Live-aboard for FL instead of a condo

YeOldeStonecat

YeOldeStonecat

Active Member
Jun 10, 2018
332
Waterford, CT, boat in Deep River, CT
Boat Info
'97 300 DA "Me-Shell"
Engines
Twin 5.7 V-Drive
So we've been getting serious about shopping and owning a condo down around Anna Maria Island, Perico Island, possibly Englewood/Cape Haze area, hopefully by end of the summer. After working on our boat yesterday, a dock neighbor of ours got a new 58 footer...my wife was like "it's a floating condo...hey, why not one of these in FL?" He got an older one that he's fixing up. 17' beam, huge space down below, got it for under $200k.

Just a quick tossing around of the idea....but when factoring say...purchasing a condo for ~$250k, plus HOA's averaging around $550 or so....just wondering what picking up a big old 45-50 footer....trawler perhaps...might end up being total cost wise down there. Hard to quick estimate with our experience of northern seasons, we pay about $15k to the marina now for our short season including winter storage.

Guessing insurance is more down there? Longer seasons of course (year round) plus hurricanes.

Anyone else tossed this idea around? We go down around 4 times a year....not "moving" down there full time for another 5 or so...
 
Big question is where it is parked. Marina fees will probably be as much as HOA.
 
YeOldeStonecat said:
So we've been getting serious about shopping and owning a condo down around Anna Maria Island, Perico Island, possibly Englewood/Cape Haze area, hopefully by end of the summer. After working on our boat yesterday, a dock neighbor of ours got a new 58 footer...my wife was like "it's a floating condo...hey, why not one of these in FL?" He got an older one that he's fixing up. 17' beam, huge space down below, got it for under $200k.

Anyone else tossed this idea around?
Click to expand...

Every day. We have already looked at several boats, 3 in the last month as we are cruising up the coast.
We cruised south in the fall and are returning to the Great Lakes now. Many people travel back and forth, but we decided tying up 8 months to go south is too much. Erie Canal closed October 10th last year and opens next Friday, May17th. If we lived in the Chesapeake, it might be different. There are so many great places to visit from there south, and we could head south after thanksgiving and be back mid April. Karen won’t move so...Sitting in NYC right now waiting for this unbelievable crappy weather to break and we will move up to Waterford and be knocking on the lock doors to let us in on the 17th.
We already know several people who do the boat condo thing, and it’s not as crazy as you might think. After you visit Fl a couple times on a boat and talk to people, you find out about the best places to leave the boat in the summer that are cheap and hurricane protected, etc.
We would not summer in Florida. We are looking for a boat that we can move around, as we love to cruise, we’re not sitters, being in one place gets old with us after about a month. If we were, we would go condo and buy a CC or a Deck boat. We got a 2 month taste of the Bahamas this year, got to go back.
 
Last edited:
My wife and I are on this path as well. We bought our Sundancer with this in mind. If it was up to my wife we would take this step tomorrow.

We have looked at specific marinas, gotten insurance quotes, etc. The net is that the boat is more expensive, but you get to live on a boat. I've run the numbers for our scenario, and I'll post them when I get home.
 
We went thru this decision making process about 30 years ago. I was fortunate to be able to retire early and have family in Tennessee so our view point was for a vacation home vs a boat to stay on when we were in Florida.

Financially, I couldn't get past the fact that property on the coast is an appreciable asset, while a boat in Florida depreciates every day you own it. We bought a home on the beach and a boat that suited our boating needs much better than a bigger/slower livaboard boat would have. The house is now worth about 12X what we paid for it; the boat we bought at the time is worth probably 1/4 what we paid for it and that isn't considering the $35,000 I spent maintaining and insuring it to the $17,000 we spent in slip rent.
 
Last edited:
IMHO there are pro's and con's on this issue. The pro's can include being on the water every day, etc. The con's include depreciation on your boat, costs of the marina, upkeep, repairs, etc.

Not an easy question to answer. Good luck with your decision. Make the decision and go forward and enjoy that you made the right one.
 
IMG_4230.JPG
We have owned boats and water front real estate for more than 50 years. Both are great to own and I would not trade our experiences for anything. The boats always sold for less money than we paid for them although some depreciated less than others. Each was enjoyable. My informal rule of thumb has been boats should never represent a significant percentage of our net worth. Houses by contrast can become a significantly large percentage of your net worth and just as enjoyable as a boat. If you can manage both, do both. If you can't, do the house. Or, as an alternative do the house, and a small boat that is not significant in the overall scheme of your personal balance sheet.
 
Hmmmm........
My wife tried to convince me for years to get a “second home” and fortunately I always resisted it
A second home meant more work for me whenever we went there while everyone else enjoyed themselves.
One home is enough to deal with.
One boat too.
I take care of my 410, my Uncle’s 22’ boat that we fish with, and my kids 18’ bowrider.
The two smaller boats can be a PIA to get in the water each year and then clean up and winterize in the Fall but are fairly manageable as long as nothing breaks on them during the season.
Still wouldn’t mind getting them off my plate at some point soon.
I couldn’t imagine having to deal with owning and maintaining a second bigger boat though.
Especially one that big (58’) so many states away.
Would you transport all your tools and spares back and forth every year or just get a complete second set?
Don’t know how old you are now but you may want to consider just keeping the one boat and one home and traveling for long periods during the off season.
That’s what I’m trying to do now that I’m turning 65.
This past winter was my first one taking multiple trips and it worked out well.
It will get even better when my wife finally agrees to stop working too so we can travel even more in the winter.
Nice having someone else clean up after us and make the beds.
Dead set on Florida for the winters?
Rent for a few months each year instead.
Or move down there and rent up north for a few months every summer.
 
Last edited:
Friends of ours just purchased a 44’ Aquila power cat, really like the roominess and they are planning on making it into a live aboard situation, maybe not 100% there yet, but getting close. My wife saw the boat and fell in love.
 
We discuss a 40-50 foot dry slipped in Florida so when we are there its our condo and when not its in the shade, and not salty... priced it a few places and dry slip fees about the same as HOA... so then its just a payment..
 
On average we have been spending 11-14 nights on the boat, home for 3-4 weeks, then repeat.

We don't really think of it as a second home - or as a live a board. Guess it all depends on your definition. Nice thing is the view changes frequently when we are there.

One of the things that we learned over the years was the more time you are on the boat, the quicker it can get crowded.
 
We started out with the idea and the SR 48 Motor Yacht would have fit the bill. Research on the QSM-11s proved to be more than I wanted to bite off. She is a big ship with plenty of room. We went the route of the 44DB and never looked back. We do not live on her full time, but spend around 30% of our time on her. As FootballFan states above, the more time you are on it, the quicker it can get crowded....

Bennett
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,154
Messages
1,427,383
Members
61,060
Latest member
Danileo
Back
Top