Hi Laura,

This post can at an interesting time for us, along with your recent up load to youtube. We are in the process of a fairly major retro fit of our Douglas 32Mk11, we are taking a year sabbatical to go down the ICW and over to the Bahamas in 2017 we love our Silhouette, for many reasons but our logical/fiscal sensabilities are causing us hesitation. We are struggling with the theory of putting more money into the boat than she will be worth.

Our biggest endeavor will be her new engine, (which I think I've mentioned before. Our justification so far is that for what we put into her we will have what we want in a boat sturdy. Knowing how fiscally responsible you are and that this will be your second refit including a repower I wonder how you and Chuck rationalize the investment into LeaLea. Mostly looking for support that we are not crazy to be doing this:)

Hi Ondine,

If you want the hard numbers of it. Maintaining Lealea over the last 25 years, including the purchase price, has been about 65K. We've lived on her the whole time. Subtracting purchase price we are into our boat for $166.00 per month. This takes into account all our previous rebuilds.

To answer your question, how do you rationazlie. Since we will be rebuilding her stronger than the factory prduction line and to our own tastes, we expect her service life to be an additional 40 years and in that light another 15K does not seem like much. There is a lot to be said about knowing your boat from the inside and out. Taking out every screw and checking every fitting gives you good piece of mind.

Could we buy another boat, yes, but then we would be starting all over again and since we have never found another boat that suits our needs as well as Lealea then the investment is worthwhile for us.

Hi Laura,

First I have to compliment you on being able to read my initial post, I obviously didn't proof it before sending, my apologies.

And to thank you for your candid response especially with regard to your investment into LeaLea. I didn't mean to pry into your personal finances, it is very gracious of you to share. It's always nice to hear the thoughts of those who are like minded. We get questioned a fair bit as to why we don't purchase \a better boat\ which in a lot of cases means bigger;). And though one tries to not let opinions influence decisions it does cause one to periodically re evaluate, which I believe to be a good thing.

We purchased Silhouette with a plan in mind 7 years ago and in the end we will have about 60-65K invested in her, and like you thus far we too have never found another boat, certainly not within our budget, that we feel fits our needs as well as she does (of course everyone's needs are different). Additionally you make a very good point regarding the vessel being stronger than originally built. This will be true of Silhouette as well.

At this point do not live aboard full time but our intentions are to move aboard for a year's sabbatical and then 3-4 years after that we intend to retire and live aboard her for 6 months of the year so our \return on investment\ isn't as rapid as yours, but in reading your response it reassures me that our plan is viable.

Thank you, it's always such a pleasure to hear from you and exchange thoughts.

Ondine

Ondine,

My first instinct was to pick up the phone and call rather than communicate here. Unfortunately I recently had a phone malfunction and lost your number. Can you please email it to me (laura@cruisinglealea.com)

Thank you, Laura

Hi Laura and Chuck,

First I want to thank you for the many hours of enjoyment I have had watching your videos and for all the quality information you have shared. About 8 years ago I decided I was going to purchase a sailboat and live aboard when I retired. I have been reading blogs and dreaming while saving every dime since I made that decision. Southeast Alaska is high on my list to see. After watching all of your Alaska video I realized that there is not a lot of opportunity to actually sail while cruising southeast Alaska.

So here is my question. Does it make sense to purchase say a 24 foot Bayliner on a trailer in Washington and haul it to Skagway or Haines. I would spend June, July and August for a couple seasons touring southeast Alaska. In the winter I could leave it on the hard on the trailer while I return to the lower 48 and travel south with my camp trailer for the rest of the year. It is just me and my two dogs so I do not need much room.

I have been trying to buy a 27 to 35 foot blue water sail boat for several months. When I start sailingI would like to start in the Sea of Cortez so that is where I would like to purchase but I am getting such poor feed back from the brokers. I need to be there but I do not want to spend several thousand dollars every time a broker embellishes the quality of a boat and once I arrive and see it first hand I am not interested.

So back to the question, would a 24 foot Bayliner be safe in the inter-coastal waters of Southeast Alaska? When I am done I could sell it there and then work my way back south along the coastal areas looking for a sailboat.

Thanks for listening

Ron