Fact Finding Mission

On Saturday I drove to Kemah Texas. I was on a mission to see several sailboats that I have been researching as possible live aboards, and all them were in one marina in Kemah. What I didn't know was that the boats that I considered best for us, turned out to be less than desirable. I now know that we need at least 42 feet to be comfortable and 45 would be better. I also know that just because a boat is built to round cape horn, it isn't necessarily the most comfortable to live on. We found a boat that is a compromise between comfort and safety, fully equipped and ready to live on, and most important, it fits the all important amount that we are willing to spend for a boat. Unfortunately, it will still be several years before we are able to purchase a boat and live on it, but now we know what we need and can focus our search in the right direction.


The boat we fell in love with is a Morgan 45. Its a center cockpit cruising sailboat with in mast furling mainsail and roller furling headsail. It has a molded in swim platform with built in steps for ease of boarding from a dinghy. It has a full size bed aft and a roomy stateroom, reverse cycle heat and air conditioning, and built in diesel generator. It is missing a few things that I consider "must haves" to live aboard comfortably: A water maker, although it is plumbed for one, wind generator and solar panels would also need to be added for true on the hook living. It also needs the electronics upgraded to include AIS. I also want to add an on demand water heater to do away with the old engine heated hot water heater. Even with the cost of adding these options we would be under the budget that I have set for our live aboard boat and would have all the comforts of home.


Even though I will continue to crunch numbers and try to justify buying this sailboat, I know its too early and wouldn't make a lot of sense for us. I still like to imagine that she's mine and what I would do to make her the perfect boat. Dreaming of sailing off into the deep blue is, after all, how our quest started. The salesman told us that boats as nice as the Morgan only come on the market about every five years. That's about perfect timing for us and the next one might be mine.