I'm happy watching ! I'm older than Moses was when all he could do was watch as everybody went into the promised land. How can 5 people not like this video. wow, what unhappy people!
Wow. I mean really, wow. I have had my little 1971 MacGreror V-22 going on 2 years and while I have added a lot of live aboard things you do have me out done in nearly every way. Very well done. I had stagnated but now am again inspired thanks to your efforts and video. I did install the largest things first, refrigerator/freezer and LP stove/oven then worked my way down to the smaller things. It gets tight in there really fast but managed to install a 24" flat screen, Blu-Ray and 2 coffee pots (12 volt and 110). In the 22' is only the problem of no shower and no flush but I may go for a bigger boat next year. Got this one with trailer for a buck then he refused to accept payment. Great fellow. I'm running Navonics on iPhone and built my own autopilot. I was a robotics tech years ago. I have a few more things to be done but hope to see you down south in the spring trip from Key West to Hudson River, NY.
Many thanks for this beautiful video. Infact, I have a much bigger boat and was in biscayne bay last year. But, the bigger the boat, the bigger the problems. Have a good one.
Hello, I have been watching your videos for a long time and they are always very interesting to me, I am amazed at the edition you make and the way of putting them to music, I am a television cameraman here in Miami and I also have a boat, it is my favorite activity, God forbid that see you sailing, greetings Rudy
You are awesome and indeed inspiring. I plan on following in your footsteps ( in my own shoes 😁😁 ) once my responsibilities of caring for my elderly mom have subsided. Keep up the sailing and videos too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Steve M. From Toronto, Canada
Thanks, I really enjoyed my summer on the boat. I got a great deal on a larger, faster boat and sold the sailboat to a lady who lives aboard it near here. I'm working on some even more ambitious modifications to the new boat which should be finished in time to take it to the Bahamas this spring where i hope to spend the spring and summer aboard before returning to Florida by mid-august to ride out the most active part of hurricane season on the trailer. You can see some video of the new boat (the Carver Santego 27) in the videos section of the channel.
Thanks, I will be selling this sailboat. If you want it, my email is Sciencelookers@aol.com I may not check the mail very often if I am cruising, but I will replay when I can check the mail. My new boat is ready to go as soon as the weather clears up here. You can see the new boat in this video and some others on the channel. ruclips.net/video/_a0XVMvO7qc/видео.html
Thanks for making this inspiring video.. after watching this i feel i can fix up my 1000 dollar 20 footer in the driveway and making it my floating adventure machine.. keep up the great work and I look forward to following you.. cheers. would love more diy s
Thanks! There are definitely going to be some more DIY videos as I continue restoring and modifying the Carver sportfish. I've started making some additions to the boat using Nidacore which is a plastic honeycomb core for fiberglass. Once you get a layer of glass on each side of the honeycomb, it becomes incredibly strong while also being feather-light. The other fiberglass work was simple because I was just patching an existing structure. I'm shooting video as I go, but am waiting until I have a little experience fabricating parts from scratch before posting so I don't spread bad info. The few parts I've made are awesome, so these will hopefully be useful info for others who want to make boat parts or other structures with fiberglass and honeycomb core.
Thanks for sharing. I look forward to learning more about how you did this. I want to get an older boat to fix up but don't know how to do construction like you.
Its not hard. I didn't know exactly what to do. Whenever I saw something that should or could be fixed or changed, I'd figure out what materials and tools would be needed and when everything had been accumulated, I'd just go for it. Nothing got done perfectly but most things got done adequately. I learned by doing and keep getting better at it as I learn more by doing more.
Thanks! Old boats are surprisingly affordable and there isn't anything you can't learn to fix yourself if you watch enough youtube videos. It has to become a second job though. Doing a little work on the boat every day brings amazing results surprisingly fast.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed my boats. Check local marinas and ask the harbormaster if there are any boats for sale. You can sometimes pick up a boat the owner got tired of paying dockage on. If you use Ebay or Craigslist, be prepared to look through hundreds of boats before finding one worth restoring. Unless you are a mechanic, avoid anything where the engine does not run. If its a sailboat, you want sails in good condition as well. Cleaning, cabinetry and fiberglass work are the easy part. I like boats with trailers because I store them for free in my driveway. Do not plan on storing a boat at anchor unless you are going to live aboard full time. Anchored boats get stripped of anything valuable and sink when the bilge pump runs the battery down. At the low end, prices are arbitrary, so you find a few really nice boats and a ton of catastrophic ones going for about the same price. October and November seem to have a lot of good deals because marinas up north are taking their docks out to avoid damage from ice and owners are looking at storage costs all winter when they can't even use their boats. That time of year has more sellers than buyers, so you can get better deals then. Good hunting!
We agee with you! Sailboats are cheaper than a old used car. Our livaboard is a 32' $3000 sharpie. Upgrading to 38' ketch that we bought for $1,800. Needs work. But, it's my diet plan. SV Mariah
Sounds like you got some really good deals there. Its great to have a house thats mobile. I could never afford to stay at these places if I had to pay for a hotel room, but I can stay here for a long time with the boat. Its like having a vacation house on every island.
I just brought a 26 foot Salthouse cav to live in, im sooooo happy I did and everyone that lives on their boats here are really nice and we all party together to but im in New Zealand so I may not be able to party with ya but Ill have a beer for ya. good vid bud, stay cool.
great video. i just bought a 23ft amf sail boat. it was a deal. im thinking of going to florida for the winter and living on the boat. there is so much i sill need to know and what places to go. plan to stay and dock in the sarasota area. welcome to suggestions.
It does have a bit of that Mr Rodgers vibe. Maybe I tried a bit too hard to keep it positive. Tried to leave out any negative parts including all the cussing required when doing all the mods to the boat. The other boaters are used to welcoming newcomers because cruisers are transients by definition, someone is always leaving and someone new is always showing up. Living rent free on the boat is the only way I can afford anything resembling a vacation. This comment brought to you by the number 6 and the letter Y.
So if you are old enough to remember Mr Rodgers like I do, you probably also remember number 6 from a show caller the prisoner. You might even remember the orange alert when someone tried to get away. and the letter Y as in why and why not? Thanks for the compliment.
Great video!! can you do a in-depth video of the boat type and details of the motor and why you choose it etc also spare parts you keep.... really like your setup and want to learn more about it, also your nav station and what navigation Instruments you use and why? Type of sails you have etc... really impressed with your budget build
Thanks! This is the second MacGregor 25 I have owned. Roger MacGregor worked out an assembly line process for making these very efficiently. They finished a couple of boats a day for decades, so there are a ton of them out there. You can usually get one pretty cheap. Its all fiberglass so even a 40 year old boat is almost the same as when it left the factory. He changed the design slightly every few years so the boats got better and better. It came with a two stroke outboard but I switched to a new four stroke engine hoping it would save a lot on gas. It uses a little less, but still somewhere between 2.5 and 3 MPG. Navigation isn't a problem around Biscayne bay and the Florida keys because you can see the shore. I do have charts but they are apparently out of date or just approximate. I ran aground in a place the chart said was five feet but turned out to be about five inches. I got a small GPS chartplotter because it was cheap, not because of any other features I wanted. I also got Navionics loaded on an Android tablet which I also use to control a DJI drone. Surprisingly, the Navionics app has more detail and is more accurate than the Lowrence GPS. A set of sails came with the boat and I also have sails from the previous Mac 25 which was sold as a liveaboard motor home kind of thing because the swing keel fell off. I never knew exactly how the keel was broken. The bolt it pivots on was still in place afterwards. Thats why I had the new one put on the hard and dropped the keel to inspect the pivot hole and the bolt. A Honda 2000 watt generator fits through the cockpit locker hatch with about one inch on each side. I run it for a little while each day when cooking. It charges batteries and cools down the refrigerator at the same time. I have to unplug the refrigerator if I want to run the air conditioner. I only run the refrigerator a few hours a day, just enough to keep stuff in the freezer frozen. I got four 100 watt solar panels this winter. One of them can run the fridge during the day and I unplug it from the inverter at night. It gets plugged straight into the generator when that is being run. A series of short extension cords and power strips distributes AC power, which is easily re-configurable, so I actually like it better than having the AC wiring built-in.
no. it’s most likely those just exist to dislike everything they see. the kind of people who has a grand like everyone else for the boat but just too stupid to do this, yet jealous of those who can. the rest will appreciate being shown a possibility. the riches don’t come here.
Check out the other videos on the channel to see more of the boat and how it was modified. This video is a summary of the first year of videos about the boat.
Now he can sit back and watch all the city numtey's paying $3000 a month on rent, when he only pays $300 a month for docking sounds alot better in my book.
Great video! But why am I watching videos on RUclips about sailing /boating when I could go & buy my own boat & do what you're doing? I know - that's what you said. But you did get me thinking.... Thanks!
This is the time of year when I buy boats. Everyone is done with their summer boating. Owners see storage charges all winter long. Because summer just ended, there are few buyers. The owners of the blue MacGregor sailboat in this video had been paying storage for several years since they used it last, always thinking they'd go cruising again someday. When they decided to sell, I got it cheap because they just wanted the storage payments to end. It was on Craigslist 200 miles from me. I kept checking Craigslist both locally and for areas within driving distance of me. I also checked ebay, but you have to be careful since a lot of boats on there are total junk and owners count on buyers from too far away to come and inspect them. Asking dockmasters at local marinas if anyone is selling a boat is also a good way to find deals.
This is impressive! I have a question: you happen to live in your boat in southern Florida, so, assuming you don't have a house or any place to go in the mainland, what would you do in the event of a serious storm or hurricane threat? Would you just sail away of the area?
It depends, the boat survived hurricane Irma on a trailer in a marina parking lot while nearly all the boats at the dock were destroyed. It was pretty close to being a direct hit with three feet of storm surge in the parking lot, the trailer moved a few feet but that was all. Of course I had lowered the mast and put all canvas including the bimini top in the cabin and ratchet strapped the boat to the trailer. My other MacGregor sailboat also survived a hurricane on its trailer. If I needed to ride out a hurricane in the water, I'd force my way as far back into mangrove channels as I could get and then tie off to as many trees as possible with anchors set behind in the path I came in, or in any open water opposite the mangroves. Mooring balls tend to come loose from or drag their anchors and boats at docks get bashed against the dock or left on top of the dock by storm surge. I didn't ride out the storms on the trailers with the boats though, I evacuated to a friend's house on the gulf coast far from the predicted path of the storms. Because I brought some jerry cans of gas back with me, I could run the generator to keep my frozen food frozen, run the microwave, coffee maker, air conditioner, lights and all the comforts while almost everybody else had no power for weeks. Off grid is cool!
@@ninehundreddollarluxuryyac5958 it seems you have everything figured out...good! Florida is wonderful, but being in the Caribbean zone, now and then it gets hit by a hurricane... safe sailing there!
OK, I just uploaded a new video showing construction of a solar panel rack for the Carver. Because the Carver is ready to go, I am probably going to sell the sailboat so I can put gas in the Carver. If you want the sailboat, send me an email and make an offer. I will be asking about $3,000 for it when I finish a shakedown cruise in the Carver. I put a lot more money into it, but don't expect to get it all back by any means. If you want the sailboat now, I won't be going far on this trip and will try to check my email every few days or whenever possible. The sailboat has two main sails and three jibs (100%, 120% and a 150% genoa). I already sold the Suzuki engine, but have a smaller 6 HP long shaft sailboat outboard for it. There is also a brand new aluminum trailer that comes with the sailboat if you want it, and an anchor raising windlass that is brand new (that cost me over $700 all by itself). Email me at Sciencelookers@aol.com if you'd like to make an offer on the sailboat. Of course, you can have a personal tour of all its features if you want to come look at it in Merritt island, Florida.
Sort of a hippie. I was born a decade or so too late to have fun in the 60's (I was a little kid then) but high school and college in the 70's was pretty cool. Are you interested in this kind of boat? I took the Honda generator and the Suzuki engine off of it already. I sold the Suzuki and use the Honda on the new boat. You can buy the boat and its new aluminum trailer and be styling if you want. Email me at Sciencelookers@aol.com I'm leaving on the new boat probably Thursday but won't be far because this is just a shakedown cruise. If we can make the sale before Thursday, you can have the boat with all the upgrades and a $800 anchor raising windlass and trailer for your $1,500. When I get back at the end of August, I will be taking the windlass off so I can sell it separately. The boat includes the air conditioner, fridge/freezer, recessed LED red and white lighting, a 6 HP Johnson long shaft sailboat outboard, trailer and all the other upgrades I made. She's yours if you want her.
mooring costs? , life raft flares scraping the bottom costs, getting boat insured, radios for coast guard, toilet waste, navigational aids hurricanes ..hate to be a killjoy but thats some pension this guy must be on, and I usually pick up boats free.
Mooring costs are one reason why both of my boats fit on trailers. Its free to stay at the islands in Biscayne National Park and free to stay on a trailer in my driveway. For the time I had both the Carver and the sailboat, I paid $150/month to store the sailboat at Able Oil of Brevard. I scraped the bottom myself and painted it while we had it on jacks at Able Oil to drop the swing keel. The boat came with a radio and I also had the one from the previous sailboat, so there are two marine VHF radios on board. I also have a ditch kit with a handheld and EPIRB which gets moved from one boat to the next. Flares are a pain because you have to keep buying new ones with an up to date expiration, but its like $35 every couple of years. There is no life raft because one would literally cost more than the boat. The sailboat has lots of foam blocks stuffed in the hull which is supposed to make it unsinkable although I never tested this. The Carver has a plastic dinghy filled with foam which is also supposed to be unsinkable assuming I could get the dinghy overboard in an emergency. The porta-potty gets emptied at the park for free. The sailboat did not have any navigational aids other than the weather report on the VHF radio, but the Carver is getting Sirius satellite weather and an autopilot paid for with the sale of the sailboat, its outboard, and trailer all in separate deals. The sailboat rode out Hurricane Irma in the keys. All the boats at the marina docks were destroyed but Gemini was just fine on its trailer in the marina parking lot. I got the same $150/month storage at South Dade Marina as I did at Able Oil, and South Dade has a ramp to launch from right at the top of the Florida keys. Most of the adventure is paid for with a $550/month mortgage check I get from the guy who bought my mobile home. Yes, that house in some of the videos is mine, but it would be easy to do all of this without a house to live in because the boat can be a house if necessary. That sailboat was my home for three months last summer and is currently the home of its new owner. If you hear about another free boat, let me know! I'm developing a boat habit.
Good on you mate from Aus I have done some thing similar had win on pokies bought one for 500 have a look at my channel to see if I am following the proper dream ha ha love it man keep up the good work I hope to live on one day stay safe people
Yes I did. But I never said anyone ought to use sails or a motor. Full disclosure, I don't even live aboard full time. The boat is just a vehicle to take me places I want to go and a house I can live in when I'm there because I have time to travel but not the money to rent hotel rooms for the extended amount of time I'd like to spend there. For the next few years, the plan is to live aboard through May, June and July but have the boat back in Florida by mid-august as the hurricane risk goes up, and on its trailer ahead of any storm that heads this way. I think most of the advice I've given is how to fix boat related stuff, although I did advise people to turn off the RUclips channel and look for a cheap boat if this looked better than what they are doing at the moment. This is also advice I didn't follow because here I am answering your question on RUclips. So You definitely have a point.
Using the carver as a hotel room is a great idea. One night on land in many Bahama locations is probably well over 200 bucks. I sailed quite a bit on a on my X father in laws 26 Magregor . It sailed quite well. Very often over 5 knots in pretty light wind.
@@jsonnichsen What model of Mac 26? I found the venture 25 to be so slow that I doubted its ability to cross the gulfstream during daylight hours. I've loved the idea of the 26-X and 26-M because of the planing hull and big motor. They really seem to have the best of both worlds, although they are too expensive for me. I think I got a great deal on the Carver. It sold for $5,000 on ebay from one of those charity auction places, and that included the three axle trailer.
@@jsonnichsen The Carver stays on a trailer when I'm not using it. Its about the biggest boat you can put on a trailer and tow with a normal truck. I'm a big fan of trailerable boats. They can be stored for free in my driveway. The trailer serves as a free haul-out facility when I want to work on the bottom or out-drives. On the trailer, the boat can travel at 60 MPH. In one day I can trailer the boat a distance that would take it a week to go in the water. I live in central Florida, so taking it to the keys would take a week in the water or less than a day on the trailer. The sailboat survived hurricane Irma in the Florida keys on its trailer in the marina parking lot while most boats at the dock were destroyed. There was a big pile of boats on rocks at the end of the canal, boats were sunk tied to the dock and a few were resting on top of the dock. Boats on trailers in the parking lot had minimal damage.
Dude you paid way too much, all you old tired hippies sit around every marina smoking pot drinking beer and looking through trash containers looking for something of value you can sell.
![Felix "Unfair" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Oswujxm2Ag0/mqdefault.jpg)
insteresting perspective! you are proving you can do what you want and with minimal resources! cheers, cap!
I love your ideas, the right mentality to approach the life you want to live.
Those little white and red ceiling lights are so cool!
Yes man, money can help a lot but the hapiness we can find only inside ourselves and at the choices we made.
You Rock
Wow deep comment! 🙏🙏 Didn't see that coming
I'm happy watching ! I'm older than Moses was when all he could do was watch as everybody went into the promised land. How can 5 people not like this video. wow, what unhappy people!
What a gem. You. Your video. Oh, and I loved the tree climbing!
Wow. I mean really, wow. I have had my little 1971 MacGreror V-22 going on 2 years and while I have added a lot of live aboard things you do have me out done in nearly every way. Very well done. I had stagnated but now am again inspired thanks to your efforts and video.
I did install the largest things first, refrigerator/freezer and LP stove/oven then worked my way down to the smaller things. It gets tight in there really fast but managed to install a 24" flat screen, Blu-Ray and 2 coffee pots (12 volt and 110). In the 22' is only the problem of no shower and no flush but I may go for a bigger boat next year. Got this one with trailer for a buck then he refused to accept payment. Great fellow.
I'm running Navonics on iPhone and built my own autopilot. I was a robotics tech years ago. I have a few more things to be done but hope to see you down south in the spring trip from Key West to Hudson River, NY.
Sorry but I just do not get it why you need a TV on a yacht, go outside that should be your TV!!!!
Excellent video. I'm going down to the keys this December in search of a boat. Nice to see someone like yourself find a cheap boat and make it work.
Many thanks for this beautiful video. Infact, I have a much bigger boat and was in biscayne bay last year. But, the bigger the boat, the bigger the problems. Have a good one.
Congrats so many people wish they could live and be happy like this. Have a good day and stay safe Jimmy from Massachusetts
You know how to live your live !! a very intelligent soul !! I admire you totally !!
I love sailing...god bless you.nice video..take good care of yourself lots of love from Malaysia..
Thank you, Sir! You definitely inspire me to work on my boat. One day I'll retire and move to Florida with my wife.
The best part of Florida is the keys. Marathon is nicest if you like quiet. Key West if you like bars and night life. Best of luck to you.
Hello, I have been watching your videos for a long time and they are always very interesting to me, I am amazed at the edition you make and the way of putting them to music, I am a television cameraman here in Miami and I also have a boat, it is my favorite activity, God forbid that see you sailing, greetings Rudy
You are awesome and indeed inspiring. I plan on following in your footsteps ( in my own shoes 😁😁 ) once my responsibilities of caring for my elderly mom have subsided. Keep up the sailing and videos too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Steve M. From Toronto, Canada
those that can, do! The rest talk about it. You are an inspiration to the rest of us!!!
Excellent take on simple and affordable life.
Thanks, I really enjoyed my summer on the boat. I got a great deal on a larger, faster boat and sold the sailboat to a lady who lives aboard it near here. I'm working on some even more ambitious modifications to the new boat which should be finished in time to take it to the Bahamas this spring where i hope to spend the spring and summer aboard before returning to Florida by mid-august to ride out the most active part of hurricane season on the trailer. You can see some video of the new boat (the Carver Santego 27) in the videos section of the channel.
Great Job. May you have many great adventures on your tiny home.
Fantastic work man , all credit to you , living the dream!!
Thanks, I will be selling this sailboat. If you want it, my email is Sciencelookers@aol.com I may not check the mail very often if I am cruising, but I will replay when I can check the mail. My new boat is ready to go as soon as the weather clears up here. You can see the new boat in this video and some others on the channel.
ruclips.net/video/_a0XVMvO7qc/видео.html
Thanks for making this inspiring video.. after watching this i feel i can fix up my 1000 dollar 20 footer in the driveway and making it my floating adventure machine.. keep up the great work and I look forward to following you.. cheers. would love more diy s
Thanks! There are definitely going to be some more DIY videos as I continue restoring and modifying the Carver sportfish. I've started making some additions to the boat using Nidacore which is a plastic honeycomb core for fiberglass. Once you get a layer of glass on each side of the honeycomb, it becomes incredibly strong while also being feather-light. The other fiberglass work was simple because I was just patching an existing structure. I'm shooting video as I go, but am waiting until I have a little experience fabricating parts from scratch before posting so I don't spread bad info. The few parts I've made are awesome, so these will hopefully be useful info for others who want to make boat parts or other structures with fiberglass and honeycomb core.
That's great.. I have some loose stanchions so not sure if I have to recore the area or patch holes and redrill.. not sure what you would recommend.
Thanks for such a positive and inspirational video!
Thanks for sharing. I look forward to learning more about how you did this. I want to get an older boat to fix up but don't know how to do construction like you.
Its not hard. I didn't know exactly what to do. Whenever I saw something that should or could be fixed or changed, I'd figure out what materials and tools would be needed and when everything had been accumulated, I'd just go for it. Nothing got done perfectly but most things got done adequately. I learned by doing and keep getting better at it as I learn more by doing more.
Lovely. Inclusive story of life at sea. Like your style.
3:37 aaaaahhh thats a lionfish, it's a deadly venmous fish!!!!
You are such a real inspiration !!!
Thanks! Old boats are surprisingly affordable and there isn't anything you can't learn to fix yourself if you watch enough youtube videos. It has to become a second job though. Doing a little work on the boat every day brings amazing results surprisingly fast.
Love this video. Cheers to the Captain sounds like a lovely guy. Glad hes out there doing it.
Great attitude man ,good luck .
you rock. working on the same dream currently., see u on the seas at some point
Hey! I absolutely loved this video. I can’t wait to get a yacht!!
Hope you enjoy it as much as I have enjoyed my boats. Check local marinas and ask the harbormaster if there are any boats for sale. You can sometimes pick up a boat the owner got tired of paying dockage on. If you use Ebay or Craigslist, be prepared to look through hundreds of boats before finding one worth restoring. Unless you are a mechanic, avoid anything where the engine does not run. If its a sailboat, you want sails in good condition as well. Cleaning, cabinetry and fiberglass work are the easy part. I like boats with trailers because I store them for free in my driveway. Do not plan on storing a boat at anchor unless you are going to live aboard full time. Anchored boats get stripped of anything valuable and sink when the bilge pump runs the battery down. At the low end, prices are arbitrary, so you find a few really nice boats and a ton of catastrophic ones going for about the same price. October and November seem to have a lot of good deals because marinas up north are taking their docks out to avoid damage from ice and owners are looking at storage costs all winter when they can't even use their boats. That time of year has more sellers than buyers, so you can get better deals then. Good hunting!
Tons of Respect!
Very inspiring! Love this. Trying to get the wife onboard will be the tough trick.
You can always leave her behind!
@@codylapoint 😂
We agee with you! Sailboats are cheaper than a old used car. Our livaboard is a 32' $3000 sharpie. Upgrading to 38' ketch that we bought for $1,800. Needs work. But, it's my diet plan. SV Mariah
Sounds like you got some really good deals there. Its great to have a house thats mobile. I could never afford to stay at these places if I had to pay for a hotel room, but I can stay here for a long time with the boat. Its like having a vacation house on every island.
Outstanding video
Really nice video ,
Thanks! Thanks for subscribing as well.
I owe you 2 beers!
Glad to hear the videos are helping people do this stuff easier. If you ever get to Florida, let me know. We'll get together for those beers!
I just brought a 26 foot Salthouse cav to live in, im sooooo happy I did and everyone that lives on their boats here are really nice and we all party together to but im in New Zealand so I may not be able to party with ya but Ill have a beer for ya. good vid bud, stay cool.
I too have a Cavalier 26 , she was basically abandoned , but solid GRP , still to put her in the water .64 Yo no sailing experience . must be mad
great video. i just bought a 23ft amf sail boat. it was a deal. im thinking of going to florida for the winter and living on the boat. there is so much i sill need to know and what places to go. plan to stay and dock in the sarasota area. welcome to suggestions.
Cheers! I'll be there soon! At the end of this year!
great video, I hope all is well
that was a awesome video man!! strangely it took me back to mr Rodgers neighborhood. You are so right about getting outside bro!! gonna sub ya!
It does have a bit of that Mr Rodgers vibe. Maybe I tried a bit too hard to keep it positive. Tried to leave out any negative parts including all the cussing required when doing all the mods to the boat. The other boaters are used to welcoming newcomers because cruisers are transients by definition, someone is always leaving and someone new is always showing up. Living rent free on the boat is the only way I can afford anything resembling a vacation. This comment brought to you by the number 6 and the letter Y.
it was a compliment!
6 Y you too
So if you are old enough to remember Mr Rodgers like I do, you probably also remember number 6 from a show caller the prisoner. You might even remember the orange alert when someone tried to get away. and the letter Y as in why and why not? Thanks for the compliment.
Great video. Great 👍
I have a boat like this sitting on the side of my house in Louisiana. Will make someone a great deal on it.
Can you send pictures. I live in New Orleans.
Epic! Thanks for continuing the inspiration!
Great job. Keep making those videos.
Great video!! can you do a in-depth video of the boat type and details of the motor and why you choose it etc also spare parts you keep.... really like your setup and want to learn more about it, also your nav station and what navigation Instruments you use and why? Type of sails you have etc... really impressed with your budget build
Thanks! This is the second MacGregor 25 I have owned. Roger MacGregor worked out an assembly line process for making these very efficiently. They finished a couple of boats a day for decades, so there are a ton of them out there. You can usually get one pretty cheap. Its all fiberglass so even a 40 year old boat is almost the same as when it left the factory. He changed the design slightly every few years so the boats got better and better. It came with a two stroke outboard but I switched to a new four stroke engine hoping it would save a lot on gas. It uses a little less, but still somewhere between 2.5 and 3 MPG.
Navigation isn't a problem around Biscayne bay and the Florida keys because you can see the shore. I do have charts but they are apparently out of date or just approximate. I ran aground in a place the chart said was five feet but turned out to be about five inches. I got a small GPS chartplotter because it was cheap, not because of any other features I wanted. I also got Navionics loaded on an Android tablet which I also use to control a DJI drone. Surprisingly, the Navionics app has more detail and is more accurate than the Lowrence GPS.
A set of sails came with the boat and I also have sails from the previous Mac 25 which was sold as a liveaboard motor home kind of thing because the swing keel fell off. I never knew exactly how the keel was broken. The bolt it pivots on was still in place afterwards. Thats why I had the new one put on the hard and dropped the keel to inspect the pivot hole and the bolt.
A Honda 2000 watt generator fits through the cockpit locker hatch with about one inch on each side. I run it for a little while each day when cooking. It charges batteries and cools down the refrigerator at the same time. I have to unplug the refrigerator if I want to run the air conditioner. I only run the refrigerator a few hours a day, just enough to keep stuff in the freezer frozen. I got four 100 watt solar panels this winter. One of them can run the fridge during the day and I unplug it from the inverter at night. It gets plugged straight into the generator when that is being run. A series of short extension cords and power strips distributes AC power, which is easily re-configurable, so I actually like it better than having the AC wiring built-in.
great stuff, brother. Thank you.
This is fantastic!
Thanks for the video really nice advise 🤙🤙
Good for you.
nice video! are you still living off the grid??
Beautiful life. Enjoy.
How could 3 people not like this vid, must be the 1% of rich people, with their multi-million dollar yachts, we are all peasants to them.
Thanks! Appreciate the support.
no. it’s most likely those just exist to dislike everything they see. the kind of people who has a grand like everyone else for the boat but just too stupid to do this, yet jealous of those who can. the rest will appreciate being shown a possibility. the riches don’t come here.
I was hoping for more shots of the boat and what he did to it, instead of shots of fish and crabs.
Check out the other videos on the channel to see more of the boat and how it was modified. This video is a summary of the first year of videos about the boat.
Now he can sit back and watch all the city numtey's paying $3000 a month on rent, when he only pays $300 a month for docking sounds alot better in my book.
Great video! But why am I watching videos on RUclips about sailing /boating when I could go & buy my own boat & do what you're doing? I know - that's what you said. But you did get me thinking.... Thanks!
This is the time of year when I buy boats. Everyone is done with their summer boating. Owners see storage charges all winter long. Because summer just ended, there are few buyers. The owners of the blue MacGregor sailboat in this video had been paying storage for several years since they used it last, always thinking they'd go cruising again someday. When they decided to sell, I got it cheap because they just wanted the storage payments to end. It was on Craigslist 200 miles from me. I kept checking Craigslist both locally and for areas within driving distance of me. I also checked ebay, but you have to be careful since a lot of boats on there are total junk and owners count on buyers from too far away to come and inspect them. Asking dockmasters at local marinas if anyone is selling a boat is also a good way to find deals.
A great stove are those cheap one burners that you can get at asian stores!! They use propane cans at about a buck apiece!
Thanks! I got one of those and liked it so much that I kept it when I got a deal on a bigger boat.
This is impressive! I have a question: you happen to live in your boat in southern Florida, so, assuming you don't have a house or any place to go in the mainland, what would you do in the event of a serious storm or hurricane threat? Would you just sail away of the area?
It depends, the boat survived hurricane Irma on a trailer in a marina parking lot while nearly all the boats at the dock were destroyed. It was pretty close to being a direct hit with three feet of storm surge in the parking lot, the trailer moved a few feet but that was all. Of course I had lowered the mast and put all canvas including the bimini top in the cabin and ratchet strapped the boat to the trailer. My other MacGregor sailboat also survived a hurricane on its trailer. If I needed to ride out a hurricane in the water, I'd force my way as far back into mangrove channels as I could get and then tie off to as many trees as possible with anchors set behind in the path I came in, or in any open water opposite the mangroves.
Mooring balls tend to come loose from or drag their anchors and boats at docks get bashed against the dock or left on top of the dock by storm surge. I didn't ride out the storms on the trailers with the boats though, I evacuated to a friend's house on the gulf coast far from the predicted path of the storms. Because I brought some jerry cans of gas back with me, I could run the generator to keep my frozen food frozen, run the microwave, coffee maker, air conditioner, lights and all the comforts while almost everybody else had no power for weeks. Off grid is cool!
@@ninehundreddollarluxuryyac5958 it seems you have everything figured out...good! Florida is wonderful, but being in the Caribbean zone, now and then it gets hit by a hurricane... safe sailing there!
You remind me of my dad, He was a butcher too
PLEEAASE Telly’s more about ur boat and the work u did!! Great vid.
OK, I just uploaded a new video showing construction of a solar panel rack for the Carver. Because the Carver is ready to go, I am probably going to sell the sailboat so I can put gas in the Carver. If you want the sailboat, send me an email and make an offer. I will be asking about $3,000 for it when I finish a shakedown cruise in the Carver. I put a lot more money into it, but don't expect to get it all back by any means. If you want the sailboat now, I won't be going far on this trip and will try to check my email every few days or whenever possible. The sailboat has two main sails and three jibs (100%, 120% and a 150% genoa). I already sold the Suzuki engine, but have a smaller 6 HP long shaft sailboat outboard for it. There is also a brand new aluminum trailer that comes with the sailboat if you want it, and an anchor raising windlass that is brand new (that cost me over $700 all by itself). Email me at Sciencelookers@aol.com if you'd like to make an offer on the sailboat. Of course, you can have a personal tour of all its features if you want to come look at it in Merritt island, Florida.
really liked your video...good practical information....heck i got $1500 so i should be styling....were you a hippie?
Sort of a hippie. I was born a decade or so too late to have fun in the 60's (I was a little kid then) but high school and college in the 70's was pretty cool. Are you interested in this kind of boat? I took the Honda generator and the Suzuki engine off of it already. I sold the Suzuki and use the Honda on the new boat. You can buy the boat and its new aluminum trailer and be styling if you want. Email me at Sciencelookers@aol.com I'm leaving on the new boat probably Thursday but won't be far because this is just a shakedown cruise. If we can make the sale before Thursday, you can have the boat with all the upgrades and a $800 anchor raising windlass and trailer for your $1,500. When I get back at the end of August, I will be taking the windlass off so I can sell it separately. The boat includes the air conditioner, fridge/freezer, recessed LED red and white lighting, a 6 HP Johnson long shaft sailboat outboard, trailer and all the other upgrades I made. She's yours if you want her.
He doesn't mention it, but much of this was filmed on Bahia Honda in Biscayne Bay.
No my friend. Bahia Honda is about 30 miles from Key West. The island shown here is Boca Chita in Biscayne National Park.
@@edwiser3547 Thank you for the correction.
YOU WILL BE MY ISPIRATION! gOD bLESS yOU!
Cool!
just a west coast dreamer......
wow! thank you :)
i wanted to see the finished boat..but all that stuff costs money and you need to know how to build it so its cheap
"luxury" well nice after your upgrades but not luxury just yet, keep upgrading like that and maybe one day...
mooring costs? , life raft flares scraping the bottom costs, getting boat insured, radios for coast guard, toilet waste, navigational aids hurricanes ..hate to be a killjoy but thats some pension this guy must be on, and I usually pick up boats free.
Mooring costs are one reason why both of my boats fit on trailers. Its free to stay at the islands in Biscayne National Park and free to stay on a trailer in my driveway. For the time I had both the Carver and the sailboat, I paid $150/month to store the sailboat at Able Oil of Brevard. I scraped the bottom myself and painted it while we had it on jacks at Able Oil to drop the swing keel.
The boat came with a radio and I also had the one from the previous sailboat, so there are two marine VHF radios on board. I also have a ditch kit with a handheld and EPIRB which gets moved from one boat to the next. Flares are a pain because you have to keep buying new ones with an up to date expiration, but its like $35 every couple of years. There is no life raft because one would literally cost more than the boat. The sailboat has lots of foam blocks stuffed in the hull which is supposed to make it unsinkable although I never tested this. The Carver has a plastic dinghy filled with foam which is also supposed to be unsinkable assuming I could get the dinghy overboard in an emergency. The porta-potty gets emptied at the park for free.
The sailboat did not have any navigational aids other than the weather report on the VHF radio, but the Carver is getting Sirius satellite weather and an autopilot paid for with the sale of the sailboat, its outboard, and trailer all in separate deals. The sailboat rode out Hurricane Irma in the keys. All the boats at the marina docks were destroyed but Gemini was just fine on its trailer in the marina parking lot. I got the same $150/month storage at South Dade Marina as I did at Able Oil, and South Dade has a ramp to launch from right at the top of the Florida keys. Most of the adventure is paid for with a $550/month mortgage check I get from the guy who bought my mobile home. Yes, that house in some of the videos is mine, but it would be easy to do all of this without a house to live in because the boat can be a house if necessary. That sailboat was my home for three months last summer and is currently the home of its new owner. If you hear about another free boat, let me know! I'm developing a boat habit.
Good on you mate from
Aus I have done some thing similar had win on pokies bought one for 500 have a look at my channel to see if I am following the proper dream ha ha love it man keep up the good work I hope to live on one day stay safe people
😆 very very nive
Who lives in a pineapple under the sea????
Give me a couple of month an i join you ;)
So you give all this great advice to other people and then yourself reject that very advice by purchasing a big power boat. Hmmm
Yes I did. But I never said anyone ought to use sails or a motor. Full disclosure, I don't even live aboard full time. The boat is just a vehicle to take me places I want to go and a house I can live in when I'm there because I have time to travel but not the money to rent hotel rooms for the extended amount of time I'd like to spend there. For the next few years, the plan is to live aboard through May, June and July but have the boat back in Florida by mid-august as the hurricane risk goes up, and on its trailer ahead of any storm that heads this way. I think most of the advice I've given is how to fix boat related stuff, although I did advise people to turn off the RUclips channel and look for a cheap boat if this looked better than what they are doing at the moment. This is also advice I didn't follow because here I am answering your question on RUclips. So You definitely have a point.
Using the carver as a hotel room is a great idea. One night on land in many Bahama locations is probably well over 200 bucks.
I sailed quite a bit on a on my X father in laws 26 Magregor . It sailed quite well. Very often over 5 knots in pretty light wind.
Off season, when the boat is not in use. Do you have a trailer? Does it get hauled out and stored? Maybe stays in the water?
@@jsonnichsen What model of Mac 26? I found the venture 25 to be so slow that I doubted its ability to cross the gulfstream during daylight hours. I've loved the idea of the 26-X and 26-M because of the planing hull and big motor. They really seem to have the best of both worlds, although they are too expensive for me. I think I got a great deal on the Carver. It sold for $5,000 on ebay from one of those charity auction places, and that included the three axle trailer.
@@jsonnichsen The Carver stays on a trailer when I'm not using it. Its about the biggest boat you can put on a trailer and tow with a normal truck. I'm a big fan of trailerable boats. They can be stored for free in my driveway. The trailer serves as a free haul-out facility when I want to work on the bottom or out-drives. On the trailer, the boat can travel at 60 MPH. In one day I can trailer the boat a distance that would take it a week to go in the water. I live in central Florida, so taking it to the keys would take a week in the water or less than a day on the trailer. The sailboat survived hurricane Irma in the Florida keys on its trailer in the marina parking lot while most boats at the dock were destroyed. There was a big pile of boats on rocks at the end of the canal, boats were sunk tied to the dock and a few were resting on top of the dock. Boats on trailers in the parking lot had minimal damage.
Dude you paid way too much, all you old tired hippies sit around every marina smoking pot drinking beer and looking through trash containers looking for something of value you can sell.
Dude get a hair cut......