|
Paying rent sucks. It's my largest expense every month and all I have to show for it at the end of the month is a nice, safe, and comfortable place to live. Thats why I have begun to look into buying a houseboat to live on full time. Boats depreciate in value really quickly and a used houseboat can be purchased for a fraction of what a house would cost you. Factor in lower "rent" paid to the marina you dock in and even with some extra maintenance costs you can still come out ahead financially. With all that in mind I have begun the process of looking for a used houseboat to purchase to move into. My hope is that with winter quickly approaching I should be able to negotiate a lower sale price for myself and save even more money. Lets quickly discuss the different types of house boats and their pros and cons. Hull Types  1. Steel - These were more common back in the day. Most boats built before the mid 1960's will have a steel deck. These are the worst kind of hull you can get. They are incredibly hard if not impossible to insure, and many marinas wont even accept them into their docks due to concerns about them sinking. The main concern with them is that they can quite easily rust to pieces from the inside out.  2. Fiberglass - These alongside aluminum are the most common type of hull that you will find today. They aren't as light as aluminum but they do have a few advantages. They are fairly strong and easily repaired. You also don't have to worry about rust with a fiberglass hull. They will need periodic cleaning and a yearly waxing though for maintenance.  3. Aluminum - These are the best hulls you can commonly get right now. They are light weight, strong, and durable. While they do require some maintenance it's not as much or as often as a fiberglass hull. If protected by anodes they wont rust either. These are the most expensive types of hull to get in a houseboat but by far the best bang for your buck. Displacement Vs Plaining Hull Displacement hulls are meant for slower travel speeds. They are more fuel efficient and usually handle better. Plaining hulls allow a houseboat to plane and move quicker. They will use more fuel but if you want to travel to places quickly this is the hull type to get. Engines The gasoline vs diesel debate is an active and popular one amongst houseboaters. Diesel engines are overall more efficient and can run quieter and longer in between services. Parts are more expensive for them and gas may be harder and more expensive to come by for them depending on the marina or location of your boat. Gas engines are cheaper to get and its easier to get parts for them. They will require more servicing but gas is usually cheaper and more readily available for them. Outboards/I-O's/Inboards After deciding on gas vs diesel you need to decide what type of engine placement you want your boat to have. The three main types are outboards, like you'd see on a speed boat, Inboard-Outboards that have an engine partially onboard, and full inboard engines.  1. Outboards - Has a lot of pros. They are more common, easier to work on, can be doubled or tripled up for resiliency, and can trim in shallower water. The downside is that they can cost more to repair and can be more complex to work on mechanically.  2. Inboard/Outboard - They cost less than outboards usually and can also trim in shallow water. The downside is that working on them can be a bit cramped and that they take up room onboard your boat.  3. Inboards - These are usually easy to work on, they are onboard so you don't have to swim and play mechanic at the same time. The downside is that they take up the most space on a boat and are the costliest to purchase. They also cant trim the propeller in shallow water. Other Considerations Besides looking at the hull and engine there are other factors to look at on your potential floating ticket to early retirement. How many beds and bathrooms do you need? Do you plan to do lots of traveling with your boat or do you plan to mostly stay put. Everything you take for granted utility wise on your houseboat is an onboard system that you are responsible for. You will want to make sure that the plumbing, wiring, battery and generator systems are all in working order. Whats the heating/ac situation. Most houseboats have an AC not very many have a built in heater. I will be living on this boat in Minnesota in the twin cities area. So winter weather will have to be dealt with. I plan on wrapping the boat in plastic sheeting which is the common practice for ALL houseboats over winter that arent garaged. I will also need bubblers, which are small engines that can be submerged to keep water running around the boat to prevent from getting iced in and damaged. Heating will be a top priority. Most house boats are poorly insulated. Thankfully almost all of them have onboard propane systems. These can be used to power a variety of different propane heaters, similar to what are used on RVs, and can be supplemented with electric space heaters when needed. I will plan on using spray foam insulation as one of my first projects to seal any drafts and to increase the insulation. Long term I may re frame the interior and increase the insulation as well. I also have a totally awesome dog that I love, to consider. Whatever heating method I use it needs to be reliable to be safe for her. So with all that out of the way we can narrow down to what I think is the best buy for a houseboat. I will be looking for an aluminum, displacement hulled boat. With outboard gasoline motors, that is sound mechanically. Interior wise I am willing to refurbish and renovate to my liking. Budget I'm aiming for a boat under $35k. That number may go up and down on financing. Banker types suffer from a lack of imagination and have a problem I like to call "sound thinking" that makes them reluctant to make loans on boats older than 20 years which is what most of the boats in my price range are. There are several boat specific lenders out there and a lot of deals get made with owner financing. Right now I have $8000 that I could go and spend today on a down payment for a boat. Other expenses include docking slip fees. For boats 50 feet or less like I am looking at those run about $300 a month. Than I'll have whatever my boat payments ends up being plus some monthly costs like internet, sewage suction estimated $40 a month, propane $40 a month, as well. Questions From Other Thread Nitrox posted:A boat, used for living, is just an RV that floats. Why not buy a Winnebago and live happily thereafter? It's much better insulated, cheaper to buy/maintain, and you can sleep overnight in your work parking lot. Or are you just trying to appear eccentric, when picking up chicks at the bar? Because a boat is much more fun. I'm doing this as much for the adventure and fun aspect as I am for the savings. And no I'm not doing this to pick up chicks. I have a long term girlfriend, who is not on board with this idea at all but I'll talk her into it once she sees how cool the boat is. Delta-Wye posted:I disagree! The winter is going to be a pain but you sound like you've got a good idea what to expect and if you're in a community of people also living on their boats you'll be fine. Yeah thanks! Thats the spirit. I'll update this thread as things progress. I expect it will be slow moving however as I am spending as much time as possible shopping for boats and trying to get a good one right off the bat. I don't want to be stuck with a lemon that sinks and costs me a ton of money to keep going. Because of this and financing issues I expect the purchase to take some place this winter or spring. I welcome any discussion from others who have done something similar and look forward to learning all I can in the meantime. BaseballPCHiker fucked around with this message at 03:44 on Nov 5, 2015 |
#
¿
Oct 23, 2015 19:05
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 02:03 |
|
|
Nail Rat posted:And I think the point is that running the space heater while you're not home leaves you no chance to see an impending disaster and avert it. If something goes wrong while you're at work and your space heater's going, goodbye dog. I know that's true of any heating solution for any dwelling, but A) you will have lest prompt emergency response time and B) space heaters do start fires a lot more commonly than say a traditional furnace. That's why I'm looking at an RV style propane heater instead. They can be installed with outside vents and thermostats. That way you have a set temperature and dont have to worry about fumes. The thing that really matters is having a backup battery to run the bubblers, heater, etc in case of a power outage. On exceptionally cold days if I was worried about my dog I would just take her to the dog daycare so I don't have to worry about her. Also the boat will be docked in a marina so should an emergency happen there is staff on hand to respond and then bill you at astronomically high rates.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 23, 2015 19:23
|
|
|
detectivemonkey posted:
Basically her parents are super religious and wont help her pay for school if she was living with a boy. And there's no way I'm throwing down money for her college. Her concerns are mostly about the heating issue and the dog. She thinks it would be fun to have in the summer and fall but not to live on.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 23, 2015 19:40
|
|
|
detectivemonkey posted:And I also assume there's no way she can take the dog during the winter? No unfortunately. I took the dog to dog daycare a couple of times a week during the last winter so she could get some exercise. It wouldn't break the bank if I had to do it again this year although it wouldnt be ideal. Jeffrey of YOSPOS posted:How often do you see her parents? I understand people having really controlling parents, and I understand people not being willing to lie to their parents, but not both. Seems like a little lie will save you both a bunch of money on rent without the boat shenanigans. Pretty often, they live in the same town so they would definitely know and I wouldnt want to go behind their back like that anyway. Despite being old school they are still good people. SiGmA_X posted:She probably doesn't want to be a future water gypsy. I can't imagine why! Those houses are amazing, even that article mentioned yearly dock fees of about $3500. Here is an article I found that gave me an idea that this might actually save me a good chuck of money: http://www.citypages.com/news/the-real-houseboats-of-the-mississippi-6769926 quote:There's also the most basic appeal of a houseboat: the simple economics of it. Getting onto a boat costs less than getting into a house: Houseboats can range from $500 for an engine-less fixer-upper to $250,000 for a historic two-story. And the living's cheap: Live-aboards don't pay property taxes, and their slip fees — the marina equivalent of rent — come in around $5,000 annually for an average-sized boat.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 23, 2015 19:56
|
|
|
detectivemonkey posted:Ok hold up. What do you expect your monthly payment to be? Looking like it'd be around $4-500 a month. But thats really variable depending on the length of the loan. Some loans I've looked at do 20 year loans others are down around 10 years, it just all depends. Boat financing appears to be crazy.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 23, 2015 19:58
|
|
|
Nail Rat posted:If you have a $500 payment and $300 boat slippage fees, I don't see how you can possibly be saving enough in utilities to be saving $600 a month in rent - especially considering you'll have to insure this boat because you own it and will be owing tens of thousands of dollars on it after the down payment if my assumption of $8000 = 20% is correct. That was just a quick ballpark estimate on a 10 year loan at $40k at %6.5 apr. Realistically I'd be looking at a much smaller loan and it would probably be over a 20 year period instead which would cut the payments down by half at least.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 23, 2015 20:10
|
|
|
detectivemonkey posted:20 year loan? How long do you expect the boat to last? How much will insurance go up as it ages? How much will it be worth five years into the loan? I expect the boat to last another 15 years easily. I doubt insurance would go up that much if at all. While new boats depreciate like crazy they stabilize after a while. Nail Rat posted:You cut the payments down in half, slippage + loan is still $550 ($300 + $250 loan payment). Add in insurance and increased heating costs, not to mention other boat maintenance(in a rented apartment, the landlord is responsible for all normal wear-and-tear repairs; here, you're responsible for everything), it is literally impossible to save anywhere near $600 versus rent that's "approaching $1k". Fair enough lets break down my current living expenses. Rent - $955 Electricity - Xcel $25ish a month Water/Trash - $30ish a month Insurance - $25 a month Total = $1035 Boat Estimates Dock Fee - $300 Insurance - $100 (estimated) I've seen ranges from $300-2000 a year. Black Tank Removal - $40 Propane - $40 Boat Payment - $250-500? Total - $730-980 So monthly maybe I only save a couple hundred a month. BUT when I'm ready to move on I can turn around and sell the thing and make money on the back end of the deal. And I think I've said it multiple times, I'm not just doing this to save money exclusively. If I wanted to go super cheap I would look at an even cheaper houseboat in the $20K range. I may still do that if I find the right boat. I could pay for nearly half of it down at that point. That article I linked to above does say that people do this to be bums and save money so I may be overestimating the costs here by quite a bit. marchantia posted:Lol, 20 year boat loan. I'll admit I don't know the city that well. But I havent been able to find anything cheaper than what I am paying now that will accept dogs and isnt a super long commute. And gently caress living in a studio. No one wants to live in a closet. BaseballPCHiker fucked around with this message at 21:35 on Oct 23, 2015 |
|
#
¿
Oct 23, 2015 21:33
|
|
|
Veskit posted:Have you had other creative ideas to cut costs that others seem baffled by? Or really off the wall financial ideas to make a ton of money? Nope. Nail Rat posted:No, you probably won't save anything, because there's no maintenance allowance in here. When you pay rent, your landlord pays for repairs. When you OWN a boat, you pay for repairs. Of course things will break on a boat and I'll deal with them as they come up. Maybe I'm overestimating the value of the loan and tripping people up though. I'm looking at boats in the $30-40K range and taking out a loan for that much and then using my current $8 k as a down payment. So it will make for much lower monthly payments. And the nice thing is that as I improve and maintain the boat I can sell it and get a good chunk of my money out of the deal when I'm ready to move on.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 23, 2015 21:45
|
|
|
Giraffe posted:So, just to recap: 1. I will save some money. Probably not much, but ideally around $2-300 a month if everything goes right and depending on financing. 2. Correct 3. Difficult yes, no more dangerous than RV heating. Comfort might be an issue, death is not likely at all. Yes adventure and fun. No I dont like pirates or those stupid Captain Jack movies. So not trying to be that either. I just think it'll be a fun worthwhile experience. My Rhythmic Crotch posted:Hate to doublepost, but, all these lamers talking about the dog getting caught in a fire gave me a great idea: fireproof dog-warming suit. It's a custom dog-shaped suit made of fire-proof material that also has heating circuits built-in. Boat is freezing due to -30 windchill on the lake? No problem, just plug the dog in and she'll be warm. And you'll never have to worry about the questionable Chinese heating elements burning the boat down, because the suit is made of fire-proof material. This idea is literally bulletproof. Ha perfect! Why even bother with the plug when we can just strap a solar panel to the sides and a deep cycle marine battery behind on a harness. Again not worried about the dog. On super cold days I can take her to dog daycare. In recent developments I am suppose to hear back from a guy on his boat and possibly work out some sort of owner financing deal. We'll see what actually comes out of the discussion.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 24, 2015 18:21
|
|
|
My Rhythmic Crotch posted:Living on a boat to save money is one of those ideas that's so good and so creative that you really need to just rush into it as fast as humanly possible. Don't expect people on the internet to like it; they're actually just jealous they didn't think of it first. Your girlfriend sounds, frankly, quite lame for not realizing how amazing this opportunity is. You probably want to go ahead and break up with her immediately because she's definitely not a keeper if she can't get onboard Thanks again Crotch. I feel like you're the only person in this thread besides me who has my best interest at heart. Hargrimm posted:What range of interior square footage is there for the boats you're looking at? Are they more house or more boat? I would say more house than boat. Someone else suggested that it is similar to living in an RV full time and I think that is an apt comparison. However one of the benefits of a houseboat is that they are quite a bit larger. Space wise it's more of a small cabin with a wrap around porch I would say. antiga posted:Yeah, I'm having a hard time believing that anyone will finance this purchase. Have you talked to a bank yet? Do you have any mechanical skills? Also post pictures of the boats you look at. No talks with the bank yet. Just some discussions with other boat owners. Apparently owner financing is big in the house boat world so I'm hoping I could find a deal that way and avoid a bank altogether. I'm a decent mechanic I guess. Nothing spectacular but I've done some simple jobs on my own cars in the past like replace brakes and calipers, new spark plugs and wires, etc. Construction wise I'm pretty weak. I would want to frame or do anything on the interior just to learn because right now I suck at general carpentry. Here is a boat that I really liked and considered pursuing more but it had a steel hull unfortunately: http://www.boattrader.com/listing/1965-MILLER-MARINE-liveaboard-houseboat-102578948 Foma posted:It is fine to try something have an experience and gain a couple stories. Maybe you save money, maybe you don't but it isn't so horrible life ending choice you are making Tots posted:I'm in the same boat as Forma. I don't think it's a good idea but I think you should do it. I've done tons of poo poo that was dumb as hell and I'm still here. Thanks. People said I was stupid and dumb and crazy when I moved to an off grid cabin in Alaska too. But it was some of the most fun I had in my life and a great experience. I think people greatly overestimate the risk of something like this and place to great an importance on their own comfort. It'll probably be cold as poo poo at times but I bet I still have fun and learn a lot. marchantia posted:What lake are you planning on keeping the boat at? Are you telling me that instead of becoming familiar with the wonderful city of mpls you are just going to live in a boat... In the middle of a city... Because...?? Are you living on campus now? I plan on keeping it on the Mississippi river not a lake. In the summer you can go up and down river and tie off at islands and relax and have fun. In the winter you just let the ship break its moorings and ice in wherever god intended. (Not really I plan on docking at a marina). No I'm not just out of college, no I wont break it off with the GF, and I live in New Brighton which I don't think is an expensive area of the twin cities. froward posted:you should put your budget online so we can all help. goons are helpful people. I will do that once I have a better idea of the boat costs. A GIANT PARSNIP posted:I think you're all forgetting a little something called boat equity Exactly! Even if I break even month to month I can it when I'm done and roll that sweet sweet boat equity over into something safer like penny stocks or race horses!
|
|
#
¿
Oct 26, 2015 13:53
|
|
with this plan.
|
Also for a quick progress update, I've tried to get in touch with a few year round live aboards to pick their brains a bit. See what their costs are and get any other tips I can. I'll update the thread with anything more that I learn or any other progress. I want to reiterate though that this thread will probably slow down at some point because I'm not going to make a hasty reckless decision on a boat. I want to take my time to get a good one. Could be February or March before I move on board.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 26, 2015 14:07
|
|
|
Nail Rat posted:Agreed with this 100%. If you want to do it and you can afford it fine, but you won't be saving money. http://www.citypages.com/news/the-real-houseboats-of-the-mississippi-6769926 quote:For some, a houseboat is a transition, a five-year layover between selling a downtown apartment and retiring to warmer climes. For others, it's a romance — a chance to be part of a lineage that stretches back to Mark Twain. For still others, it's rock bottom, a place to heal, or an adventure. More than one live-aboard says it's simply a place to wake up to the mist burning off the river and the overhead migration of the finches, loons, and warblers. I am sure that this can be a cheaper solution than rent. The more I've researched the more I am finding that I am overstating the boat payment and costs. Again I wont know for sure until I can talk to more people, the marina, and a bank. Also found this while doing some research: http://www.startribune.com/11-survive-houseboat-going-over-mississippi-river-dam-near-winona/209180241/ quote:A holiday excursion on the Mississippi River turned into an afternoon of terror as 11 people aboard a houseboat were dragged over a dam and tossed into the rushing water.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 26, 2015 15:00
|
|
|
Veskit posted:Do you often have off the wall ideas about living in places that people say you're dumb and crazy about? Maybe not often but once every 2 years? Do you uncomfortable after that time and feel the need to pick up everything and move? Behavior people think is really weird. No, Alaska was the last one and it wasnt like I moved out there hasily either. I had a very good job lined up and stayed for over 5 years so you can probably give up on your armchair psychology. Doc Hawkins posted:The big downside I noticed about living on a floating home was being quite far from anything easily described as "cool" or "a job". One of the nice things about docking in the Mississippi is how close you are to work and the downtown. From the couple of Marina's I've looked at I wouldnt be farther than a 30 minute drive to work. Yeah I probably did open it a bit early. I had already looked at a couple of boats and thought things might be moving quicker than it looks like they are. I should probably just close it or let it die until I get some meaningful updates.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 26, 2015 16:01
|
|
|
Veskit posted:The last one isn't the only one. Are you saying Alaska was the only one, or just the last one? Alaska has been the only one, aside from this boat idea. And again it worked out very well for me. I learned a ton, got a great start to my career, and stuck around long enough to fully vest in my companies pension.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 26, 2015 16:10
|
|
|
Small Update Got a chance to talk to two full time live aboards yesterday and bounce some questions off of them. My monthly boat payment costs were wildly overestimated. I was thinking $600ish a month. One was paying $300 and the other $250 a month as a boat payment. Both were on 20 year loans which is pretty typical for a house boat. They had both mentioned though that bank loans for boats are harder to come by since the last recession when you could get a loan for anything. Interest rates should be about %6-7 for my boat loan. Slip fees include your electricity so thats one bill I wont have to pay anymore once I'm on board. It'll be replaced by the sewage sucking and propane bills. I spent most of my time with them asking about heating in the winter. Both said that getting your boat wrapped was %100 necessary. With the boat wrapped you shed any snow that could pile up and sink your boat and it helps keep your boat warm. Apparently even in the dead of winter with the sun hitting a wrapped boat it gets HOT. To the point that both of their furnaces shut off. At night the wrap doesn't do anything but block the wind so thats when your furnace will be working. They stressed having a backup source of heat as well. One person had their furnace break down last winter and thankfully had electric space heaters as a backup to keep everything from freezing. This same person has had problems with their water tank freezing and said to look at a boat with good hull insulation to keep that from happening. Because once it does you're waiting until spring to take a shower on board again. My propane estimate was off, they said it might be as much $100 a month depending on how high I run the heat and if I have any other appliances that use propane like a refrigerator or something. They sell insulation, it kind of looks like the car window sun shields that one person puts up on the walls that helps a great deal in the winter. The other person had more of purpose built houseboat and didnt have to use them. One person did have a steel hull boat! They said that they are great and strong but that its almost impossible to get it insured and that it took them a long time before it was. So I was encouraged to look at aluminum and steel hulls. Both were enthusiastic about me buying a boat! They love living on the river year round. The did both stress the importance of a boat inspection and recommended sleeping onboard one night before buying. They both told me to take my time and make sure you get a boat you are happy with that isn't a full rebuild or project. This weekend I'll be going down to a marina to look at a couple of more boats and see if I can find anything worth buying.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 27, 2015 13:43
|
|
|
detectivemonkey posted:It's too bad there's no more accurate way of estimating a loan payment than asking people what they pay and averaging that together. Agreed. It's like the banking industry doesnt want to see people boat bound. Nail Rat posted:I'm noticing there's still no talk about maintenance costs. No talk at all. Whatever, I'll deal with it as it comes! Pretty much. I of course will plan some of the yearly stuff and budget for that accordingly. Stuff like taking the boat out of the water to be serviced and cleaned every couple of years. Veskit posted:She's asking if the 8k is just 8 grand in his savings account and when spent it will leave him without any liquidity so if an emergency came up he's poo poo out of luck, or if he still has a nice enough savings cushion on top of being able to afford the boat. The 8 grand is just for the boat. I have a little over $3k in my savings, and about $7k in my Roth that I could get if things got dire. Nail Rat posted:What about an amphibious RV? Holy poo poo thats awesome! Maybe I could get a used one. r0ck0 posted:Just 232 more payments and that wreck at the bottom of the lake is all mine. One persons boat wreck is another persons fish-habitat/refuge eco-tourist trap.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 27, 2015 16:43
|
|
|
Veskit posted:Just know citing your retirement fund as a backup for if poo poo gets real is usually the beginning of every bad budget thread. Also at this point you really should have a bigger retirement account than savings. You may want to consider moving the money around a bit, buffering your savings and retirement and then consider buying a boat home in spring 2017. That's just my roth which serves as a backup savings account. I'm fully vested already in a defined benefits pension and I have a separate 401k.
|
|
#
¿
Oct 27, 2015 16:51
|
|
|
**UPDATE** Well I went and looked at a pretty awesome boat this past weekend. It was the cheapest of all of them I had been looking at, listed price is under $20K but I could talk them down I think. Structurally the hull is in great shape and aluminum, the engine looks strong as well and the rest of the boat seems mechanically sound. The cabin needs a fair amount of work as it was in the middle of a renovation. I think that is a positive though as it allowed me to see more of the boat and hull structure. I also think it gives me a good opportunity to add insulation and reframe the interior. So that was all of the good news. Bad news is that I cant get a loan for that small through the bank for a houseboat. They want the boat to be newer and to cost more to make it more profitable for them I guess. The owner can't do financing because he needs to move the boat fast he claims. The bank did say I could get a personal line of credit loan but the interest rate on that is like %7! I'll have to look at the numbers, that may still be OK because the loan amount will be for a lot less. Also the girlfriend really flipped her poo poo about the boat. Now HATES the idea, tells me I need to think reasonably, worried about the dog, etc, etc. Mostly because I think she had her heart set on moving to Alaska or out West after finishing school. I tried telling her that I could just flip the boat quickly or rent it out and how much money I'd be saving in the interim. Then she complained about how cold it would be and how you cant do anything on the Mississippi river with a houseboat on and on. I honestly think her mind will change once she sees some of these boats though. I think she's envisioning more a pontoon style leisure boat and not a floating cabin on the water. We'll see. My plan for the next couple of weeks is to secure financing if possible for the boat and to keep looking for other potential bargains.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 3, 2015 15:35
|
|
|
detectivemonkey posted:Once they hit the limit on their propane budget they need a new source of fuel and whale blubber is hard to come by these days. Shows what you know. The whale oil burns better.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 3, 2015 15:45
|
|
|
Gabriel Pope posted:What do banks and girlfriends know, anyhow? It's not like it's the loan officer's job to determine if a boat is a sound investment--what is he, the good use of money police? The girlfriend will come around once she see's how cool the boat will be, that I'm not worried about. The bank is a bigger issue since I need some sort of financing to get this boat and start sleeping onboard the SS Savings. I guess I could take out a personal loan even at %7 and then just use my yearly bonus and tax return to pay that down more come this March. I'm in the process of contacting boat oriented loan companies, hopefully something good will come up through them.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 3, 2015 22:02
|
|
|
detectivemonkey posted:This is exactly what I have been think about with the girlfriend posts. Ha, I forgot about that IASIP bit. No there is no "implication". I just think that in her head she is picturing like a lovely pontoon boat not a full houseboat thats like a cabin on the water. Structurally the boat I am looking at is very sound and in good shape. The interior has been stripped to bare floor and studs at this point but has all the appliances, generator, plumbing, fixtures, etc intact. One cool thing about this boat is that it has a washer/dryer included with it! Although as a rule I almost never use the clothes dryer because they use so much energy and wear out clothes faster. Still a nice thing to have on board. In it's current stat I could put in spray foam insulation and just not put up the interior walls until this spring. Right now you could live on it. The marina has these wall coverings that look like windshield shades or the inside of a pizza delivery bag that go on the boat walls for winter to help keep you warm. That plus the boat being shrink wrapped and the on board heat ought to keep me going just fine. The boat uses some lovely electrical space heaters so I'd want to get my onboard furnace built before moving in full time for the winter, I could make it without but if the electric heat went out I'd have no backup, which is a scenario unlikely as it is that I want to avoid.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 3, 2015 22:57
|
|
|
Potential boat: *Removed pictures due to jangled nerves* Note that these are old pictures. The floors are bare now and the walls are down to the studs so that it can be insulated. I called a few marinas and got quotes on dock fees in winter for a 50 foot boat. They ranged from $295-325 a month which isnt to bad. Also I'm waiting to hear back on more insurance quotes but they are WAY cheaper than I thought. Liability can be had for as little as $350 a year. I'm looking to see if I could get a quote on steel boat just to see but I'm not holding my breath. With insurance being as cheap as it is it pushes the equation even more favorably towards living on the boat. BaseballPCHiker fucked around with this message at 02:27 on Nov 5, 2015 |
|
#
¿
Nov 4, 2015 17:17
|
|
|
Veskit posted:I think we forgot that food costs are going to go down because of the sheer amount of fish he's going to eat. Maybe even some crayfish depending on the lake. For the last time people I'll be in a river not lakebound! That way I have way more traveling opportunities. I do like to fish but marina fish can't be that healthy to eat. I imagine the dog will catch a few wayward birds or squirrels that will be added to the stew pot.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 4, 2015 17:28
|
|
|
I'm a little leery about releasing to much more information than I already have. That coupled with the fact that I am probably a ways out from moving onto the boat, means I will be closing the thread for now. When I get the boat and have more solid numbers and costs to post I will re-open the thread. As it is I dont want any outside interference on any potential deals. The twin cities house boat market is small and I'd hate to have a deal fall through because of some annoying goon out to mess with me. So in conclusion. Frugal Floating: - Totally and completely doable, much cheaper than renting, and you get to live on a boat. More like Frugal Gloating! Am I right fellas?!? I will provide an update as soon as there are any big developments.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 4, 2015 23:12
|
|
|
slap me silly posted:That's a dumb reason to close a thread! Don't close it again. If you don't want people to know stuff, just don't post it on the internet - very easy. OK, fair enough I suppose. I just got a bit unnerved when NailRat knew exactly what boat I was looking at. Nitrox posted:If you don't want people interfering with the sale, don't post pictures of the boat you're currently negotiating. That should be common sense. You can always link to non-specific images for visual reference. Or other ads. Agreed. Will post only stock images from here on out. Devian666 posted:It is a bullshit reason. I thought I'd let this thread brew only to find it closed. I really dont get all the fears about fires burning down my boat. People do this year in year out without any issues. It's not like I'll be running gas fire lamps with cattle on board.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2015 02:26
|
|
|
Inept posted:You seem to be ignoring the issues people are bringing up because it conflicts with your awesome boat lifestyle dreams. If you want to live on a boat then whatever, but quit claiming that it's cheaper when you admittedly have no idea how much everything will cost, and ignore things like repair costs. I dont think I'm ignoring them, I just think people are FAR overstating the risk and dangers of this. At worst I'm out some money, potentially. And I do honestly believe it will be cheaper so long as I do my homework on the boat before I buy it. Every time I've looked into an expense its been considerably less than what I thought it would be. Boat payments, propane, insurance, etc were all WAY under what I thought they would be. There is a reason the marina worker said that bums do this, and that is because its cheap.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2015 02:32
|
|
|
Dogcow posted:Um, dude you know this is a thing right? Serious right clicking internet detectivery ITT. I do know thats a thing, which is why I took screen shots of the pictures and uploaded them to imgur. I thought that would help but apparently not.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2015 02:46
|
|
|
Dogcow posted:Ah yeah it searches the image data itself with crazy rear end machine learning poo poo, it's not searching filenames/URLs/EXIF data or anything like that. You can buy a lot of PHDs when you make $1B/month in profit. Oh poo poo! Thanks for the gis tip. I knew that it would change the file name and I thought I read somewhere that anything uploaded to imgur had the EXIF data removed. Still now I know I guess. NailRat I dont think you were being malicious at all it just put me on edge a bit, no hard feelings. The winters here in the Twin Cities aren't as bad or as long as western Alaska's so I'm sure I'll do fine. Although the cabin I lived in had 12 insulated walls and a woodstove going for it. When I was talking to an owner about heat and insulation in the winter and they mentioned having the boat wrapped they said that the heat actually turns off sometimes. On a clear day with the sun hitting the boat they heat up a lot in the day. Of course at night it'll get cold again but thats what the heaters and dog are for. BaseballPCHiker fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Nov 5, 2015 |
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2015 03:40
|
|
as winter here sucks enough ballsack as it is. I went to college an hour east of the cities and some group had a fund raiser where you had to put a guess in a lottery for when a wrecked car they put out on the ice of the lake would fall through, maybe we can do the same for your houseboat! 
|
kazmeyer posted:You were talking about leaving a propane heater running unattended for your dog. Ah yes of course. I forgot that everyone turns their heater off at home whenever they leave the house. How foolish of me. Otherwise houses would be going up in flames left and right.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2015 14:27
|
|
|
Lyesh posted:Many people who use portable kerosene and propane heaters do, in fact, burn their houses down every winter. Yeah good thing I wouldnt be running a Mr.Buddy camp heater full time then. I'd be running something like this: http://www.boatownersworld.com/dickinson-newport-propane-fireplaces-p9000-cabin-heater.html Have another source from a guy who has lived on a houseboat in winter, and by some miracle made it out alive to tell about it: http://www.all-about-houseboats.com/houseboat-living-winter-heating.html quote:I lived aboard for 7 years, year around in Illinois. Great life, even in the dead of winter. I bought two LP catalytic built in heaters for my '40 RQ. spwrozek posted:Great thread title change. All I can think of is how lame you and your gf must be for watching How I Met Your Mother willingly.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2015 17:43
|
|
|
detectivemonkey posted:How much will the renovations on this boat cost to make it death proof? I'll be honest, I have no clue. I'd like to think I could get by with the onboard heat this winter. I know that I'll have to buy a couple of bubblers at around $300 a piece. I know that I'll have to get the boat shrink wrapped which is about $7-800. That should get me to this spring when I could really start renovating. I''ll need new marine grade flooring. I'd like to add in plenty of insulation and then I'll have to put up new walls. I have no idea what any of the materials for that will cost. I think I could do most of the work myself saving quite a bit on labor. Ballparking it, if I can get materials gently used or some scrap lets say $1000. But that could be on the low end.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2015 18:20
|
|
|
Barry posted:If you haven't already, try to be agnostic about the two choices and make a detailed, realistic cost comparison between the two. I know how I get when my heart is set on something and I tend to fudge the numbers to make things look more appealing than they really are, but this seems like an expensive endeavor. By this Sunday I will try and post a side by side breakdown of monthly expenses and projected boat expenses to try and get a better idea of the numbers. So far the boat costs keep going down so I think it'll look a lot better than people seem to think.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2015 19:02
|
|
|
Veskit posted:How do you plan on cooking in this flammable deathtrap of a hull? There is a small propane counter stove that needs to be setup. Also a microwave. It'd be nice to have an oven but I can live without that. Mind_Taker posted:Why are you so convinced that your girlfriend is going to go through this ordeal with you? Well we dont live together now so she wont have to deal with it all the time as it is. Only when she wants to stay over. kazmeyer posted:A furnace is designed to work unattended. Very few people who warm their homes when they're not there are mind-bogglingly stupid enough to try to do it with a propane heater. The ones that do experience a phenomenon known as "increased risk of house fires." Please tell your insurance company when you're shopping for rates that you intend to leave a propane burner running for a loose dog on the boat and see what happens to your quote. I honestly dont get the great furnace boat burn panic in this thread. People do this all the time in RV's and houseboats without any issues at all. And actually I'm waiting on hearing back from an insurance company now on some more detailed quotes so that I have some better numbers to work with. I have to say though seeing the boat up close and personal this past week really makes me want to dive in that much more. It was pretty cool on board. Like having your own personal cabin! Hopefully I can secure financing soon and get the ball rolling.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 5, 2015 20:00
|
|
|
Sorry I didnt get a chance to do the promised update on the weekend. Not a whole lot of progress was made on the boat front unfortunately. I did get some more ballpark insurance quotes back but that was about it. Financing is still going to be the difficult part it seems like.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 9, 2015 14:25
|
|
|
SarutosZero posted:Why buy a boat when you could save even more money by building your own! I'm not nearly handy enough to build one from scratch. A canoe maybe, but not a boat. My various side gigs have gotten big enough that I need to sit down with the bank and open a business checking account. I've been told by others that one of the ways they got insurance on steel hulled boats is through their business policies. I'm hopeful that maybe if I open a business checking account with my bank they will be more willing to give me a boat loan. Lots of tax and account headaches I have to sort out in the meantime.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 9, 2015 15:57
|
|
|
Krispy Kareem posted:It's already getting chilly in the South. What kind of window do you have to purchase and prepare this boat before it's too cold to easily winterize it? You can't do any work after you wrap it and you can't wrap a half gutted vessel. You can do interior work to it while its wrapped. You can still walk around on the outside deck for example and they cut a hole with a sealed flap to get in and out of it. So I could do plenty of work on the inside. Thing is I'm having a hard time getting financing right now so I'm not sure of my timeline at this point.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 9, 2015 16:18
|
|
|
Veskit posted:What's your credit score? Last I checked 720. No negatives listed but the age of my accounts was young which hurts and I usually have a balance when credit karma does it score checking. I DO pay off my card every two weeks but I use it a lot for work and get reimbursed later so it shows I have a rolling balance. I asked in the credit card thread for some recommendations and I'll probably get another one to try and help my utilization.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 9, 2015 16:34
|
|
|
My Rhythmic Crotch posted:There is a distinct lack of boat buyin' in this thread, and that really grinds my gears. Well than I guess I should provide an "update". I haven't gotten anywhere with these drat bankers and insurers. At one point I thought I had a fixer upper steel hulled boat lined up. But I couldn't get insurance. AT ALL. I thought I had a chance getting insurance on it through my small business as a business policy but they turned it down after questioning me on my boating experience and skills, despite me telling them a million times that it would be just docked at the marina %90 of the time. Then I had another guy that I thought would work out a private lending deal who got cold feet and backed out after I couldn't insurance on an awesome, and in amazingly great shape, steel boat. At this point I'm not sure what my options are. I have a bonus coming my way in April that should be around $6K or so after taxes. I could combine that and perhaps get better terms on a personal loan and just buy a boat outright like that. This whole thing has really soured me on bankers though. If I just wanted to buy a stupid expensive car or speed boat I'd be speeding away in my overpriced vehicle already. I've considered one of those online lending clubs and that might be my next step. In the meantime I plan to just keep looking and making calls and sending emails. Sooner or later I'll catch a break.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 18, 2015 04:37
|
|
|
SpelledBackwards posted:Compare the luxury interior of your BWM BMW to that of, say, a boat. Yeah because you can totally kick back and enjoy the sweet cabin life in a BMW. Giraffe posted:Cheer up. I'll sure you'll find some other way to waste money while living like a hobo. Maybe you could rent one of those bouncy castles and live in that all winter? This isnt a plan to waste money. At every turn the projections have been cheaper than initially thought. I'd be saving about $400 a month easy if I can land the right boat. GAYS FOR DAYS posted:If OP wants to do this, I say go ahead. This sounds like it could be an awesome thing to try and I'm sure a lot of great stories would come out of such a lifestyle, but sit here and pretend this is a good move from a financial point of view. Thanks for the link, I'll check it out. detectivemonkey posted:Do you really see absolutely no reason for someone to not want to insure a boat for a person who does not know how to use it? Not when it'll be a houseboat docked to a marina %90 of the time. It's basically a cheap floating house. The value is low enough that it should be a no brainer to insure. Unfortunately so many old steel hulled boats rusted from the inside out that they are pretty much impossible to insure at this point. I will keep looking and hopefully find something soon. As I mentioned before I have a big bonus coming in April that I had earmarked for savings and vacation. I can use that and probably have enough for a cheap boat or half a good one. I'm also going to apply for a new credit card and try to boost my score, hoping that can get me a more viable interest rate on a personal loan if it comes down to it.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 18, 2015 15:43
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 28, 2024 02:03 |
|
|
Veskit posted:Will you still go through with this plan if you can't get insured? I dont see how I can really, no marina will let you winter over without insurance. That means that all of the good steel hull boats I looked at are probably out unless by some miracle I am able to get one insured. Saint Fu posted:FYI this may result in an additional recent inquiry on your credit report, so depending on how many inquiries you've had in the last 2 years, it could actually hurt your score. Not to many. According to Credit Karma my utilization rate and low number of accounts are what is hurting me. And yes I pay off my balance every month, I get reimbursed for work and pay it off but I have a $3K limit and am usually at about $1500 running balance so it shows a high utilization.
|
|
#
¿
Nov 18, 2015 16:17
|
|