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posted from email 

 Are you still evaluating trailer living?  Any more observations?  Was buying used the best decision, now that you have more time to reflect?

    Life is full of surprises. We bought the Airstream, a "land yacht," in November of 2005 when I turned 65. Our intention was to fix it up, using it as a bunkhouse for grandchildren, and traveling to relatively nearby locations such as Red River and Chama--- both are less than 100 miles from Santa Fe, our primary residence. We've done those things and enjoyed all three.

    But then came the surprises.

   First, when I chose to retire from the Dallas Morning News in August of 2006, I discovered that I really wanted to continue working and writing--- regardless of income. That opened the door to creating AssetBuilder as well as writing my syndicated column and finishing a second book with economist Larry Kotlikoff. (The book, "Spend Till the End" will be published by Simon & Shuster in June of 2008. We think it is the first truly accurate way to do financial planning.)

    As you might expect, this doesn't leave much time for taking a trailer off our property, let alone hauling it to Big Bend, Yuma, or Penasco in Mexico.

   Second, just as I was leaving the Dallas Morning News one of my younger brothers and I put an auction bid on a  J-30  sloop being sold by the Maine Maritime Academy. Our bid won and suddenly I was part-owner of a real yacht. Here, I have to confess I prefer water yachts to land yachts and have hungered to have a boat again for years. When I was much younger and lived in Boston I owned a 32' Herreshoff ketch which I kept in Marblehead harbor and then moved down to Red Brook Harbor on Cape Cod.

   So it's likely that any free time we have will be spent sailing in Maine. Our use of the Airstream will be limited to having a bunkhouse for grandchildren. We might also sell it, knowing we can buy another at a later date. Right now, we're feeling that our lives are a bit complicated.

    All that makes me very glad we bought a used trailer. If we owned a new one we'd feel silly about the under-utilized investment, the cost of insurance and registration, etc. But with the used trailer our investment is less than 1/5 of a new trailer and we can simply park it on our property, awaiting future use.  

Scott

 

Scott, you must plan a visit (maybe in the cold of winter) to our home on the west coast of Florida - St Petersburg Florida. As an avid sailor, you might enjoy our neighbor, Charlie Morgan, well-known for his sailboat designs, America's Cup races and builder of the Morgan sailboat line. Maybe let us set up a fun evening at the legendary St Petersburg Yacht Club (home of Ed Baird of recent Cup fame) for dinner and some boating conversations! Halsey Herreshoff was here recently for a great presentation on his designs. We've sold our Sabre and went the Grady White route for knocking about the local waters.

Light Heart,

That sounds wonderful! My wife and I are about to leave for Belfast, Maine where the J30 is about to be launched. This year we've detuned it a bit and made changes to make the boat much easier to sail single-handed. I've also been tracking Sabre 34s being offered for sale on www.yachtworld.com, thinking that a less race-oriented boat would be better for the sailing my wife and I want to do.  

You may have sold your Sabre timely, just before the National Yard Sale I said was coming in a December column. Of the inventory of Sabre 34s I've followed, only a handful have sold. It could take 4 or 5 years to sell the entire inventory. This in spite of the fact that the Sabres are true classic boats, beautifully finished.

We like Florida, but we are very drawn to Mexico and the flight time/distance is about the same.

Scott