The Boat Show High

Why do we even own a house when we could be waking up on the water every morning living the dream?

There's nothing like a spring boat show to get you contemplating whether or not to sell it all and move aboard.  Spring has always been a good season for change.  Something about going outside for the first time in ages really gives you wanderlust.  

Of course, the imagination runs wild with the dreams of living aboard one of the brand new Catalina 445s or Jenneau Sun Odysseys we had just toured, and which we absolutely could not afford to purchase.  After looking at older boats on yachtworld.com all day it is hard to see the prices on those brand new boats.  They are pretty though! 

Then you've run the numbers and you strike the new boat from the plans and start wondering, couldn't I live aboard the boat that I've got? I mean, it's easy enough on the weekends. Think how much money we'd save and all the improvements we could make!  We could have every boat thing we've ever wanted! 

That's an easy dream as well when it's sunny and 75 outside. When you start thinking about cramming life's necessities into the boat, it gets more complicated. Where do the clothes go? And the food? How long can Mary put up with my guitar noise and the hours of off-key singing it takes to learn a new song each week? Who is going to walk the dog at 5 a.m. when it's cold and raining? Not it! What about the fact that it only takes the two of us four days to fill the holding tank?  Not to mention many other unseen expenses.  

Could we make it happen? I just don't know.  

I've spent decades acquiring things with sentimental value. I've got almost a dozen guitars, basses, and mandolins. I've got so many great power tools and a garage in which to use them. It's going to be hard to give those things up.  It's so easy to think that you won't really miss your stuff...I mean it's just stuff.  But when you sit down to get rid of things, knowing you'll never see them again, it is pretty hard. It's going to be even harder to give up the ability to just read in another room if I want some alone time. It's a complete lifestyle change.

My biggest fear is that we'd overload the boat with junk we couldn't bring ourselves to throwaway, living like hoarders in a tiny cramped space, unable to ever sail the boat again.

Despite the buzz brought on by the boat show, perhaps it is not yet the time to move aboard.  Not just yet anyway.