Somehow I get the feeling you may have copied this from a previous
post...you haven't had to give this advise out before have you ;-)
Oh, oh....time for the Liveaboard Simulator, again....(c;

The Liveaboard Simulator -.......(c;

Just for fun, park your cars in the lot of the convenience store
at least 2 blocks from your house. (Make believe the sidewalk is a
floating dock between your car and the house.

Move yourself and your family (If applicable) into 2 bedrooms and 1
bathroom. Measure the DECK space INSIDE your boat. Make sure the
occupied house has no more space, or closet space, or drawer space.
Bring a coleman stove into the bathroom and set it next to the
bathroom sink. Your boat's sink is smaller, but we'll let you use the
bathroom sink, anyways. Do all your cooking in the bathroom, WITHOUT
using the bathroom power vent. If you have a boat vent, it'll be a
useless 12v one that doesn't draw near the air your bathroom power
vent draws to take away cooking odors. Leave the hall door open to
simulate the open hatch. Take all the screens off your 2 bedroom's
windows. Leave the windows open to let in the bugs that will invade
your boat at dusk, and the flies attracted to the cooking.

Borrow a couple of 55 gallon drums mounted on a trailer. Flush your
toilets into the drums. Trailer the drums to the convenience store to
dump them when they get full. Turn off your sewer, you won't have
one.

Unless your boat is large enough to have a big "head" with full bath,
make believe your showers/bathtubs don't work. Make a deal with
someone next door to the convenience store to use THEIR bathroom for
bathing at the OTHER end of the DOCK. (Marina rest room) If you use
this rest room to potty, while you're there, make believe it has no
paper towels or toilet paper. Bring your own. Bring your own soap
and anything else you'd like to use there, too.

Run you whole house through a 20 amp breaker to simulate available
dock power at the marina. If you're thinking of anchoring out, turn
off the main breaker and "make do" with a boat battery and
flashlights. Don't forget you have to heat your house on this 20A
supply and try to keep the water from freezing.

Turn off the water main valve in front of your house. Run a hose from
your neighbor's lawn spigot over to your lawn spigot and get all your
water from there. Try to keep the hose from freezing all winter.

As your boat won't have a laundry, disconnect yours. Go to a boat
supply place, like West Marine, and buy you a dock cart. Haul ALL
your supplies, laundry, garbage, etc. between the car at the
convenience store and house in this cart. Once a week, haul your
outboard motor to the car, leave it a day then haul it back to the
house, in the cart, to simulate "boat problems" that require "boat
parts" to be removed/replaced on your "dock". If ANYTHING ever comes
out of that cart between the convenience store and the house, put it
in your garage and forget about it. (Simulates losing it over the
side of the dock, where it sank in 23' of water and was dragged off by
the current.)

Each morning, about 5AM, have someone you don't know run a weedeater
back and forth under your bedroom windows to simulate the fishermen
leaving the marina to go fishing. Have him slam trunk lids, doors,
blow car horns and bang some heavy pans together from 4AM to 5AM
before lighting off the weedeater. (Simulates loading aluminum boats
with booze and fishing gear and gas cans.) Once a week, have him bang
the running weedeater into your bedroom wall to simulate the idiot who
drove his boat into the one you're sleeping in because he was half
asleep leaving the dock. Put a rope over a big hook in the ceiling
over your bed. Hook one end of the rope to the bed siderail and the
other end out where he can pull on it. As soon as he shuts off the
weedeater, have him pull hard 9 times on the rope to tilt your bed at
least 30 degrees. (Simulates the wakes of the fishermen blasting off
trying to beat each other to the fishing.) Anytime there is a storm
in your area, have someone constantly pull on the rope. It's rough
riding storms in the marina! If your boat is a sailboat, install a
big wire from the top of the tallest tree to your electrical ground in
the house so you can worry about the lightning hitting your mast.

Each time you "go out", or think of going boating away from your marina,
disconnect the neighbor's water hose, your electric wires, all the
umbilicals your new boat will use to make life more bearable in the
marina.
Use bottled drinking water for 2 days for everything. Get one of those 5
gallon jugs with the airpump on top from a bottled water company. This is
your boat's "at sea" water system simulator. You'll learn to conserve
water this way. Of course, not having the marina's AC power supply,
you'll
be lighting and all from a car battery, your only source of power. If you
own or can borrow a generator, feel free to leave it running to provide AC
power up to the limit of the generator. If you're thinking about a 30'
sailboat, you won't have room for a generator so don't use it.

Boats don't have room for "beds", as such. Fold your Sealy Posturepedic
up
against a wall, it won't fit on a boat. Go to a hobby fabric store and
buy
a foam pad 5' 10" long and 4' wide AND NO MORE THAN 3" THICK. Cut it into
a triangle so the little end is only 12" wide. This simulates the foam
pad
in the V-berth up in the pointy bow of the sailboat. Bring in the kitchen
table from the kitchen you're not allowed to use. Put the pad UNDER the
table, on the floor, so you can simulate the 3' of headroom over the pad.
Block off both long sides of the pad, and the pointy end so you have to
climb aboard the V-berth from the wide end where your pillows will be.
The
hull blocks off the sides of a V-berth and you have to climb up over the
end of it through a narrow opening (hatch to main cabin) on a boat.
You'll
climb over your mate's head to go to the potty in the night. No fun for
either party. Test her mettle and resolve by getting up this way right
after you go to bed at night. There are lots of things to do on a boat
and
you'll forget at least one of them, thinking about it laying in bed, like
"Did I remember to tie off the dingy better?" or "Is that spring line (at
the dock) or anchor line (anchored out) as tight as it should be?"
Boaters
who don't worry about things like this laying in bed are soon aground or
on
fire or the laughing stock of an anchorage.... You need to find out how
much climbing over her she will tolerate BEFORE you're stuck with a big
boat and big marina bills and she refuses to sleep aboard it any more.....

Any extra family members must be sleeping on the settees in the main cabin
or in the quarter berth under the cockpit....unless you intend to get a
boat over 40-something feet with an aft cabin. Smaller boats have quarter
berths. Cut a pad out of the same pad material that is no more than 2'
wide by 6' long. Get a cardboard box from an appliance store that a SMALL
refridgerator came in. Put the pad in the box, cut to fit, and make sure
only one end of the box is open. The box can be no more than 2 feet above
the pad. Quarter berths are really tight. Make them sleep in there, with
little or no air circulation. That's what sleeping in a quarterberth is
all about.

Of course, to simulate sleeping anchored out for the weekend, no heat or
air conditioning will be used and all windows will be open without screens
so the bugs can get in.

In the mornings, everybody gets up and goes out on the patio to enjoy the
sunrise. Then, one person at a time goes back inside to dress, shave,
clean themselves in the tiny cabin unless you're a family of nudists who
don't mind looking at each other in the buff. You can't get dressed in
the
stinky little head with the door closed on a sailboat. Hell, there's
barely room to bend over so you can sit on the commode. So, everyone will
dress in the main cabin....one at a time.

Boat tables are 2' x 4' and mounted next to the settee. There's no room
for chairs in a boat. So, eat off a 2X4' space on that kitchen table you
slept under while sitting on a couch (settee simulator). You can also go
out with breakfast and sit on the patio (cockpit), if you like.

Ok, breakfast is over. Crank up the lawnmower under the window for 2
hours. It's time to recharge the batteries from last night's usage and to
freeze the coldplate in the boat's icebox which runs off a compressor on
the engine. Get everybody to clean up your little hovel. Don't forget to
make the beds from ONE END ONLY. You can't get to the other 3 sides of a
boat bed pad. All hands go outside and washdown the first fiberglass UPS
truck that passes by. That's about how big the deck is on your 35'
sailboat that needs to have the ocean cleaned off it daily or it'll turn
the white fiberglass all brown like the UPS truck. Now, doesn't the UPS
truck look nice like your main deck?

Ok, we're going to need some food, do the laundry, buy some boat parts
that
failed because the manufacturer's bean counters got cheap and used
plastics
and the wife wants to "eat out, I'm fed up with cooking on the Coleman
stove" today. Let's make believe we're not at home, but in some exotic
port like Ft Lauderdale, today....on our cruise to Key West......Before
"going ashore", plan on buying all the food you'll want to eat that will:
A - Fit into the Coleman Cooler on the floor
B - You can cook on the Coleman stove without an oven or all those fancy
kitchen tools you don't have on the boat
C - And will last you for 10 days, in case the wind drops and it takes
more
time than we planned at sea.
Plan meals carefully in a boat. We can't buy more than we can STORE,
either!

Of course, we came here by BOAT, so we don't have a car. Some nice
marinas
have a shuttle bus, but they're not a taxi. The shuttle bus will only go
to West Marine or the tourist traps, so we'll be either taking the city
bus, if there is one or taxi cabs or shopping at the marina store which
has
almost nothing to buy at enormous prices.

Walk to the 7-11 store, where you have your car stored, but ignore the
car.
Make believe it isn't there. No one drove it to Ft Lauderdale for you.
Use the payphone at the 7-11 and call a cab. Don't give the cab driver
ANY
instructions because in Ft Lauderdale you haven't the foggiest idea where
West Marine is located or how to get there, unlike at home. We'll go to
West Marine, first, because if we don't the "head" back on the boat won't
be working for a week because little Suzy broke a valve in it trying to
flush some paper towels. This is your MOST important project,
today....that valve in the toilet!! After the cab drivers drives around
for an hour looking for West Marine and asking his dispatcher how to get
there, go into West Marine and give the clerk a $100 bill, simulating the
cost of toilet parts. Lexus parts are cheaper than toilet parts at West
Marine. See for yourself! The valve she broke, the seals that will have
to be replaced on the way into the valve will come to $100 easy. Tell the
clerk you're using my liveaboard simulator and to take his girlfriend out
to dinner on your $100 greenback. If you DO buy the boat, this'll come in
handy when you DO need boat parts because he'll remember you for the great
time his girlfriend gave him on your $100 tip. Hard-to-find boat parts
will arrive in DAYS, not months like the rest of us. It's just a good
political move while in simulation mode.

Call another cab from West Marine's phone, saving 50c on payphone charges.
Tell the cabbie to take you to the laundromat so we can wash the stinky
clothes in the trunk. The luxury marina's laundry in Ft Lauderdale has a
broken hot water heater. They're working on it, the girl at the store
counter, said, yesterday. Mentioning the $12/ft you paid to park the boat
at their dock won't get the laundry working before we leave for Key West.
Do your laundry in the laundromat the cabbie found for you. Just because
noone speaks English in this neighborhood, don't worry. You'll be fine
this time of day near noon.

Call another cab to take us out of here to a supermarket. When you get
there, resist the temptation to "load up" because your boat has limited
storage and very limited refridgeration space. Buy from the list we made
early this morning. Another package of cookies is OK. Leave one of the
kids guarding the pile of clean laundry just inside the supermarket's
front
door....We learned our lesson and DIDN'T forget and leave it in the cab,
again!

Call another cab to take us back to the marina, loaded up with clean
clothes and food and all-important boat parts. Isn't Ft Lauderdale
beautiful from a cab? It's too late to go exploring, today. Maybe
tomorrow.... Don't forget to tell the cab to go to the 7-11 (marina
parking lot)....not your front door.

Ok, haul all the stuff in the dock cart from the 7-11 store the two blocks
to the "boat" bedroom. Wait 20 minutes before starting out for the house.
This simulates waiting for someone to bring back a marina-owned dock cart
from down the docks.....

Put all the stuff away, food and clothes, in the tiny drawer space
provided. Have a beer on the patio (cockpit) and watch the sunset. THIS
is living!

Now, disassemble the toilet in your bathroom, take out the wax ring under
it and put it back. Reassemble the toilet. This completes the simulation
of putting the new valve in the "head" on the boat.

No, no, no. Don't turn that ceiling fan on to pull the smell out. Boats
don't have big exhaust blowers in the head, you know....(c; Just leave
the
windows open during dinner. It'll blow away soon.

After getting up, tomorrow morning, from your "V-Berth", take the whole
family out to breakfast by WALKING to the nearest restaurant, then take a
cab to any local park or attraction you like. We're off today to see the
sights of Ft Lauderdale.....before heading out to sea, again, to Key West.
Take a cab back home after dinner out and go to bed, exhausted, on your
little foam pad under the table.....

Get up this morning and disconnect all hoses, electrical wires, etc. Get
ready for "sea". Crank up the lawn mower under the open bedroom window
for
4 hours while we motor out to find some wind. ONE responsible adult MUST
be sitting on the hot patio all day, in shifts, "on watch" looking out for
other boats, ships, etc. If you have a riding lawn mower, let the person
"on watch" drive it around the yard all day to simulate driving the boat
down the ICW in heavy traffic. About 2PM, turn off the engine and just
have them sit on the mower "steering" it on the patio. We're under sail,
now. Every hour or so, take everyone out in the yard with a big rope and
have a tug-of-war to simulate the work involved with setting sail,
changing
sail, trimming sail. Make sure everyone gets all sweaty in the heat.
Sailors working on sailboats are always all sweaty or we're not going
anywhere fast! Do this all day, today, all night, tonight, all day,
tomorrow, all night tomorrow night and all day the following day until 5PM
when you "arrive" at the next port you're going to. Make sure noone in
the
family leaves the confines of the little bedroom or the patio during out
"trip". Make sure everyone conserves water, battery power, etc., things
you'll want to conserve while being at sea on a trip somewhere. Everyone
can go up to the 7-11 for an icecream as soon as we get the "boat" docked
on day 3, the first time anyone has left the confines of the bedroom/patio
in 3 days.

Question - Was anyone suicidal during our simulated voyage? Keep an eye
out for anyone with a problem being cooped up with other family members.
If anyone is attacked, any major fights break out, any threats to throw
the
captain to the fish.....forget all about boats and buy a motorhome,
instead.

Anyone got any more "liveaboard simulator" ideas he can use??

Larry...Gotta go dump the holding tanks at the 7-11, back in a bit.

Scotty wrote:
Just answer the questions!


Wow - there is just something sooooooo wrong with you - WTF? You're
just way too uptight - and I would think life sailing would calm a
person down.

Since it's so important to you - why, I have no idea - here you go:

You using a rifle or a bow? Where are you storing the
weapon and the deer meat? Who's doing the butchering?

rifle, as jerkey and frozen meat giving excess away most likely to a
butcher as partial payment for butchering

"Jim K." wrote in message
ups.com...

Scotty wrote:
Just answer the questions!


Wow - there is just something sooooooo wrong with you -
WTF? You're
just way too uptight - and I would think life sailing
would calm a
person down.


What is ''life sailing'' ?



Since it's so important to you - why, I have no idea -
here you go:

You using a rifle or a bow? Where are you storing
the
weapon and the deer meat? Who's doing the
butchering?

rifle, as jerkey and frozen meat giving excess away most
likely to a
butcher as partial payment for butchering

What kind of rifle?
yeah, just what a butcher wants / needs, more meat.


SBV

Scotty wrote:
"Jim K." wrote in message
ups.com...

Scotty wrote:
Just answer the questions!


Wow - there is just something sooooooo wrong with you -
WTF? You're
just way too uptight - and I would think life sailing
would calm a
person down.


What is ''life sailing'' ?



Since it's so important to you - why, I have no idea -
here you go:

You using a rifle or a bow? Where are you storing
the
weapon and the deer meat? Who's doing the
butchering?

rifle, as jerkey and frozen meat giving excess away most
likely to a
butcher as partial payment for butchering

What kind of rifle?
yeah, just what a butcher wants / needs, more meat.


SBV

Scotty please do not spoil his illusion.

I think he had a splendid ideal Jim.
Here on the ICW you often see deers, alligator, stray cattle ect. Hell
with the new searchlight I can make them freeze in thier tracks, and
take them down with a .22LR from the wheel house, push up on the bank,
hoist the kill on the main boom dress it out over the waters edge, and
have it wrapped and in the freezer before sun-up. Well that and all the
free oysters, fish, shrimp all I need to buy is flour and salt. With my
chia pet herb garden I'm a happy man. I could even trade shrimp for
extras like clothes and diesel fuel.

Living off the lands easy if you have a sailboat Jim, don't let any
trailor sailor tell you it's not.

Joe

Joe wrote:
Scotty wrote:
"Jim K." wrote in message
ups.com...
Scotty wrote:
Just answer the questions!

Wow - there is just something sooooooo wrong with you -
WTF? You're
just way too uptight - and I would think life sailing
would calm a
person down.

What is ''life sailing'' ?



Since it's so important to you - why, I have no idea -
here you go:
You using a rifle or a bow? Where are you storing
the
weapon and the deer meat? Who's doing the
butchering?
rifle, as jerkey and frozen meat giving excess away most
likely to a
butcher as partial payment for butchering
What kind of rifle?
yeah, just what a butcher wants / needs, more meat.


SBV

Scotty please do not spoil his illusion.

I think he had a splendid ideal Jim.
Here on the ICW you often see deers, alligator, stray cattle ect. Hell
with the new searchlight I can make them freeze in thier tracks, and
take them down with a .22LR from the wheel house, push up on the bank,
hoist the kill on the main boom dress it out over the waters edge, and
have it wrapped and in the freezer before sun-up. Well that and all the
free oysters, fish, shrimp all I need to buy is flour and salt. With my
chia pet herb garden I'm a happy man. I could even trade shrimp for
extras like clothes and diesel fuel.

Living off the lands easy if you have a sailboat Jim, don't let any
trailor sailor tell you it's not.

Joe


Now tell him the truth..that you and Terri go antiquing and to swap
meets, etc. and that you do have an income....not nice to elad the poor
guy on like that....

katy wrote:
Joe wrote:
Scotty wrote:
"Jim K." wrote in message
ups.com...
Scotty wrote:
Just answer the questions!

Wow - there is just something sooooooo wrong with you -
WTF? You're
just way too uptight - and I would think life sailing
would calm a
person down.

What is ''life sailing'' ?



Since it's so important to you - why, I have no idea -
here you go:
You using a rifle or a bow? Where are you storing
the
weapon and the deer meat? Who's doing the
butchering?
rifle, as jerkey and frozen meat giving excess away most
likely to a
butcher as partial payment for butchering
What kind of rifle?
yeah, just what a butcher wants / needs, more meat.


SBV

Scotty please do not spoil his illusion.

I think he had a splendid ideal Jim.
Here on the ICW you often see deers, alligator, stray cattle ect. Hell
with the new searchlight I can make them freeze in thier tracks, and
take them down with a .22LR from the wheel house, push up on the bank,
hoist the kill on the main boom dress it out over the waters edge, and
have it wrapped and in the freezer before sun-up. Well that and all the
free oysters, fish, shrimp all I need to buy is flour and salt. With my
chia pet herb garden I'm a happy man. I could even trade shrimp for
extras like clothes and diesel fuel.

Living off the lands easy if you have a sailboat Jim, don't let any
trailor sailor tell you it's not.

Joe


Now tell him the truth..that you and Terri go antiquing and to swap
meets, etc

Havent for about a year or two now..Still go to garage sells on the
weekends, thats were I got my new spotlight for 50 bucks.

.. and that you do have an income....

The paper route is doing well, and with T day coming I can rake in over
80 bucks in tips and 3-4 turkey coupons.

not nice to elad the poor
guy on like that....

I think he has an excellent outlook on life and should by all means
presue his dream.
The only difference from adversity and adventure is attitude.

Joe

"Jim K." wrote:


I'm planning on spending 4 years - that wwill give me
enough time to
save money for the boat as well and build a photog biz -
I'm not an
idiot - I'm not about to jump into something like this -
my vision is
at least 4 years out but am prepared to wait longer if
need be.

Since you have a job why not buy a small boat now and live
at a marina for the next 4 years? It'll still be cheaper
than what you're paying on land (unless you're living with
your parents). You could anchor out in the warmer months.
Huntin' and fishin' aren't going to save you money, spam and
mac/cheese will.

Seahag
Living aboard since 1981 or thereabouts

I think most of us have had the same dream. Nothing wrong with dreaming,
and I think your plan is worth pursuing.

I don't want to be negative, but I think you should "try it before you
buy it", in several respects. First, you have little sailing
experience, and you have never lived on a boat, so you really don't know
whether you would enjoy it or not. That's not a reason not to do it, but
it does seem reasonable that you take some of the others' advice and
either charter or buy a boat on which you could live for at least six
months or so while working to see whether you really like it. - In our
area, there are lots of used boats in the 30-foot range in reasonably
good condition for under $20K. Obviously, you need to have a survey
(inspection) of the boat before you buy it. You also need to learn how
to sail, for which there are lots of instruction courses, books, etc. -
Again, you really don't know whether you will enjoy sailing or
live-aboarding as much as you think you will.

Secondly, if you are going to depend on the income from your new
business, it would seem reasonable to me that you ought to get it
started and see how it goes (even if expenses are reduced 50%) before
you commit to an entirely new lifestyle. You may be the world's best
photographer, and you may have good contacts, but that doesn't mean your
new business will pay the bills, buy new sails, pay for boat maintenance
and repairs, etc., over an extended period.

Third, let's assume that you learn to sail and you like it; that your
boat purchase or lease works out; your new business does OK; and you are
finally out of the rat race. - The following may sound like negative
parental advice, but have you included in your formula things like
medical insurance, savings, retirement, etc.? Of course, I don't know
anything about your current financial condition, but it's easy to decide
to live for the present and forget about the future, and then find out
that you have dug yourself into a hole that you really don't like.
Maybe you can give it a try for a few years and then try something else,
but if this is a lifestyle to which you are more or less committing
yourself, I think you should at least know what's involved with those
issues before you make a commitment. For example, as boring and
depressing as it may seem now, before you quit your job, check the costs
of full medical coverage for an individual, check on the amount of
savings needed to provide a given level of income later, check on the
amount of Social Security you would get if you start taking it before
reaching 65, and check on the maximum amount you would get with the
contributions you would expect from your photography business. Or, if
you have several millions sitting around, forget everything I said. -
I'm not saying don't do it. I'm just suggesting that you ought have your
eyes open before you "jump in."

Then, get a DVD of "Captain Ron" and watch it while drinking a margarita
or two. - If you get lost you can always come into port and ask
directions.

Jim



Jim K. wrote:
Hello all,

Man is the corporate filled with people lacking integrity, or what? I'm
fed up. After working in the corp world for over a decade, I'm working
on getting out.

I've been dragging my feet, but I started a company name for my
photography, and hope to start making money selling my photos. But I'm
not sure if I'll be able to make what I'm making now.

So question(s) #1:
- Will your overall expenses decrease by livingaboard, especially if
you don't tie up at a dock? Obviously rent/mortgage is decreased
drastically.
- Car, insurance, gas, repair, & inspection costs are gone. I have a
mountain bike and canoe if I need to hit the food market. Is it stupid
to have a small motocycle or scooter?
- Utilities? They should decrease, right? I love camping so luxuries
won't be missed.
- Are there charges for docking up and re-charging battteries and
getting water? How much?
- How many meals do you eat with fish you caught? So do food costs also
decrease?

But new costs - boat maintenance? Others? How much? So the main
questions is if overall expenses do decrease - by how much percentage
wise? By 50% - or even more. If by 50% than in essense my photography
could net me 1/2 what I currently making and I'll still be okay.

My experience: none.

I'll be going to the local sailing club - The Philadelphia Sailing Club
- and will inquire about membership. I know they also instruct. If it
takes 2 years - it takes 2 years. If it takes 4 years - then 4.
Whatever it takes, I'll wait but I feel I need to start now - I've been
thinking about this for a while and and I know myself well enough that
livingaboard would be the life for me. I don't know how many years it
will take to save for a boat and to learn the skills - but if I don't
start now, it will take even longer ot it will never happen.

4-5 years ago I slimmed down my possessions. I feel I need to slim them
down again. But what size boat would be a good size. Any
recommendations? Though I read 25-35 with 30' recommended. Correct?

My sailing needs/uses: I don't care about speed or racing - I'm a "stop
and smell the flowers" kind of guy. I would only need to sail to move
around to see a new place. Do not feel that I would ever need to be far
out to see but can see myself sailing from Florida to the Caribbean. I
would also use it to sail up and down the East Coast for photo
opportunities (fall foliage in Northeast in Sept/Oct., etc.) and to
attend art festivals where I could display my photography in Big
cities: Boston, New York, Philly, Washington DC, Baltimore, etc.

I might also sail around for contract work. I contacted well over 200
magazine publications and found ~ 50 that would be interested in my
photos and some of them hire you for a particular job - e.g. pics of
Sping hikers on the Applachian Trail in Virginia - whatever. That's it
- cruising around for fun and photos.

Any thoughts or advice.

Sorry for the looooong post - I'm normally not that gabby.
Jim

JimC wrote:
I think most of us have had the same dream. Nothing wrong with dreaming,
and I think your plan is worth pursuing.

I know and I will - thanks.

Secondly, if you are going to depend on the income from your new
business, it would seem reasonable to me that you ought to get it
started and see how it goes (even if expenses are reduced 50%) before
you commit to an entirely new lifestyle.

I thought I mentioned that I'm looking at a 4 year window - must have
not done that. I'll have a website by the end of the year, and we'll
see from there.

You may be the world's best
photographer, and you may have good contacts, but that doesn't mean your
new business will pay the bills, buy new sails, pay for boat maintenance
and repairs, etc., over an extended period.

It does if I make enough. - But that's the big "IF"

Third, let's assume that you learn to sail and you like it; that your
boat purchase or lease works out; your new business does OK; and you are
finally out of the rat race. - The following may sound like negative
parental advice, but have you included in your formula things like
medical insurance, savings, retirement, etc.?

Yes I have - I'll be able to get self-emplyed insurance o I'll join a
Photo Association and get their plan - which ever is best.My brother
works for Merrill Lynch - I've been investing with him for ~ 500 years
plus my last job's 401 K rolled over into Merrill - And I have over
$10K in my present company's 401K which will go there as soon as I get
a new job - which should be real soon.

Maybe you can give it a try for a few years and then try something else,
but if this is a lifestyle to which you are more or less committing
yourself, I think you should at least know what's involved with those
issues before you make a commitment.

Well it will provide the opportunity for starting my freelance
photography biz.

For example, as boring and
depressing as it may seem now, before you quit your job, check the costs
of full medical coverage for an individual,

Already checked - As a self- eployed person - ~ $400 per month

I'm not saying don't do it. I'm just suggesting that you ought have your
eyes open before you "jump in."


I'm aware of that - been working out of college for the past 13 years -
I would only make a move when it was financially sound to do so.

Then, get a DVD of "Captain Ron" and watch it while drinking a margarita
or two.

Never of heard of it - I'll check it out - thanks.