Just browsing some cheap boats

Got bored tonight, so I thought I'd take a gander at the yachtworld.com listings.  I don't know if it's a need to feed my masochistic nature, or to just inspire me to keep going.   Well assume it's a character defect and it's the former, but really hope it's the later :)  As more of the people I talk to or follow on their blogs, get boats, or make plans to start heading south after hurricane season, I feel the pull more and more.  

It's funny, I seem to notice things boat or water related more often now.  Songs with water, or sailing in the lyrics, or shows with boats in them perk my interest.   In the airport a week ago instead of picking up a Newsweek or some other magazine, I picked up Cruising World.  I paid a lot more attention to Hurricane Irene then I had any previous hurricane.  Tracking it's path, wind speed, what the sea surge was expected to be.  Checking to see if people I had read on the web were ok.

Almost like I feel a part of the sailing community already!  So here's just a few cheap boats I saw as I was looking through boats.

36' Concordia  $9900

THE BOAT WAS BUILT AT THE CONCORDIA IN MASS BY ALAN GURNEY.  ONE DESIGN MODEL KNOWN AS THE "CODDINGTON".  RECENT PRICE REDUCTION DUE TO THE SELLER HEALTH. DO NOT MISS OUT.

 34' Tartan    $9900

Vessel has had recent survey and deck issues were discovered. Classify as project. Hence the low price. Is savable.

This Classic Sparkman & Stephen designed sloop has had 1 owner and has always been used in Lake Erie FRESHWATER. Has sought after Volvo diesel engine and newer Dacron sails made by a renowned local sailmaker, David Bierig. Her Keel/centerboard makes her idea for cruising in coastal regions where you may encounter shallows.

34' Tartan          $8000

Best priced 34 Tartan on market.

 30' Catalina              $6900

This is a very basic Catalina 30 with a newer (2004) Yanmar 2 cylinder diesel engine. The boat has been sitting for several years and the keel bolts may need replacing at an estimated cost of $1,000.00 - $1,500.00

30' Catalina 1983      $10000

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I'm getting old

No, no - it's not mine!  My daughter turned 17 today.  Next year she turns 18 and she's off to college.  That will make both kids off to school - and means dad will be left all on his own with nobody to watch over him!  It makes me look back and think about the stuff I've done and haven't done in my life.  Sure there are some regrets, but I look at my 2 kids, and they are both thoughtful, kind kids and I realize that I didn't mess them up too bad :)   And now my daughter is talking about going into pre-med, so now my retirement plan is in place !! :)

By this time next year with my daughter off to college, and my son on his second year, I want to be moving onto a boat sitting in a marina here on the "lovely" Ohio river.  So I'll hold the 2 or 3 people that actually read this blog accountable for keeping me on track! :)  It won't be the warm weather that some of the cruisers enjoy, but it will be the start.

130 Blogs in the list

8/30 - update.   Technical difficulties hit yet again.  Now I think somebody is just messing with me!   Maybe this will all work better on the water  - time to move!! :)  Repairs forthcoming to list!





Yeah I know!  A blog that has been sorely lacking in posts the past couple weeks, and I wimp out and just add stuff to the blog list. You should be happy. I have given you an additional 20 something blogs of people that have actual useful information to read.  You might finally enjoy a blog post or two while you are at it.

Fear not, the last couple of weeks of sales school, taking my kid to college, laptop came down with a nasty virus, are hopefully behind me.  So my incessant droning will continue.  I'm sure I can come up with some exciting material.   Or maybe just make some stuff up!

Back from Annapolis

Ok, I'm back for longer now - I promise!  My posting has been sporadic the last couple of weeks.  A week of Sales School, followed by a trip to Annapolis to take my son to college.   He is very excited to be free of his parents and living on his own.  Far, far away from his parents' control.  I'm sure this had absolutely no impact into his decision to go to a school in Maryland - almost sure anyways :)


Another trip to Annapolis means another round of me seeing lots of boats on the water, and wishing I was on one of them.  Since I don't have much to say, I'll just add the pics from the trip. 

Back from Sales School

East Shore Marina

I am back !!  Yes, I know you were all frustrated that you could not read wonderfully entertaining posts from Chris.  I apologize!   If it makes you feel any better, my plane didn't land until midnight, then I spent an 1 1/2 hrs in a traffic jam on the way home.   Land life sucks!!

my friends boat

I did get an offer to run over to Rocky Fork Lake and sail with a friend from the class I took. There was no wind as usual.  It appears that my presence anywhere near a sailboat is enough for the wind to disappear.  So he motored me around the lake in his 22' Aquarius.  A nice little first boat he got for 2k.  It got me to thinking (well that and many links sent from various friends re: cheap small boats out there) that maybe I could get a beginner boat soon!  Then later get my liveaboard.  

With that thought bouncing around in my head I came across the sign above.  It was sitting on a 1987 Hunter - 23.5 ft.  $3900.  Seems like that might be a good starter boat.  So a message was left on the seller's voicemail.   Maybe I will have something to learn on soon!

Land Life Blues

Stuck on land, but at least I get some sushi

Been a very light week for me.  I've been stuck in a Sales School all week in North Carolina.  Oh if only I was floating in an anchorage somewhere farther south.

But it looks like one way or the other I'll get some sailing in on a friends boat this weekend when I get back.

Liveaboard Article in Annapolis paper

Ok so this post is basically me being lazy.  Yeah, I know, it's a big surprise.  I started talking with this couple in Annapolis after posting in some Sailing Forums awhile ago.  I think they embody what the sailing community is all about.  They are very friendly, and generous with their advice. And they even invited me to stop by and maybe come see their boat when I take my son to college in a couple weeks.

One half of the dynamic duo (are they super heroes?) is a writer, and does blogs for an Annapolis paper, The Capital.  She recently wrote an article about liveaboards in honor of Liveaboard Boater Day in the District of Columbia, August 13th. She interviewed a few liveaboards or people on their way to being liveaboards, and i was lucky enough to be included.   Thanks Jaye!

So since work and landlife has overwhelmed me this past week (that's my excuse for lack of posting), I'll just put a link to Jaye's articles instead.   Looks like yet another link for the blog list :)

Over 100 Blogs in the List

No, Chris did not turn 100!  His net worth might be 100, but that's not what the number signifies.  Due to yet another busy day at work, I decided to see if I couldn't get the blog list over 100.  It's pretty easy actually.  I have so many bookmarks, I could probably hit 200.   But you wouldn't want me to overwhelm you all would you?  So you guys all get 2 presents - no wordy posts from Chris, and some additional blogs to look over in your spare time.

A couple of other Ohio River Marinas

As usual I just can't stop looking around and daydreaming.  I have visted the Four Seasons Marina, had a couple beers there - or was it 5.. hmm I'm getting a little cloudy on that one.  But since I'm still stuck on land, I continue to want to at least look at pictures of boats on water, so I look for more places to visit.   I've added 2 more marinas to my list of possibilities.

Manhattan Harbour Marina is on the Kentucky side of the river.  I never thought I'd be on the Kentucky side, what will all the civilized Ohioans think (sorry - for all of you unaware, Cincinnati is on the Ohio/Kentucky border.  The Ohioans - aka us yankees  - sometimes pick fun at our southern neighbors).  This marina also has a couple restaurants, a bar (i always seem to find a place with a bar), marina shop, and the other expected facilities.  It's part of what appears to be a development of apartments, condos, etc.  So do I want to be in the middle of all that?   Should be a lively area, but will i get peace and quiet?  Do I want peace and quiet? Decisions, decisions

The other marina I found is the Lighthouse Point Yacht Club.  This marina is actually located in Indiana - what's the matter, did I just decide to start hating on my home state? - and looks to be a bit quieter then some of the other ones I've looked at. No restaurants, no bars, just a marina and the boating facilities you need.  I might sleep better there.  It is a bit more of a drive then the others, but everything is open, and plus my job is spent driving around when I"m not at the house anyways. So really anything relatively close will work.
 

Basically for any of the marinas it'll cost me an average of around $300/month to liveaboard there.  And all 3 of the main ones I've looked at take liveaboards.  The Lighthouse Yacht club has 1 liveaboard, the Four Seaons has 2, and the Manhattan Harbour has several.  So I guess that could also figure into it.  Do I want a larger community of liveaboards (although I'm not sure if the several translates into large - but close enough :) ).


So I need to choose one, and I need to get a boat!  The Search continues (yes I capitalized The Search - it is a big event !).

Marina on the Ohio River

Look - open slips just waiting for me!!

After work today, I thought I'd stop by that marina I've been thinking about living at next year - Four Seasons. I thought I'd just grab a few beers at Pirates Cover, the bar/restaurant at the marina.  They were setting up for the band to play, so it looks like I would be getting free music (whether I wanted to listen to it or not) if I stayed there. 

The one thing that did strike me, as I looked around spying on the boaters, was the sense of community amongst the boaters.  I know that there are very few liveaboards at the marina, but even the weekenders all seemed to know each other, and we're sitting on the docks in groups of chairs eating, and drinking with each other.  It emboldens me to continue on my path so I can join the fraternity of boaters.  Soon, I keep repeating it to myself, soon. 

I can see myself here someday!

Out of all the boats here - only 1 sailboat

How Soon?

So a comment left from my cruising mentor :) over at Barco Sin Vela II,  I started thinking more about time frames and how I can keep this dream moving forward.  He had commented on a boat on Ebay that was under $1500, but appeared to be in decent shape.  At first thought I almost dismissed it straight away because I wasn't ready to proceed.  Then I thought (there is a lot of thinking - not much action!), well what if I actually got that boat, or any boat now.  Could I do it.


I looked around a little, and found dry storage from the place that I took my sailing class (Strictly Sail ).   For $400/yr plus tax, I could store the boat and there would be electric and water available. That would allow me to do any work (other then scraping/sanding of bottom paint) on the lot.  This would give me a year to get enough work done on the boat to make it liveable.  During that same time I would be working on the house preparing for it's sale next year.

Next year hopefully then I would sell the house, pocket what would I hope be about 50k of equity.  Sell all of the house stuff I don't need, and add those proceeds to the sailing kitty as well.  Then move myself and whatever boat I ended up with to Four Seasons Marina.  The cost of living aboard there on a 35' boat (just gave them a number for an idea) is $2765 plus electric for May 1 - Nov 30, and $910 plus electric for Dec 1 - Apr 30.  This got me really interested in my little exercise.  A cost of $300/month plus electric seems a LOT cheaper then $1150/month plus electric I'm paying for the house.  In the perfect world (aka my mind) that would seem to mean I can save up more money while working fulltime, and living onboard.  Of course there would be unexpected expenses, but I would be getting a boat ready for cruising, getting used to living on a boat, and enjoy water life (and the winter misery of it as well !).


Now I don't know if I'll go through and try and get that boat or not (the cost is rising quickly over on Ebay).  But I'll keep looking for deals on decent boats, and if one is a match I may just start this a lot sooner then I expected! So who knows.  As I've been told before, I may be closer then I think!

A Good Book

Sailing the Dream

I know I had this book included on an earlier post, but that was after just getting it.  I finally finished this book, in between all those blogs I read (such hard work!).  But it is an inspirational story for people just looking at a cruising lifestyle.  At least I think  so - I could be a little nuts!  A couple that buys a 34' sailboat and sails with their son from North America, to the South Pacific, and to Hawaii.

I thought it to be an honest accounting of their travels.  From the hardships and problems they ran into, to the wonderful new experiences and cultures they encountered.  During some of the recounting of their travels it almost felt like I could experience the journey with them.  Jealousy tinged with admiration at the way they just did it!   Maybe that's why there is a ridiculous list of blogs on my favorites page.  I'm living vicariously through those more brave souls already out there.  Those of you already out there probably don't need to read that book to experience the adventure, but for those land-locked souls, it is something to inspire you to make your plans! 

With that said - guess it's time to practice some knots.