What to do when I retire? HELP!!!!!

I will be retiring in several years and just can't make up my mind as to what I want to do.  I have been investigating full timing in a Class A.  However, I have always loved being in, on or near water.  My first thought is to buy a boat to live on, this would be my ideal!  I live in Clearwater, FL.  I did do some research on boats, however it seems even in FL there aren't many marinas that allow live aboards.  I know either full timing on a boat or Class A motorhome will cost $XXX.  I don't plan on either traveling or sailing extensively.  Would like to spend 2 - 3 months in one location.

My price range for either is going to be in the $50,000 range.  Definitely going to buy used.

Any ideas on which would be more economical:  Boat or Class A?  Yearly Maintenance costs?  Which is going to have more living space?  Has anyone ever started out on a boat then switched or vise versa?  I know I did not give a great deal of specifics but let me add a few: 

Class A:  32 - 36 ft range, gas.
Boat:  Not quite sure size range but something that would be comfortable for full time living.

Ideas, suggestions, anyone with experience will be greatly appreciated! 

The word "economic" doesn't fit with RVs, boats or airplanes. A large boat is about the only thing I know of that is more expensive than a motorhome to buy, operate and maintain as a residence. Frankly,  a water front home would better suit your wants and needs, and it will probably appreciate in value rather than depreciate rapidly. What's the point of living in a vehicle if you don't intend to move around? You have all the expense of a vehicle but don't utilize the benefits. Consider a park model RV or manufactured home on or near the water as a lower cost way to get the style you want.

Second choice would be a trailer RV, so that you avoid the insurance for a motorized vehicle and the maintenance of an expensive drive train. Also, it's often cheaper to pay a professional to move it every 3 months than to buy and operate your own tow vehicle.

Consider that even a large RV offers only 300-350 sq ft of living space. Your current living room alone may well be that large.

Thank you for your response.  A water front home in Florida is NO where near my budget.  I know in the Clearwater area you talking at least $500,000 for a water front condo, even more for a home.

I realize that neither a boat or RV is going to be "economical", but neither is a S&B home in my opinion.  I am looking for the freedom to "move" if and when I want.

Motor homes dont like to sit for a long time.  Just not good on them.  Get a large trailer and suitable tow vehicle.  There are so many opportunities for retired people there is no reason to not keep busy

We have a 43' MH, a 40' boat and a 2000 Sq Ft house. We live in WA state on the Puget Sound. We spend 7 months in the MH, 3 on the boat and a couple in the house each year. When we get too old to travel, the MH and boat will go away and we'll sit in the house and think about all our travels.

The boat is the most expensive to keep and maintain. Moorage is paid by the foot, monthly, and it can't be parked in the yard when not being used. The MH can be parked and left for months without any major maintenance needing done, or cost to sit there. The house has it's routine maintenance with the yard and the City demands payment even if no utilities are being used.Water, garbage, sewer, gas and electric all have monthly minimums just because it's there. In my city you cannot have a physical house sitting there and not pay the minimums.

RV's drop in value pretty steadily until they are worth basically nothing. Boats drop in value quickly at first, then hit a plateau and stay there for a number of years before dropping the final bit. Houses hold value and the land is always worth something. Investment wise houses are the best value.

But what I hear you ask is what you should do with the rest of your life? We can't answer that totally, but can give some suggestions. Unless you're really into boating, a comfortable liveaboard size boat is going to make you resent the cost. A used MH might allow you to taste the lifestyle and still not lose too much money if it doesn't appeal to you long term. A land home (of any type) by the water doesn't allow you to change the scenery when you tire of that view.

Remember you asked a group of travellers what they thought, so a mobile option is going to be what we recommend. Buying and selling to try each of the three is expensive. I'd really think hard and long to decide which one I liked best if I had to choose. Fortunately I didn't have to choose, but if your budget is $50,000 then you'll have to.

Ken

You sound like someone who might enjoy work-camping, especially if you want to spend several months in one place and on or near the water. (state parks or beaches??)  There is a ton of information on here about that subject.

Both RVs and boats can be expensive, but I've never heard anyone say the things about RVs that they say about boats.  For example:

Definition of a boat.  A hole in the water into which one throws vast sums of money.

Two happiest days of a boat owner's life.  The day they buy the boat.  The day they sell the boat.

There aren't any breakdown lanes on the water.
Owned the same boat for a couple decades. It was a reliable boat.

Bill

Thank you for your response.  A water front home in Florida is NO where near my budget.  I know in the Clearwater area you talking at least $500,000 for a water front condo, even more for a home.

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Indeed, but you won't find a waterfront campsite there either, or a live-in marina. The land there is too valuable to make that affordable. But there are more reasonable waterfront sites in other parts of Florida. Does it have to be the ocean?

We went through the boat vs. motorhome debate and the motorhome won, primarily because of more flexibility.  Going in and out of channels and timing the tides didn't appeal to us as much as driving our vast network of roads and being able to change direction on a whim.  We owned boats previously and, while we watch the weather before traveling in RVs, it's nothing like watching the weather and tides in a boat.  We've now been motorhoming for 35+ years and still have a lot of things to see here on terra firma.

ArdraF

Dear Rollin...

You didn't mention anything about a partner or significant other.  This might be too personal but just a thought ... are you doing retirement alone?  My dear (new) husband thought he would retire as a hermit on land he bought in Arkansas ...  until he met me.  He says he never would have imagined that he would be making plans to RV after retirement.  His retirement plans are completely different now than they were before he meet me. He says he is much happier (family and friends agree).  The point being ... are there people in your life that would influence your dreams and decisions? 

Happy and remarried at the age of 62 in 2012.

If you considered coming west, there are numerous campgrounds adjacent to, or included in, marinas. Here's one list of some.

I full time in a class C 32 footer.  It had plenty of room for me, and is a bit crowded when I added my girlfriend and cat.  When growing up The family had a 28 foot boat and it seems to me the RV has more room.  I have not done a cost comparison recently but think you will find boating to be more expensive.  Consider work camping summers somewhere you would like to see.

I always wondered where Floridians went on vacation.

After buying into a great membership campground in the North Georgia Mountains, I quickly realized every third car in NE GA, West NC and East TN has a Florida license plate.  Those retirees in our campground go home for winter, and quickly get back to the mountains by the end of April.

There are so many parts of the south with a change of seasons and a very reasonable cost of living.  We live on the Tennessee River in NW Alabama with 2 Robert Trent Jones golf courses on our street.  And we RV during the week in Helen, GA.

There are ways to live in moderation.  After all, when one gets older, they need to be able to get good healthcare and sometimes that means settling down in a stickhouse at least part of the year.

Bamaman said:

I always wondered where Floridians went on vacation.

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I am a Floridian and I am on vacation right now. I am heading for the Keys and out to Dry Tortugas National Park to give my new camera a workout.

I always wondered where Floridians went on vacation.

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This one has spent the last 4 summers in Maine. Thinking about North Carolina for next year, though.

Well.... I'm on the opposite side of the spectrum here. I lived on my boat for 14 years and sailed around the world twice (80,000 miles). I seldom ever spent time in marinas. I lived on the hook most of that 14 years so moorage was basically free. That and fuel is the big difference between living and traveling in an RV vs living and traveling in a sailboat.

The down side is, you pretty well have to get out of North America to make it work. The cost of moorage, upkeep and fuel in the US makes living on a boat cost prohibitive. If I had it to do over again, I would live in the South Pacific Islands in the winter and New Zealand/Australia in the summer. There are places that you can take the boat out of the water and store it for several months at a time. We did that several times during our voyages and flew home for 3-6  months. When we returned to the boat, it was, paint the bottom (do any needed out of water servicing) and put her back in the water.

It's not for the faint at heart and one MUST have a fairly extensive mechanical aptitude. I purposely worded that carefully because one need not be a "Mechanic" one must merely have a lot of mechanical "Common sense". Just about anything can be repaired at sea when your life depends on it. With the aid of a SSB radio and a few tools you'd be amazed what you can do as long as you don't think that you can't do it.

This is an RV forum so I won't bore people with sea stories but if you ever really want to get the facts about the cruising life on a sailboat. Send me a PM.

This is the On The Water board, so feel free to talk about cruising on a sailboat and share t hose sea stories. I've shared a few here myself.

I will say this....... If you are thinking of a "Cruising" lifestyle. It can be done fairly inexpensively. You mentioned, "I don't plan on either traveling or sailing extensively.  Would like to spend 2 - 3 months in one location."......... Not exactly sure what you meant by that but sailboat "Cruising" is just exactly that. We would sail from one country to another, plop down the anchor and stay for 2-3 months in a location.

On our 1st circumnavigation this was (sort of) our itinerary
LA to Hawaii 27 days, stay in Hawaii for 2 months.
Hawaii to Palmyra Atoll 9 days, stay 3 months.
Palmyra to Western Samoa 8 days, stay 1 month.
Samoa to Tonga 4 days, stay 2 months.
Tonga to Fiji 4 days, stay 3 months.
Fiji to New Zealand 11 days, stayed 6 months but moved around a lot.
New Zealand to Australia 14 days, stayed 6 months but moved a lot
etc-etc...... I think you get the "drift".

rollindowntheroad said:

Any ideas on which would be more economical:  Boat or Class A? 

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Absolutely, positively: the Class A RV will cost less and give you fewer headaches than a boat, all the while allowing you more options. For one thing, if something goes wrong with the RV, you will likely be able to postpone the repair until your next check arrives... meanwhile the boat sinks. Admittedly exaggerating a bit, but not too much.

Dan23 said:

Absolutely, positively: the Class A RV will cost less and give you fewer headaches than a boat, all the while allowing you more options. For one thing, if something goes wrong with the RV, you will likely be able to postpone the repair until your next check arrives... meanwhile the boat sinks. Admittedly exaggerating a bit, but not too much.

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Actually, the opposite is true......."boat sinks" is so rare as to be a non-issue while cruising unless one is absolutely negligent or stupid. Issues at sea do happen but seldom any "urgency" to the repair unless the boat is taking on water (which is extremely rare). Most incidents of taking on water involves a simple solution and is normally caused by negligent preventative maintenance.

The thing to remember is that there is no rush at sea. If there is a failure of some sort, patience is your friend and it costs you nothing to lay to a sea anchor or simply "hove-to" for a few days. If weather is a factor, wait it out. When the weather gets better. Fix the problem and resume your voyage.

By far MOST catastrophes at sea are a symptom of panic. Trust me..... I've seen it all. I have been on voyages where a severe storm was involved. I've listened to radio conversations involving vessels that have been damaged and all hands abandoned the vessel for the "Safety" of a live raft. Later the raft was discovered with no survivors and the boat found adrift in calm seas. This has happened more times than I can count. The bottom line is, if one is prone to panic during a crisis, best not to go to sea. I was in the "Queens Birthday Storm" enroute from Fiji to New Zealand in 1994. I laid to a parachute storm anchor for 12 hours. I listened to the radio calls from about 20 different yachts that were in "Distress". 7-yachts were abandoned. 6-people perished. 6 vessels were later discovered adrift and were eventually salvaged. I later met one yacht that had rolled over 6 times during that storm and was dis-masted. The skipper never made a radio call for help or activated his EPIRB. 33-days later, he made his was to within 50 miles of Opua Harbor in New Zealand  where a fishing boat towed him the rest of the way in.

There are VERY VERY few situations where a vessel cannot be saved at sea. Even if it is dis-masted and severely damaged.  90% of the time it can be Jeri-rigged and moved to a safe port. It could take a long time to get there but in most cases, it can be done if cool heads prevail.

I am certain that many more people have died in RV accidents than there have been in boat disasters at sea. As far as expense of repairs...... I would say they are about equal between motorhomes and boats. The urgency factor is far less on a boat than in a M/H (believe it or not). It's pretty hard to get a M/H to the next destination without an engine.