a House, or a Boat

Once upon a time I worried about whether my savings would not better be invested in a house than in a sailboat. Then I read certain magical words by Arthur Ransome, acquired the sailboat, and have lived happily ever after. The words are these, from Racundra’s First Cruise:

“Houses are but badly built boats so firmly aground that you cannot think of moving them. They are definitely inferior things, belonging to the vegetable not the animal world, rooted and stationary, incapable of gay transition. .

The desire to build a house is the tired wish of a man content thenceforward with a single anchorage. The desire to build a boat is the desire of youth, unwilling yet to accept the idea of a final resting place…. When it comes, the desire to build a boat is one of those that cannot be resisted. It begins as a little cloud on a serene horizon. It ends by covering the whole sky, so that you can think of nothing else. You must build to regain your freedom.”
Precisely so.

…excerpted from the preface of ‘The Proper Yacht’

 

A house rarely sinks and goes down in value.

 

Brian,

Thanks for sharing that.

Jim,

 

people build boats as a perceived passport to a new life
I have never seen such misery caused as that caused my by an amateur taking on a yachtbuild, I've seen more busted marriages and broken dreams
They rarely go up in value and they are like a petulant woman, demand ever far reaching attention, they are like a baby, you can never leave them)

 

Wandering Dreams

Regrettably, men are the hunter/gathers, while women cherish that security of home. This can interfere with wandering dreams.

(I say this as a generality, so please don't have all of those adventerous women attack me)

 

Ten years ago my house cost me 175 000 euros, today it is worth more than 300 000 euros.
Five years ago my boat cost me 140 000 euros, today I doubt I can sell it for 100 000 euros, and its maintenance costs are bigger than the house maintenance costs.

I love my boat, but from an investment point of view, a boat is a bad business…owning a boat is an irrational act of love, living in a boat is a choice of a lifestyle, a very nice one, but a costly one.

 

Have your cake and eat it too.



Plenty of deck space for a couple of tenders and a couple of PWC's, with about 500 sq. ft. of living space under roof.

 

Well, I bought my Searay for 53K and sold it for 62K (+ brokers commission) 4 yrs later. Our 36 Cheoy Lee cost 68k and we sold it 25 yrs later for 150K.

Am I suggesting boats are a good investment?

Absolutely NOT!

 

THINK i WILL STICK WITH CAKE, the crocs can leap up on THAT and scoff my breakfast

 

You guys miss the point. The boat has not yet been built to completely compete with the value proposition in a house but that does not mean that it can't be. I am working on such a project right now. (And by the way, just because your house is worth more in current dollars/euros/etc. than what you paid, don't for a minute think that it was a great investment since the value of the currency falls at least as fast as your house goes up. And that value rise only happens if you're lucky enough to live in the right neighborhood. Even if you are one of the lucky ones, watch those house prices tank, now that the bubble is bursting. And what about the taxes, and maintenance costs.)

In any case it is possible to build a live aboard that is a good economic proposition if you set out to do that. If you don't know anything about building, engineering, planning, visualizing, and vessels etc, then you may want to have some help from people who do. Even to the point of just buying the thing already manufactured. Otherwise you deserve whatever you get!!

 

Financial Realities vs Imagination Realities

I figured this subject thread would arouse the financial guys. Sure its hard to justify on just strictly an investment point of view....but

What it does for the imagination of exploring far off lands and islands. Remember "Adventures in Paradise" ...I wrote a little about it here:
http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/showthread.php?t=16721

It's hard to put an 'investment price' on this

Regrettably, in this modern day of international terrorism and protectionism, the dreams of exploring all of the world and other cultures by boat are surely dampened...shame on us

 

"Regrettably, in this modern day of international terrorism and protectionism, the dreams of exploring all of the world and other cultures by boat are surely dampened...shame on us"

On the other hand, dreams of living on the water combined with rising water at the coastlines from global warming is going to get a lot of folks re-thinking the best way to live close to the ocean. Probably not a house.

 

Wow, just rediscovered this old subject thread,...pre 2008 financial crash.

Thought it might be interesting to bring it back up now that the boat business appears to be on the mend to a degree.

 

to inspire a new set of fools to dream.... cast off their lines and venture forth unto the void...

 

Still good to have both. I first built a yacht to live on & then a house and another yacht, then another yacht & a bigger house that we still live in then another house which I sold & got a smaller boat then a factory & tooling then another boat for cheap & a canoe then a nice 33' for 14G...... & richer in life & experience for all of it..
This morning I got a sea kayak off the council throw out for free- best boats for use are usually canoes/kayaks as the maintenance is low, cost is cheap & they get you to some really cool spots that other boats cant go.
Jeff.