So you wanna buy a boat?

Let me first just say buying a boat is a crazy process. It’s almost like buying a house but you can’t limit your search geographically. Back when were ‘stranded on an island’ last March during the first wave of Covid lockdowns we started getting severe boat fever. (If you are new to us you can check out our 2020 Island adventures on YouTube… click here)

Let me back up last March-April we lived on a private island in the Keys. It was accidental. We had booked a week at Our Florida Island and then the pandemic hit the week we were there. We immediately asked to sign a long term lease when we heard whispers of the Keys being closed down. We signed the lease and then the Keys shut and locked its northern border to all incoming traffic.

And just like that we were ‘stuck’ living on a houseboat attached to our very own private island. It was true paradise. We spent our mornings cooking, homeschooling and working and our afternoons paddle boarding, snorkeling and exploring. What was most shocking about our time there was how lovely being unplugged was for us and the kids.

Boat fever is real. Once you get a whiff of boat living you can’t shake it. There is a whole universe of people who are living on boats and posting these amazing stories and adventures. For me I knew we needed a boat because living on land after our Key’s trip just felt wrong.

If you are serious about buying a live aboard boat you must first understand what your criteria is. For us we needed 3 state rooms with a beam of under 17 feet and a draft of 4ft or under because we needed a boat to fit into our canal and live in our backyard.

Those criteria eliminated a lot of boats. Monohulls where out. Catamarans of the size we need are out because of the beam and also mast height… the masts won’t fit under the bridge near our house. That left us with looking exclusively at Motor Vessels (MV) or trawlers or technically ‘yachts’ (but yacht is sooo snooty of a term and we’re not yachtees so we prefer ‘trawler’).

Looking for this size of a vessel when you have no idea what you are looking for is daunting. Luckily for us we have a friend who is a yacht broker. He was super patient with us and schlepped us all over the eastern part of Florida looking at boats that met our criteria. I think we looked at roughly 15 boats before circling back to the Linda Ann.

We liked her for the following reasons….

She has 3 staterooms, a beam of 15 feet, a 4 1/2 ft draft, a pilothouse, plenty of outdoor space and a Portuguese bridge.
She has small 120 Lehman engines which are great on gas.
She was priced right so we could afford to do a custom refit.
She has tons of character and classic lines.

It’s funny… the other boat we were considering sold to a young family and I get to watch their adventures on Insta!

We had no idea what we were doing. But you figure it out. A good boat broker will guide you through the whole process and put you in contact with surveyors who will make sure you are buying a boat without major issues.

If it’s your dream… you should definitely go for it. Let me know if you need any guidance.

~Christy & Crew