I have owned a sailboat before, and I could buy another boat, but I can always borrow one from family if I feel the need to go somewhere. I don't boat enough to justify owning one on my own, right now. The last one I owned was in California when I was on the East Coast and then Annapolis when I was on the West Coast, so I got tired of warehousing it. However, I still have the Kerouacian dream of traveling the United States by road, not flying and driving. My only problem is my tastes run to a Prevost Liberty conversion or similar (Marathon, Emerald), likely with a matching toy hauler/car trailer. I could also settle for a Newell (Ha! ha!), but there's something about the ride quality of a Prevost.
Since nobody in the family has one right now that I could borrow, I would pick an RV from this list, but I'm not to the point where I can set out on long-time travels, exploring destinations from the comforts of one's own RV.
@Stereoguy I do browse listings every once in a while, and have seen some gorgeous Liberty conversions, like the new 2BR model. And, some of the H3 conversions, like Featherlite, and the classic XL and XLII still catch my eye. I could probably justify the use on a pre-owned one right now, at least rationalize it for myself, but I would have to figure out storage.
A boat can be a lot of fun, but an RV is greater value for dollar and more practical. It can come later, with a towable trailer. I'd rather be able to tour, and pick my coast to stand on, than be confined to the back bay on just a boat.
@Stereoguy Oh same! I get lingering nausea after riding a short ferry about 30 minutes. I'm sadly a land lubber and I absolutely love islands, beaches, water. I'm a Pieces but as soon as my feet leave land I'm hurling or rolled in a ball moaning.
@Stereoguy That's a good plan. I'd have to demolish a house next door to do that, and doubt that I could get it past the planning department to build one on my property now.
When I rented one with my nieces and nephews for an "adventure" trip to the Grand Canyon, one of the nephews was afraid of breaking down in the middle of nowhere. I said "You need not worry about that, since this is a coach like Roller, where it fails to proceed under its own power. It does not break down." LOL He wanted to search for old mines and such in the wilderness as my lady friend had filled his head with her tales of ghost towns, desert phantoms, UFOs, etc. -- not to mention the natural resources and ecosystem of the desert. It was quite a change from the Northeast for them, but Prevost rental can pay for a used coach, even if you only drive it moderately.
@Stereoguy Yes, so many lands out west are BLM with campgrounds. Jupiter Lighthouse is BLM in the east, but they don't have RV facilities. Some are more developed than others, but some seem to be pretty remote from what I have seen, which is awesome for astronomy purposes, but I'd not want to be a sitting duck in a large luxury RV in the middle of the desert or mountains.
@Stereoguy Yes, and I have seen some where you have the old Winnebago with the covers on the tires, so that's clearly someone who's there to stay for the length of time permitted by the park, some are two weeks and some might be a little longer. I know someone who owns a lot at a country club resort for coaches, and they like it, but tend to stay within the confines of the resort and drive their golf cart around, and/or drive into town in their car. My only issue with them is some of the people there can be a bit too social, i.e., I'm all for being friendly but if looking to get away, I don't want to be in a forced social setting.
An RV would be cool, you can drive someplace, park, have all your food there, and a place to sleep, and all your toys. Roads are kind of crowded though, and your dealing with a lot of people around and such. A boat is kind of similar, it can hold all your stuff, but you do have to launch it. The nice thing is that its not nearly so crowded, there are no lines to follow (roads), and it is completely different than land based activities. Get a sailboat, its the most expensive way of traveling for free.
I’ve had it all. I still keep a boat at my lake house but for most, renting what you need is the best way to go, in my opinion. If one doesn’t use it all the time, this is the best economically way, for many reasons.😊
@Stereoguy Makes even more sense if you're in a cold climate where the season is only 5 or 6 months long. You're talking fractional ownership which has it's own set of drawbacks. Sharing clubs are fractional use. Only 1 owner.
Boat clubs have boats that generally list out between $40,000-75,000. Sharing clubs the boats are $250,000-$500,000 or more.
@LoveTriumphsOverHate same pretty much but you could put better intske and carb beef up trans u want torwue to move this big land yatch the more hp and torque the better
@Stereoguy Just weekend pleasure. I don't think I could live aboard a yacht. My friend in Panama City has one and he invites me down from time to time.
RV. Both are expensive but boat costs more to store and maintain. Boat is more maintenance overall as well. I personally would rather move from city to city and get more use from it. I can't live on a boat. I get terribly seasick.