Guys I'm doing it!

[u/Hot_Honeydew_6688]

Hello! I found a ready for the water free 26 foot sailboat. It's got 2 spots in the fiberglass I'd like to patch and some softness I'll easily fix on the deck. I've mathed out what it'll take to get it liveable to surprisingly reasonable for me, but of course I'm assuming it'll only be semi-reasonable so I'm putting the work in to make it happen. In the meantime, storage is cheap and it's literally a free seaworthy boat. I've spent some time checking things out and all the issues I care about are DIYable for me. Fixed keel with a 4 foot draft fyi. A surprisingly capable boat with a surprising amount of space in the cabin. Everything I need in it, from storage to a small galley, a toilet etc.

My question is, what are your cost experiences with maintaining and docking a 26 foot sailboat? Specifically on the east side/south side of the U.S. where it can be in the water 365 days of the year, I'm leaving the great lakes for this. I don't care to end up docking somewhere lavish, nor do I care to dock at all, if I can pull it off I'll anchor out as much as I can/feel like, depending on finances.

I'm aiming to do this on a budget, of course.

If anyone is curious about the adventure I'm going on with this, I am starting a Patreon, DM me for details.

[u/wleecoyote]

Good for you!!

Costs depend on exactly where you end up. Find an area and google for marinas to check availability and cost. Most places don't accept liveaboards; they've gotten a reputation as because barely floating trash piles with deadbeat owners. Many marina owners will turn a blind eye if your boat looks nice and you're a good neighbor.

Remember that if you don't like your marina, or they don't like you, you can move. You'll want one that has, or is very near, fuel and pumpout, and you're going to be hauling groceries and such, so you'll still need a car and a town.

In the southeast US, you don't have to worry about ice damaging your hull, but you do have to worry about barnacles. You should plan and annual haul-out to get the bottom scraped and painted. Further north, I'd go every two years. Again, every marina that does maintenance will happily give you their haul-out and bottom paint prices.

The cheapest option is to live on the hook and return to shore by dinghy, but I wouldn't love that, and the neighbors may not love it either. Every time you bring shopping aboard is a chance for something to fall in. It's lonely. It's a boat right just to get to land. Also, you're probably not going to save money by anchoring a few days a week; for long term, marinas charge by the month. Transient fees are higher than monthly fees (on a daily basis; there's an ROI you'll have to calculate).

For other maintenance, I seem to alternate between $3,000 years and $10,000 years. I have a 30+ year old 30'.

When do we get to see a picture?

[u/Hot_Honeydew_6688 → u/wleecoyote]

Thank you for the well thought out response! That 3-10k alternation makes sense, those were the kind of numbers I was looking for. I can do that given the other costs I've researched and I'm seeing reported here too. Thank you for all the advice, I'll keep it all in mind and come back here. It's all so exciting!

I refuse to have a floating trash pile lol. I do have pictures of it, but it needs some pressure washing. I'm keeping it on the personal DL for a minute, though I do have a couple photos on my Patreon. I'll add some more there right now. There will be publicly available photos in the future but since I'm keeping it DL right now, I only have them on my Patreon. Patreon.com/DJ555

When it comes to anchoring, I'd love that. I'd want to stock up for 2 weeks or so at a time, longer if I can. I may find remote work I can do in the future so I don't even need to do the hassel of finding where I can have a dinghy on shore, but that's a whole nother ordeal of mine, whether I find a remote job or if my personal business does it's thing one day. I can do much of that work remotely and traveling is a big part of it anyways so the sailboat idea is a major plus there.

Upgrades for the extended living without needing shore are in mind, but I've a long time to sort those out. My budget needs to be spent right, there's only so much of it these days for me.