Moving from apartment to sailboat?

When I was 15 my mom and dad retired, bought a CT-41 Ketch, sold our house and we cruised from Long Beach, CA to Miami, FL via the Panama Canal. It took about 4 years.

I am much older now, but I can certainly attest to a couple of the comments posted to your question as being accurate.

Size is not as relevant as you might think. The most important thing to look for is sea worthiness. Make sure the mast and rigging and hurricane straps are solid, stainless steel and not rusted. Try to find a sailboat this is already equipped with the equipment you should have. This should include life jackets, a dingy, a bruce anchor and two dan forth anchors, a sea anchor is a nice to have, but dragging 300 feet of double twisted line works just as well when secured to both the port and starboard stern cleats. You most definitely want an EPIRB on board, VHF Radio and preferably an inboard motor which will be hard to find under 32 feet. If you plan on deep water cruising or anything more than a 48 hour passage — I would recommend a full keel hull if you go with a mono hull. Mono hulls are in fact considered the most sea worthy hull provided they are full keels because they have draft and a center of gravity below the water line.

Having said that, Cats are generally more stable in that they do not roll as much as a mono hull. Another benefit of a cat is more deck space, but if they broach in heavy seas, your up the creek because the boat will not right itself. In a mono hull, If the wind is blowing hard and you are close hauled or taking the weather on your beam, you won’t be rolling much, but you will be healing pretty good. Cats and Tris are also faster sailboats than a mono hull. Stay away from ferro cement hulls.

My guess is you are not self sufficient from a financial point of view — living onboard a sailboat as a cruiser safely WILL NOT save you money. Most cruisers you see are retired or self sufficient. If you plan on being moored or slipped all the time while holding a regular job — I don’t know what kind of money savings you might find. My guess is you would still have expenses, they would just be different from what your used too.

And always remember — it is not water that usually sinks a sailboat, its land that sinks it. If water does sink your sailboat its because something was not maintained and broke. If your not a seasoned sailor, I would read everything you can get your hands on regarding deep water sailing. Talk to people who are doing it and read all of Triston Jones books and take it slow. Your number one priority should be SAFETY. Maintenance is your number two priority. Good luck in your adventure, its an awesome lifestyle.

May you have fair winds and following seas and keep the liquor in the icebox until the anchor drops for the day.