are harder to sail and WAY more expensive.?
3. We are considering buying a boat that needs fixing up so we can customize to our needs/wants. Smart or crazy?
4. I am most concerned about not having the following: a shower/bath, internet (I work online) and a washer (I really enjoy doing laundry and I'm cloth diapering so I use it ten times a day right now). How do you deal?
5. Are there any Military Mama's living aboard? How does the Military deal with your living situation?

I'll have more q's don't worry but i'm so happy to be here!

Hi LeoneLover! Cats are great, but monos make a lot of sense too. We happen to get our cat for a steal considering the size. Dumb luck on our part. Getting a monohull that you can pay for free & clear is a smart move. But if you plan to live aboard and work and can manage a small mortgage then having the space of a cat is nice.

Your husband is right (sorry to say!) Past 40 feet isn't unmanageable, but if we didn't have a kid or weren't living aboard in a 4-season climate before casting off again, we wouldn't have gone more than 40 feet. Our first boat was an old PDQ36 that was perfection in almost every way. We went bigger when I got pregnant. Looking back, there are some 40-foot cats that would have done just as nicely as this big mama at 44-feet.

Your husband is wrong in that they are harder to sail. No way. Much easier in every way. I have done both extensively. You and your husband NEED to charter or take lessons or bum rides on both to see what suits you. There's no perfect boat. It's just what works for you.

Buying a new boat is never a guarantee that everything will be right. But a fixer upper can be a nightmare too unless you are VERY HANDY and have the time and patience to tackle it. A boat that's had one or two owners who have worked out the kinks is great, especially if the owner is willing to go over the boat with you after purchase. But being pre-owned it will need upgrading in every major system, so there's your chance to make it how you want it.

If you are living aboard -- the marina will have laundry facilities. It's a pain to walk over load after load, but you manage. All cruising boat will have some set up for you to bathe. usually a shower. We are lucky with 2 bath tubs, very unusual. They are wee tubs for kids, we stand in them to shower. we only use the tubs when we have free & clear access to fresh water. So we have a "bath season".

Thanks for the kind words and feel free to email me with any questions. No question is too silly. I don't check here to often, so send me a PM and I can send you my email address.

Originally Posted by iris777888

It seems like all the families I'm reading about seem to live in Cats.

BTW boatbaby, congrats on the great article!

Thanks for the congrats on the article! We're pretty excited over here. Cats are catching on. But I wouldn't discount monos either. Depends on your budget, long term plans, and short term living ideas.

Originally Posted by HiBethany

Hi all,

I'd love to have you around for tea or dinner and hear more about your exotic lifestyle!

Hi Bethany! I'll be right over

Originally Posted by Oliversmommy

Hi all!

This is exciting to see an MDC thread on this! My DH and I can't WAIT to start sailing.
I will start practicing my balloon animals though. Maybe we MDC mom's can corner the market?

When you say start sailing , do you mean as a lifestyle or learning? Definitely get out and sail as much as you can on various boats before you think about buying anything. And once you buy a boat, live on it for AT LEAST one full year before you cast off and cruise. There's a steep learning curve.

But yes, balloon animals are in our future!

If anyone plans to come out to the Annapolis Boat Show, drop me a line and we can get together. Cheers!