dadiOH wrote:
scbafreak via BoatKB.com wrote:
Have you checked mooring fees? Taxes?
"Everyone" is right. My guesstimate - a wild one - would be
$150,000 to $250,000. Here is a site that discusses both time and
$$ but it is for multi-hull boats. Given the number of owner
built ply cats that used to be around I'd think a mono hull would
require more of both $$ & time.
http://www.f-boat.com/pages/costs.html
All of this is still less than buying a house. Median cost of a
house in O.C. is currently 600K and in five years it will be even
more.
Ah, but in five years all of us - except retirees such as myself -
will be earning more. Isn't government induced inflation grand? 
Long Beach is not any better. If I keep the boat there I
realize there will be fees but is that more expensive than owning a
house? Is it more expensive if I can pull of the uild without any
loans at all and maybe only taking out a loan for spars sails
rigging and some electronic equipment if at all?
I realize housing in CA - and other areas including Honolulu which is
the reason I left - is ridiculous. I feel safe in saying you could
build a hell of a boat for less than a junky house would cost you in
CA. However, that POS house will increase in price - price, not
value - over the coming inflation-is-a-way-of-life years. A boat
might too but I kinda doubt it.
I also forgot to mention stuff like hull insurance and maintenance.
Forty years ago I was living in Honolulu and in much the same position
as you are now...even then, houses were expensive there and I didn't
want any I could afford. I didn't build a boat, bought an older one
and wife, dog and I lived on it for 10 years. Took a lot of $$ and
time but I liked it (more than did the wife). For that time and money
we had a living area - in a 42' ketch - that wasn't much bigger than a
tract house guest bedroom. We each had our very own but small hanging
locker though. One learns to simplify...
Oh yeah...hull insurance and maintenance. I don't recall what
insurance was - been too long ago - but it wasn't cheap. Maintenance
& dry dock fees ran me the equivalent of $10,000 - $12,000 per year.
--
dadiOH
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Building a boat from scratch makes no sense financially. Currently,
there are plenty of storm damaged boats available for very little that
could be fixed up. In many cases, the cost of shipping them to CA
would be more than you would pay to buy them. In many cases, the boats
are completely outfitted but simply need some hull repairs and
re-wiring.