I should buy a boat

[r0ach]

This is a post for other people who have contemplated the subject


Most people, especially on this forum, believe the government won't be able to kick the fiat can down the road much further, and sometime within the near future, or a couple years down the road, something like the great depression, or worse, will be repeated on a global scale.  The question is, where do you want to be when this happens?  Examples of what things will be like on land can be seen in Argentina or Bosnian/Serbian history.  The pigeons started to disappear in Bosnia because people were eating them all.

A big factor in this decision would be, would you rather eat pigeons or fish?  As for which environment is more dangerous, the sea has always been dangerous, but land will likely be much more so.  Getting away from large population centers is obviously the best option.  I've lived in areas where hurricanes knocked out power for a month straight, so I kind of have an idea how things will proceed when a modern society devolves in this fashion.  

It's unknown whether there would be power in a prolonged financial collapse, the only thing really certain is an attempted military dictatorship that may or may not succeed, and may or may not keep the power on.  When I lived in an area of America that lost power from hurricanes for a month, it really gives you a lot of perspective.  There's not much to do in a situation like that except read, drink, play cards, and random physical activities that most people don't do, because they're tired from the inside of their house being 90 degrees, or it might be the opposite and be cold all the time depending on location.

Regardless, with boredom as one of the prime motivators, you start to see groups of people out and around together in the open, like it was the 1980's again, when people actually went outside.  In a prolonged financial collapse, these groups of people will probably end up fighting each other for resources in some kind of tribal warfare.  There's not enough pigeons for everyone to eat in densely packed areas, or even most small towns.


edit:  Think I'm removing the section about giving any advice on particular boats since some people can sail a bathtub across the Atlantic, and others can sink the Titantic one mile offshore.  I do have a decent amount of knowledge on what you're least likely to die in, so if you want to know that, just ask I guess.

[bigtimespaghetti]

Interesting stuff r0ach. Will love to see how you get along with this.

[r0ach]

Interesting stuff r0ach. Will love to see how you get along with this.

Unfortunately, there's no Bitcoin Island to go to yet.  If I had to nominate a place, I would probably go with Tahiti myself.  I guess Roger Ver could buy "Sealand" and turn it into Bitcoin island.  Sailing the North Sea isn't that fun though.  I believe that's where the last part of this video is supposed to be at 1:04, which is probably the scariest thing you will ever see in your life:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axW2XUhrjbo

[l3552]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpKbULrB9Z8
In a futuristic world where the polar ice caps have melted and made Earth a liquid planet...

[shluher]

Why you just don't buy a house in a woods?

[Spendulus]

This is a post for other people who have contemplated the subject


Most people, especially on this forum, believe the government won't be able to kick the fiat can down the road much further, and sometime within the near future, or a couple years down the road, something like the great depression, or worse, will be repeated on a global scale.  The question is, where do you want to be when this happens? ......

Separate this speculation from your interests in boats.

I don't think there is any relation between the two.  Boats do not represent "freedom."  If an economic apocalypse occurred, do you think you would be safe on your little boat?  You'd set into harbor and find an entirely new sort of harbor master staring at you, surrounded by his little gang of thieves.   Depending on how and what you paid him, he might even let you keep your boat.

[tee-rex]

I don't think there is any relation between the two.  Boats do not represent "freedom."  If an economic apocalypse occurred, do you think you would be safe on your little boat?  You'd set into harbor and find an entirely new sort of harbor master staring at you, surrounded by his little gang of thieves.   Depending on how and what you paid him, he might even let you keep your boat.

He wouldn't be safe even in the open sea in case some apocalypse should occur. To survive there you would need something like The Last Ship with a crew of marines to help you. Otherwise it will be a one-way cruise on a lethal mission.

[Spendulus]

Why you just don't buy a house in a woods?

Alaska, New Zealand...

Why not some place that's already at the bottom of an apocalypse?  Maybe it could only go up?

Argentina?

[Beliathon]

Safest place to be in collapse of society? A government bunker.
Least safe? Major city. But it's revolution that's coming, not apocalypse.

Although it will feel like an apocalypse for the capitalist elite. Those people are very good at making you feel what they feel, making their political interests into your political interests, dear reader.

[EvilPanda]

I thought about it before and started again recently after reading all these news about possible NATO - Russia conflict. I have a house on the edge of a forest and always thought of it as a last resort bug out place, but it lacks some critical stuff like a generator. Also in case of a war I'd probably have to face bands of looters... A boat sounds much better, the only problem is I live 800km from the sea  

[thejaytiesto]

If I was one of the lucky early investors with tons of BTC, i would absolutely live on a boat, install some solar panels there and live off the sun. It would be great. Too bad I cant afford it

[Spendulus]

I thought about it before and started again recently after reading all these news about possible NATO - Russia conflict. I have a house on the edge of a forest and always thought of it as a last resort bug out place, but it lacks some critical stuff like a generator. Also in case of a war I'd probably have to face bands of looters... A boat sounds much better, the only problem is I live 800km from the sea  

Some years back I went to look at a phone some guy was selling used.  It was basically an antique at that time - an analog cell phone that took up an entire, heavy briefcase.  Seemed interesting.   Anyway, I got out to his 'house' at the top of a good side hill - maybe 500-800 feet high.  His house was a boat, sitting there.  Pretty big one, like a shrimp trawler or something.  No idea how he got it this far inland.  Well, you could go ahead and put your boat 800 km inland.  You'd be ready......

Oh, and he wanted too much for the old phone.

[r0ach]

Boats do not represent "freedom."

In comparison to what?  Being in a house where the EPA starts to monitor your electric usage, NSA monitoring your internet, and taxman saying you need to pay property tax, which means you don't own the house, you're basically just renting it.  Yea, they can tax your income or other assets, but it's a lot harder to try and tax the ocean the boat sits on.

Then of course, there's obviously more freedom of travel, since the gas can stop pumping at any time due to some kind of currency crisis.  You don't need gas for a sailboat, although it is useful in many circumstances.  Boats also offers many creative ways to get yourself killed, which is obviously a form of freedom from a nanny state.

The fact that you can survive without having to go to a grocery store is also obviously a checkmark for freedom.  So yea, a boat is going to be an objective increase in freedom for most people.

If an economic apocalypse occurred, do you think you would be safe on your little boat?  You'd set into harbor and find an entirely new sort of harbor master staring at you, surrounded by his little gang of thieves.  Depending on how and what you paid him, he might even let you keep your boat.

It depends.  Most people that own a 26' - 40' boat are usually more self sufficient in nature (although people owning 200' boats might not be), and aren't just going to turn into Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome when they already have food, water, and shelter themselves.  People on land missing many of these things might be more inclined to do so.  Yea, piracy would increase, so you're not going to want to just sit out in the middle of the ocean for no reason, you would just identify a safe place to sail to and go there and live right offshore obviously.  You would also want to identify and talk to anyone near you and probably form some kind of agreement to not kill each other and probably defend against other people trying to do so.

He wouldn't be safe even in the open sea in case some apocalypse should occur. To survive there you would need something like The Last Ship with a crew of marines to help you. Otherwise it will be a one-way cruise on a lethal mission.

It's not realistic to pretend everyone on the planet with a boat is instantly going to turn into a Somali pirate should an economic catastrophe occur.  There's not going to be large ships of inner city, rap music listening people attacking you.  99.99% of those are going to be on land.  If all you have is a 30' to 40' boat, chances are that anyone you run into is going to have the same or better.  If you have a 100'-200' boat, then yea, someone might eventually get greedy and try to take it.

Why you just don't buy a house in a woods?

You would probably be ok if it's a large distance from any populated area, but maybe it would be miserable there for a long period of time, and maybe the guy in the boat just drove the thing to where things are still normal.

]Alaska, New Zealand...

Why not some place that's already at the bottom of an apocalypse?  Maybe it could only go up?

Argentina?

In case you didn't notice, a boat can go to all of those places? lol

[Spendulus]

Boats do not represent "freedom."

In comparison to what?  Being in a house where the EPA starts to monitor your electric usage, NSA monitoring your internet, and taxman saying you need to pay property tax, which means you don't own the house, you're basically just renting it.  Yea, they can tax your income or other assets, but it's a lot harder to try and tax the ocean the boat sits on.

Then of course, there's obviously more freedom of travel, since the gas can stop pumping at any time due to some kind of currency crisis.  You don't need gas for a sailboat, although it is useful in many circumstances.  Boats also offers many creative ways to get yourself killed, which is obviously a form of freedom from a nanny state.

The fact that you can survive without having to go to a grocery store is also obviously a checkmark for freedom.  So yea, a boat is going to be an objective increase in freedom for most people.

If an economic apocalypse occurred, do you think you would be safe on your little boat?  You'd set into harbor and find an entirely new sort of harbor master staring at you, surrounded by his little gang of thieves.  Depending on how and what you paid him, he might even let you keep your boat.

It depends.  Most people that own a 26' - 40' boat are usually more self sufficient in nature (although people owning 200' boats might not be), and aren't just going to turn into Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome when they already have food, water, and shelter themselves.  People on land missing many of these things might be more inclined to do so.  Yea, piracy would increase, so you're not going to want to just sit out in the middle of the ocean for no reason, you would just identify a safe place to sail to and go there and live right offshore obviously.  You would also want to identify and talk to anyone near you and probably form some kind of agreement to not kill each other and probably defend against other people trying to do so.

He wouldn't be safe even in the open sea in case some apocalypse should occur. To survive there you would need something like The Last Ship with a crew of marines to help you. Otherwise it will be a one-way cruise on a lethal mission.

It's not realistic to pretend everyone on the planet with a boat is instantly going to turn into a Somali pirate should an economic catastrophe occur.  There's not going to be large ships of inner city, rap music listening people attacking you.  99.99% of those are going to be on land.  If all you have is a 30' to 40' boat, chances are that anyone you run into is going to have the same or better.  If you have a 100'-200' boat, then yea, someone might eventually get greedy and try to take it.

Why you just don't buy a house in a woods?

You would probably be ok if it's a large distance from any populated area, but maybe it would be miserable there for a long period of time, and maybe the guy in the boat just drove the thing to where things are still normal.

]Alaska, New Zealand...

Why not some place that's already at the bottom of an apocalypse?  Maybe it could only go up?

Argentina?

In case you didn't notice, a boat can go to all of those places? lol

I could live pretty comfortably in a remote cabin, given that I had a serious hunting rifle, shotgun and 22LR, a couple handguns of large caliber, knives, rope, a truckload or so of solar panels, maybe an old style satellite dish with a motor drive, couple satellite phones, stash of gold in the cave behind the waterfall, eighteen barrels of Bourbon, a thumbdrive with 42,000 works of fiction and engineering, six quadcopters to scout the perimeter fence line, five carefully picked dogs, four cases of barbecue sauce, three women, two canoes, and one flashlight.

[TECSHARE]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7yfISlGLNU

[r0ach]

The boat is the ultimate source of unsolved mysteries:

http://sailinganarchy.com/2013/10/26/all-is-lost/

[worhiper_-_]

if all that were to happen you would be fucked have you heard about the pirates nowadays ... you should buy a battleship not a boat

[EvilPanda]

if all that were to happen you would be fucked have you heard about the pirates nowadays ... you should buy a battleship not a boat

You mean the Somali pirates? The ones that hunted Tom Hanks? They were fighting them with water hoses if I remember

Some years back I went to look at a phone some guy was selling used.  It was basically an antique at that time - an analog cell phone that took up an entire, heavy briefcase.  Seemed interesting.   Anyway, I got out to his 'house' at the top of a good side hill - maybe 500-800 feet high.  His house was a boat, sitting there.  Pretty big one, like a shrimp trawler or something.  No idea how he got it this far inland.  Well, you could go ahead and put your boat 800 km inland.  You'd be ready......

Oh, and he wanted too much for the old phone.

That had to be one hell of an eccentric.
Moving a boat that big 800 km inland would probably cost me more than the boat itself.

This baby would satisfy me completely and it is fairly affordable.

[r0ach]

This baby would satisfy me completely and it is fairly affordable.

Not sure who makes that from the picture, but it looks like a pretty large boat, somewhere between 40' to 50'?  To get a boat that size that's actually in ocean crossing condition would probably cost you $50k rock bottom price, and then probably up to $100k for any you can actually find.  The word affordable is relative, but the price of a cheap house isn't exactly that affordable heh.

Boat prices can be deceiving because if you bought a new mast for that boat, it would cost $30,000 new.  So if you found a $30,000 boat with bad mast, it can actually be worth basically 0 haha.

[CoinCube]

For anyone considering a blue water sailing trip. I recommend this book.
Covers everything you need to know A-Z

http://www.amazon.com/Voyagers-Handbook-Essential-Guide-Cruising/dp/0071437657/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1426996447&sr=8-1&keywords=blue+water+cruising