Our latest thoughts on buying and living on our Sailboat.

Wanted to share some thoughts of finally achieving our dream of over 25 years and moving on our first sailboat. The learning curve is big but not overwhelming for living on the boat. But we have been motor boaters on smaller lake boats most of our life and we did live in an RV for 3 years. So we aren't new to boats, water and small spaces. The biggest thing we have learned is we way underestimated the expense of setting up the boat the way we wanted it and things that had to be done along with the OH what broke now! We bought our 1987 Morgan 41 boat in Sept and had a complete out of water and in water survey. We knew there were a few things that had to be done but they were minor. Then there were a few things we wanted to do to make the boat they way we wanted. And there were future upgrades that we thought could wait a year or so before doing. We set us a budget for the immediate upgrades and repairs and planned 3 months in a marina so we could learn the boat and do the few things we wanted and needed. The previous owner had kept meticulous records and I read through all his logs. I should have paid even more attention to details I didn't know where so important like dates work was done.

So what did we discover.

*Whatever you budget for initial setup and upgrades-double it!

*There is maintenance that must be done on a timeliness- pay attention if previous owner has done that timeliness.

*If the boat has been on hard or in Marina but wasn't used alot(which makes it look beautiful for an older boat) can make things that should work break suddenly do to not being used. Examples were the manual heads gaskets in pumps, the windlass locking up after a few uses, and the water pumps and sump pumps.

*The large upgrades you have in mind for later down the road could be something you need sooner than later. (Solar, Battery banks, dinghy, etc.).

*Time you expect to do all this will also take longer than you think whether you are doing the work or hiring the work.

*You will always find more things to do to your boat that you didn't know you would want to do or have to be done but you do anyway. (Example: new salon cushions)

Even with all this we are ecstatic to finally achieve our dream and working our way through the budget issues. We love our boat more than we did when we bought it especially with all our upgrades. And we are excited to take off finally out of Marina in the next couple weeks. Our first time we left the Marina for good we thought showed us that we needed a new house battery bank to be on anchor and our windlass froze up. These two caused us to go back to marina for another month for repairs.

So what would we tell someone looking at doing this. Don't wait, don't overthink, don't let others stop you. Chase the dream, set goals for achieving the dream, and jump right in! It has ups and downs but we still feel the ups more than the downs. The sailing and boating community is awesome, the sunsets and sunrises are unreal, and having the dolphins and sea life around make it magical!

Our journey so far has been an adventure but the biggest adventure is just now starting!

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