I've been shopping for a new home for a while, and I just spent the last two days surveying a prospect. The basement is not like your conventional home, it has a couple of these down there.

 

Water based home I take it?

 

Yup... That's a Cummins Marine engine. I'm retiring and our plan was always to be mobile for retirement, we finally settled on a liveaboard boat - after shopping for one for close to a year.

The deal can still fall apart, but if the oil samples prove good - it will end my 7.3L days sometime this fall. The boat is too big to be towed on the open road, so everything is being sold off that doesn't fit in/on it (except the Prius is still needed for groceries and doctor visits).

 

Hate to see you leave the 7.3 world, but best wishes as you quite literally sail off into your retirement. Enjoy it sir!

 

never had the chance to try that life, but my book reads tend to be about living on boats and spy thrillers in the Florida and Caribbean world.

Don Rich, Evan Graver, Wayne Stinnett, Matt Lincoln, and more authors like them.

I have always worked and lived in the Greater Southwestern states,
and ended up in OkieLand when I retired

 

Keeping the 7.3L in the topic so we don't get booted, Frankenstinky needs a little attention before I put him on the market. I got a rock chip on the windshield that spidered out, the pin striping looks a little sad, and he's due for a coolant flush.

Frankenstinky has been a much more reliable rig than Stinky ever was, I've really enjoyed just driving and preventative maintenance vs. fix, fix, fix.

On the topic of boat living, my wife and I were the most relaxed while on the boat we had, and I've always been jealous of people on TV, movies, and YouTube that live on boats.

 

Frankenstinky could still be that grocery getter, hate to see it go

Very much excited for the two of you doing this together.

 

Two diesels in one vehicle is more maintenance than I really want, but I'm willing to endure for the sake of what that brings. Adding a 3rd diesel to my maintenance list? That takes away from my boating time and money - taboo. All Hail! Boat!

 

How does that work?

The Prius gets stored at a dock yard in Washington?

What if you are sailing in San Diego, and need to get groceries?

 

I’m also a Cummins guy, maybe I can be Gilligan!😂

 

Just how big is this vessel? Hope you over-nighted the oil samples, today makes 3 weeks I've been waiting on the results from my last one.

 

We're sticking around the PNW. Most of the West coast is open water - where Puget Sound, the Salish Sea, and the Inside Passage is epic beauty protected from the demons lurking in open ocean. Our boat is considered a coastal cruiser (Flybridge Sedan).

 

The samples here take about a week. The boat is listed as a 34, but LOA is never the advertised number (add for swim platform and any hardware sticking over the bow).

For those skeptical of that size for a liveaboard, consider this vs. any road vehicle that so many retirees live in:

40 foot 5er limiter to 8'6" width while in motion is 340 square feet. Adding 3 tip-outs might give you 400 sq ft of living space

That's the same area as the main deck on my prospective boat with a 12 ft beam... then there's the engine room and storage below... then there's the fly bridge. I feel drinks at sunset on the flybridge beats the hell out of beverages under the awning of a 5er... but that's me.

The only remaining question is if the boat has a layout conducive to living aboard, my wife and I feel it is.

 

Happy wife, happy life!

 

Oh, and not to make it about me......

But I will be free to visit Tugly and the Mrs. anytime now that my wife wasn't happy and the divorce should be final (not that I'm looking forward to it or happy about it in any way) by mid-August.