Cheap liveaboard for a solo novice/dreamer.

[SV Kittiwake]

There maybe Jeremiahs around but it seems them many more dreamers , yes of cause you can live in a shell of a boat with a bucket for a loo and a camping stove , he also wouldn't need a engine , a pair of oars would do the job nicely , forget about a Bimini a nice umbrella and who needs a fridge when a pot of water will keep your milk over night . if he willing to live like that , in which case he find more comfort in a tent on a camp site and it be save a lot of his money at the same time .
But of cause who care if we encourage some guy we don't know to spend money on a pipe dream , it's not our cash .

On the other hand, with a bit common sense and some realistic expectations (which he seems to have), he could be off on the adventure of a lifetime. And if he's trying to do it on the cheap, rather than spend £30k on a boat plus refit, then he's got way less to lose if it turns out he doesn't like living on the sea.

We managed to save up and leave within a year of having the idea, but we have an engine, a marine stove, a loo, a boom tent (not quite a bimini) and a fridge (although admittedly that was a gift).

If after 2 years he decides he loves living on his boat but wants something bigger, then so what? Back to land for a bit, earn some more cash, and next time around he'll know exactly what he's looking for and have the experience to take the bigger boat further afield.

Go small, go simple, go now as they used to say

 

[CKG]

I have to say you do very well hauling up an 20kg and 8 mm chain day I. And day out , I wouldn't want to do it , the few times we had a anchor windlass problem with our other boat , 20kg and 10mm chain I got it up but It wasn't easy and they where In light winds in a blow , no thanks you .
But going back to the OP I know many carpenter and non are as you say Burly , putting that to one side , read the opening posting when someone talking about buying a boat to live on and cruise with a budget of 3k to buy e boat that on its only rings bells .
Anyone who spend any time living full time as the op says he like to do wouldn't even thing about any of the boat suggested and if they did if wouldn't be long before the boat would end up with the other hundred of boat that litter the MED , where other throught they could do just that .
Once again putting that all to one side , the OP don't even need to spend 3k or motor it all the way to the Med , a cheap flights to say Greece and I if he ask around the boat yards he sure to find a owner who be willing to give his boat away for the outstanding yard fees . It will still cost him an arm and a both leg to get them in any fit state to make them Sea worthily, or he do as many have done , find an old fisherman harbour and park it there until it sunk of he abandon it .
Nearly everyone who on a small boat are out for a few months if that before they escape back for some months , I know not one person who lives full time on his boat under 35 foot and even them are going back in the winter months as it's not comfortable .
I would ask the question , would you live full time in a very hot country in the summer and a wet and cold one in the winter and work at the same time . But not sure I would get a honest answer .
Any way the windless is the less of his problems .

Although I, by no means, have your experience, I would think it very important to be able to haul up the anchor by hand because, as you have just pointed out, you cannot depend on electrics.
As I said in an earlier comment I've just spent nearly two years in Cambodia where the average daily temperature was33 degrees and 90% humidity apart from the rainy season when it got really hot. Three months of that time was spent living in a hammock under a tarpaulin. Maybe you're mistaking me for a luxury obsessed wimp.
P.S I am quite burly.

 

[CKG]

I may have come up with the solution:
FOR SALE.
One kidney. reasonable condition. Age related wear and tear. Definitely needs anti-fouling. Please note this is a project kidney. Sold as is. No tyre kickers or sking merchants. £3000 (open to offers).

 

[sailaboutvic]

Thank you so much. Although, obviously, I want honest opinions and food for thought it's nice to have a few comments from dream makers as opposed to dream killers. I mentioned Henry Wakelam earlier on. He sailed the world on a shoe string, built his own boat, was the first to use synthetic rope on boats by twining discarded whaling line etc. All he had was a VHF radio. It's because of people with his kind of attitude that we discovered other far flung places. His wife, Yannick circumnavigated the planet, single handed, on a 19' boat. Any thing is possible if you're positive.

CKG , I sorry I didn't realise what you wanted was for encouragement from dream makers , I tho you was asking for was honest advise for some of us who have done it and been doing it for many years in my case well over 25 years on and off ,
but hey what do we know ,
Just one last thing you keep mention Henry Wakelam and Bernard Moitessier these where guys who not only had a worth of sailing experiences but also could turn their hands to almost anyhting plus they wasn't short of cash , on the other hand you are needing your friends help to put together what will be a very run down boat at the type of money your talking about for next to nothing .

 

[sailaboutvic]

I may have come up with the solution:
FOR SALE.
One kidney. reasonable condition. Age related wear and tear. Definitely needs anti-fouling. Please note this is a project kidney. Sold as is. No tyre kickers or sking merchants. £3000 (open to offers).

That might work

 

[CKG]

CKG , I sorry I didn't realise what you wanted was for encouragement from dream makers , I tho you was asking for was honest advise for some of us who have done it and been doing it for many years in my case well over 25 years on and off ,
but hey what do we know ,
Just one last thing you keep mention Henry Wakelam and Bernard Moitessier these where guys who not only had a worth of sailing experiences but also could turn their hands to almost anyhting plus they wasn't short of cash , on the other hand you are needing your friends help to put together what will be a very run down boat at the type of money your talking about for next to nothing .

Hi Sailaboutvic, please don't get me wrong, all input to this thread is appreciated, regardless of content. My knowledge of this subject is just about minimal. The questions I ask must seem very naïve to many of you with vast experience but, yes, encouragement is important in any new venture and pessimism needs to be balanced with optimism.
As you said, Henry could turn his hand to anything. He was a mechanical genius. We had a saying that if you gave him an old washing machine he would turn it into a working television. I you gave him an old television he would turn it into a working washing machine. His 'worth of sailing experience' was exactly that; experience. He wasn't born with it. he learned it. That's all I'm trying to do and at the moment it's only at the stage of asking naïve questions. I appreciate you taking time to contribute to this thread.

 

[CKG]

That might work

Did I mention that it has had only one owner since new?

 

[sailaboutvic]

When I take the time to contribute to a posting like your , it mainly to give you my true full option and my experience, unlike some I not talking out of my bottom .
It make no different to me if you take in consideration what I say , although it might make a different to you .
I not trying to put you off your dream , only to make you think that the type of money your talking about to buy a boat that will suite what you want to do is unrealistic, that not to say you won't buy a boat for 3k , as I said in a early posting , there many a owner can't wait to get rig of their boats , some have already try here I see .
If you want your dream to come true you have to give it half the chance to succeed.
There a world of different between a weekend boat and some thing you can live on , if we all honest we say it's not easy life, that why most go back not only in the winter but also in the summer months as it just too much .
what basic stuff most have on a weekend boat some are suggesting you can save the money and do without , although they don't seen to be doing without them self .
I bet everyone who encouraged you are not living full time in a small 26foot with basic stuff , the reason is cos they know very well they won't last very long .
The once that try you find there boat dump some where .
In my view your better off saving until you not only have enough money to buy an half decent boat but have enough cash to get you through the first year , at less 15k and if you think that's a lot money , then you better off forgetting your dream ,
If you happen to earn a bit of cash on the way all well and good , but as I said before it won't be easy .
We just blow a sail the other month , that's 2k on some thing we not counted on lucky we can afford it but it we couldn't , that would be it , with no way income we would have to give up.
If your dream is to live on a boat and work , as I already suggested , approach one of the charter company , thought out the summer staff are leaving when it get too much for them and you will get experience what it like to live on a boat and how to maintain it.
as I said in my first posting ' I really do wish you the best of luck , we all have dream,
I am now going to stop replying to your thread .

 

[gregmlucas]

There was a chap called Nathan Whitworth that blogged about trying to fit out and live aboard a 21ft corribee called Kudu some years ago (on a really tight budget). Part of that can still be found at https://onkudu.wordpress.com and should make an interesting read (although the later parts of his blog appear to be no longer available). Nathan also put together a number of good ideas too at https://www.youtube.com/user/onkudu.

Hope this helps and good luck with your dreams

 

[CKG]

There was a chap called Nathan Whitworth that blogged about trying to fit out and live aboard a 21ft corribee called Kudu some years ago (on a really tight budget). Part of that can still be found at https://onkudu.wordpress.com and should make an interesting read (although the later parts of his blog appear to be no longer available). Nathan also put together a number of good ideas too at https://www.youtube.com/user/onkudu.

Thank you, I will check it out.
Hope this helps and good luck with your dreams

 

[capnsensible]

Heres a thing, then. If anyone takes a look around the ports and anchorages on the standard Atlantic Circuit, something can be seen.

There are everywhere a number of smaller (around 9 to 11m) yachts quite happily taking their owners on a nice cheap voyage. Very often younger people, sometimes couples. Usually long haired! Scruffy boats, often French flagged. All having a ball without the stuffiness of Jolly British Yachting. It can be done.

We spent a bit more, but have lived on our Moody 33 for 18 years. The boat was built in 1977. It doesnt have to cost a fortune, you dont have to be gadget daft, just steady and do stuff as you go.

Hope you find the right boat, its there somewhere! :encouragement:

 

[GHA]

Heres a thing, then. If anyone takes a look around the ports and anchorages on the standard Atlantic Circuit, something can be seen.

There are everywhere a number of smaller (around 9 to 11m) yachts quite happily taking their owners on a nice cheap voyage. Very often younger people, sometimes couples. Usually long haired! Scruffy boats, often French flagged. All having a ball without the stuffiness of Jolly British Yachting. It can be done.
.....

Hope you find the right boat, its there somewhere! :encouragement:

Big +1,lots people out there having fun on very little .
3k pushing it though....

 

[capnsensible]

Big +1,lots people out there having fun on very little .
3k pushing it though....

Yeah, at that price it would be a seller in a bit of trouble, mebbe. Right place right time sometimes does it.

 

[GHA]

Yeah, at that price it would be a seller in a bit of trouble, mebbe. Right place right time sometimes does it.

True , if you're up for it and don't listen to the negative forum advice things can happen. Then the fun starts, along with lots of learning and the start of a life long toolkit

 

[capnsensible]

Sunscreen, gaffer tape and ambition can take you a long way!

 

[TQA]

Worth alerting the OP to the story of Shrimpy by Shane Acton. see http://www.dukeandduchessapparel.com/shrimpy_a_record_round_the_world_voyage_in_an_18_download.pdf

He lived on and circumnavigated an 18 ft plywood estuary cruiser with a similar budget.

He had very little sailing experience when he left Cambridge and had never had the mast up on Shrimpy.

 

[CKG]

There was a chap called Nathan Whitworth that blogged about trying to fit out and live aboard a 21ft corribee called Kudu some years ago (on a really tight budget). Part of that can still be found at https://onkudu.wordpress.com and should make an interesting read (although the later parts of his blog appear to be no longer available). Nathan also put together a number of good ideas too at https://www.youtube.com/user/onkudu.

Hope this helps and good luck with your dreams

Anyone who's slogan is a Frank Zappa quote is alright by me.

 

[CKG]

Heres a thing, then. If anyone takes a look around the ports and anchorages on the standard Atlantic Circuit, something can be seen.

There are everywhere a number of smaller (around 9 to 11m) yachts quite happily taking their owners on a nice cheap voyage. Very often younger people, sometimes couples. Usually long haired! Scruffy boats, often French flagged. All having a ball without the stuffiness of Jolly British Yachting. It can be done.

We spent a bit more, but have lived on our Moody 33 for 18 years. The boat was built in 1977. It doesnt have to cost a fortune, you dont have to be gadget daft, just steady and do stuff as you go.

Hope you find the right boat, its there somewhere! :encouragement:

Thanks, by the way just because of your ybw name are you a fan of the damned?

 

[CKG]

Oh, and message understood loud and clear.

 

[nortada]

Worth alerting the OP to the story of Shrimpy by Shane Acton. see http://www.dukeandduchessapparel.com/shrimpy_a_record_round_the_world_voyage_in_an_18_download.pdf

A Caprice.

He lived on and circumnavigated an 18 ft plywood estuary cruiser with a similar budget.

He had very little sailing experience when he left Cambridge and had never had the mast up on Shrimpy.

I have a signed copy his first book on the boat in Portugal.

Seem to remember he was a former Royal Marine and possibly SBS so a very special breed.

Unfortunately he died young but not from a maritime related cause.