At home on the high seas: Housing crisis spawn liveaboard sailboat craze in Florida

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Jay Hawkins thinks of himself as anything but homeless. In fact, he’ll tell you his 18-foot liveaboard sailboat is the greatest home in the world.

Floating on the Intracoastal Waterway a few waves west of the glitz and glamour of Palm Beach, Fla., Hawkins is one of an untold number of people who, out of necessity or choice, have taken to the high seas amid a national housing affordability crisis. 

“There’s a lot of people that live out here because of the economy,” he said. “It's a lifestyle you have to adjust to.” 

Hawkins said he worked as a longshoreman in Tampa Bay, Fla., after serving as an engineer in the U.S. Navy. 

“I had the big house, five cars and raised three children,” he said. “I was miserable. Money can’t buy happiness.”

But $1,250 did. That’s what Hawkins paid for the small sailboat he now calls home. 

A simpler life lived on a sailboat 

Today, life is simpler: solar for light, rainwater for cleaning, a black plastic bucket for bathing. 

Occasionally, he said, well-meaning passersby leave food for him on the dock where he sometimes ties up alongside other liveaboard sailboats.

“In their eyes, we’re homeless,” he said, gesturing toward the trendy high-rise condos that line the Intracoastal Waterway in West Palm Beach. “But this is my choice. They are paying for luxury, I am paying to live.”

In a county where the median annual income is less than $33,000, a typical one-bedroom apartment rents for $1,650 per month, and the median price of home is about $450,000, life on the water has become an attractive and affordable option for some people.

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And it’s not limited to boats. Skyrocketing housing costs across the country have led to an increase in the popularity of alternatives such as campers and yurts. 

But what began as a last resort to homelessness for some, and a way to save money on housing costs for others, has become a preferred lifestyle choice for all.

Florida is the nationwide epicenter of rising rental costs, according to an April report published by the financial website Insurify. The report showed the Sunshine State is home to seven of the top 20 municipalities with the highest percentage increase in rental prices. 

How much does a sailboat home cost? 

Sailboats can be purchased for the cost of a few month’s rent, Hawkins pointed out. Add to that the freedom to drift wherever the wind blows you and having the beauty and serenity of marinas, waterways and the sea as your constant companion, and the choice becomes an easy one, he said.  

One Sunday in early May, under the shadows of the fancy towers of West Palm Beach's financial district, there were at least 30 liveaboard sailboats anchored just offshore or tied to city docks in a mere quarter-mile stretch of the Lake Worth Lagoon.

Over the cooler winter months, the same area harbored two or three times that number.

Some boats were nicer in appearance while others looked weathered and run down with peeling paint.

The interiors are crammed with belongings to the ceilings, and the decks are littered with knick-knacks, beer and food containers and endless arrays of tools and supplies. One had a tent outside on the bow. Another, a mattress.

Living on a sailboat is a nomadic lifestyle

Many have already headed south for the summer, to even less expensive ports and harbors in the Caribbean and South America. Hawkins is preparing to do the same after picking up $1,000 for the journey by doing some piecemeal carpentry. 

That money would not cover one month’s rent in West Palm Beach, he said, but will last him six months at sea. 

“That’s why people head south to Peru or whatever,” he said. “It’s so cheap to live there.”

Doug D’Angelo requires a bit more cash. The overhead on his sailboat is about $900 a month, he said, which is still less than renting an apartment.  

“I’m not particularly strapped for cash, but I don’t see the need to pay for a place where the rent is rising above the rate of inflation,” he said.

One year ago, D’Angelo, from Titusville, Fla., spent $22,000 on a 36-foot sailboat with two bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen, electric, heat and air conditioning. 

He said he makes about $100,000 a year working as a government contractor. With the money he is saving on rent, he hopes to buy a house to rent out to generate monthly income until he’s ready to hang up his sails and return to brick-and-mortar living.

But, at 32, D’Angelo admits that might be further away than he had initially planned. Turns out, the salt life has grown on him.

“This was originally an experiment for me for a year,” he said. “The long game is just to improve and get a bigger boat and continue to live on the water for as long as I can.”

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Pandemic boosts sailboat living, interest in boating

The pandemic has certainly increased the appeal of sailboat living, said Heather Valdez, assistant manager at Fort Lauderdale’s Sailorman, which sells new and used marine equipment. 

“Over the last year, the boating market has gone through the roof, basically because when everything shut down, the only thing you can do is go on a boat,” she said. “They ran out of boats to sell. It’s the ultimate social distancing.” 

Oddly enough, however, not everyone who lives at sea owns a boat. Some, with only a backpack or duffel bag to their names, catch free rides from boat to boat or country to country in exchange for handling cooking and cleaning duties — or just keeping a boat owner company. 

They’ve been dubbed “sailboat hitchhikers,” and one of numerous Facebook groups dedicated to the lifestyle now boasts 50,000 members.

In fact, it’s how Julia Ragland, 57, met her husband, Hector Meza, 56, in 2016. Meza was already a seasoned sailor, and Ragland yearned to see the world. 

Ragland was willing to leave her high-paying job as a commercial Realtor and work for her keep, but fate had other plans. She and Meza fell in love, married in 2018 and eventually settled in Fort Lauderdale.  

As an Australian citizen, however, Meza, who had had a good job back home as an asset manager, was not allowed to work in the U.S. As time passed, Ragland struggled to cover their bills, and the couple rented a room to save money. 

But then the pandemic struck. They feared they would lose Ragland's income amid the economic shutdown and did not want to deplete their retirement savings to stay afloat.    

“So we thought, why not go float out in the ocean where it’s free?” Ragland said. 

They decided the time was right to live out their dream of circumnavigating the globe on their 43-foot sailboat, which would reduce their $3,000 monthly nut to little more than the cost of food and boat maintenance. 

More than a year later, having navigated their way to the southern tip of Argentina, Ragland said she and Meza have “no regrets.”

“Best decision we ever made,” she said. “We feel like we are living our lives the way they were meant to be lived.” 

Some find sailboat living a hard transition

While Ragland and Meza found their bliss on the open ocean, some people are less prepared for the physical labor and ongoing costs of maintaining a boat, said Valdez of Sailorman.  

“It takes a few seasons to learn that the boat might not be able to upkeep itself,” she said. 

That is something Skylar Woolard, 32, from Orlando, learned firsthand eight years ago after spending $2,000 on a 30-foot fixer-upper. 

But practice makes perfect, and the former restaurant worker began buying inexpensive sailboats and flipping them for profit.  

What began as a way to avoid paying rent became a lucrative business, Woolard said, and he recently paid $90,000 cash for a 50-foot motor yacht. 

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“About 95% of them do it for financial reasons, but it is hard,” he said of what he called an “influx” of liveaboard sailors between the ages of about 25 and 33 experimenting with the lifestyle. 

And while sailboat living might seem like a romantic and inexpensive way to escape the burdens of land dwelling, he said, not everyone is cut out for it. 

“They abandon the boats because they are just not prepared for the labor involved,” he said.   

But Woolard said he was ready. He went from earning $2,000 a month as a server to flipping boats to opening a boat-based marketing company that today pulls in about $25,000 a month, he said. 

Now, he said, it’s his chance to give back to others trying to survive on the sea.

When an elderly, cash-strapped sailor he’s seen around the Lake Worth Lagoon was discovered after 45 minutes clinging to a sinking dinghy while trying to paddle to shore, Woolard brought him another one. 

“I’m trying to kind of return my good luck to these guys,” he said. 

Woolard’s end goal is to save enough money to move to Belize and buy a small resort there. Not bad, he points out, for someone who had less than $200 a month disposable income when he first traded land for water.

“All these people that are struggling, there is just no need for it,” he said. “That’s how I got so far ahead at this point in my life.” 

Anyone considering taking the leap can find used 40-foot sailboats for as little as $10,000, Woolard said. Smaller ones cost even less, he said, and he suggests opening negotiations at about half of the asking price.

“When I was young, there was no one doing it,” he said of the liveaboard lifestyle. “It’s a great way to get ahead and get out of that vicious monthly rent cycle.”

Besides, he said, there are some perks to living on a sailboat that money just can’t buy. 

“You can anchor anywhere and have the most beautiful views you can imagine,” he said. “All for free.”

Follow Wendy Rhodes on Twitter: @WendyRhodesFL.