Retire To A Boat Or House? (friends, housing, husband, family)
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In Santa Barbara you can keep a boat free off the coast. No slip rental although you need to have a small skiff or something to get you from the boat to the dock.
Mooring is quasi-legal nearly everywhere. I say "quasi" and "nearly" because there are some places where the local residents or authorities police it but their legal right to is questionable; others it is not. There are some established mooring fields that cost money. There are some anchorages that get treated like mooring fields. Anyway, you can search for mooring and your location and find out where it's done, what places charge and where you might get hassled even though it appears it should be legal (lots of places fall into that last category).
Around here your slip rent is based on the size of the boat. A co-worker pays $300 a month for his slip. He has a 30 foot boat. He was paying an additional $180 to live aboard, so $480 a month rent...
My sloop, (a Najade 900), was moored Ventura Isle Marina and the slip/liveaboard fee was pretty close to what you quote. That was fifteen or so years ago, to the fees have remained fairly constant since then.
I have always heard a boat is a hole in the water you throw $20 bills into...
My wife's Aunt and Uncle kept their house (paid off), and bought a 40 foot sail boat, and from about age 60 until about 4 years ago (very late 70's or very early 80's) left CT in the fall, sailed and lived on the boat in the Bahamas until spring, then sailed back to CT and spent the summer in their home.
They loved it, but eventually age caught up with them (to ss20ts's point), and they sold the boat. I know they have no regrets and still speak very fondly of their boating years, but 80 on a boat is VERY different than 60 on a boat.
Home repairs are far easier to deal with than boat breakdowns and repairs.
Actually, no. You can call a repair guy just as you would at home. Also, boat systems are very simple. (EX: Fix your home furnace = $1,000s. On a boat, buy a new $ 49.00 space heater.)
Cleaning out a boat's human waste would get very old very quickly doing it on a regular basis.
You don't scoop it into a bucket. It's a sealed system with a deck fill and a boat comes by and pumps out the holding tank without you even needing to be there.
What happens when you're 80 and you physically can't go up and down steps so you can't get on or off the boat? What happens if you end up needing major medical help? What if you're on chemo and you need to go to a facility 1000 miles away? What do you do with the boat and how do you get there?
The answers to this are the same if you live in a house or apartment.
How do you get your mail?
P.O. Box
Can you afford marina and docking fees forever? What about the cost of boat fuel? Can you cook on your boat? Can you sleep on your boat? Not is there a bed, but can you get really good sleep for weeks/months?
Docking fees = RENT. The apartments which look down on my $ 526/mo slip pay over $ 3,000 rent. Also, you will never sleep as well as you can on a boat with the gentle movement. I have slept through several earthquakes.
What if you're stuck somewhere and a major storm is coming in and your boat is toast? Where will you live then? Hotel? How long can you afford that?
I lived in a marina which I would suggest. Living on a mooring is a whole different deal and is very challenging.
There's a lot of what if's and can you affords.
I think that there are a lot of misconceptions about living aboard.
My sloop, (a Najade 900), was moored Ventura Isle Marina and the slip/liveaboard fee was pretty close to what you quote. That was fifteen or so years ago, to the fees have remained fairly constant since then.
I think that there are a lot of misconceptions about living aboard.
If you're out in the open seas, do you wait for AAA to come tow you back to shore?? I grew up with a boat and when it broke down in the river, it was a MAJOR PITA. And we didn't even live on that thing.....thank god!
Boats have engines and houses don't....so yeah furnace repairs could be a thousand bucks, but a new engine is far more than a thousand bucks.
Did I say anything about scooping out waste? No, I didn't. You have to plan ahead to get the waste emptied.
If you live in a house or an apartment, you can live in a one story home or the first floor apartment. And you can live 100% step free. I know because I built a house that had zero steps....not a single one....not even to get inside.
Docking fees aren't the same everywhere. There's nothing for rent that's $3K a month where I live....well there is, but they're mansions on a lake that vacation rentals. They're not apartments...and there's only a couple of these.
I have never been able to sleep on a boat. That gentle rocking bothers me tremendously.
One thing I know is if you have been bitten by the sailing bug, there is no cure. I remember back in the early 70's I got a job working for a friend of my dad's in his downtown office. It was a part-time job while going to college.
I worked in the back room doing mailings and other menial jobs. My dad's friend, the owner of a downtown Chicago advertising agency, was a very hard-working guy but as soon as the sailing season approached all I saw him do was boat stuff. He owned a 1936 Alden 44, the first sailboat I ever stepped on. It was gorgeous! And a two-time Chicago-Mac winner in 1936-7. He was so proud of that boat.
This successful, hard-working man absolutely melted when talking about his boat. And he was under her spell. I remember my dad worrying about his buddy losing his business, though he never did. But I understand the condition. I absolutely come alive when I step on a sailboat.
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It's a sealed system with a deck fill and a boat comes by and pumps out the holding tank without you even needing to be there.
