Floating seaside home?

Greenheart

Greenheart

Well-Known Member
Joined
29 Dec 2010
Messages
10,384
Visit site
I don't doubt that this thought has been had before. I just can't be bothered to search. Matter of fact, I'm deliberately not putting this on the motorboat forum, lest contributors inquire why I only just had the idea.

Looking at very big, vulgarly opulent 'seventies and 'eighties white GRP motor cruisers, I'm always struck by their low price, jaw-droppingly dreadful fuel thirst, and by the fact that their old engines are often overdue for rebuilds costing many thousands.

Those running costs have obviously slashed these boats' overall values, and that's natural. Plus, their interior decor is frequently a place entirely overlooked by good taste.

But I wonder if, given wainscoting and wing-backed chairs where there had been faux marble and white leather sofas, these big old floating winnebagos might make stylish, affordable semi-static seaside homes?

'Hatteras' is the name I'm thinking of. Vast American cruisers, as roomy as lots of three bedroom London flats, with ensuite bathrooms. I wonder if (assuming one will hardly use the engines) the accommodation and potential mobility of these, makes them ideal as country cottages?

One might need occasional use of a tug for relocating, and a decent speedboat for getting around when holidaying aboard. One might also need a thick skin for possessing such an unashamed gin-palace, even after anglicising her interior.

Not sure what the following link provides; I hope it's photos of an early '80s Hatteras, with such space and luxury that most of us only dream about. And in truth, this one isn't half as old, ropey and cheap as those I was dreaming of. Makes you think, though:

http://www.powerboatlistings.com/view/14983#

:rolleyes: :)
 
Sorry, Gobes...you're not very specific. Are you in doubt that this vessel can be so cheap? It's $135,000...that's £85K.

I'd call that level of sheer space, moveable to any bit of coast you prefer, very good value. Of course, I see that the fuel consumption is typically recorded as gallons per mile, rather than MPG...but that's the point. Just DON'T regard it as a boat. :)
 
In no particular order:
Mooring/berthing fees
Maintenance costs
Difficulty in acquiring finance

btw, whilst I am by my own confession utterly intolerant of mobos and all that they stand for, I've seen far worse looking examples than the ones you linked.
 
dancrane said:
Sorry, Gobes...you're not very specific. Are you in doubt that this vessel can be so cheap? It's $135,000...that's £85K.

I'd call that level of sheer space, moveable to any bit of coast you prefer, very good value. Of course, I see that the fuel consumption is typically recorded as gallons per mile, rather than MPG...but that's the point. Just DON'T regard it as a boat. :)
Click to expand...

£85k seems a lot of money to get something that's a bit 'half abouts'.
 
Robwhelton said:
...I am by my own confession utterly intolerant of mobos and all that they stand for...
Click to expand...

I'm a sail-man myself, given a choice, but I'm recognising an attractively atmospheric, fairly mobile, spacious accommodation opportunity. I'm also a mooring-man, and despise marinas. That ought to reduce berthing expenses substantially. And if the vessel is only infrequently driven, maintenance oughtn't to run to quite such fearful levels.

In many respects, the sadder and older the yacht is, the better (aside from hull integrity). The less she's worth as a motor yacht, the better value as a floating portacabin. And you'd want to rip out the Goodfellas 'lavish' interior and start again, anyway. :D
 
Well if you mean for full time liveaboard you can buy a flat in lots of places for the same cost of a big (50/60ft) one. Whether for main residence or holiday home the mooring fees/running costs would be expensive compared to a flat or a small holiday home and where you can put something that big would be pretty limited? Expensive to heat, can't go anywhere, what's the point? I met someone who bought a big (60 odd ft) mobo for £50k, lived on it for a few years, never went anywhere, ended up having it moved somewhere cheaper to store it after moving back ashore. I'd be utterly amazed if they ever managed to offload it and if they did it would surely be to someone who had little clue what they were getting themselves into. Sad but these dinosaurs must surely end up in a boat graveyard somewhere...
 
I've definitely heard the idea mooted before, I think it was on the Mobo forum. This was in relation to a gin palace whose engines were completely knackered - the idea was to take them out and sell for spares, then tow to a permanent berth at an overall up-front and ongoing cost of less than a waterfront flat.

I guess it's the same idea as the old hulks of houseboats of the past, just with slightly more money allowing mooring front-and-centre in a marina rather than up some forgotten (cheap) creek.

Pete
 
We are about to move on board our own slightly smaller version of one of those at 47ft and with twin 250hp Cummins diesels. All the luxury for comfortable living on board plus the capability in our case of cruising wherever we want at 8kts and 2mpg (but diesel at $4 per US gallon, not per litre) with 17kts flat out if we go mad.

Not as daft as you might think, because ours is in the 1000ml long east coast USA Intracoastal Waterway in Florida, with easy access to the Bahamas. In fact ours cruised the Bahamas, Exumas, Abacos and down to Turks and Caicos last year over just under 4 months away. We have 3 zone air conditioning, heating (as if), large fridge freezer, another drawer cabinet freezer (for fish catch?) and a cockpit icemaker. The interior is all teak, mostly solid and the floor is wood block 'parquet', with a normal household sofa and reclining leather chairs. The sundeck is hardtop covered with closable screens as is the very comfortable and fully upholstered flybridge. Then we have a full sized propane stove, a combination microwave convection oven, 500 gallons of freshwater capacity and so on... Our draught is just under 4ft (another bonus is they use old money) which for the ICW and the skinny waters of the Keys and Bahamas is ideal.

I have negotiated rides as crew on a neighbouring 45ft sailboat too, just in case of withdrawal symptoms. Did I mention this weeks temperatures in our new home between 75F and 85F, sunny and with 1.5hrs more daylight every day than here.


So laugh and sneer away you lot, we have done our cold water cruising, at a rough estimate some 70,000mls of it over the years and now is the time to be warm dry and comfortable!:):)
 
'Houseboat' is a dirty word

Good points, mostly beyond argument. I nearly typed "I'm quitting this, they're beginning to make sense!" :D

But, contributors considering big elderly cruisers for use in and around the US southern states, are surely in a different, easier world than I was thinking about!

And I certainly wasn't dreaming of beautiful English natural harbours, their half-tide moorings strewn with redundant, decaying, yellowing, non-recyclable American plastic mountains.

I guess cheap fuel inevitably translates to a generally lackadaisical approach to onboard efficiency; electricity generation is always ample and heating expenses are quickly and quietly accounted for. I was envisaging that the Hatteras ('Project Cheapskate') could benefit from a degree of northern European-style heat insulation efficiency, maybe even wind-turbines on the flybridge! Because, why not? :)

If the big Detroit diesels could be hauled out and sold for not much less than the cost of one or two little rebuilt Volvos, sufficient to give the vessel mobility though not hull speed, then she needn't be a liability when travelling between long-term moorings.

Six summer months' deepwater mooring for a big yacht at Chichester, looks to be around £1500. Quite a bit less in Falmouth. Doubtless much cheaper and costlier options exist. But in a yacht rather than a flat or cottage, one need never grow bored by the location. And anchoring is still mostly free, as well as much more fun. :)

I'm not yet persuaded that it's not worth thinking about... :rolleyes:
 
djbreeze said:
Well if you mean for full time liveaboard you can buy a flat in lots of places for the same cost of a big (50/60ft) one. Whether for main residence or holiday home the mooring fees/running costs would be expensive compared to a flat or a small holiday home and where you can put something that big would be pretty limited? Expensive to heat, can't go anywhere, what's the point? I met someone who bought a big (60 odd ft) mobo for £50k, lived on it for a few years, never went anywhere, ended up having it moved somewhere cheaper to store it after moving back ashore. I'd be utterly amazed if they ever managed to offload it and if they did it would surely be to someone who had little clue what they were getting themselves into. Sad but these dinosaurs must surely end up in a boat graveyard somewhere...
Click to expand...

We can buy quite a decent shoreside pad for half what we paid for our floating home but that isn't the point, except as a backup plan if we decide to get out because we want to be cruising well into our retirement years not sitting in the back garden just wishing we had.

In Florida there are other considerations, like there are no property taxes on boats as there are on homes, this is the equivalent of Council Tax in the UK and they are high. Florida also has no State Income Tax as do other States. Marina fees in Florida are more expensive than farther north, but in our marina the rate is $10 per ft per month, so a 50 footer costs $6,000 per year or under £4,000, which includes weekly free pumpout of holding tanks. In our case we are paying an extra monthly live aboard fee for when we are on board and not off cruising plus we have un-metered 60A at 110v electrics for around $1,000 per year which means we can run aircon or heat 24/7 regardless. This makes paying Council Tax, Gas, Electricity and Water Rates seem expensive. We also have free WiFi, so no Broadband charges either. We have decided not to have a landline phone or cable TV, both of which are available if we want.

If we moved northwards up the ICW we could drop our annual marina bill by around $2,000, so cheaper still.

Hatteras are US built boats and very highly regarded. A 1970s Hatteras is still far from being an old hulk, any more than say a 1970s Swan might be thought as one. The one in the first link had IIRC 4,000hrs on the engines which is actually less than on the Yanmar 44hp in the boat we sold here and which was also still good as new.

These are 'motor yachts' and quite different from the planing whizz bang plastic fantastics most yotties imagine and see regularly here. Ours is a relative lightweight at 16 tons displacement when compared to that Hatteras but we were looking at others that were up near 25 tons and remember there are no chunks of iron keels in those figures, albeit the engines weigh a bit.
 
In 1989 I sold my 'sailing for fun' type boat and bought a larger cruiser, with ideas of living onboard in a handy marina; about exactly this moment, marina prices trebled so my 'Miami Vice Crockett lifestyle' plan was kicked firmly into touch...I sold her and bought my original boat back, and my only regrets were ever being so daft !...:rolleyes:
 
But Seajet, how did you fit your alligator on the sailing boat? :D:D

Seriously, I wonder what the costs would be, in 'anglicising' a big US-built displacement or semi-displacement hull?

I mean, replacing 2x425hp diesels, with a couple of ninety-HP tiddlers? Or perhaps even smaller. I'd think the big barn-door hulls take a lot of driving, beyond jogging pace - but enough grunt to make five or six knots would likely be available from fairly compact units.

If I was shopping for a house, and troubled by the prospect of dull land-locked permanence, I'd look long and hard at these. EG...

http://www.denisonyachtsales.com/ya...el/listing/pl_boat_detail.jsp&boat_id=2198822

Or, this little one for £56,000. Not bad for three ensuite double cabins: http://www.denisonyachtsales.com/ya...el/listing/pl_boat_detail.jsp&boat_id=2372009

OR...this fifty-three footer is under £50,000!! Don't let SWMBO see the third picture in the slide-show...that galley is bigger than my kitchen on land! Here it is, £49,800: http://www.denisonyachtsales.com/ya...el/listing/pl_boat_detail.jsp&boat_id=2432539
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

O
“The Dog that Didn’t Bark:” Yanmar. 4L HASTE.
Replies
2
Views
276
oldgit
O

Share this page

Top