We pretty much spent the early part of December sniffing this idea out. How much would it cost? What do we really need to make living aboard bearable? Will the kids be safe and happy? Frank dove into cruising and live-aboard forums while I checked out marinas. We learned that this might not be such a crazy idea--there are more people raising their kids onboard than you may imagine. And of course, we started a love affair with yachtworld.com to see what boats were for sale.
Our list of "needs" differed slightly...I preferred newer systems, a step-down stern (for easy on/off with the kids and use of the kayaks), something <40' (fits into a cheaper 40' slip and is only double the length of our previous boat!), and was attracted to a sloop rig since that's what the Cal had been. I guess I'm a comfort girl. Frank liked space, "classic" boats, 3 cabins, didn't care about the sail configuration (or so it seemed!), liked the idea of a pilothouse (it is the PacNorWest, after all), and was confident that we could sail a 50' boat. In the end, our "needs" and "wants" mushed together a bit and we more or less started looking for about a 40' boat with 2-3 cabins/1-2 baths that could be sailed by one person (with occasional help from the babysitter) and was <$100k. That list left us with lots of options--LOTS of boats out there! Now, to narrow that list...
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