Hello all:
Since I have responded to dozens and dozens of open ended lifestyle questions, I think I am justified in starting this thread to talk about my lifestyle as it relates to boating. I want to ask a little about living aboard and more about what boat will work, for me.
First, my wife and I lived aboard a sailboat off and on for a total of 2-3 years, cruising from Florida, over to the Bahamas and then up to Maine, twice. So, I know a thing or two about how it works.
We are now retired and have moved to Connecticut having gotten tired of life in Oriental, NC. Although Connecticut is very nice 7-8 months out of the year, from mid December to mid April it kind of sucks.
So, we are thinking about buying a trawler in the 40' size range, keeping it in Florida, cruising for 3-4 months in the winter and then putting it up on the hard somewhere on the Okeechobie Canal between Stuart and Ft Meyers for the other 8 months.
On our previous cruising we moved quite a bit while doing the Florida to Maine trip twice. We never stayed in one place more than 2-3 days generally. This time I want to hang out more, at least a week in between moves and maybe two weeks or more.
Some favorite spots where I would be happy hanging out for 2 weeks are, starting with SW Florida: Boca Grande, Cayo Costa, Ft Meyers Beach, Key West, Marathon, No Name Harbor on Key Biscayne, Vero Beach. These all have either mooring fields that are reasonable or nice anchorages. Most also have access to provisioning and restaurants and bars by water.
So with that mission in mind, let me state my boat objectives:
1. Less than $100K after fitting out with decent systems, like radar, genset, etc if not serviceable when purchased.
2. Galley down or at least forward, not linear, which makes the main salon wider and more useable.
3. Queen size bed- not essential but I sure don't want the owners cabin to be a double, but a largish V berth would work.
4. Single head is fine, but most will be double.
5. Single engine is ok with a bow thruster, but mildly prefer twins.
So, with those specs in mind, I have found that the Albin 40 meets them all. One that is on the market now in Mystic, Ct is a single and the price is well inside my budget.
I am a bit leery of Taiwan Trawlers that were built and sold by Asian builders. I had a bad experience with one that used crap for coring, and coupled with leaky windows, the whole superstructure rotted out. Took a chainsaw to it all and rebuilt from the deck up.
So, like Grand Banks, I am hoping that Albin had some quality control by western management so this was avoided. True???
Also I don't really want to go through the boat buying process and find out during survey that the superstructure is crap, or worse after I have bought it.
I am not such a perfectionist that I can't live with most Asian mechanical/electrical installation techniques and I don't expect it to meet current ABYC, but what 30 year old boat does.
A Grand Banks Europa 42 or a Krogen 42 would do nicely, but are out of my price range.
So, any thoughts on the lifestyle thing, or the right boat for me.
David
Since I have responded to dozens and dozens of open ended lifestyle questions, I think I am justified in starting this thread to talk about my lifestyle as it relates to boating. I want to ask a little about living aboard and more about what boat will work, for me.
First, my wife and I lived aboard a sailboat off and on for a total of 2-3 years, cruising from Florida, over to the Bahamas and then up to Maine, twice. So, I know a thing or two about how it works.
We are now retired and have moved to Connecticut having gotten tired of life in Oriental, NC. Although Connecticut is very nice 7-8 months out of the year, from mid December to mid April it kind of sucks.
So, we are thinking about buying a trawler in the 40' size range, keeping it in Florida, cruising for 3-4 months in the winter and then putting it up on the hard somewhere on the Okeechobie Canal between Stuart and Ft Meyers for the other 8 months.
On our previous cruising we moved quite a bit while doing the Florida to Maine trip twice. We never stayed in one place more than 2-3 days generally. This time I want to hang out more, at least a week in between moves and maybe two weeks or more.
Some favorite spots where I would be happy hanging out for 2 weeks are, starting with SW Florida: Boca Grande, Cayo Costa, Ft Meyers Beach, Key West, Marathon, No Name Harbor on Key Biscayne, Vero Beach. These all have either mooring fields that are reasonable or nice anchorages. Most also have access to provisioning and restaurants and bars by water.
So with that mission in mind, let me state my boat objectives:
1. Less than $100K after fitting out with decent systems, like radar, genset, etc if not serviceable when purchased.
2. Galley down or at least forward, not linear, which makes the main salon wider and more useable.
3. Queen size bed- not essential but I sure don't want the owners cabin to be a double, but a largish V berth would work.
4. Single head is fine, but most will be double.
5. Single engine is ok with a bow thruster, but mildly prefer twins.
So, with those specs in mind, I have found that the Albin 40 meets them all. One that is on the market now in Mystic, Ct is a single and the price is well inside my budget.
I am a bit leery of Taiwan Trawlers that were built and sold by Asian builders. I had a bad experience with one that used crap for coring, and coupled with leaky windows, the whole superstructure rotted out. Took a chainsaw to it all and rebuilt from the deck up.
So, like Grand Banks, I am hoping that Albin had some quality control by western management so this was avoided. True???
Also I don't really want to go through the boat buying process and find out during survey that the superstructure is crap, or worse after I have bought it.
I am not such a perfectionist that I can't live with most Asian mechanical/electrical installation techniques and I don't expect it to meet current ABYC, but what 30 year old boat does.
A Grand Banks Europa 42 or a Krogen 42 would do nicely, but are out of my price range.
So, any thoughts on the lifestyle thing, or the right boat for me.
David
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