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[Hayden Sias]

Hey SR group!! I am from upstate NY. I was offered a job with a prominent Marine company in Florida. I will likely take the job as I think I would be stupid not to.
I have a SR310DA that my family and I love. We would like to take it but it will cost an arm and a leg to ship it or sail it down.
1.)Should I sell it and get something down there?
2.) Ship it and rent it out?(not sure of this one)
3.) Get my captains license and charter it?

I am in a lot of pain thinking about it. What would y'all do?

THEN should I sell it and buy a 50' sedan bridge like 20 years old and live on that for a couple years?
The reason I would do that is houses in Florida are ridiculous right now. If I buy a 200k house for 350k it will be YEARS before there's value.
I would almost rather lose 10 to 15k on the boat over a couple years and sell it at that point.
Thoughts????
Thank you.

 

[Strypes]

1.)Should I get something down there?

...buy a 50' sedan bridge like 20 years old and live on that for a couple years?

Yes!

 

[jmauld]

How big is your family and they are on board with the idea of living on a boat? If you’re just looking for a live aboard, find an old trawler that is already depreciated a bunch and needs a little work. You’ll stand to lose less money that way.

also, you don’t want to be on a boat when a hurricane comes ashore in Florida. Have a plan.

 

[bobeast]

I'm still stuck on the idea that a home can be bought for 350k.

 

[Golfman25]

Ship it or drive it down. Good boats are hard to come by theses days. You’ll be dollars ahead. Rent a home or apartment until the housing market softens.

 

[Hayden Sias]

I hear ya. A few years ago pre-nonsense the home selling for 150 to 200 is now selling 300 and up. That exact home for 300 needs work and less than 1700sq.ft. i don't want a home that small to be upside down on. The market is crazy. I'm not willing to live in garbage

 

[Hayden Sias]

Ship it or drive it down. Good boats are hard to come by theses days. You’ll be dollars ahead. Rent a home or apartment until the housing market softens.

I have a great boat.

 

[Hayden Sias]

How big is your family and they are on board with the idea of living on a boat? If you’re just looking for a live aboard, find an old trawler that is already depreciated a bunch and needs a little work. You’ll stand to lose less money that way.

also, you don’t want to be on a boat when a hurricane comes ashore in Florida. Have a plan.

 

[Hayden Sias]

3 of us. I am just searching for options. As far as storms my plan is put the boat on the hard.....move it.....go to my buddys house till the smoke clears. IDK....never done this before. In my head i usually pick on people like me. But it's understandable to not know what to do when you have no experience.

 

[ranger58sb]

I have a SR310DA that my family and I love. We would like to take it but it will cost an arm and a leg to ship it or sail it down.

It doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg to get it there... if you have some time.

Drive fast = high fuel bill
Marina a lot = high dockage bill

Drive slow (slightly under maximum theoretical hull speed) and anchor out most nights = not so expensive.

Just takes longer, but you can smell some roses along the way. Could do it in stages, although that could add some temporary storage costs along the way.

Not a recommendation; just an observation.

-Chris

 

[Stee6043]

It sounds like you have a lot going on here. Your first thought was avoiding the cost of shipping your boat by selling and then re-purchasing in Florida. But then you threw in the liveaboard idea.

My two cents - you need to find a place to live on the hard before you figure out what to do with the boat. Get an apartment if you don't want to buy. Raising a family in an apartment would be 99.87% less frustrating than on a boat. Further, if you think $350k for a house is ridiculous wait until you start shopping for that Sedan Bridge that runs well enough to get in/out of the water when the hurricane comes. You said you don't want to live in garbage. I'd imagine that's exactly the kind of boat you're going to end up in if you're trying to save money.

Last - have you looked at what marinas cost in Florida for liveaboards? Have you looked at what boat insurance costs to liveaboard in Florida? Check it out...and then come back to that apartment idea I threw out

 

[Stee6043]

And hey for $hits and giggles - a 2005 Sea Ray 50' Sedan Bridge is a $500k boat...nearly 20 years old.

 

[FootballFan]

Initially I would focus less on the boat you own currently and more on what kind of boat will suit your interests once you are in Florida.

If those future interests match up with the boat you currently have, or it doesn't, you have your answer.

 

[Jus Cruisin]

Keep the boat stored up north for a while and rent a place.

One, the "good" and "bad" areas of towns in Florida are quite often less than a mile apart.

Two, renting allows flexibility to look for the areas that "fit" you and the family.

Three, your northern home has likely inflated the same or at least a similar amount so you are just trading dollars anyway.

The boat should be way down on the list.....

 

[bbwhitejr]

As others have suggested, focus on your housing 1st and boat 2nd. I have moved around some and have always found it best to rent first and then decide exactly where I want to live. You say you really love your boat. If you truly love it and it is sound, shipping it down will be cheaper in the long run at least in the market we are in today.

Bennett

 

[hughespat57]

You don't mention where in Florida there is a big difference.

Florida is a long state, it takes seven hours to drive from one end to the other, less than two to go across.
Lived there from 1988 to 2006, daughter born and raised in Palm Beach County.
Loved our time there but the hurricanes do get just a bit stressful and we were inland about 45 minutes. We dodged more than a few big ones and got a few small ones. The humidity is high and hot all summer (you tend to go from AC house to AC car to AC work, etc.) and nice for the winter this is "South Florida" below Lake Okeechobee. Boating and diving are fantastic. Key West, Bahia Honda, Tortuga's, Sanabel, Tampa all great boating/diving.

Upstate NY to South Florida could be a bit of culture shock. As some have mentioned may want to go slow at first.

 

[mrsrobinson]

I would trailer the boat down. Nothing has changed in your lifestyle/family size/boat needs, correct?

 

[sbw1]

You might want to rent a place to live, store your boat where you live currently and see how the new job shakes out. You would not be the first to move some place and find things are not the way you thought they would be. If all goes well in the new location, deal with permanent housing first, then decide how you want to boat and go from there.

 

[jmauld]

You might want to rent a place to live, store your boat where you live currently and see how the new job shakes out. You would not be the first to move some place and find things are not the way you thought they would be. If all goes well in the new location, deal with permanent housing first, then decide how you want to boat and go from there.

I like this plan.

 

[Jus Cruisin]

I've mentioned in other threads. I lived there (Bradenton and DeBary) nearly 30 years and I saw a lot of northerners not be able to handle the summer (pretty much 6 months) weather and bail. If they didn't move back to where they were from, they'd become "halfbacks" and move to the Carolinas north Georgia, Tennessee areas....