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From: Rosalie B. (no email)
Date: Mon Aug 30 2004 - 09:28:04 EDT
On Sat, 28 Aug 2004 23:26:29 -0000, you wrote:
<snip>
>Find a cheap mooring/marina and fit out boat and learn to sail it.
>When I am comfortable and bank account looks dangerously low, sell
>Goldwing and head for the open sea. Well Carribean anyway and who
>knows what/where from there.
>
>Where can I find the cheapest mooring costs for this initial period
>which could be from 3 to 6 months?
It is certainly possible to learn the rudiments of sailing in 6
months, and not all people who buy sailboats and go off cruising are
sailors. I wouldn't want to do it, but that's me.
Where I have a problem is that it may take you more than 6 months
because fitting the boat out without doing the necessary research to
take off to the Caribbean may lead to mistakes and/or omissions in the
fitting out part. Generally it will be more expensive to correct the
mistakes by adding equipment when you are in the Caribbean someplace.
Also it is pretty easy to make a mistake in buying the boat to begin
with. There are some sailboats that aren't suitable for anything
except coastal cruising. Does it carry enough water (there are
charges in some places for water even in the US) for instance?
When you say you are going to the Caribbean I'm assuming you are
talking about the east coast of the US?? The cheapest prices will be
farther north where it will be colder.
It would also be wise to pick somewhere to go where you could buy a
sailboat and fit it out - so motor boat places and isolated places
(both apt to be cheaper) would be less desirable especially if you
don't have a car (?? will you have a car? I don't know what a
Goldwing is so I don't know if it is a trailerable boat or what.)
Good places to fit out a sailboat include Annapolis MD, Norfolk VA,
Beaufort NC, Oriental NC, and Ft. Lauderdale FL. Those are also some
of the most expensive places.
Generally marinas in Florida are not cheap (the west coast is usually
cheaper than the east coast of Florida and the southern part is way
more expensive than the northern part) and it looks like you will have
2 boats - right? Some marinas charge as much as $3/ft.
Are you going to be living aboard or.living on land or what? Some
places charge a live-aboard fee.
Also, what do you mean by a mooring? Do you mean an actual mooring or
do you include anchoring? How much anchoring have you done? If you
are intending to take a mooring (or anchor which is usually, but not
always, free), you more or less have to have a dinghy in order to do
the fitting out part and the getting back and forth to shore part.
Some places charge for landing the dinghy.
Places in Florida where there are moorings include Vero Beach,
Marathon and Key West. In Vero Beach they raft you on the moorings
and you might be able to raft both of your boats together. There is
also some public transportation.
My suggestion for finding a place to keep the boat is to get Skipper
Bob's book Marinas on the ICW. He has comparative costs including
monthly rates and places where you can DIY (not always possible
everywhere).
.
grandma Rosalie
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