Hi

A year and a half ago my wife and I took the step you're considering.
We sold our house for a fine price and bought a 50ft motorsailer.
We love it. To sail we have to move the flowers and some pictures but
that doesn't inhibit us. We want to stay working till we're 55 (in 5
years) in the meantime we're preparing for a voyage.

Think about the type of ship though to avoid long-term irritation. Our
demands we
1) decksaloon, so you wont live in a cellar with a few small windows
way over your head.
2) Size. We live in plenty of space and we can have two couples to
sleep over. Think about your ship as a object you can alter almost
anything in or around, but not its size.
I would say buy as big as you can afford and can handle with the two
of you.
3) Make sure you've got enough capacity for diesel (heater) and water.
We have 1000 l diesel and 1500 l water on board, more than enough of
course so we don't get irritated.
4) Make sure the harbourmaster and you exactly know up front what your
plans are. Don't burdon him with domestic problems like telefone or
mail. Be sure what the situation will be in every season, dominant
wind-direction and so on.
In winter we moved to a place near shore, for water. We do have a
shore power connection we use normally. We have a diesel-powered hot
water heater.
Cel phone, wireless adsl for internet, digitenne for digital
tv-reception. We have it cause we like it. Point I want to make is you
dont have to get a deprived feeling.

We both are very happy the way things worked out.

When you have any questions, I'd be happy to answer....

CU, Len.


On Sun, 7 Dec 2003 19:55:11 -0800, "Brien Alkire"
wrote:

My wife and I took up sailing just last June. We started with dinghies and
then took the usual sequence of ASA classes. We don't own a boat, but we've
been sailing consistantly ever since. To make a long story short, the
sailing bug has bitten us hard.

We're now considering a dramatic step. We're considering selling our
townhome, buying a boat and living on it. We have no children and don't
need much space. We work near the marina (the townhouse is an awful
commute). I'd say we are about 60% serious about it.

Would anyone like to share opinions or their experiences in living aboard a
sailboat? What did you miss about living on shore? What did you wish you
had considered before you made the move?

I'm sure I'll have many detailed questions as we work through this decision.

Some basics: we sail in So Cal. We enjoy coastal cruising at the local
islands. We're not interested in any bluewater stuff in the near term,
though we both earn lots of vacation and that could be interesting later. I
enjoy racing but the boat would be strictly for a home and for local
cruising. I don't know what kind of boat yet, but my preliminary thoughts
are on a 10-20 year old boat in the 38' to 45' range, and something that
holds value (as boats go).

Thanks.