Living on a boat?

[SkaterRace]

I am in the process of figuring out details to live on a boat, I am curious what size, style and everyone here would consider reasonable to live on from Dec 1st to May 14th in a warm climate. Pretty much I need to avoid hurricane season as best I can tell insurance would not cover me.

I am looking to move to the Caribbean and live on a boat while working remote for a year maybe more if I like it. I would would be going with one other person and it would be just us on the boat most of the time.

What kind of boat should I be looking at?

This is planned for 2 years down the line so getting the research done now. I have a few ideas of what I should be looking at but not 100% on my thoughts.

 

[garbageguy]

If the boat in your tagline is what you're coming from, I wonder how you are going from that to living full time on your boat. But I'm mostly jealous. I usually think about a 50 ft or so trawler. Probably as big as you can. But what do you do with all your "stuff

 

[Sprig]

Many of us have dreamed of living on a boat, but that dream for most will never come true. Most of us are envious. You need to ask yourself a couple questions and then provide us with your answers for us to advise you. Do yo want a sail or power boat? Do you have experience operating larger boats , 40’ and larger? Do you have experience operating and navigating in big water and open seas like the Caribbean? You say you will work remotely from the boat which I assume will be via the Internet. Internet on a boat in the Caribbean can be problematic. You’ll have to use satellite and that is notoriously slooooow and not dependable. Do you know where in the Caribbean you will call home? Other than US possessions those islands all have different laws which can affect you in many ways. There are lots more questions but those are but a few of the important 9nes.

 

[SkaterRace]

If the boat in your tagline is what you're coming from, I wonder how you are going from that to living full time on your boat. But I'm mostly jealous. I usually think about a 50 ft or so trawler. Probably as big as you can. But what do you do with all your "stuff

That was my old boat yes, I sold that boat to get rid of it and give me the time to work on my business and now on the boat every weekend, all weekend, because that is exactly what I would have done if I kept it. My business puts me well off enough that I could afford a 40-50ft about 10 years old without issue. I would buy new but as with me looking at getting a fun boat to enjoy (19' bowrider) I can't justify the cost of deprecation so I'd never buy new unless it made sense money wise.

Big as I can is best but to me I do have to balance taking money from my business for personal spending and still growing the business. So thinking of that I want to only buy what is reasonable and what I will use with 1-2 people on board.

 

[SkaterRace]

Many of us have dreamed of living on a boat, but that dream for most will never come true. Most of us are envious. You need to ask yourself a couple questions and then provide us with your answers for us to advise you. Do yo want a sail or power boat? Do you have experience operating larger boats , 40’ and larger? Do you have experience operating and navigating in big water and open seas like the Caribbean? You say you will work remotely from the boat which I assume will be via the Internet. Internet on a boat in the Caribbean can be problematic. You’ll have to use satellite and that is notoriously slooooow and not dependable. Do you know where in the Caribbean you will call home? Other than US possessions those islands all have different laws which can affect you in many ways. There are lots more questions but those are but a few of the important 9nes.

I've worked for the past 5 years figuring out how I am going to live on a boat or a lake, business took off in a way unexpected and has allowed me to done some awesome things so far.

I am not sure if I want a sail or power boat, I have sailed competitively 6 years ago but none since. I had sailed also a 50ft monohull before across the great lakes with one other experienced person.

My experience operating larger boats is almost non existent though I am planning on buying the boat I will use then paying for some lessons from a local place that I know is good for teaching new yacht owners though I doubt what I will get will be big enough to be called a yacht.

Yes will be working via the internet and I know connection will not be perfect and I have plans in place for that and how to handle that from the work/business side of things.

I don't want to call one place home for the first while as I'd like to travel a bit and see what I like best, the idea of this move is to travel and enjoy life a bit more than I have in the past few years.

For the different laws and such, I am already looking into it and it seems fairly reasonable to say I will be fine on that. I'm mostly interested in finding out boat size, boat specifics from this forum right now, the laws, living, internet and such I think I already have a good handle on and now it is just getting the details sorted out like which boat to buy, weather my girlfriend is going to be okay with what boat I buy, what I will need to learn to be able to live there ect Also have to figure out how health care works (I'm from Canada so US based stuff doesn't apply)

 

[CrazyFinn]

My suggestion would be a “trawler style” boat, 40 to 50’ range, powered by single or twin diesels... Lots of room to live on, good fuel economy, plenty of used boats available. I’ve recently started dreaming of doing the same. Will be a few years though before I can realistically do anything but dream...

 

[Scott Danforth]

buddy of mine lived aboard various sail boats for over 22 years. (his 37' ketch for almost 15 years). he would take a cruise to the Bahamas/exumas every few years.

he is a licensed captain and offers sailing classes. so he is experienced.

satelite radio, two radar systems with weather radio, two chart plotters, two UHF radio systems, life rafts, EPIRB's, and some medical training with a really stocked first aid kit (including everything needed for minor surgery).

per Rich, here in FL, you need about $1000 a month. assume $370 ($10/ft)per month for mooring, $70 for electric/water, $150 for a storage unit (used primarily as a workshop) the rest on gas for the car, diesel for the boat, beer and food. a bit more if you want to entertain. you will need cash or have something to barter when in the Bahamas or Exumas. Rich and his long-time GF have been going there for years and developed the relationships needed.

while on the hook, you will need a wind generator, solar panel arrays and an on-board diesel powered generator.

I can reach out to him to see if he would be willing to talk to you.

while a trawler is nice, putting along at 12 knots, a sailboat will get you there at 7 knots with wind power.

 

[SkaterRace]

buddy of mine lived aboard various sail boats for over 22 years. (his 37' ketch for almost 15 years). he would take a cruise to the Bahamas/exumas every few years.

he is a licensed captain and offers sailing classes. so he is experienced.

satelite radio, two radar systems with weather radio, two chart plotters, two UHF radio systems, life rafts, EPIRB's, and some medical training with a really stocked first aid kit (including everything needed for minor surgery).

per Rich, here in FL, you need about $1000 a month. assume $370 ($10/ft)per month for mooring, $70 for electric/water, $150 for a storage unit (used primarily as a workshop) the rest on gas for the car, diesel for the boat, beer and food. a bit more if you want to entertain. you will need cash or have something to barter when in the Bahamas or Exumas. Rich and his long-time GF have been going there for years and developed the relationships needed.

while on the hook, you will need a wind generator, solar panel arrays and an on-board diesel powered generator.

I can reach out to him to see if he would be willing to talk to you.

while a trawler is nice, putting along at 12 knots, a sailboat will get you there at 7 knots with wind power.

Interesting he would have a full backup of everything hooked up, I was thinking of only backing up the important stuff and other things I would be likely to use frequently along with having replacements stored away. Being a licensed captain would be nice though I think I might not have the time to dedicate to doing that, would be nice to though.

My total monthly budget I was planning on was $6k USD since that seems like what most of the countries there use and what my business bills in.

I was hoping to live on anchor most of the time so solar array was in my plans, and because of what my business is, having power is quite important so I was thinking a generator would be good too. Also for a water maker which I have read is important to have as well.

12 vs 7 knots doesn't matter much to me I would think as most of the time I would plan for how ever long it would take no matter the speed of getting there.

If you would reach out to him that would be awesome, I'll pm you my email to send off to him in the chance he say yes.

 

[David Young]

In 1980 I was going to buy a houseboat and live on it. In the end, the slip rental from the dock, electricity bill and sewage bill ended up being more than an apartment. I ended up renting an apartment

 

[SkaterRace]

In 1980 I was going to buy a houseboat and live on it. In the end, the slip rental from the dock, electricity bill and sewage bill ended up being more than an apartment. I ended up renting an apartment

I am 100% sure it will cost more than an apartment but an apartment doesn't move around and limits me down to one place and traveling becomes a lot harder. I'm giving up my apartment to go for this move. For me there will be limited docking fees, electric will not be an issue as I plan to run solar.

 

[ahicks]

I would consider chartering possibly. The lessons required before they just hand you a boat like that might prove invaluable. That, and it would give you a chance to try on a trawler vs. sail, and give you a very good idea of how much elbow room you and your partner are going to need to spend serious time on board. Having spent quite a bit of time bouncing around the country in a large RV with the wife for months at a time, we found we couldn't get too much floor area. With a boat though, I'm guessing there's a point where it may be difficult to handle with just 2 sets of hands and eyes, so that would be a concern as well.

The idea of working towards a Captains license sounds like a good one too......

 

[SkaterRace]

I would consider chartering possibly. The lessons required before they just hand you a boat like that might prove invaluable. That, and it would give you a chance to try on a trawler vs. sail, and give you a very good idea of how much elbow room you and your partner are going to need to spend serious time on board. Having spent quite a bit of time bouncing around the country in a large RV with the wife for months at a time, we found we couldn't get too much floor area. With a boat though, I'm guessing there's a point where it may be difficult to handle with just 2 sets of hands and eyes, so that would be a concern as well.

The idea of working towards a Captains license sounds like a good one too......

Do you mean chartering locally next summer or chartering for my move/trip? If the ladder than no chance of that happening, cost is way too high to even think about.

I would like to try out different boats though I have lived in some pretty small apartments with my possible boating partner and we were fine with a 400sq ft appartment which I am guessing to be about a 40ft motor boat not sail those I am betting will be smaller.

Having a captains license would be awesome and I might get to that one day but for now it just isn't in the cards to take a lot of time away from the business for at least a few years.

 

[ahicks]

I was thinking a vacation charter (a week or 2?) in an area you plan on haunting regularly. I would think that expense wouldn't be too bad, especially considering the cost of a mistake involving the price of a boat you would consider for your mission....

Getting a captain's license doesn't involve total immersion. It's something you can work on a little at a time.

 

[Lowlysubaruguy]

Just a thought and something i suggest to my customers who want to buy and RV or Camper ( not talking old clunkers) Rent one for every bit of use you need and try one out first. With a $6K month budget for living expenses on top of the boat cost you could probably fly where your desires to be and rent a yaught or sailboat a month at a time. VRBO some time on land rent a car and have the best of both worlds for a while. Not only will that answer your questions of what type size of boat youd want but it would answer the question of if you really want to live on a boat before you toss a pile of cash at one. I can tell you this a very high percentage of wanna be RV owners never buy one after renting one for the third time. One lady’s rented one a half dozen times and she has pencilled it out its half the cost of owning one and she is renting one about 4 months a year. Gets to drive it drive it like she stole it drop it off and let them deal with everything else. Im pretty thrifty when it comes to VRBO and other online rental for my housing on visits and have had nothing but great experiences. You could rent a boat for part of your stays and rent a house for the rest. And theres a lot of rental boats in the Carribean. Not to mention half the rental yaughts out there are for sale you might find the perfect boat by renting it.

 

[Scott Danforth]

no way you could rent a yacht in the Caribbean for $6k a month. if you get 20 other people, maybe $3k a week.

most charters in the Caribbean start at $15k per week.

 

[ahicks]

Absolute Horse Puckey.... Not talking about a 100' mega yacht

Here's a charter boat that goes for 1650. to 2500. depending on season. Add 175. a night for a Captain if you like. I was thinking about something like this, and work something out for enough instruction where you and the charter company both feel comfortable taking the boat out by yourself. Maybe after a week of having the Captain on board?

http://www.bviyachtcharters.com/yachts/olive-beneteau-31/

for a cross section of what's available and what they go for

http://www.bviyachtcharters.com/bvi-yacht-charters-price-list-2/

Pretty sure if you do some shopping and FACT finding, you can find something affordable that will suite all your needs just fine. This took 2 minutes to find....

 

[SkaterRace]

I was thinking a vacation charter (a week or 2?) in an area you plan on haunting regularly. I would think that expense wouldn't be too bad, especially considering the cost of a mistake involving the price of a boat you would consider for your mission....

Getting a captain's license doesn't involve total immersion. It's something you can work on a little at a time.

Oh okay a week or two is manageable then for sure, I doubt I would travel down to where I plan to stay but maybe some time on a larger boat with an experienced captain would be good.

 

[SkaterRace]

no way you could rent a yacht in the Caribbean for $6k a month. if you get 20 other people, maybe $3k a week.

most charters in the Caribbean start at $15k per week.

I'm not planning to rent LOL not sure where you got the crazy idea, maybe I said something the wrong way but I plan to BUY a boat and live on that.

My $6k budget doesn't include for buying the boat either as I am likely going to pay cash for it or depending on how big or new I have to go then I might take out a loan but that is one of the reasons this move/trip is not happening tomorrow. Banks like seeing 2 years of solid income and mine has been increasing at a rate that makes it look unstable to a bank so getting a large loan is a bit hard.

 

[ahicks]

If there are charter boat available where you are at, there are likely schools teaching potential bare boat captains the basics. Nobody steps on to something like that and can honestly say they know what they are doing unless they've owned something similar in that same area. Having somebody aboard to show you around a boat this size, and the area you'll be sailing/cruising in, well worth what it would cost you.

 

[89retta]

If you don't mind me asking . What type of business ? If my memory serves me right you're in Alberta