Boat or RV?

C

cattlejack

Member
WOW!!!! First, what a great site to be a part of. How can you not want a C-Dory with all these friends already. I ask a question about get some reading material for a first time boater, and in the first day I got 16 responses. All good advice for books and a lot of good questions. I'm a 57 year old man who has never own a boat. I have looked a C-Dory's and Ranger Tugs for a number of years. We moved to Maryland a few years ago and live right near the water , Brenton Bay to be exact. We have access to a boat launch and dry storage. My better half wants an RV, but I think a boat would be used a lot more. One or two vacations a year virus every weekend or for a few hours after a work day hummmmm???? She thinks we should start with a little less expensive boat, something we could fish off of, waterski and go for a short ride around the bay.
I see a bigger picture on the horizon.
Any advice on this would be helpful. Thanks
P.S. Perfect Storm is one of my favorite movies, watch it all the time.
 
Well I cant help you. I fight the same battle too. We had a sailboat that we used a few nights a week. Along came two little ones and it's hard to justify paying slip fees for two years without going out much. So we sold the boat for a little pop up camper. The camper has been great. We go camping at least once every two months, sometimes more. Now that the kids are almost walking I'd love to have another boat. One of my most favorite things is to anchor out for the night. I agree with you, I think we would use a boat more than our camper. So I think we'll eventually have both. C- Dorys are definitely not cheap, but you can get a little camper for less than $5,000. So get both. ;-)
 
Each couple makes their personal choice. We lived first four years of retirement when in No. America in a 20' RV -- she took us over 30,000 miles all over the continent - Key West to Prudhoe Bay, Newfoundland to Baja CA. Delightful -- traveled with the seasons.
Then moved aboard a 20" sailboat and lived aboard and cruised her over 30K miles on the coasts and rivers. Then, moved aboard our 22' C-Dory and towed her with a Ford F-250 with a pop up Alaska Camper. Lived on her or in the camper for almost twelve years. Great combination of comfortable (for us) land or water cruising.
Now, we have a rental condo on a small lake (can close the door, walk out, and travel as we wish), and are back to land cruising. Just returned from Santa Fe and the canyon lands and arches of Utah for time back in the CO condo with friends and family.
The pop-up camper and towable small live-aboard boat may be right for the two of you as you travel land or ashore. Since I presume you are still working, start with one or the other and then complete the combo after retiring.
The joy is in having the freedom of choice.
 
"My better half wants an RV, but I think a boat would be used a lot more. One or two vacations a year virus every weekend or for a few hours after a work day hummmmm???? She thinks we should start with a little less expensive boat, something we could fish off of, waterski and go for a short ride around the bay."

Well, you're both right. Get a 16 footer, and a conversion van RV. It's the perfect combo for what you both want. So, what's next?
:smile
 
We use the RV much more than the CD22. We love both, but I count 1 week on the boat as about 4 weeks on the motor home (boat is much more of an adventure). Absolutely love to travel so both work for us.

Currently boondocking in Albuquerque on RV with CD22 sitting in Blaine, WA waiting for our summer arrival from Alaska.

Get both...
 
If it has to be one or the other, I'd get the boat. The RV just takes you to the next stop on the highway, where there are probably a bunch of other people anyway, while the boat can get you out to otherwise inaccessible adventures. Seems like a no-brainer to me.
 
Put us down for BOTH! We enjoy months at a time in the RV and the boat. While they have similarities, they are very different. Both are wonderful "escape pods," allowing you to get away as time allows.

You are not the first to try to convince the significant other that boat time is a good time. However, if you have to "convince" her, it will be a long, uphill effort. Something she said was very telling... "something we could fish off of, waterski, and go for a short ride around the bay."

That one sentence lets you know that she doesn't understand what C-Dory boating is all about. Yes, it can definitely be a fishing machine. Waterskiing? Not so much. Short ride around the bay? She can't imagine being on a boat any longer than her bladder can comfortably accommodate.

Rather than convince, you need to introduce her to what the C-Dory lifestyle is all about. Road trip! Take her to a C-Brat gathering, and (for incentive) make it a romantic weekend getaway as well.

These boats can be an RV. You can spend as much or as little time aboard as you want. What we enjoy most about our C-Dory (25) is the fact that it can get us away from the world... easily. For a few hours or months at a time.

You need to let her know that there isn't anything "scary" about time on a boat... something not easy to do when you don't have experience, either. (See that suggestion about taking a US Power Squadron intro/safe boating class.) Suggest that she read through some of the posts here. Our cruising thread (The Cruising Adventures of Wild Blue and crew), under "Grand Adventures" starts out a year or so into our C-Dory travels, with a winter in the Florida Keys. Then to the Texas Gulf Coast, to Lake Powell, to San Francisco, to Yellowstone Lake, to the San Francisco Delta area, and then to the Pacific Northwest... from Puget Sound north into Canada. All that in one year.

If she enjoys that, I wrote a book about traveling with our cat... by boat AND RV, titled "Cat On A Leash." Check out our blog: http://captnjim.blogspot.com/ if you want to see more.

We have had all kinds of wonderful adventures... by boat and RV. Our lives are better because of the travels - the places we have visited and the wonderful people we have met along the way. The C-Brats are a very welcoming bunch... expose your wife to the folks here, and she will be helping you find the right boat! 8)

Good luck with the discussions. Time is a-wasting... there are sunsets to toast... breath-taking vistas to photograph... local festivals to experience. Start right out your back door... how could you NOT want a boat there?

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Personally, I don't have much interest in camping somewhere without water, so an RV without a boat wouldn't have been much use for me.

we wanted a boat that we could tow easily. we wanted to be able to fish the puget sound, visit lake Chelan, and have the freedom to take the boat to the Columbia River, so towable was a must.

I didn't know if we'd like camping on the boat or not. we could have got a bigger cabin cruiser, but the c-dory was the perfect middle of the road tester. 1. it can fish, 2. it can tow, 3. we can sleep and camp on it comfortably.

as it turns out, we had the boat on the water 27 days last year. most of the time was spent cruising and camping Puget Sound. lots of days fishing, but it turns out our passion is cruising and camping at marinas. so our next boat will likely be larger and less towable with emphasis on cruising and fishing being the less significant part of our investment. the C-Dory is perfect because it let us explore all these different aspects of boating and find out what we love the most.

we haven't towed anybody on the boat yet, but had a great time dropping anchor and swimming with the family in the middle of the lake, then relaxing and making lunch in the shady cool cabin after :)

http://www.c-brats.com/modules.php?set_ ... _photo.php
 
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