Possible dream/idea feasibility

[spindly_killer_fish]

@spindly_killer_fish ref a catamaran, don't get distracted by speed i.e. those fast, narrow hulled ones with daggerboards just don't have the needed carrying capacity that a typical cruising sailor needs, what with long term provisions, spares, toys (diving gear etc). Saying that, the typical Lagoon or Fontaine Pajot do need to be handled with care. Just don't push them unless absolutely necessary.

I dont intend looking for anything that has stripes, just something stable with a good bit of room

 

[spindly_killer_fish]

Cadoha adventures? i just looked at their channel and 2 months ago they put a video titled "finally made it to the tropics" ill have to go through their vids and take a look.

This is all going to be very embarrassing if we go on boat trips and get violently seasick

 

[Daydream believer]

Get some sailing lessons.Go & buy a cheapish 38 ft yacht that is well within your current budget. Then come back to us in 5 years time & tell us how you got on.
The boat will give you a feel for sailing. Most importantly your wife will get some experience. You can get the catamaran later once she has experienced a few dollops of water down her neck & the feel of a rolling anchorage. If she can do that on a 38 ft boat she will be OK for a more stable one long term.
As for you- Doing a few repairs & learning how to fettle things that constantly break will do you in good stead for the future. Either you can or you cannot. On a 38 ft boat used for weekends & hols the cost will be less of a hit & you will get the feel for it.
You will learn where & how to get stuff repaired & how to sail a boat. You will soon find out if you want to go forward & exchange it for a campervan.
A 40 ft mono hull is ample for acouple as alivaboard & not prohibitably expensive for many.
As for £1500 PM.- Hell I cannot live on that at home now, without the boat & that does not allow for inflation coming.

 

[spindly_killer_fish]

Cadoha adventures? i just looked at their channel and 2 months ago they put a video titled "finally made it to the tropics" ill have to go through their vids and take a look.

This is all going to be very embarrassing if we go on boat trips and get violently seasick

"The tropics" = the Eden project :/

 

[prestomg27]

The only thing I would say, and people will rightly call me a miserable party pooper, is that i think a 10 year plan is stuff and nonsense. I think there have been dozens of similar threads on here by people who have never sailed, seen some beautiful lifestyle youtube videos and asked for adv ice on how to sail away to sunny climes.

Usually they don't like the advice given and/or the dream evaporates and the poster is never heard from again. On some funny occasions the thread keeps gojng for ages without the OP with people on here arguing like we do over advice.

10 years is too far away to know what you will be doing. There are many people who do sail away. Some have sailed for a long time and have had the dream for 10 years or more but they know what they are in for and i dont know of any who had a concrete 10 year plan. There are others who get a boat, learn to sail and then go off.

But dreaming up an obscure route, without even knowing what it is like being on a boat, planning the financing for 10 years time is just dreamland.

Just my humble opinion.

 

[prestomg27]

Cadoha adventures? i just looked at their channel and 2 months ago they put a video titled "finally made it to the tropics" ill have to go through their vids and take a look.

This is all going to be very embarrassing if we go on boat trips and get violently seasick

Spoiler alert. They don't actually get to the tropics

 

[spindly_killer_fish]

Get some sailing lessons.Go & buy a cheapish 38 ft yacht that is well within your current budget. Then come back to us in 5 years time & tell us how you got on.
The boat will give you a feel for sailing. Most importantly your wife will get some experience. You can get the catamaran later once she has experienced a few dollops of water down her neck & the feel of a rolling anchorage. If she can do that on a 38 ft boat she will be OK for a more stable one long term.
As for you- Doing a few repairs & learning how to fettle things that constantly break will do you in good stead for the future. Either you can or you cannot. On a 38 ft boat used for weekends & hols the cost will be less of a hit & you will get the feel for it.
You will learn where & how to get stuff repaired & how to sail a boat. You will soon find out if you want to go forward & exchange it for a campervan.
A 40 ft mono hull is ample for acouple as alivaboard & not prohibitably expensive for many.
As for £1500 PM.- Hell I cannot live on that at home now, without the boat & that does not allow for inflation coming.

oh the £1500 i plucked from my rear as a bare minimum, ill take a look into a weekender, any recommendations?

 

[prestomg27]

oh the £1500 i plucked from my rear as a bare minimum, ill take a look into a weekender, any recommendations?

Anderson 22

 

[spindly_killer_fish]

The only thing I would say, and people will rightly call me a miserable party pooper, is that i think a 10 year plan is stuff and nonsense. I think there have been dozens of similar threads on here by people who have never sailed, seen some beautiful lifestyle youtube videos and asked for adv ice on how to sail away to sunny climes.

Usually they don't like the advice given and/or the dream evaporates and the poster is never heard from again. On some funny occasions the thread keeps gojng for ages without the OP with people on here arguing like we do over advice.

10 years is too far away to know what you will be doing. There are many people who do sail away. Some have sailed for a long time and have had the dream for 10 years or more but they know what they are in for and i dont know of any who had a concrete 10 year plan. There are others who get a boat, learn to sail and then go off.

But dreaming up an obscure route, without even knowing what it is like being on a boat, planning the financing for 10 years time is just dreamland.

Just my humble opinion.

Absolutely correct, i don't see any party pooping. Its an idea I want to flesh out and pursue if that's even doable. I pulled the route out my rear purely based on following shorelines and then ask questions. Everything is subject to change. As for the 10 year plan, its more loose guidelines, it could be sooner or later or as you say may not even get off the ground, but unless I ask a forum of people who own boats, sail and have experience i may as well not bother.

 

[Daydream believer]

Anderson 22

Would not get insured for a flat out race boat first off. Mini transats are out. Need to get a plodder first then work their way up

 

[Sea Change]

The only thing I would say, and people will rightly call me a miserable party pooper, is that i think a 10 year plan is stuff and nonsense. I think there have been dozens of similar threads on here by people who have never sailed, seen some beautiful lifestyle youtube videos and asked for adv ice on how to sail away to sunny climes.

Usually they don't like the advice given and/or the dream evaporates and the poster is never heard from again. On some funny occasions the thread keeps gojng for ages without the OP with people on here arguing like we do over advice.

10 years is too far away to know what you will be doing. There are many people who do sail away. Some have sailed for a long time and have had the dream for 10 years or more but they know what they are in for and i dont know of any who had a concrete 10 year plan. There are others who get a boat, learn to sail and then go off.

But dreaming up an obscure route, without even knowing what it is like being on a boat, planning the financing for 10 years time is just dreamland.

Just my humble opinion.

We were pretty much bang on ten years from decision/idea to sailing away.

 

[Sea Change]

oh the £1500 i plucked from my rear as a bare minimum, ill take a look into a weekender, any recommendations?

The lowest I've heard was £500/month, but that barely covers basic food. One major breakage on the boat and your budget is done for that month.

Don't choose a specific model of boat- at the start of this thread you wanted a motorboat! For a weekender you just need something common that's easy to sell on. An older Westerly/Sadler/Moody/Contessa/etc if you're on a budget, or if you want to spend more and go newer (you've got a huge budget, so you probably do) then any Jeanneau/Beneteau/Bavaria will do the job.

 

[Tranona]

Maybe step back a little, somewhat along the lines of DDB and Sea change advice.

If you are starting from the UK then your choices are rather constrained on a modest budget. While all the talk about big cats is very attractive in reality getting into the type that are now popular is very expensive as there are very few used ones available in the UK, or even NW Europe. The big growth in their popularity is based on their attraction for the charter market in the Caribbean, Far East, pacific and to a certain extent Easter Med - anywhere where there is year round sunshine, easy sailing (and motoring!) and plenty of anchorages. They pay their high capital cost by offering a lot of berths in comfort and high rates of utilisation. Not the same in Europe where mooring is marina dominated and in short supply and arguably even for chartering sailing ability is more highly valued. Private owners more generally buy them for similar reasons and more likely to be for ocean cruising.

Most people in NW Europe and UK tend towards monos primarily because that is what is available unless they have funds to buy a new boat, or an ex charter boat already in one of the sunny locations. Since Brexit choice of boats in the UK has been limited as we can no longer buy used boats from the EU. However there is still a large pool of potentially good boats in the 36-42' size range which is the most popular for a couple to cruise aboard. In the £50-100k price range you can get a modern boat of that size which is a very good cruiser for learning around the UK and also capable of going farther afield. Very few people get it right first time buying a boat and many of the "non completers" fail because they jump in with what they think is THE boat without enough experience to guide them.

I don't subscribe to the idea that a 10 year plan is a waste. That time flies by. If you are in a secure job at the height of your earning power in your 40s and 50s, can see yourself financially independent within that sort of time period, use the time to build up your experience, find out what you like before making the big decision. You won't lose if you buy a boat of that size and type, except of course the annual running costs, and if it does not work out then easy to get out by selling the boat. if you are still attracted to long term cruising then not a big jump to finding a boat to do it with based on your accumulated knowledge.

 

[PCUK]

Haven't read the whole thread but a single engine boat of 40-50 feet will use about 1.5 gallons per mile of diesel at 8 knots, Less for full displacement vessl. so that gives you a starting point for running costs.

 

[spindly_killer_fish]

Maybe step back a little, somewhat along the lines of DDB and Sea change advice.

If you are starting from the UK then your choices are rather constrained on a modest budget. While all the talk about big cats is very attractive in reality getting into the type that are now popular is very expensive as there are very few used ones available in the UK, or even NW Europe. The big growth in their popularity is based on their attraction for the charter market in the Caribbean, Far East, pacific and to a certain extent Easter Med - anywhere where there is year round sunshine, easy sailing (and motoring!) and plenty of anchorages. They pay their high capital cost by offering a lot of berths in comfort and high rates of utilisation. Not the same in Europe where mooring is marina dominated and in short supply and arguably even for chartering sailing ability is more highly valued. Private owners more generally buy them for similar reasons and more likely to be for ocean cruising.

Most people in NW Europe and UK tend towards monos primarily because that is what is available unless they have funds to buy a new boat, or an ex charter boat already in one of the sunny locations. Since Brexit choice of boats in the UK has been limited as we can no longer buy used boats from the EU. However there is still a large pool of potentially good boats in the 36-42' size range which is the most popular for a couple to cruise aboard. In the £50-100k price range you can get a modern boat of that size which is a very good cruiser for learning around the UK and also capable of going farther afield. Very few people get it right first time buying a boat and many of the "non completers" fail because they jump in with what they think is THE boat without enough experience to guide them.

I don't subscribe to the idea that a 10 year plan is a waste. That time flies by. If you are in a secure job at the height of your earning power in your 40s and 50s, can see yourself financially independent within that sort of time period, use the time to build up your experience, find out what you like before making the big decision. You won't lose if you buy a boat of that size and type, except of course the annual running costs, and if it does not work out then easy to get out by selling the boat. if you are still attracted to long term cruising then not a big jump to finding a boat to do it with based on your accumulated knowledge.

Thanks for the response,

Time certainly does fly by, to be honest I wasn't expecting the number of comments that come in yesterday which had my head swimming by late afternoon.

Lots of great points and things to think about, A couple of clarifications would be that my budget really comes when this house is paid off and sold, hence 10 years which at that point should allow maybe 200k for a boat plus enough for a small 2 bed flat to rent out. before that most of my excess money goes towards overpaying the mortgage and dumping money into my pension plan as i'd rather have more per month at retirement than now.

I'll take a couple of days to digest a bit more and ask a bunch more stupid questions.

It certainly seems at this point the better idea is a sail boat and going across the atlantic to the bahamas, I assume from there I could go through panama to head towards SE Asia.

Another assumption would by the time i'm ready to buy a boat for the trip, technology would have changed and things will be either easier of harder.....or god forbid some idiot presses some big red buttons in which case all bets are off.

Initially i think ill start looking at activities for the summer around boating activities

Cheers
Craig

 

[Parabordi]

Spoiler alert. They don't actually get to the tropics

That's the problem with cadoha they hardly go anywhere

 

[Boathook]

Can't remember whether it was mentioned; but join a sailing club that has owners after crews and sign up for weekend cruising or even racing. If you both enjoy it (and the the owners like you) do a weeks cruise, etc. You will build up experience which will help you choice a boat in the future.

 

[ridgy]

This guy is always good to watch and might give you a dose of realism regarding costs. He's covered various sizes of motorboat in the past.

 

[Bouba]

Living on board requires you to subtract the cost of living on shore from the total

 

[PlanB]

I've done the first part of your dream, so will share a few thoughts, many of which have been covered by others already.

Partner and I bought a 1991 Princess 435 in 2002 when in our early 50s. No previous boating experience, so did own boat tuition, day skipper theory and practical and lots of handling practice every weekend.
Planned to retire and depart aged 54, but deferred for a year as we felt our skills weren't ready.
Rented out the flat - partly because it was vital to keep an income and foot in the property market, partly because we didn't know if we'd like extended cruising/liveaboard.
We did, and the boat was perfect for us.

By the time we left, we both knew we liked boating, although each of us had our own worries and concerns.
Mine were rough weather and being turned away from marinas.
We had a rule that if either didn't feel happy about travelling on a given day, we'd wait.

Spent a glorious five months coast hopping down to Gib.
Settled for the winter in a Spanish marina near Estepona, and then had an extended stay while one engine was rebuilt.
12 years later we were still there, as we had made so many friends and felt we had got cruising out of our blood.

Our preparation and caution meant we had very few scares on the way down and it certainly gave us some great experiences.
We only gave up the liveaboard life in 2016 when my partner died.

Due to Schengen, we couldn't do that now.

When we left, red diesel was 47 p per per litre -it rose sharply en route and you know what current fuel costs are
2160 miles cost us nearly £10,000 then, cruising at 10-12 knots.
Engines go wrong, especially older ones. We had a turbo rebuilt in northern Spain.
Servicing costs are much greater than you'd think - an annual set of filters and anodes could cost nearly 1500 euros.
Over the years, we spent a small fortune on servicing and repairs - I gave up keeping tally as it was upsetting!

The fuel cost was an additional justification for our decision not to carry on eastwards.
In the light of real experience, I don't think that venturing beyond Greece would have been possible - security, cost, availability of fuel and marinas.
Anchoring overnight in a mobo is not very comfortable - hull shape.

We were comfortable financially and were able to do trips home to see family, and to pay for our medical treatment.

Looking back, it was a very happy time and a considerable achievement. I was lucky to have the experience. I still miss sitting on the flybridge at sunset with a drink,.

I just think it's sad that very few Brits are now able to have that experience.

Feel free to PM with any specific queries.