The Quest Begins.

I have wanted to live on a boat for as long as I can remember. When I was a little kid, it was one of those "when I grow up" kind of things. All of my friends wanted to be firemen, or veterinarians, or policemen, or whatever.

I just wanted to live on a boat.

As I got older, I was lead to believe that only really rich people could afford to do that, and I knew I would never be all that rich. I don't WANT to be. Money causes more problems than it solves.

I just want the freedom to pick up and leave whenever the mood strikes me, and have the entire ocean as my backyard. For years though, that seemed beyond my grasp.

That is, until a few nights ago. I was browsing Craig's List looking to see if I could find a higher paying job - or at least one that I could get more than 4-6 hours per week. I happened upon an ad for a sailboat for a little under $3,000. I couldn't believe it. I assumed that it was a junker, so I looked, but no. It was a little bit of a fixer, but nothing serious.

Then I started browsing sailboat listings, and found out that I could pick up a good 30' ish boat for 5-6 thousand, less if I was willing to put a bit of work into the boat.

Then I started looking up slip rental fees. Found out that they could be anywhere from $200-$500 depending on location, boat size, and live-aboard fees.

I got excited.

Then I found out that in the state of California, in most marinas (except privately owned ones) there is a live-aboard permit percentage allowance of 5%. So, in a marina with 100 slips, they can have only FIVE people living on board a boat.

I haven't seen many marinas that were much bigger than 100 slips.

Finding a place that will let me live on a boat is going to be the hardest part.