a boat to retire with

[Dezrae]

Hey Folks,
MY wife and i are not due to retire some many,many years to come yet, but our dream would be to get ourself a boat with a kitchen and king size bed for us to sleep on and a set of single bunks to carry any of our grand children.id like a boat with some kind of ramp on it so i can park a motorcycle on it, be it the LT or what ever i have at the time.
Any suggestions for a boat.we dont want a sail boat, a power boat of some description.

[NOGILLS2]

Dezrae: Look into a dutch barge type vessel, I have had my eye on one for a couple of years, They are not fast but have a lot of room. I have been investigating building a modified one. twin engines, and electric bow thruster, and she would handle under the most adverse conditions, (high winds). In Europe they are plentiful. I think 70' by 17/18' would be a dream. you could have two berths, two heads, lounge and galley. A lift and davit for the LT, and yawl.

I would love to depart New Orleans and head east on the ICWW to Fl, turn north on the ICWW to New York, up the Hudson to the Erie canal to the Great Lakes to Chicago then south on the Miss back to NOLA. I suspect you could take a year or more to make this trip.

Dream machine off now.

[gunny]

LT, or any other motorcycle fo rthat matter, woul d probably not do well that close to salt water. You'd probably have a time dealing with corrosion. Good idea though!

[k1200ltrider]

Check out Grand Banks. They are pricey but built like a tank;) and have a good reputation for live aboard situations. There are a ton of websites and magazines all about live aboard boating and other boats to look at. Good planning will get you what you need.

Have fun looking around!

[Keith]

I have lived aboard for for 15+ years, Gunny's right, if you want to pack a bike on a boat think cheap disposable scooters. Or have staff to constantly clean. A small crane is the way to load. It allows for the myriad pier designs you'll encounter. You'll have to read a ton and explore boats a little further to determine your needs before you shop. Your question as posed above is a little broad. Akin to asking,

" I want to go for a drive, what car is good?"

You can have whatever you want in a boat... all it takes is money, lots of it.

[Chick]

Have a 1990 46' Grand Banks for sale if you are interested. Did the LOOP trip with her -- left Florida, east coast ICW, Hudson River, Erie Canal, Trent -Severn Canal, Great Lakes, Tennn-Tom, back to Florida -- and lived aboard for 4 years. Great boat! Unfortunately, by wife could never get over her sea sickness. :(

Thought about replacing the dingy with a bike, but the corrosion problems with salt water and salt air would create too much havoc.



God bless:

[simoncharles]

This one is for sale
http://www.pbase.com/zanoni/image/29121381

[meese]

But there's no price on that one. I guess we'll have to keep looking. :)

The worst thing is we've all already paid for that boat, and continue to do so every time we fill up the fuel tank. :(

[Keith]

This one is for sale
http://www.pbase.com/zanoni/image/29121381


And it's ONLY the 6th largest in the world. :rolleyes: Bah, barely worth having...

[Dezrae]

Well if we're going to go nuts with boats, might as well have the biggest aircraft carrier i suppose in the world

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/content_pages/record.asp?recordid=43675

on the flight deck rather then launch planes, i could set up some sort of motorcycle test rack i guess and go nuts with it while my bride sets course for our next destination and takes the wheel and pilots us there

[taylorjn]

There is a bunch of guys in Northern Ontario who have a bunch of converted tugboats - a few are still ready to tow ore carriers if needed. Was offered a *ferrying* around a road washout, but no one had the requisite ramp.

As to the salt water problem - convert the aft cabin! :)

[beemerlt]

Talk about a hostile environment for electronics. I was watching a programme about these guys (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4631086.stm) rowing the Atlantic. Most of their electrical/electronic equipment (such as Sat phone, GPS, water maker etc.) failed, when their boat was capsized by a freak wave and became flooded. Presumably all their equipment was 'marine' rated, but it STILL failed...

[ksailor]

Ever think about *sail* power? Wind is free... although somewhat unpredictable (skill and art).

[beemerlt]

Ever think about *sail* power? Wind is free... although somewhat unpredictable (skill and art).
Yes, sail would be my choice too, but I've yet to see a sail-powered boat with king-sized bed that doesn't require a large crew to handle. In fact, bed space seems to have a low priority to the purists, as the boats I saw with more intelligent cabin design (at a boat show) were sneered at by rivals as being 'low performance'.