Introducing - #ProjectSailboat

/

 

By sharing it, it makes it real.

I have been toying with the idea of sharing this with you.

Since I was as young as 12 years old growing up on the far south coast of New South Wales, on the east coast of Australia I have dreamt of living on a boat. A sail boat in fact.

In my early teens I was fortunate enough to learn to sail on my mum's bosses' Endeavour 24 called Xanadu.

These small coastal and bay racers are quiet common up and down the east coast of Australia. I even saw one for sale recently in the trading past for $2000, was in overall good condition with a spartan interior.

A typical example of an E24

While yes, we are building a house at the moment, this dream has not left me.

I have been doing a lot of thinking about why, why do I want this. To boil it down to the base, I would have to say, firstly the adventure. Yes while it may not be climbing Everest, it would be my adventure. Secondly, the self reliance - wind for movement, the sun for power

You may have seen some of my postings on twitter (@wade85blog) on different solar projects such as the battery box etc. These are all linked to #projectsailboat. Exploring simple 12v solar systems, their layout and their setup.

 

Inspiration

 

I have spent countless youtube hours watching fellow dreamers turn their dreams to reality - you are my inspiration.

Here are but a few:

  • The brothers from SV Delos, while their boat may be larger than I would ever want, their sense of adventure and self reliance is amazing - they even have their own air compressor on board for scuba.
  • The extremely handsome young waterman Billy, aboard Tula- who's quest for the long summer, his boat, his passion is a continual push forward for me.
  • Drake, on his large cruising yacht Paragon, his videos were the first I stumbled on - many an hour spent watching.
  • Aussies Chris & Jess onboard their Junk rigged 29 foot Teleport exploring frozen Alaska and Canada, they are my latest stumble upon - 5 hours binge watching last night. While you might not know Chris by name, I bet you have seen one of his GoPro videos with lion cubs chasing his RC Car
  • Last but not least, another recent cause of me not sleeping well due to binge youtubeing, Nike, the stunning young German lady and her cheeky boat Karl. There is no end to her capable and amazing handy work.

 

What next?

Well financially my entire attention is fixed on beating this crappy requirement by my bank to have 20% deposit for my new house in the bank or they will charge be huge fees on top of my home loan. This is on track and going well - completion date is still looking at around October 2014.

Dreaming wise, I have been discussion with Frankie, he says he understands it's my dream, but where do I want to take it.

This has lead to me distilling the idea of a boat into 2 connected halves. I want the boat to be 'home away from home', meaning it can be some where to go and enjoy being off work, even at anchor. The second half is the sailing. It has been a number of years since I have actually been sailing so some practice is needed.

What am I looking for?

I started talking this over with Frankie too. It is looking like 24-32ft coastal sailor is what it is likely to be. Decent layout, my preference is with an outboard motor - easier to replace, less hassles with fuel and depending on the tender, it can be dual use. Budget is looking like under $10,000. I just need to get a better picture of yearly costs like mooring, mooring fees etc.

So there you have it.. stand by for more of ProjectSailboat.

Don't forget to 'Like' the Facebook Page , follow on twitter, or subscribe to the email updates on the right hand side of the blog page.