That is (mostly) finished now.
At that same time I started a thread on the homebuiltairplanes forum asking advice on a father/son project for a plane we could build together once the boats were finished. I kept that thread active over the last couple years and it has meandered all around through dreams both practical and impractical. It was good for me to be thinking and planning about what is and isn't possible, what is and isn't realistic, and what we would enjoy so that when the time came it was easy for me to quickly order the plans for the plane we are starting to build.
The goal is to finish it within approximately 3 years at which point he will be 14 and can start learning to fly. (he can legally solo when he is 16)
Since the planning for this stage of our life/building project is done, it is time to start the next.
My wife hates flying but loves boats and the water. It was actually her request that had us building boats before planes in the timeline of things
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So the next big project would start in roughly 3-4 years and I would expect to take 3-5 years to complete.
A power catamaran seems the ideal we would compare most things to at this point, however we are not wealthy and doubt that will change between now and then........ Operating cost will be important which it would seem points towards sailing.
Neither of us have any experience or knowledge of sailing, so the idea would be sometime in the next couple of years do a learning vacation at a sailing school somewhere. (any suggestions on the most economical way of doing this?)
In a perfect world we would return to Alaska in the summers and then head south again in the fall. Probably get to Alaska late May and leave early October. Perhaps some summers in Ontario Canada instead of Alaska.
I don't know how wind and weather work seasonally, other than that they probably do.... is traveling these directions at this time even practical?
We spent all weekend watching 'youtubers' on various ~40-45ft sailing catamarans but were left with a feeling that we weren't really seeing the full picture. Because of who we are and where we live, isolation and provisioning don't really concern us much, but we do wonder about the realities of weather and maintenance etc......
We would never be in a hurry to get anywhere and are both fairly risk adverse, so we wouldn't make 'stupid' choices, but I realize sometimes you don't make the choices that get you into trouble.
What are the realities for cost of living differences between pure power boats and motor sailers?
I guess that's enough for an intro, we have lots of time and no clue what we really want, so throw your ideas and dreams at us so we can start sorting through them
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Links to people doing that sort of thing would be useful as well, I have just started googling, but not found alot yet.... I am sure there are some good specific communities out there somewhere.