Yeah, if you read some of my recent posts, I've talked specifically about the next 4 years, her 14-18/9-12th grade, taking a move off the table, making use of this beautiful location, because when she graduates, that's probably the time to downsize, really rethink things.
We've been purging "stuff" for some time now, simplifying things too, even when I went from AVR/speakers/amps/etc., to a Sonos, that was partially to make it simpler, reduce the footprint. Hahaha, I get that a boat is adding a thing, that requires effort, maintenance - but, it's to facilitate experience.
I believe I was a decent amount older than you are now, when we had our first-and-only. The downside is being older, but we timed it pretty good, like I won't quite have one foot in the grave when she would start college
Yeah, I haven’t seen those posts but I have seen your pictures. You are in a beautiful spot. Where are you looking to move. Moving a kid in high school (assuming to another district) isn’t the easiest task. As someone who went from private Jewish day school until 8th grade, to public school for the first 2 years of HS, to a prep school for the last 2, it’s not the best experience. Granted I lived in the same town the entire time so I knew plenty of my classmates at the public school via other means and when I went to private school I knew some people there, so it was a relatively smooth transition.
Well, I’m almost 35. My wife is a year younger. 36+ is considered a “geriatric pregnancy”. Granted births between 35-40 are quite common now and even women birthing in their 40’s is more common than ever. Obviously older the mother is the higher the risk, but many of those are manageable. My wife is in excellent health and manages to run 4 miles per everyday, so that can’t hurt our chances. I can’t imagine being 60 when my kid is 20, but I also can’t imagine having a kid in the near future either. I still feel like I’m 16 years old half the time (and 21 the other half haha). When I was in second grade (age 8?) there was a kid in my class whose dad was 66! I assume his mother was considerably younger. Chances are by this point he’s no longer with us. I can’t imagine not having a father in my early-mid 20’s (or similarly not being there for my kid in his/her 20’s).
You’ve heard the joke about the best two days of your life?
I’ve considered, but never owned a boat. Imo, the only viable option Imo is to have a boat sitting outback, on your dock, or very close by sitting in the water, waiting to be hopped in and taking off in it. No trailers required.
Boat trailering sucks but it sure makes maintaining it much, much easier. Especially if you’re in a warm water climate where crap grows quickly on the hull. Not also having to spend a boatload (no pun intended) and deal with the logistics for a haul out every time you need to deal with something on the bottom of the boat is also nice.
What’s cool are those boat lifts people have at their docks where they can easily hoist the boat out of the water when they’re not in use.
I imagine there are some size/weight/boat style limitations, frankly I’ve never seen such a large boat like picture #3 below. I can’t imagine these are cheap but probably pay for themselves avoiding the hassle of towing and boat ramps not to mention maintenance.
Or if you really have an unlimited budget you could be like the Coast Guard in the UK with one of these slipways to launch and retrieve your 54ft boat:
Here you don’t even have to worry about your boat being rained on, birds pooping on it, UV damage, lightening strikes, floods, hurricanes, rodents, theft, seals sleeping on your swim platform, etc.
Speaking of which, my dad’s boat was in the water at a marina leading up to Hurricane Sandy (on the CT coast, bordering RI, directly across the sound from Montauk, Long Island- in proximity to CT’s Submarine base). As you may recall, Sandy decimated NYC. So when it became apparent Sandy was heading directly for the area, my dad called up the marina to haul the boat out… along with everyone else along the NY/CT/RI coast. He was told the cranes/hoists were completely booked, they were working OT to get as many boats out, and they’d be unlikely to accommodate him. Plus they were running out of space to even put boats on their property.
So my dad tied up the boat extra well and crossed his fingers. It turns out despite the largest hurricane to hit the northeast in history (and I assume the most damaging and deadly), his boat survived just fine- not so much as a scratch. Meanwhile, some of the boats on land propped up on jack stands and wooden braces blew over, creating a domino effect of boats falling on top of another, damaging dozens of boats.
I suppose the lesson is that being on land isn’t necessarily safer
