son just sold sailboat

[jeanontheroad]

It was a great boat, but had to keep it in a slip ($$$). He spend more time on maintenance than he did using he. He is not a maintenance kind of guy and it wasn't something he liked to do.

DIL's family are all campers. She is talking camper. One grandson has been campaigning to come back west to the mountains. (The other one had trouble getting over the wifi limitations)

We'll see if there's an RV sitting in their backyard when we get back to Florida.

 

[Patrick46]

yeah...that's kind of the problem with boats. Either you gotta pay moorage on it, which like you said, is $$$$$...or you gotta trailer it, which isn't so bad, but then you gotta put it in the water and reload it every time you wanna use it. A big pain in the pooch!!

I live right on the Oregon Coast. (there's literally a tugboat parked right at the end of my street.) I have a big shop for my business...but once I move outta there (hopefully in the spring), I've been thinking of buying an old commercial fishing boat to use as a cheap, cool, floating art studio.

I ADORE being on the water, and a person can buy an older fishing boat that's had all the gear and permits taken off for very little money. They're usually kinda on the rough side, but have good hulls (which is fine as I'd prefer to build my own creative abstract wheelhouse anyway!) It's not like I'd be using it to head out to sea or anything...and moorage around here is very cheap by comparison.

 

[Seraphim]

We've talked a sailboat. BIL has one on Lake Michigan - but we'd feel trapped stuck in one part of the country by a possession. So we'd want something trailerable. We're not bothered by taking time to get it in and out of the water - it takes us 30-45 minutes to assemble our canoe lol. No rush...

Just haven't gotten around to wanting one bad enough to trailer it.

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It would limit some of our travel options

 

[jeanontheroad]

If you are young and agile and you want only one unit for land and sea, see if you can find an old Bay liner 2452 Ciera Express. Had one for years b4 DH succumbed to 1-ft-itis. My favorite boat, ever. Light enough to tow with a regular 150 truck. We got a cabin with big windows ( I get seasick if I can't see the horizon). We could use it in campgrounds with a ladder over the side and we could cruise the ICW with down to the Keys. If you want to be able to camp in your boat as well as boat in your boat and can still easily make it over the ladder, you may like it. As for going stealth, who is going to think you are living in there on the side of the road?

Downside: The high windows gave it a lot of windage. Very narrow path forward to deal with the anchor in a chop. It had so much storage that it tempted us to cram so much stuff on it that it became underpowered - which is what pushed DH into the next boat. Also, for people who move around a lot, the gas mileage will be bad.

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If you spend several months a year with your boat in a campground while you work or go to school and several months a year on the water, as one young couple I know did, does that make you a full time camper or a full time liveaboard? Or both? Or neither?

 

[Patrick46]

Huh...

I just saw onna those Bayliner Ciera Express' for sale for a really good price not too far from here.

Hmmmmmm.....now you've got me thinking!! :dodgy: