Anyone doing boat life on the East Coast

[Mrcharwe]

So last year I picked up a boat after kayak the Missouri, started the trip and then had an injury (not boat related) and sold the boat. After a year of healing and working I picked up a 30ft sailboat in MA and have been making my way south for the winter. Currently in VA, it's been about 6 weeks since leaving Mass. I am heading to.... I dont know, Florida, Bahamas, Caribbean. I sail when I can but once I hit the ICW it seems like its motoring for 1000 miles. I'm not in any hurry and cover 20-30 miles a day normally. We anchor out 95% of the time, I'll grab a slip or mooring if there is a bad storm approaching.

Anyone else doing boat life on the East Coast or the Gulf?

I'm leaning towards bouncing through the Caribbean, it seems cheap and beautiful.

 

[Mrcharwe]

Adding some pictures from the trip. I don't take many but here are a few from NYC down to sunsets in NC

 

[Wierden]

Wow, looks great! You're kind of hitting my dream journey at the moment--I've been trying to find the moment to get a boat and start sailing full time.
How did you find the situation as far as registering/insuring the boat, legally? Any issues with the watercops so far?
Have you had a problem finding a place out of the way to anchor in the ICW?

Fingers crossed you make it to the Bahamas in good time and enjoy it there!

 

[Mrcharwe]

Hey,

Boat registration was easy since I am a kansas resident and have family in KC. It was maybe $40 for 3 years. I did everything online and had my family mail me the registration stickers.

Insurance is similar. I just have liability incase I hit or damage something else, if I lose the boat I am out the money there. But it would cost like $2000-3000 a year to insure a $4000 boat. With just liability and environmental insurance is like $35 a month. So not much.

In terms of water cops, I have not had to interact with any officials for any reason. I think the two issues that will get their attention is staying in one place/anchorage for too long and having your boat look like a floating junk yard. If you move regularly and keep the exterior of the boat looking presentable noone bats an eye at you. In doing the ICW, there are thousands of other boats Doing the same thing, so they are used to transient boats moving in and leaving a day or two later. If you do want to stay in one place, it's worth looking to buy a mooring. Especially in new england. You can get a permit a put a mooring somewhere and just stay there.

To find anchorages, the best source I have found is an app called Aqua Maps. The app is free, but you have to buy the maps. The entire US is like $15 for a year of access or $50 for lifetime access. People tag and rank anchorages, there are also brief descriptions where they will tell you where shore access is, if any, and what Stores are nearby. It also works as your chartplotter, so you can fully navigate with just your phone. Also in the settings you can turn on waterways guide, which shows free docks, anchorages, bridge information and everything else you need. Waterways guide is free on your computer/phone. But I think aqua maps is 100% worth the money. I just paid for a year up front to test it out but will be upgrading soon to the lifetime purchase because I use it for everything.

 

[iamwhatiam]

What model boat is it? Sabre 30?? What problems/flaws have you run into? If you could change anything about the boats performance or design, what would you change? How much fuel/water tankage do you have aboard? If you're mostly on the hook, what are you doing for power needs/charging of battery banks?
Sorry for all the questions, but I'm a bit of a boat nerd and training to be a marine technician, so I like to learn all I can about different models.

 

[Mrcharwe]

Hey, sorry slow to respond.

1. The boat is an oday 30. It has the centerboard and drafts 3.5' with the board up.

2. I don't know enough about other boats to say what I would change in the design/performance. The Boat has easily handled everyhting we've thrown at it. The one thing I might like to change in moving the traveller from the Bridgedeck to the cabin top. The current main sheet means a small bimini and no extender so there's not much cockpit shade.

3. It has an 18 gallon diesel tank which is plenty. Its once a week fillup when motoring the lower ICW and once a season fill up when in the chesapeake or long island sound where you can sail everywhere. It has 27 gallons of fresh water and 5 gallon for the toilet. More water than I need for 1 person.

4. I have 200w solar with two deep cycle batteries that I think have around 400ah total or 200 usable hours for a agm battery. Plenty of power most of the year, slightly light on battery right now with the shortest days of the year. But I run a fridge and work from the boat so I have plenty of power to keep going. The alternator is also hooked to the batteries so I get power when motoring.

Overall good boat with 10' beam and tall enough ceilings I can stand and walk normally at 6'2"

 

[iamwhatiam]

Hey, thanks for the reply! Sounds like you are setup just fine for dinking around the bahamas/caribbean, specially with the shallow draft your centerboard allows. yes, i also hate when travelers are led down to the cockpit.....i just feel like they are in the way there, as opposed to cabin top.

As you know, a fridge is one of the power hogs on a boat. Don't know the insulation thickness of your fridge, but you could conserve a decent amount of power if you upped the thickness of your insulation. If you didn't have the room for added thickness with your setup, they also make these thinner vaccuum-infused panels that add exponential R-value as opposed to the foam board, but then you are spending around $30/sq foot as opposed to ~ $1/sq ft for insulation. Just somethin to think about. Only thing with those vaccuum panels is if you so much puncture just a pin prick in them, they are destroyed and can't be repaired.

Happy Sailing!

 

[iamwhatiam]

Bumping this thread.

In September, I'm driving cross country to the east coast to look for the next sailboat. Outfitting over the winter in preparation for an Atlantic crossing.

Be cool to meet and connect with any boat punks on the east coast. Probably end up somewhere between Virginia and Georgia for the winter, but who knows.

 

[Mrcharwe]

I spent most of last winter around savannah and then hit the keys. The marina on the georgia side of the florida georgia border is inland, protected, and has lots of anchor liveaboards around. I cant rememeber the name but its one of the few boatyards that allow self work in the area

Ill be around this winter on the east coast as well, probably winter in the keys and maybe bahamas.

 

[iamwhatiam]

I spent most of last winter around savannah and then hit the keys. The marina on the georgia side of the florida georgia border is inland, protected, and has lots of anchor liveaboards around. I cant rememeber the name but its one of the few boatyards that allow self work in the area

Ill be around this winter on the east coast as well, probably winter in the keys and maybe bahamas.

Probably St. Mary's Boatyard Services ......... (AKA Rocky's Boatyard). Seems like a cool place, I got in touch with them awhile back.