Life after selling the boat.

[Plum]

downside. Especially in the last, say, 10 years with stupid harbour regulations and charges strangling all the pleasure.

That must be just your harbour then...... which harbour and what regulations?

 

[ash2020]

Honestly, your 4k down is the way things are. It's worse nere in Cornwall I think, by just looking at boats on Marketplace.
By comparison with 1070s if you had a 27 ft or 32ish boat like a westerly or fiberglass similar you were either, doctor,solicitor,accountant,or company director.
Apologies for my blunt comment but the whole of our country is being taken over and run by nasty little shits that can only think of rip off profit.

The stupid thing is, the boat I really want, a motor sailor with a deck level cabin so my poor knees don't suffer so much, they don't seem to have dropped in price. I'll still have to borrow loads after I've sold mine, to move on to the next step. Maybe I'll just get a Wayfarer!

 

[cowpat]

That must be just your harbour then...... which harbour and what regulations?

Personally, Falmouth 2014 it all changed. Insanity set in as a result of poor management. (Putting it politely) A large proportion of the boat owners either moved or like me gave up. Bad times. I have watched other places like little private sailing clubs thrive and look like heavens from it all. I hope you are in one of these.

 

[slawosz]

I am tempted to sell the boat and be boat free. But at the same time its a small boat, sorted out and doesn't cost much.

 

[Sandy]

I'm going to be moving down to Devon so a fin keel probably won't be much use. I paid £12k for her and I can't sell her for £9k. Nobody's interested, despite lovely condition. So I'll lose £4K, have to buy another, on which I will also lose. I seem to be doing something wrong.

Best not say that to the thousands of fin keeled boat owners in Devon and Cornwall.

 

[Refueler]

When I was looking to buy a Flying Fifteen one that was on offer was owned by a chap who decided to hang up his seaboots at 100. He then took up radio controlled yachting. It 'aint what you do, but the way that you do it.

I also have RC Boats ... a Batboat pure motor race job ... and a 505 sailboat .....

both good but not Marbleheads and other really serious boats.

You can spend more for a competitive Marblehead than many full size trailer boats cost !

 

[russ]

Boats are so much more than just...boats! My already poor social life would be dire without mine.Most of my pals have one as well so it's a whole lot more than inconvenient bills now and then..I've got the luxury of the harbour being at the end of my street so a 2 minute walk and 1 minute row and I'm aboard..it's like a floating man cave and who doesn't need one of them?

My wife dropped the bombshell a month or so ago saying she no-longer will go on MY boat. This initially triggered the upsetting thought of having to sell the boat. So I placed a free advert for a month to test the market, but then after chatting with my fellow boaty friends I decided to keep it.(I did have one enquiry before closing the ad).
I'm down onboard most weekends and love the marina social life, so its not just about the boat, its a life style.
A downside is trying to get a crew together at short notice and also having lost two paid for nights mooring at Beaulieu.

 

[B27]

I've got a lovely Varne 27 fin keeler in Poole Harbour. She was brought down on a truck from Scotland last year. The winter storage is £1300, the seasonal mooring is £1000. We've been out twice this year, due to other stuff happening. That's probably about the cost of a 2 week flotilla holiday in Greece, isn't it?
I'm going to be moving down to Devon so a fin keel probably won't be much use. I paid £12k for her and I can't sell her for £9k. Nobody's interested, despite lovely condition. So I'll lose £4K, have to buy another, on which I will also lose. I seem to be doing something wrong.

There are moorings in Devon for fin keelers.
You may not get a 'permanent' mooring, you might get a 'sub let' or temporary mooring initially.
Some places don't even want to talk to you if you are speaking about maybe moving down or maybe getting a boat. A lot of places you can't even go on the waiting list if you live out of County. Once you become a permanent resident, things start to change. Some of it isn't clean and shiny and a lot isn't cheap. But a lot of things are possible.
You buy things and lose money on them.
See also: Cars, Motorbikes possessions generally.

 

[B27]

...t but the whole of our country is being taken over and run by nasty little shits that can only think of rip off profit.

I think that happened at least 300 years a go.

 

[Refueler]

There are moorings in Devon for fin keelers.
You may not get a 'permanent' mooring, you might get a 'sub let' or temporary mooring initially.
Some places don't even want to talk to you if you are speaking about maybe moving down or maybe getting a boat. A lot of places you can't even go on the waiting list if you live out of County. Once you become a permanent resident, things start to change. Some of it isn't clean and shiny and a lot isn't cheap. But a lot of things are possible.
You buy things and lose money on them.
See also: Cars, Motorbikes possessions generally.

Its common practice for Clubs to have Local membership clause. If you live outside of the local area - then to be on a waiting list that could take years to move to your name.

 

[Baggywrinkle]

I had a boat 6 hours away by car in the Adriatic. I spent loads of time and money getting her into a condition I was happy with, over the 12 years I owned her, she got a new engine/saildrive, sails, sprayhood/bimini, complete electronics, aluminium rib and 6hp engine, solar, more batteries, more chain, and lots of general fettling, cleaning, and replacing all the parts that were a bit old and worn. Everything was eventually clean and functioning perfectly, the only bit missing after fitting the solar system was a water maker - water was the only reason we ever visited a marina or harbour apart from really bad weather - I'm a big fan of being self-sufficient and anchoring wherever possible.

In this time I had many fantastic holidays with friends and family and fortunately managed to get time aboard with my mum, which she loved - I come from a sailing family, my childhood being spent cruising the West Coast of Scotland.

Unfortunately, my mum passed away a few years ago, and I vowed to spend any inheritance on the next boat.

So I sold mine - expecting it to take about a year to sort everything out and get a bigger boat - the boat I intend to retire with.

To plug the gap, I had a friend who was doing a 12 month road-trip round the US so I had use of his boat for a season - so no rush I thought - but the friends boat turned out to be not such a great experience. It sails very well, but has a small engine for its size, and various other bits that just don't work properly - spent the first 2 days of our summer holiday fighting a holding tank blocked with limescale and the boat is also full of junk and possessions that aren't mine. It was OK, but it wasn't mine, and it didn't feel like home. I was glad to give it back in the end.

Unfortunately it is now two years since my mum passed, probate has still not been granted, and I can't see it happening in the next 6 months either, and we still need to dispose of various assets.

I don't like this situation, it's like there is a void in my life, I know it will sort itself out, but the lack of a boat is affecting me far more than I ever expected it to. I also know this is a first world problem, and that in the end I am in a very fortunate situation, but it still doesn't feel great.

This is my mum, more than 45 years ago at the helm of a friends Macwester Wight called White Rabbit in the Clyde .... I must have been around 7 years old at the time,



... and around 40 years later, aboard my boat McKelvie, in the Adriatic.



... for some people boating is part of life, I'm at my happiest and most relaxed when I'm on my boat. I can't imagine what it will be like to have to give it all up some day.

 

[ylop]

That's probably about the cost of a 2 week flotilla holiday in Greece, isn't it?

I think you’ll be lucky to get 2 weeks flotilla in Greece for £2300, even in the “off season”. That sounds about the going rate for 1 week, in a small (2 people of 4 very friendly people) boat outside school holidays - and not including flights, transfers, etc.

 

[38mess]

It can take a whole morning just to walk down the pontoon to my boat on a Saturday morning, I very often don't get to it. By the time I have gossiped to other boat owners I have to turn around and go to the clubhouse for lunch I think this is what boat owning is all about.

 

[Refueler]

Hi Baggy .... know what you mean ...

This is my late Mother and I on the Hilyard many years ago ....

Years later on my 25 when it was at Hayling Island ... my two sons with us as well ...

 

[Refueler]

You would think that having the boat at bottom of garden would mean more use ? It doesn't ... many I know in similar situation to me - use of boat is not actually that much increased ...

 

[oldmanofthehills]

Honestly, your 4k down is the way things are. It's worse nere in Cornwall I think, by just looking at boats on Marketplace.
By comparison with 1070s if you had a 27 ft or 32ish boat like a westerly or fiberglass similar you were either, doctor,solicitor,accountant,or company director.
Apologies for my blunt comment but the whole of our country is being taken over and run by nasty little shits that can only think of rip off profit.

Boats are a disposable item. None of the old coastal traders or even warships were meant to last much more than 15 years. We dont sail to save money. I understand that with advancing age one might wish to stop sailing, though I hope to tuck it into quiet creek and pretend I will one day go to sea, while I decay alongside our craft.

 

[michael_w]

Baggy
Get something to sail on your local lake, whilst things are getting sorted. Something a bit bigger than the Topper recommended.

What about one of those beautiful German lake boats?

 

[Refueler]

Baggy
Get something to sail on your local lake, whilst things are getting sorted. Something a bit bigger than the Topper recommended.

What about one of those beautiful German lake boats?

As we get older - I graduate towards something to sit IN ... not sit ON ....

No need for adrenaline jobs .... a nice full hull dinghy that you can sit in, enjoy the scenery, drift around all day away from all the shite of todays world. Its part of the reason I am cleaning up Lady Lu ....

 

[Baggywrinkle]

Baggy
Get something to sail on your local lake, whilst things are getting sorted. Something a bit bigger than the Topper recommended.

What about one of those beautiful German lake boats?

I did think about that, it needs to be something that I can drag the 250m to the beach though as there's a 7 year waiting list for a mooring

I did have this in a Biergarten for about 10 years ... it was fun while I had it, but Ammersee shrunk considerably over the years, we'd been to all the other towns and beach bars on the lake multiple times - so I sold it to get a boat in the med.

Me on the helm, my dad on the trapeze.

... but enough of the thread drift, back to life after selling the boat ...

 

[B27]

Baggy
Get something to sail on your local lake, whilst things are getting sorted. Something a bit bigger than the Topper recommended.

What about one of those beautiful German lake boats?

Or an Ice Yacht for the Winter?