liveaboard for one?

[Anne vance]

I would say, try a bit larger and don't bother about marina charges when you sail west.
We sailed Canaries, Caraibes, Bahama's, Intracoastal to NewYork from 2009 till 2012. Cost for marinas's....zero. You can anchor anywhere for free.
Just make sure your electronics are not too complicated, no furling sails, no SSB (too much power usage and Herb has stopped anyway)
Have a good fridge, good batteries, solar panel, wind generator, AIS receiver, Iridium phone, powerful WiFi antenna and some good books
I crossed the Atlantic two ways, solo, in a comfortable Scanmar 35 ft from 1987.

It's the best time of your life

 

[theguerns]

How small is too small. I am 5ft 7ins tall and did a circumnavigate in a westerly Sirius 23ft. I had a had watermaker and NO electrics. I did 32000 miles in 43 months and had NO problems. I had a spirit stove and when I came home had lost no weight and the boat was in good condition. I have a friend a little taller than I am and he lives on a Hallberg Rassy 26 and has been almost every where you would like to go and after 23 years swears he would not change the yacht for a bigger one. You are the one going to sail the yacht so you should be the one to choose it. Its a personal thing, when you look at yachts look for the feel good factor. It has been said before, If it feels right it will be right. Good luck

 

[DownWest]

There is a thread over on the WBF about a guy who lived for 11 yrs on a Vancouver 27. While being a bit small (by modern standards) they have a good rep. for sea going. Also worth remembering, is that expenses go up as a square of the length. So the difference between 27 and 33 is bigger than it appears. Also, by report, a lot of time is wasted waiting for things to be fixed, so keep it simple and learn to fix everything yourself.
If it were me... I would keep as much loot in hand as possible, even if it meant a smaller boat than sounds comfortable. As long as you have standing headroom in at least a small area, the rest matters less. Most of the time you will be sitting/lying down. Read 'My Old Man and the Sea' About a father and son who sailed a Vertue (grp from Bossoms, as above. No engine..) from New England down to the Carribean through the canal and past Chile to round the Horn and back home. And for fun, Annie Hill's 'Sailing on a small income'.
There are some real bargains around now. You could easily set off for under 20K

 

[mattonthesea]

(just a point I think it is "Voyaging on a Small Income"

I had a Rival 32 - small inside and many times I thought how much easier it would be if it had modern interior design. Solo it was a dream to sail and so comfortable even in F9. Making headway upwind not so good. <10m so cheap if I had to go into a marina. Headroom for me and I'm fairly tall. I budgeted for eating out once a week. In Caribbean it was cheaper to eat out in a back street cafe than buy food! My total costs incl food, drinks, meals out, maintenance, a couple of car hires, my daughter staying for a week and holiday back to UK for a week came to £700pcm over a year. Add in a bit more for longer travels as there will be bigger maintenance to consider and you will start to need to replace long term things like clothes etc

The cockpit is, as someone else said, your main living area so make it comfortable. The Rival was painful sometimes! The Warrior 35 has a good cockpit. I've been toying with the idea of visiting the States to but as they are much cheaper over there - but bringing it back and selling is another story.

Whatever you do you will find something that could be bettered and you will discuss this with many other cruisers over a beer or two. I don't know who coined it but someone said 'go small, go cheap, go now! I couldn't agree more.

 

[Irvine_himself]

Budget!!!!!!

After meeting someone who has done as you are suggesting, I have been researching this question for a couple of years and budget is the defining factor.

A boat has unavoidable running costs: insurance, maintenance, sails.... Everything I have read suggests that, no matter how you try to square the circle, total running costs will average out at 20% of the price of the boat during the first year and then 10% of the price for each year thereafter.

You then have to factor in personal living expenses, while I am not the most experienced sailor, I am an international recognized expert when it comes to slumming. Somebody suggested that £700 pounds per calendar month for living expenses. This is not an unreasonable amount, you can live on less, but if you intend to do this day in day out for several years and hope to keep your sanity, £700 is about right. Any money you earn en-route is just a bonus that pays for those little luxury's.

Putting it all together, decide on how many years you wish to be away, then you have:

1) running costs = cost of yacht*(20% + years away*10%)

and

2) cost of yacht + running costs = 90,000 - years away*12*700 = 90,000 - years away*8400


To make it nice and simple, if you want to stay way for 5 years:then you need £42000 to cover living expenses, leaving £48000 for the yacht.

Edit (sloppy arithmetic)

3) cost of yacht + running costs = 48000
= cost of yacht*(100% + 70%)
= cost of yacht*170/100

Therefore maximum cost of yacht = 48000/1.7
= £28000

This means that if you spend less than £28000 on a well founded yacht, then things should work out quite well.

End edit

Also, at least for the first few years you will have a significant amount of cash on hand, talk to your bank about some high yield accounts alongside your drawing account to maximize the interest. This can amount to a couple of thousand pounds per year.

 

[Kukri]

Whatever boat you decide to buy, it's worth remembering that you'll spend far more time than you imagined on mending her. So I would recommend buying the boat you can love..... of whatever size or shape. Your feelings towards her will be crucial when she is being obstinate, baffling, deliberately faulty and obtuse. If you love her you'll care enough to stretch further, bend your back harder and graze your knuckles one more time to make sure you see her right with a solid job. She'll repay the commitment, which is reassuring when you're cold, wet, tired and scared - which again, you will be.

That is outstandingly good advice. I owned the same boat for 29 years, for some of which I lived aboard singlehanded, and for some of which I was "singlehanded with family aboard" on weekends and holidays and she was nursemaid to my children. She only threw the crockery at me once. Did I mention that she was, and is, drop dead gorgeous and very well mannered under sail. Which is why I rebuilt her extensively, and she is now, in the very good hands of her new owner, a far better boat at 80 than she was at 45.

Choosing a beautiful boat is like a choosing to marry a beautiful woman - you are going to spend an awful lot of time looking at her, and you will feel inclined to try harder...

 

[Contest1]

I'm fairly new to living aboard, well in 3 month stretches, on my 1970 Contest 29 bought June 2015.
Previously sailed my Centaur for periods of up to 3 weeks around East coast Ireland and now cruising the Southern Costa Blanca from a small marina north of Alicante.
The Contest is just fine for me and the occasional guests. It as crossed the Atlantic twice with previous owners and though I am a port hopper it's nice to know she's a tried and tested ocean cruiser.
Cost 12000 euro and needed some TLC but nothing structural or beyond my diy skill set .
Easy to handle and like the Centaur built to last One great difference is the internal finish, proper lockers and even a set of drawers were the Centaur had very basic storage,mainly in cave lockers.
The bunks can pull out for extra comfort and have fixed hinged Lee boards!
Probably not for everyone as it's under the regular 30 ft but it's such a step up I can't imagine going any bigger with the additional costs and workload that would entail.

 

[lindsay]

Excellent replies. You have everything you need. Wish i had had such advice 20 years ago when i took redundancy plus a few other decisions and opted for a permanent liveaboard life.

Can only add a recommendation from US author/liveaboard Webb Chiles, who knows a thing or two.

There are only three things to bear in mind when choosing a world liveaboard boat
1 It should be fun to sail
2. It should hold together
3. It should LOOK GOOD when you are rowing away from it at an anchorage.

Good luck!

Webb is 74 and currently on his sixth circumnavigation.

 

[dansaskip]

a Vancouver 27. While being a bit small (by modern standards) they have a good rep. for sea going. Also worth remembering, is that expenses go up as a square of the length. So the difference between 27 and 33 is bigger than it appears.

I am biased I will admit, I bought a Vancouver 28 a few years ago and have sailed across the Atlantic and have now spent two seasons in the Caribbean. Its a strong sea boat with standing headroom and plenty of storage. The cutter rig is a plus point too. They seem to manouvere better than many other log keelers, probably due to cutaway forefoot and large prop aperture. Yes they are comparatively expensive but you get what you pay for.
Anyway best of luck with your search for a boat and in "living the dream"

Chris

 

[macd]

That is outstandingly good advice...

Sad to say, Minn, but the OP died of exposure whilst waiting for your excellent advice. Three years is a long time on a park bench

 

[TQA]

Slightly off the wall suggestion.

Consider flying to the USA and buying a Catalina 30. They are comfortable liveaboards with good headroom and a great layout. Very popular boat sold in large numbers so plenty of choice and Catalina is still in business and spares are available off the shelf. They sail well too. 10 to 15 k US will buy you a good one in commission with a low hours diesel.