I appreciate your budget sailing style and video's glad I found your channel. Since a kid I have dreamed of learning to sail and heading up the pacific NW cost to cruise the inside passage but boat expenses seemed an insurmountable obstacle to that dream. Your crossings to Hawaii on an old Catalina make it clear that it can be done for a lot less then I had ever imagined..
I talked about living on a boat someday for 14 years, and I too thought it was a monumental task. Before that Catalina, I had a Cal 25 that I had put $14,000 into, and it was still on land. I didn't know any better. After spending all that money, and doing all the work myself, I still needed another $3,500 to paint the boat, and put it in the water. That's when I got fed up. I found that Catalina 27 for $2,000, slapped a $600 outboard on it, and invested another $300 in more anchor tackle. So, for less than $3,000 I was in the water sailing! Now that I've been out here for 7 years, I'm aware of how much time and money I wasted. As long as you do all your own work, you too can get out here for pennies on the dollar compared to a lot of other boaters out there. This Pearson 30 I'm sailing now, only cost me $2,850. Ready to sail, with a running inboard. Get your knowledge up, and shop around for that good deal. A great way to find boats that are functional and extremely cheap, is to stop by marinas. Ask them if they have any lien boats for sale. Every Marina has three or four boats that haven't paid rent in a year, and they sell them off to get their slips back. You can score a $10,000 boat for $1,000 that way. Just make sure you're ready to move the boat out of the marina, immediately. An outboard bracket, and an outboard gets the job done every time. Then, you have time to fix the inboard at your convenience. I shopped around every state on the East coast, and all the way to Texas to find this Pearson 30. I spent hours online, searching and searching. It paid off. Good luck. See you out here some day.
Yep. That furler, along with 4 stainless steel opening port lights with screens are now on my boat. That wreck has been there for almost 2 years, so I didn't hesitate to grab a few things off of it.
Yea, the ICW is ridiculously comfortable compared to the Hawaiian Islands. Endless free anchorages in flat protected waters. Free public docks sporadically spaced throughout. Walking distance from anything a boater can need. I've been seriously lounging, and I gained a bunch of weight. However, having seasons in weather is not for me.
If I ever go back to Illinois, it will be for Gino's East, Portillo's, and El Famous(burritos as big as your head)! 😆🍴 Other than that, I have no interest in reconnecting in any part of that former life of mine. My first 20 years on this Earth were absolutely miserable, and I'm glad that I've lived 10 different lifestyles since then, so that I don't even have to think about it, anymore.
Oh, hey Bill! I though you were a different Bill, until I saw your account name. Good to hear from you. You guys were the only good thing about my life back then. Still, glad to keep all those memories in the past. Unfortunately , those few good memories, come with a lot of awful nightmares. You witnessed about 5 years of it. You know. 😆
Thanks, man. I'm thinking about getting back on it, a little bit more seriously. I watched another person's video on how they got their channel monetized, and it turns out you get monetized when you have a thousand subscribers or more. I have over 800 subscribers, and I barely post videos. If I start posting weekly, maybe I can actually get a monetized channel, so I'm seriously considering it. I was surprised at how much money their channels were bringing in, as they showed their viewers the income that their videos provided. The way I live, it wouldn't take much income to live pretty comfortably. I might just be worth it for me.
