Depends. What is your lifestyle? Are you going to cruise from marina
to marina or anchor out? Boat. Sailboat? How big do you think you
need? Must you have a "late model" or is an much older one in good
condition okay? BRBR

Original poster here,
Thanks for the responses to my question, very
much appreciated. I probably should have said
that my lifestyle is a simple one and I'll be single handing about 80% of the
time. I realize marinas
are not going to be the norm and anchoring/mooring
will be my lot in life. With that in mind any recommendations on boat type??
Shallow draft would be an advantage I suppose. My plan is to
sail mostly the Florida area, any areas with cheaper
marinas? I know the keys are high priced.

Mark

On 03 May 2004 21:22:21 GMT, (Location29) wrote:
Original poster here,
Thanks for the responses to my question, very
much appreciated. I probably should have said
that my lifestyle is a simple one and I'll be single handing about 80% of the
time. I realize marinas
are not going to be the norm and anchoring/mooring
will be my lot in life. With that in mind any recommendations on boat type??
Shallow draft would be an advantage I suppose. My plan is to
sail mostly the Florida area, any areas with cheaper
marinas? I know the keys are high priced.

Shallow draft is a lot easier to live with along the SW Florida coast
and the keys. A lot harder to live with offshore. Also generally poor
performance to windward. It's all a tradeoff. As a rule of thumb, a
5-1/2 ft. draft (what ours was) cuts out half the places you can go
with a 4-1/2; a 4-1/2 ft. draft cuts out half the places you can go
with 3-1/2.

Yes, the keys are high priced, but you _can_ find some reasonable
marinas there if you look. Mostly small fishing ones that have some
slips. Mostly anywhere, transient fees are way up there but paying for
a month is not too bad every now and then. Actually, with your income
you could afford to spend all the time you want at monthly costs.
Well, until you get down about halfway.

Be advised that plenty, if not most, of the "traditional" South FL
anchorages are no more. Seems the rich yankees want a clear view and
push the local governments to do away with them.

Rick

time. I realize marinas
are not going to be the norm and anchoring/mooring
will be my lot in life.

Mark, with only $1500 a month in disposable income, you can forget the
marinas. If you really need to tie up then look for back water fishing or
commercial facilities where they will let you live aboard. Most marinas now
charge extra or just don't allow you to liveaboard..

Another point... Most marinas will require that you have liability insurance
on you boat and to get this, many insurance agents push you into a full
coverage package.
A $20,000 may be hard to get insured (if a survey is required).

Once you find and purchase a boat, you biggest savings, after forgetting the
marina, will be boat repair and maintenance. Learn it and do it all
yourself.. The shops and services from shore, will charge you $60 to $100/hr
to do anything on your boat. And if you hire "casual help" off on the dock,
you will get what you pay for and often less..

Steve
s/v Good Intentions

Location29 wrote:
Depends. What is your lifestyle? Are you going to cruise from marina
to marina or anchor out? Boat. Sailboat? How big do you think you
need? Must you have a "late model" or is an much older one in good
condition okay? BRBR

Original poster here,
Thanks for the responses to my question, very
much appreciated. I probably should have said
that my lifestyle is a simple one and I'll be single handing about 80% of the
time. I realize marinas
are not going to be the norm and anchoring/mooring
will be my lot in life. With that in mind any recommendations on boat type??
Shallow draft would be an advantage I suppose. My plan is to
sail mostly the Florida area, any areas with cheaper
marinas? I know the keys are high priced.

Mark


Do you want mere subsistance, or are you interested in making some
money?

I might want a cool Canadian summer labour force to work on my dock
on the St. John River for a few weeks, if you want to consider
something like that.

Remove nospam to reply.

Terry K