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Am I Crazy - Liveaboard Advice Please


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1 hour ago, Veladare said:

I had 5 weeks at Xmas and practically every weekend since then till now on my yacht.... Ive had the sails up 3 times and of that was twice motor sailing....

Mentally. Ive checked out of yacht cruising

this is what a lot of ex and present yachties say. Ran into a sailing mate at easter, he had moved on from his 1104 to a Riviera, said they had been sailing less and less, and only rolling out the genoa. Eventually made the change and very happy with it.

I am sure in many cases as the years move on mum says if we are going to keep boating it has to be a launch.

And yes, the difference is a yacht is more about getting there whilst a launch is more about being there.

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We swapped to a powerboat as the destination is more important to us than how we get there (diving and fishing the Barrier and Mokes mostly). If we were heading offshore again it would be on a sailboat for sure.

I have thought of a daysailer just for the purity of the sailing experience, rather than the compromise of a cruising yacht.

We chartered in the PNW three years ago and that is powerboat country for sure. We were there a month and only two days of that would have been enjoyable to sail.

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2 hours ago, Veladare said:

I had 5 weeks at Xmas and practically every weekend since then till now on my yacht.... Ive had the sails up 3 times and of that was twice motor sailing....

Mentally. Ive checked out of yacht cruising

Is that the downside of not having a boat that performs upwind Veladare?  (you have a cat yeah?)  

I find it amazing how many yachts motor into the wind, or even motor downwind, makes me wonder when they do put the sails up if they're not up going downwind.

We've got an old motor with an undersized prop so mostly try to sail as the donk is noisy, but even so, the motion is so much nicer sailing.

There is a cav 45 on TM at the moment, engine 11 years old, 4100hrs.

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2 hours ago, Veladare said:

I had 5 weeks at Xmas and practically every weekend since then till now on my yacht.... Ive had the sails up 3 times and of that was twice motor sailing....

Mentally. Ive checked out of yacht cruising

Similar here. We decided that when with family we would only ever roll out the headsail and otherwise just motor. 
Reflects our Age, stage and family I suppose. 

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17 minutes ago, muzled said:

Is that the downside of not having a boat that performs upwind Veladare?  (you have a cat yeah?)  

Yep that is def part of it, but Ive also noticed a change in wind patterns.

Between roughly 2005-20012 Id take Pork Chop up to Kawau every single weekend with a 15 knot south wester at 1700 on a Friday and 10 knots close hauled on way home at midday... now I notice its 5-7 knots and from the east.

I now go to Kawau once a year

Yep my boat is a heavy slow tub, but I dont even look at it if its not 10-15 now from any direction... but I find I simply dont find those winds anymore. I have a young family, and getting there so they can swim is important, or they start getting turned off and bored...and beg for the ipad...or start ripping my boat to pieces.....

I feel the winds have changed and with mu current boat, I dont have the time to bob along.

This summer was the worst... simply no wind capable of getting me sailing. Ive got a genny all ready to go... havent put it up once in 3 years...

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57 minutes ago, darkside said:

.

We chartered in the PNW three years ago and that is powerboat country for sure. We were there a month and only two days of that would have been enjoyable to sail.

Did you hit any floating logs - they are a real menace?

The Royal Vancouver Yacht Club run's it main race series in the winter because that is when there is some wind

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28 minutes ago, Veladare said:

Yep that is def part of it, but Ive also noticed a change in wind patterns.

Between roughly 2005-20012 Id take Pork Chop up to Kawau every single weekend with a 15 knot south wester at 1700 on a Friday and 10 knots close hauled on way home at midday... now I notice its 5-7 knots and from the east.

I now go to Kawau once a year

Yep my boat is a heavy slow tub, but I dont even look at it if its not 10-15 now from any direction... but I find I simply dont find those winds anymore. I have a young family, and getting there so they can swim is important, or they start getting turned off and bored...and beg for the ipad...or start ripping my boat to pieces.....

I feel the winds have changed and with mu current boat, I dont have the time to bob along.

This summer was the worst... simply no wind capable of getting me sailing. Ive got a genny all ready to go... havent put it up once in 3 years...

Having a young family with associated attention span, I put a new engine in my yacht so I could cruise around like a motorboat. Could have kept the old engine going a bit longer, but the upgrade was strategic. The kids just don't appreciate the purity of sailing just yet. They are getting onboard with the communing with nature / seeing dolphins / snorkeling at crystal clear beaches (and having icecreams at the Kawau Island Yacht Club...) 

Beating into a 25 knt SW in Tiri Channel, think I need to wait a year or two before I introduce that type of 'fun'.

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4 hours ago, marinheiro said:

Did you hit any floating logs - they are a real menace?

No we didn't but there are plenty to hit. More in BC where they harvest than in SE Alaska where it is more parks and wilderness.

The ones floating on there side are populated by seagulls and much easier to see than the vertical "dead heads"

We did hit a few lumps of ice as we got close to the tidewater glaciers but nothing serious.

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Thanks everyone for your replies/thoughts. I really appreciate it.

It's certainly got me thinking, and dreaming, a lot more about it and as a couple of you said, it'll be worth me 'testing the waters' (I've never used that line and meant it literally!) for a while before leaping boots and all...

I'll continue wandering down this path and I'm pretty sure I'll end up on the water in some way, shape or form.

Thanks again and if I succeed you'll be welcome aboard for glass of something anytime!

Dave

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6 hours ago, Black Panther said:

Back to the OP.

Marinheiro is right that if you are selling a house to do this it is a one way ticket. You will die living on a boat.  If possible rent the house a d live on the boat.

Over in Whitianga they eventually sink at the mooring and the occupants end up in a trailer sailor. BP and T have it right, keep/get a house and then try it

 

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I reckon the easiest way to see if you can handle it is to hire a 40 foot container and live in it for three weeks in the middle of winter.  No cheating - cooking on a gas burner and a portapotti for a loo.  Park the car 500m away and you can only get to it on a scooter.

Rig up a special device to tap on the roof of the container, but only every now and then.  Practise getting up in the dark to figure out wtf it is.

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