I had thought of buying a boat many times in the past, but for various reasons, I never actually gave it a try. Well that changed this past year, and the boat pictured here has become home for my dog #Jax and I! We have easily adjusted to #boatlife, and are loving every day!

How did I get here?

A little over a year ago, I was living in Noe Valley, where I had spent the previous ten years. I had a great place, and thoroughly loved the location. But... some things started to nag at me:

- I was spending $4500/month renting a place that was honestly too big for me - I had 1800 sq. ft, and left 1200 of that space empty most of the time.

- I grew up on the ocean. I worked on boats for thousands of days of my life. Even though I lived in a city surrounded by water, I never went out on it.

- I like to be a little bit different :)

Is it for everyone?

I have met and spoken to many people who hear my story and immediately say things like "Man - I should do that!", "I could save so much money!", "I want to go sailing/cruising now..."

My advice to most people is usually along the lines of:

- Be honest with yourself - does it make sense for you to own a boat? Like an RV, a pleasure craft can be a lot of maintenance and cost for very little use, if you only plan to go cruising around a few times over the summer.

- If you are not sure, perhaps make friends with someone who owns a boat, or maybe look into "sharing" a boat (fractional ownership) as a first step.

- Take into account your boating experience and how much boat you are comfortable handling. If money is no object, you can get as big as you want and just hire people to drive you around :)

- If you are serious about it, talk to people like me :)

Cheers,

Joe

My family used to own a boat and we loved going out on the lake at least twice a month during the spring and summer. The most difficult part was driving out to the better lakes from the Bay Area. As our lives became busier, the long haul became a big deterrent and we started to use it less and less. Eventually we sold it. 😞

I have some incredible memories from that boat and I still miss it. There's something about being out on the water. It's intoxicating.

Here's a picture of the boat right before we sold it. This was at New Melones Lake.

That's a sweet boat! Sometimes I wish I could trailer mine and go cruising somewhere for a while. But I think if needs to go on a semi-truck :)

Joe, I need to come visit you on that boat! 😁I've seen communities of houseboats from time to time, like in Victoria and Sausalito and thought it would be wonderful to live on a boat. I actually did live on my father's 38-foot sloop for a summer, but that was because I had to sand and varnish it 8 hours a day for the whole summer. That pretty much sucked.

Don't they degrade over 20 years and you lose your investment, whereas a house appreciates?

If I ever buy a boat, it'll be this beauty.

hope you are ready for the crews payroll! But you aren't wrong that thing is pretty great looking!

I like sailing though I don’t know about owning. Chartering has always satisfied my needs and if I come back next year, it’ll be all shiny and new :)

Chris, yes - boats depreciate in value, like anything else. And it is true, they don't come with plot of land that will most likely appreciate in value. There is no getting around that second fact - "real"-estate will always have that advantage.

I do think that the age of a boat, over time, will have less of an affect on its value than the condition of the vessel. When I was shopping, I saw so many boats that were 10-20 years younger, but had not been maintained, and their value reflected that. That said, a boat is not something to buy as an investment (like a car or an RV). But if you are able to be smart with the rest of your money, it can make sense :) My monthly rent savings is being used to pay off the boat (done soon) and invest in other things like stocks/reals estate/crypto :)

We've been a boating family for 12 years now. It's what I went to when I realized long solo motorcycle trips and young kids don't mix well. Bought a 28 foot cruiser, ended up buying a place at the lake, so sold it and bought a pontoon. The whole family hated it, so replaced it with a 25 foot runabout. It's been a great boat for the last 4 years, but I think it's time to move on. Kids are getting to the age of not wanting/able to spend every weekend with their parents, and we sold our place at the lake last fall. The wife and I have talked of possibly going back to a cruiser, with long term plans of using it as our retirement place in Florida, but I'm pretty tired of the continuous upkeep and maintenance that it requires. If I can't afford to just write the checks and have someone else do it, I'll just enjoy sitting on the docks watching the boats go by.

My dad, and die-hard, mavericks daredevil surfer, is in search for a boat to get him to dozens of inaccessible surf breaks of the coast of California. I've been aiding in the search here and there.

It seems that ocean worthy boats seem to hold their value much better than light lake watercraft. Do you know why that is?

I would guess it may be that there is usually "more there" for ocean-going vessels. Redundant systems, thicker hulls, more stainless steel etc...

Another though is that they may be taken care of a little better, and not treated as "disposable" as often. I don't know for sure...