First Sailboat

We finally purchased a sailboat to start learning how to sail.  We purchased an Oday 25, 1976 on July 10, 2010 from a person in Branson, MO.  The boat is currently at a marina on Table Rock Lake.  The trailer is in Springfield and needs a lot of work before we can use it to bring our baby home.

We are really excited.  It is a bigger boat than what we expected to start with but the price was right.  The interior is pretty much original.  The cushion need replacing in whole, but the other interior portions of the boat appear to be in good condition.  All the running rigging will need replacement.  It has not been used in three years.  Lots of dry rot on the lines.  There is a fairly large crack in the cockpit floor.  Have some ideas on what to dry it out make it usable.  For the price we are not going to make a great investment to repair as we have been told that this is not a serious safety issue.  There is a 9.9 outboard as well.

It took a lot of cleaning, about 4hrs, but we got the inside to look pretty good.  Once we get it home I will start to tear some things out and replace.  not too much just enough to clean it up (get rid of the mold) and make it ours.  It has shore power capabilities which is really nice.  we could run fans to keep us cool and a shop-vac to help with cleaning.  It was really cool to be sitting in the cabin and thinking that this is the first of many steps to get us on our way to liveaboard cruising.

We hope to use this boat for a great sailing education and a lot of enjoyment.  We will probably use it mostly on Lake Carlysle in Illinois, but since it is easily trailable (so we are told) we intend to take other places as well.  We want to become very comfortable with our abilities at sailing before we decide to take it on the open ocean.  Obviously not too far from shore but enough to give a taste of what it will be like.

I am going down on the 23th to spend the weekend working on the trailer to get in shape.  The trailer need extensive work: new brakes, tires, lights, wiring, rollers and other items I am sure yet to be seen.  But at least it had a trailer.

I have been doing lots of research on the Oday 25 and from what I can find the appear to be dependable boats and easy to sail.  They are known to be roomy.  So far I can vouch for that.  I am desperately looking for a mast raising system I can buy but I think that I may have to make myself one.  There are lots of ideas on the Internet.

When we bring it home it will go into dry storage for the winter.  i am going to use this time to redo the inside, put new rigging on, replace what needs to be replacing, clean the bottom, paint if needed etc.  Sound like a lot of work, but I think it will be a fun project and it will give me something to do over the winter.  We want to keep the expenses in control since we know that this is just a starter that we will sell soon enough, but at the same time i need to make it safe, clean and something that we can learn with and experience the type of equipment we might experience on newer boats.

We know nothing about sailing except what i am finding on the Internet, but we intend to learn by trial and error and probably a few lessons.  Can't wait to get started both working on it and sailing it.  I will keep this blog updated with my project list and progress.  Here are a few photos.

Research, Research, Research

So far the last week or so, I have been spending several hours on the internet and reading a book. I am trying to determine how much we have to learn so that we can schedule our next three years accordingly. The first book I am reading is "All in the Same Boat" by Tom Neale. I am about two-thirds through it and it has been very informative although, I do get the impression sometimes that Tom wanted to become very educated about a lot of things. Not sure if I have that in me or if Jodie does wither. I have an engineering degree and I have been doing nothing but straining my brain for the better part of 20-25 years. My brain is feeling a little tired these days. There is no doubt that we will work hard to learn what we need to learn, but I have no intention of becoming an expert of all things cruising. I am pretty handy by my nature and have worked on my own cars, houses and motorcycles for a long time, so I hope that resourcefulness will pay off. We will be getting training sailing, navigating and meteorology as those appear to be very important basics to know.
We also set a "move aboard" date. April 1, 2013. I know, April Fools day. A little irony can be humorous. So at least now we have a schedule to work toward. We have a lot to do and I hope that we can get everything done. Our backup plan is to be prepared to live in a marina for a while and keep jobs. The reason for this is that I am concerned that the one thing that will create a bit of an obstacle is the financial end. We want to avoid having to work as much as possible, although we are prepared to work as needed to get some spending money, but not back to the miserable 9 to 5 that has lead us to this to begin with.
So here is some of what I have learned:

• Need to be a mechanic, ac service technician, electrician, plumber, refrigeration technician.
• Need to know how to fish, identify fish, how to find fish.
• Need to know how to anchor. Never knew there was so much to buying, setting up and setting an anchor.
• What books to have on board.
• How to setup communication.
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  What to look for in buying a boat. Size, Space, Comfort, Safety.
  
   

It seems overwhelming! But then again, this is going to be our home. That is weird to think about.

I have learned that diesel motors are better than gasoline. A refrigerator needs at least 4" of insulation. You should have a double sink. Have a good Dinghy. Have plenty of spare parts and the necessary tools to install them. Stock up on food, water, fuel etc when you can because it is not readily available everywhere. Be prepared for the worse and hope that it never happens, but it apparently the odds are that it will. All these things do not make cruising sound very exciting but it will not discourage us.

I have finally got to the part of the book about everyday living on the boat. This is the stuff I was more concerned about so that I can see how different things will be and hopefully how exciting it will be. So far it sounds pretty great, just I had hoped. Relaxing (even with work), exciting, educational. Found out that we better learn how to fish with a spear, but not a spear gun. Apparently in some parts of the Caribbean a spear gun is not a legal form of fishing. In order to fish effectively, we will need to improve our free diving skills. We practiced these for our scuba training but not in depth. Seeing a new type of wildlife will be interesting too.

Although I wasn't sure if cruisers did this or not, but it sounds like they do still visit things like all travelers do. Such as museums, wildlife preserves, tourist attractions etc. The differences are that cruisers visit from the water side and stay somewhat close to coast. These are things that we still hope to be able to do. We also look forward to having family and friends aboard on their vacations as well to show them how enjoyable this type of life is. I know I am talking like I am already doing this and am a veteran at this but I am trying to get into the correct mindset.

We are excited and nervous at the same time. We know it will be a lot of work possibly. But the way we look at it is that if we are not working all the time then it won't be too bad. Our life now is a lot of work too, but we have to try and cram it all in during weeknights and weekends, which as most of know makes even your so called free time become a chore. This is another one of the reasons that we want to get away from this type of lifestyle. The older I get the more I feel like we were programmed to life a certain way and that life will have very defined stages that everyone will go through and that life will turn out a certain way. You will go to school, get a good job, work hard and get promoted, get married, buy a house, have kids, work hard so they can go to school, and then hopefully you will be able to retire. Don't get me wrong, I don't think everything is wrong with that, but what is wrong with doing something else, and not follow the life cycle as it has been laid out for us. That is what has got us here. I read a few books of "Rich Dad Poor Dad" and one statement that always sticks with me is his comment about the fact that we were programmed at a very young age that our focus should be to follow that path and not to veer from it because that is the "safe" thing to do. Not for us anymore. It hasn't worked for us and doesn't work for us. We have had a good life under this plan, but in the end we are still unsatisfied and feel like there is so much more to life.

Preparing for a Change

Jodie (my wife) and I have both agreed that we will shed all, or at least most of, our worldly belongings and move onto a boat. I know that most will think we are crazy. I have a great job (at least some would think) and Jodie has a pretty good job too. But we both feel that we would enjoy this type of life better than our current one. We are both the type that likes to be on the move and see different things and experience adventure. We love the water, we love the sun, we love warmth and we love the Caribbean. So here we go.



Our reasons for making the change are many and not all of them will be disclosed here. For me, it is mainly the overwhelming feeling of hopelessness. I feel like I have little or no control over my job, finances, government agendas (and yes I vote), the economy, and the feeling of always having to have material things. I have lost my motivation to go to work every day. I wake up dreading the thought of going in and dealing with the same crap from people on a daily basis. Yeah I know, so do a lot of people. I am choosing to do something about it. Financially it seems that every time we make a step or two forward we take a few steps back and this time not because of things out of our control. I have become completely disenchanted with the government. I am really starting to feel like they are trying to put some sort of control on many aspects of our lives. And don't get me started on taxes. I know that I will continue to deal with our government because I don't intend to, at this point, move to another country. As far as the material things in my life, I really just want to get rid of everything that I do not NEED to live. I love my material things, but I now realize that these are the things that require that I continue to work in a field that I do not enjoy anymore; civil engineering. It felt like a revelation when I pictured myself with next nothing and all of it being on our boat. Seems crazy, considering we have had a sport boat, jeeps, convertibles, motorcycles, went on numerous luxury vacations etc. and anything else that cost too much and offered little sustained satisfaction. No matter what we always have to come back to our jobs, bills, the economy and our screwed up government.


So now a little more about our plan.


We figure on the short end we might be ready in two years, but more likely 3-4 years. We have a lot of financial items to take care of. We need to find a boat. We need to prepare to sell our home. We need to learn about boating, sailing and blue water cruising. We need to get our USCG Captains license. We need to learn as much as we can from other liveaboard cruisers. We need to prepare mentally, prepare our families and prepare ourselves. You get the idea.


We have pretty much focused on living on a catamaran. Based on our initial research they appear to provide the most living space and storage. They are also touted as being very stable and safe to cruise blue water, and from what I understand, they will not sink due to a few water tight bulkheads. We are going with sail power for obvious reasons. Who wants to spend outrageous prices for fuel? That is one of the many reasons we want to change our lives. It is exciting picking out a boat, because this will become our new home. We hope to be able to pay cash for it to minimize the need to make a lot of money, but may not be able too. We have really enjoyed the Lagoon series of cats. They are very expensive brand new, so we are definitely planning on purchasing a used one. If you're interested, there is a website of someone who is selling one that has some great information about his boat along with their experiences living on a boat (http://www.indigomoon.us/). The owner appears to really love his boat. His video review of his boat gave me some great ideas about what to look for in a new boat and how to customize one. I have also looked at standard sailboats, but they just seemed too cramped and don't offer very much natural light in the salon areas. Along with that you sail at an angle, whereas a cat sails flat, so no need to keep everything tied down.


We have a lot to learn as well. We will be looking into learning how to sail too. This should be fun, but unfortunately we are in Missouri so not much ocean style sailing around here. It will give us experience nonetheless. We will also learn navigating, safety etc. I am also planning on getting us enrolled in First Aid and CPR classes. We will be relying on each other for everything when we are at sea. I have to learn how to enjoy and cook seafood. I don't like fish at all, but I know, based on experience, that when you are near the coast or on the water, seafood is frequently the main course. Need to learn about reading the weather. Now I can't complain about the meteorologists being wrong, because I might be talking about myself this time.


Financially, we don't have it all figured out. If possible we will go into this with as few bills and debts as possible. But just in case we have more bills to pay than our cruising tilly can handle, we are planning as a backup, to do a charter cruise option about once a month. Based on my initial research, it appears that it is very expensive to charter one of these. With that in mind we think we can maybe charter one week a month and that should more than pay for all expenses and give us a fair amount to live on. Hopefully we won't have to do it at all, but if we do, it appears we can make good money at it. We would also consider doing dinner cruises, snorkeling tours, day cruises etc as needed to make some extra cash.


I know our families will not be entirely excited. But we can give them a vacation that they could never imagine and it will only cost them airfare. So hopefully they will come see us. Not to say that we won't come back home once and a while as well. I have to believe that a tropical vacation in the Caribbean would have to seem pretty enticing.


I am not fooling myself into thinking that it will be a vacation every day. Everyday there will be work to be done on the boat, planning routes, running the boat etc. But we will control our own destiny and we will be able to choose where we want to be and when we want to be there. We will visit new and exciting places. Meet new and interesting people. Probably be scared more than a few times. But it is an adventure that not everyone can say they have done. We are not going to let anything stop us not even the doubters.


So I hope you enjoy my coverage of our plan to adventure.