My wife and I are now considering purchasing a used boat probably in
the 20' to 30' range.

You'll discover that a 30-foot boat is about four times the size of a
20-footer, :-)

As you will be transiting the Strait of Georgia on a regular basis, I'd lean
toward the larger end of the range you are considering.

Although I am already actively going through
ads, I also realize that I know very little about the boating lingo,
the costs of ownership (maintenance, fuel, moorage, others) and travel
expectations.

Cost of ownership: That can be almost anything you want it to be, except
extremely cheap. Boats bought cheap routinely cost a fortune to get or keep
running. I don't kow what moorage runs in Vanc. these days, but it's generally
$7-12 per foot per month, depending on the town and marina, just south of you
in Puget Sound. Expect to spend more than you originally guess, because you
will.
In the US, a boat insures for a few to several hundred dollars a year.
Maintenance can be very expensive, or only moderately expensive if you do your
own oil changes, etc.

1) technical terms : What's a leg? What's a beam? (I wasn't kidding
when I said I was a newbie at this!). Is there a good WEB site which
describes some of the technical features of a boat?

A leg is the vertical portion of an outdrive, running between the transom and
the propeller.

Beam is the width of the boat, measured at its widest part.

2) With the understanding that all boats are not equal, is there some
magic way to 'guesstimate' fuel cost? The reasoning being that if I
can't even afford the fuel, then I should forget about buying a boat…

Speed and fuel economy run are incompatible. The most economical (and slowest)
boats will realize close to 4 nautical miles per gallon. The really speedy
hummers? Less than one. Sometimes less than 1/2. You can slow a fast boat down
and get a little better fuel economy, but it won't compare to a trawler
most of the time unless you're running endlessly at idle.......and that creates
other problems.

For example, if I was to cross from Vancouver to Saltspring Island on
a 25 footer, would I likely look at $25 in fuel or $200 in fuel?

I could make that run with my diesel buring about 6 gallons of fuel. Without
getting out the chart and dividers, I guess it would take about 3 hours from
Vancouver to Ganges. There are boats that could easily do it in an hour, but
would probably burn closer to 25 gallons for fuel at a moderate cruise.

4) Is it unrealistic (or perfectly feasible) to think that I could
simply cruise to the San Juan Islands from Vancouver? Can these boats
handle the normal sea conditions of the Pacific Northwest coastline?
Any idea, how long it may take to go from Vancouver to San Juan Island
(are we talking a few hours or a whole day)?


No problem getting from Vancouver to SJI in half a day or less on most boats. I
ran from Victoria to Nanaimo, against the current part way, including a slight
delay at Dodd Narrows in one longish day a cruise or two ago. The first leg of
my late summer cruise will be all the way from Seattle to Friday Harbor, in one
pretty long day.

Unless you have some need for speed, I'd recommend a smallish diesel inboard
boat.
Diesel is usually less expensive to maintain than gas, usually more economical,
and an inboard will usually be less hassle to maintain than an outdrive.

A slow boat is more feasible in the NW because we have so many interesting
destinations within a shot cruise of almost any port you'd care to name.

You won't find twins on most 30 footers, so the outdrive is easier for a newbie
to handle---- or you can get somebody to teach you the subtleties of a single
screw, it isn't as tough as some people imagine it to be.