Guest Posted July 24, 2011 Share Posted July 24, 2011 hey anyone fancy giving me there 2 cents worth on this cruiser? http://www.apolloduck.com/feature.phtml?id=171456 cheers Rob G'day (it's 2330 hrs here) Rob. Go into google - The Coastal Passage - boats for sale - monohulls. There are some great boats in there. Good, sound, seaworthy, roomy & comfortable, efficient sailing & cruising yachts. If only I wanted a monohull I'd be in my car headed south very quickly for sure. Remember to only offer 55% at the maximum to start with. Ciao, james PS The Coastal Passage is a on-line sailors mag that is very good & always worth a read. Lots of info & a few good yachts for sale. jj Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted July 25, 2011 Share Posted July 25, 2011 Good thread this!My 10 cents: I lived aboard for 3 years in and around the Med with my girlfreind. .................... We were in our twenties, and yes it was the best time of my life, so I'll back up what everyone else has said. I think you've hit on the essence of this subject. I did some extended cruising in my early marriage but didn't live on board per se but, as a yacht broker in Singapore and Fiji in the 1970 & 1980s I met a large number of people who did, and witnessed many successes and failures. My wife and I are now living aboard for 6 months out of 12. In your twenties a little yacht like Pintail is enormous fun and it's all do-able. But, irrespective of kids entering the equation you need, as you get older, much more space. You also need stability and wider side decks. A golden rule about boat size for anyone living aboard over the age of 40. You need to be able to have a naughty without the boat showing any sign of movement. G'day David. Nice $1.50 plus worth. Where are you now & what size, type of yacht are you living on? Here are my thoughts, IMHO of course. Now to you valuable advice. When one's young - almost everything is just fine. When older as you said - more creature comforts are required. I also lived on board full time c/w daughter & 2 grand-kids, for 6 years. 52' tri though & lots of room. However even more work. Work & expenses never ended. Not as much time as I wanted for enjoyment & not much money left over to do the trips & enjoy the life of cruising. OH & I'm a blinken yacht builder. Lots of great yachts out there for $150k. Finding the right one is the BIG task. Work hard at it & do all your homework, then do it all over again. Then when you think you've got the right yacht - take a deep breath & start at the beginning & do all your checks from scratch. All the work & it is work will be worth it in the end when you've finally found the right yacht for your life-style. Keep asking advice in these forums & you'll keep learning more & more. Good studing & homework, ciao, james I actually think that now is the best time ever to buy a good boat upon which to live. Never, in my lifetime have good live-aboard boats been so affordable. For most of my lifetime- I'm 66 - they were unaffordable to the average bloke, or what was affordable, was cramped and high maintenance. Currently you can buy a good live-aboard low maintenance boat for a fraction of her replacement price and, providing one is careful with regard to initial selection, and prudent with equipping and maintenance, a good life style can be achieved. The secret is to then live aboard in an environment which is correspondingly reasonably priced, enjoys a livable climate, is regulatarily benign, and is otherwise amenable. NZ is one such area at the present time. I haven't cruised offshore for some years, but others on this forum will be able to identify various alternatives. (on the other hand, Spain has 700,000 unsold homes on the market - you might find a bargain (and a lifestyle of sorts) there!!) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 I started this thread just over 18 months ago and would like to thank all the people who took their time to offer their opinions. And also to share our experiences. The general opinion we got from this forum was 'go for it!' and so I discovered that our insurance company for our earthquake damaged house would only buy us another house not give us cash, not ideal when we wanted to move aboard. So after much internet searching we found Watermusic, she is a 47' Roberts Spray replica made from fiberglass owned by a couple in their 70's who wanted to move ashore. The boat was located in Bundaberg QLD so the owner chose a house in NZ for the same value as the boat and we bought it for them with the insurance and swapped it for the boat. We moved on board with our daughter of 18 months and never looked back. We have enjoyed every day since and have never regretted it for a day. We sailed her down to Brisbane and are currently living in the Brisbane river working to save for cruising and learning to sail her in the weekends in Moreton Bay. Watermusic is 4.5m wide and draws 1.4m, so we have heaps of room and storage. Learning to sail a boat this size has been a scary experience at times but now we are confident in docking, anchoring and maneuvering without any fear. Laura is happy on the help whilst i do the hard work! So our advise to anyone considering this lifestyle is to go for it! It is still early days yet, we plan on exploring the eastern coast of Australia and possible much further. Happy sailing Rob Quote Link to post Share on other sites
banaari 27 Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 (...) So after much internet searching we found Watermusic (...) Well done & outstanding! Photos, please! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Megwyn 2 Posted November 5, 2012 Share Posted November 5, 2012 Awesome Rob. Yes - photos please. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 ok ive dug up a few photo's! strange most of our pics are taken from the boat and not of the boat, probably the best way! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
idlerboat 116 Posted November 6, 2012 Share Posted November 6, 2012 .......try $35 K for a full ready to go 37 foot fiberglass, solid build , cruising yacht. With all new standing rigging.....a 6 man life raft in survey.....and everything else that you would need to go.......and I MEAN everything ! Super cheap older cruising yachts are now there for the adventurous. Wish it had been the case 9 years ago when I first started building due to a lack of money.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Wannabe 0 Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 I missed this thread the first time round... I've just spent the last hour reading through every post with Wifey... feeling inspired, and getting closer to living the dream! I love threads like this! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Megwyn 2 Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 Thanks for sharing Rob M Quote Link to post Share on other sites
argonaught 0 Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Thanks people, great thread. I could read on for ages and hope many more might feel inclined to add a few more pages of advice and experiences. After an absence of 12 years from boat ownership and 14 years since last had the boat in Fiji, I have succumb to the calling and purchased a beautiful wee kauri Salthouse 36. All going to plan, 2014 will see the new boat and me spending a few months in Tonga. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
argonaught 0 Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Went to edit my previous post to add something relevant to the thread but for some reason it wouldn't let me. So here is the bit I was trying to add: Am presently in the process of exploring options for living aboard at any marina in NZ in a place where there might be employment opportunities. Initial indications are that finding a job will be easier than finding a berth at which it is permissible to live aboard!!!!!(Gulf Harbour excluded) Quote Link to post Share on other sites
tuffyluffy 76 Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Went to edit my previous post to add something relevant to the thread but for some reason it wouldn't let me. So here is the bit I was trying to add: Am presently in the process of exploring options for living aboard at any marina in NZ in a place where there might be employment opportunities. Initial indications are that finding a job will be easier than finding a berth at which it is permissible to live aboard!!!!!(Gulf Harbour excluded) Take a look at Westpark marina in West Auckland, quite a few liveaboards out there and a regular ferry to the CBD. BTW, great thread!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
broadoak 0 Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 You can be a 'marina resident' or live aboard at Mana Marina. Been doing so for over 18 years now, nice community, nice marina, the weather... well it is close to Wellington, but great sailing, close to sounds Quote Link to post Share on other sites
smithy09 50 Posted November 30, 2012 Share Posted November 30, 2012 Bayswater Marina in Auckland has perminant live aboards.. Plenty of them in fact! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Terry B 71 Posted April 9, 2013 Share Posted April 9, 2013 Part of the new plans for Westhaven are to make more room for liveaboards (according to Tom Warren GM Marinas at the Thursday meeting on the Westhaven plan last week) - and provide better amenities for them. Which (I'd assume) berth holders will gain some advantage from. Be interesting to see what actually happens.........................but these are plans, not laid in concrete................. 4.38pm. Beer time........ must run. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
erice 732 Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 good liveaboard video Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Island Time 1,214 Posted May 14, 2013 Share Posted May 14, 2013 Nice Video! I missed this thread the first time - was away cruising! This last voyage was a bit over 20,000 Nm, and a bit under 3 years. This time was just two of us, last time with the 2 kids (11 & 13 then), same boat. Island Time is a 40ft Farr Phase 4. She is fairly light for a cruiser, but sails well for her size. I used to want a Cat, but, after seeing many out cruising, speaking with the owners, and doing maint work on a few, now I'm happy with what we have. Good Cats are great, but they do cost more to own and maintain. Here are a couple of pics of Island Time Leaving NZ Cruising Cockpit Inside Quote Link to post Share on other sites
RushMan 31 Posted May 15, 2013 Share Posted May 15, 2013 Nice wood finish on the roof, is the white shiny floor slippery when wet ? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Island Time 1,214 Posted May 15, 2013 Share Posted May 15, 2013 Rushman, do you mean the pic/s is are upside down? They are the right way up for me on Iexplorer and chrome??? Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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