jazzdude
Active Member
We are in our mid-50s and plan to retire in the next 5 -7 years as our mortgage will be paid off and hopefully, the business sold. The current plan is to buy a sailing boat to live aboard and cruise the med for 5-6 months of the year, and then return to our home in Cyprus for the winter months. We intend to buy a boat in Greece, and initially keep it in Greece for the first season, and then either bring it back to Cyprus and place it on hard or leave it in Greece for the winter in a long term marina.
I have a day skippers licence, that I got a few years ago and have sailed on and off on various boats, generally 45-48 footers. My wife is a novice though and the plan is to book a flotilla holiday this year to ease her into it, with her getting her competent crew beforehand.
I am looking at planning the next few years with getting us a boat later this year and use it for a few weeks a year for sailing experience while we are still working. I am currently thinking of around 70k for something like a 45-foot sailing boat as although we will mostly be the two of us, we want extra space for other couples to comfortably stay during our weeks in the islands. An owners version would be preferable and cockpit space is paramount, I want it to be comfortable for about 4-6 people, with twin helms and lots of shade. I have been looking at something like a Jen 45.2 or Ben 473 as being older boats, chances are they might have had recent refits and although I know I will be told it will be big and cumbersome in the marinas, we are fit and I feel can handle the extra size and we really do not want to be squashed into a 30 ft boat when our friends and family come to join us.
What I need help with is an opinion of the above choice of boat and also help in planning to finance the purchase.
We will have income from rentals when we retire, about 4-5k a month and I think that should be enough to cover our monthly costs but I was hoping to free up about 25k and buy something later this year, and put this down with a 5-6 year loan and then (hopefully) have the boat managed by a local charter company for most of the season to pay the mortgage and costs, and give us say 4-6 weeks of bookend sailing before and after the season. If I have it right, I am hoping that 5-6 years of charter income would leave us with a boat more or less paid off when we are ready to move onto it, leaving us with just the sailing costs to deal with from our passive income.
I understand that for this to work the boat has to be bought well with most of the big items recently done by a previous owner (if we are lucky), and that I also have to factor the additional costs of fixing up the boat again when ending the charter period and moving aboard, but I can't see any other way of doing it. Spending 5k a year on charters between now and when we retire to build up experience seems like an expensive way of doing it, and I cant see how it could work if I buy the boat with the loan in 5 years time and have that payment on top of the boat costs while living on it.
Does any of the above make sense and is it doable or should I rethink my strategy?
I have a day skippers licence, that I got a few years ago and have sailed on and off on various boats, generally 45-48 footers. My wife is a novice though and the plan is to book a flotilla holiday this year to ease her into it, with her getting her competent crew beforehand.
I am looking at planning the next few years with getting us a boat later this year and use it for a few weeks a year for sailing experience while we are still working. I am currently thinking of around 70k for something like a 45-foot sailing boat as although we will mostly be the two of us, we want extra space for other couples to comfortably stay during our weeks in the islands. An owners version would be preferable and cockpit space is paramount, I want it to be comfortable for about 4-6 people, with twin helms and lots of shade. I have been looking at something like a Jen 45.2 or Ben 473 as being older boats, chances are they might have had recent refits and although I know I will be told it will be big and cumbersome in the marinas, we are fit and I feel can handle the extra size and we really do not want to be squashed into a 30 ft boat when our friends and family come to join us.
What I need help with is an opinion of the above choice of boat and also help in planning to finance the purchase.
We will have income from rentals when we retire, about 4-5k a month and I think that should be enough to cover our monthly costs but I was hoping to free up about 25k and buy something later this year, and put this down with a 5-6 year loan and then (hopefully) have the boat managed by a local charter company for most of the season to pay the mortgage and costs, and give us say 4-6 weeks of bookend sailing before and after the season. If I have it right, I am hoping that 5-6 years of charter income would leave us with a boat more or less paid off when we are ready to move onto it, leaving us with just the sailing costs to deal with from our passive income.
I understand that for this to work the boat has to be bought well with most of the big items recently done by a previous owner (if we are lucky), and that I also have to factor the additional costs of fixing up the boat again when ending the charter period and moving aboard, but I can't see any other way of doing it. Spending 5k a year on charters between now and when we retire to build up experience seems like an expensive way of doing it, and I cant see how it could work if I buy the boat with the loan in 5 years time and have that payment on top of the boat costs while living on it.
Does any of the above make sense and is it doable or should I rethink my strategy?
