# We're ready what do we do 1st?



## Diligence1 (Apr 19, 2011)

Hi- We live in Fort Worth Texas and the kids are gone house is paid for, job is a job, experianced power boater, lived aboard on lake meade and on the Mohawk river 42' sea ray aft cabin when I was single. Wife and I grew up together in Austin and share a common dream of selling everything buying a boat to live aboard travel and work from office on boat / port to port, any tips or leads? She is a pharma clinical data manager and I a business manager, pumped gas at las vegas bay marina to cover my slip expense there and loved it! Our home is valued at 135 +- realistic and we have another 100K +- in cash and assets and yes we are serious!


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## Fstbttms (Feb 25, 2003)

Diligence1 said:


> We're ready what do we do 1st?


Learn to sail.


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## Diligence1 (Apr 19, 2011)

*Thank you and OK I will!*

Living in Fort Worth any suggestions on how to, what steps to take to do so, I could and am willing to sell our Tige ski boat and buy a begginer sail boat? I know I ask a lot but I have taken the 42' power boat through 30+ locks and from NYC to the Black River, Port Huron MI. across the great lakes and canals shew that was a slow trip 735 nm but awesome took a week well 5-6 days any way and I have traveled by cruise ship yes as a passenger over 60,000 miles at sea from age 5 to 45 and loved every ssecond of being at sea and have been to many many island ports around the world... Yes I am very serious and a doer so any help offered I would be very grateful for!

Thanks again!


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## Fstbttms (Feb 25, 2003)

Find a reputable sailing school. It will flatten your learning curve immensely.


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## Diligence1 (Apr 19, 2011)

*Thanks again!*

I will get on it now!

Thanks again,

Mike and Alli


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## ltgoshen (Jan 5, 2009)

*Put a Mast and Boom on it...*

I say put a mast and boom on your power boat I can make anything sail. HAHAHAHA. 
All kidding aside, you are on the right track. Learn,Learn, Learn&#8230; This is a great sight to just spend weeks reading old post. IT will teach you a great deal. Then get some sail time as soon as possible and as often as time will allow. Cheers, 
Capt. Burt


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## Diligence1 (Apr 19, 2011)

*lol*

That's what I was thinking in looking into sailing school here in the Fort Worth area I see few if any and in looking at the sail boats listed close by I am sure gonna miss room to move around and a toilet that I dont have to bring ashore with me to empty ugh! I guess I will hav to keep working and save up gas money or possibly find a sail boat that is not a tent with a mast and sail. I do recal a hunter power sail in a marina I lived in and it was larger and was told very expensive but never saw it leave the docks in the two years I was there so was not able to get any feed back on how it did on the water... I will keep reading and pondering the sail vs. power thing :hothead


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## Dean101 (Apr 26, 2011)

Hi Diligence, I'm chasing after my dream of cruising also. I don't have anywhere near the hours you have on small boats but I do have a healthy love and respect for the sea. I learned the basics of sailing (meaning I know how to get myself in trouble) by crewing with a friend on a Catalina 27 in San Diego. Since then I have purchased, enjoyed, and was forced to sell my first sailboat, an Endeavour 32. Even though I sailed on Kentucky lake and not the ocean, I learned a lot about sailing and more importantly, what I personally need in a boat. 

Sailboats come in all combinations of hull shapes, sail rigs, and accomodations. I would definitely suggest sitting down with your spouse and make a list of what you expect to do with the boat and where you plan to do it at. Will you live aboard? Coastal cruising or circumnavigation? Occasional cruises or extended trips? I'm sure you can find a boat to fit your requirements but it will help tremendously if you can better define what those requirements are. 

As far as learning to sail, yes, taking classes will definitely streamline your learning curve. I wish I had taken classes but my income wouldn't allow me at the time. And by defining the type of cruising you want to do, it may help you decide what type of classes to take beyond learning the basics. If there are no schools in your area, talk to some of the sailors at the marinas near you. Perhaps you could learn as I did, by doing. Surely someone out there is looking for an extra set of hands to tend a sheet! 

Be careful though. Sailing is addictive. I was hooked the first time the sails snapped full of wind and the boat heeled over and took off with only the sounds of nature in my ears. I burned the lake up last year, my anchor rode was wet every weekend, and I only burned 9 gallons of diesel all year! No saving up for gas money. 

Good luck to you!


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## Diligence1 (Apr 19, 2011)

*Awesome*

Thanks Dean! 
That is helpful and your right the trip from Schenectedy NY on the Mohawk River to the Black River at Lake Huron MI cost me seceral thousand dollars in a 20 ton 42' aft cabin power boat, it was well worth it but only 5 days and about 700 nauticle miles so kind of expensive. We want to live at a Marina Yacht club and travel a couple times a year to the islands; netherland antillies, virgin islands... my fav's are St. Martin (Dutch side) and Martinique just to name a few, not sure if that is possible by sail but really want / need to find out and what port I should be lloking for as a home base... sorry I don't spell very well but most people get the message anyway. Not sure on the sailing stuff ok so you used only a few gallons of fuel but how much really did you spend on the boat that year in sails, rope rigging and all that I have heard it's expensive to keep up with and maybe more so in the salt air and water??


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## Dean101 (Apr 26, 2011)

All of my sailing was in fresh water. Sure, salt water is much more corrosive. I actually only spent about $140 that year on line. That replaced both jib sheets, added 250' of 5/8" nylon anchor rode, and 150' of 1/2" 3-strand I cut up and made 7 new 20' dock lines. Let me say it's always been my experience that preventative maintenance and not abusing your equipment will keep corrective maintenance and replacement to a minimum no matter what type of equipment you have. 

All boats require basic upkeep, paint, lubrication, servicing, etc. If you own a boat, any kind of boat, you're stuck with that. Of course, sailboats do have rigging and sails. While I have never maintained a boat on salt water, and I hope some of the more experienced sailors on here will correct me if I'm wrong, I imagine that with proper care and regular inspection you can reasonably expect to get several if not many years of useful service from rigging and sails even if you keep the boat in the water year around.

As a homeowner I'm sure you spend money each year fixing things on your house. I know I do. Some years you have to spend more, like putting on a new roof or upgrading the kitchen. I consider it the same with a sailboat. I might go for 7 to 10 years before I may have to spend more that year on new sails. The rigging on my E32 was reccommended to be inspected or replaced every 10 years mainly because the standing rigging is what holds the mast in place. 

It's my thinking that if you are living aboard the boat, she is your "house". I can almost bet that the single motor you find on any sailboat will be much smaller than the motors you find on comparable powerboats. That translates to less fuel used annually and lower replacement costs if you should ever need to replace it. Painting, lubricating, corrosion control, and minor repairs are a part of any boat so you will not be incurring any extra work there. With proper care and handling sails last for many years and so will the rigging as long as you take care of it. While anchore line, if you use a nylon rode, will see equal use on both types of boat, sheets for your sails will need to be replaced more often than the sails. For me, I purchased cut-offs from Ebay for my jib sheets but I would imagine that many buy large rolls of line at less per foot then trim to their needs with the remainder stored until more is needed.

You could always take a week off from work, find a boat similar to what you might be interested in and charter it with a captain. That would give you some idea as to whether or not you would feel comfortable on a sailboat, given the differences in hull shape and cabin layout between power and sail boats. I'm sure the captain would be happy to answer any questions you may have and may even give you some instruction in sailing. You and your wife could call it an educational vacation.

I was hoping some of the experienced members might have chimed in on this conversation since I'm sure both of us could use some educating!


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