what it's like to stop working and go cruising?

[Hadenough]

If you're not interested in DIY then you need to have a big pension (civil servant perhaps? ) to cover the maintenance costs.
My pension is pathetic so I've had to learn carpentry, metal work including welding, electrical and electronic wiring and big engine maintenance. It helps if you hang around the boat yards and make friends with the tradesmen. Give your labour for free and you learn how to do stuff. Part of my motivation was recovery after a stroke. The Consultant told me use it or lose it, so I now do all I can, but still can't conquer claustrophobia.

Post #7? You seem to spend a lot of money paying people to do things!

 

[sailorgirl]

And it's sometimes not even about being able to pay for the work, you just can't find anyone with the knowledge to help you! We see most people give up cruising as a lifestyle after 3-4 years UNLESS they get to grips with becoming self-sufficient, certainly in terms of maintaining their boats.

Quite agree- we spent twelve years getting acquainted with ours before heading off -the skipper reckons there isn't anything on board he has not "explored" (aka fixed/improved/replaced). Doesn't mean to say it won't need fixing (again) nor that our job list is short but it does mean we are prepared to do almost any maintenance ourselves.

 

[duncan99210]

Pirsig always struck me as a glass half empty type and that article tends to confirm it. We're now in our fifth year aboard and still loving it. Having been in the forces with many forced separations, the togetherness is one of the positives; we've also learned how to be alone on a boat despite not being able to get further than 38 feet from one another!

Unless you have a larger income tha we do, you really need to be able to do most things on the boat. The only job we've got someone to do for us was to repair the injector pump on the engine, which is way beyond my skills and tool box. Anything else has either been fixed by us or a replacement obtained and fitted by us.

What do we get out of the lifestyle? I could write a book (may do that yet) but basically it's a freedom to go where you want, when you want with little need to conform to what others want you to do. The places you go are often off the beaten track, the folks you meet are generally nice and if they aren't, well tomorrow is a different place.