The jump all in idea....
I have not done it either way...just dreaming at this point, and my wife isn't fully on board with the idea either...
but I have thought about this from both sides
and this applies to either boating full time or full timing in an RV....
She's much more in the camp that IF and that's a big IF...If we were to do the full time thing, she would want to keep a home base, doing it part time...or perhaps renting the house out for a short while but it would give us something to come back to.
I'm of the opinion that anything we keep really just becomes an anchor keeping us close or pulling us back....which will detract from the fun of moving forward. It's kind of like hanging on the the worst parts of both worlds. The boat is neglegted when you go back home, the home is neglected when you're on the boat. When you're on the boat you're constantly wondering if the house is ok...or if there's a problem then you have to deal with it remote....
Also, the idea of staring out part time kinda steers a person to a smaller less capable and perhaps less comfortable boat, which changes the experience...maybe for the better but probably for the worse.
I'm of the opinion that a very careful all-in is the better approach. For a year...for 5 years...whatever.... and if you want to bail early because you find out it's not for you...then that's ok too.
Surely by now you've learned to translate each other and "IF" is likely more like "I have serious doubts" and your attitude is "come hell or high water". You force yours on her and it's guaranteed to fail. Plenty of people have moved gradually and maintained some home base. Most people who live aboard still have a home area in which they dock the most. There are those few who truly have no home area anymore and it varies year by year.
I don't see the biggest challenge as leaving the house behind, but it's leaving the "home." More carefully put, it's leaving people in your life behind. When we moved from NC to FL it was easy. We both worked full time and didn't have a lot of close family or friends to miss, just the kids at the orphanage near us so always had to carve regular visits there into our plans. However, now in FL we have a huge extended family and we could never be parted from them full time. This is the issue to fully address, family and friends. We're two weeks from our longest time ever away without a brief flight home. We haven't been home since June. We talk to those at home nearly every day on web cam. We exchange emails. Still we look so forward to being with them in October. We have incredible family with us, but we still miss those who are not.
I'm likely worse in this regard than my wife, although we're both bad in the separation. We've got Frank and Betty, our adopted parents. They live next door to us now. Haven't seen them since they flew home on July 18. That will make it about 3 months when we return. Also our friends who moved down with us from NC, who live on our property, not since June. These four are all in their upper 60's now and it terrifies us to think our remaining time with them is limited. Then at the other extreme, Aurora, our "niece", and her "cousin" Juliet, 7 year olds and haven't been with them since they flew home on August 1 and miss them both and going horseback riding with them at another friend's home, Alice and Rachel. We miss seeing the kids in NC and the school in SC. We miss others who are so close. We were once so independent. Honestly, we were reconciled to the fact that if something happened it could be both of us having to relocate and start over again. My wife had already been through this. We protected ourselves from relationships. If our privacy somehow got compromised, we didn't have that much to lose. But today, the thought of contacting friends and family and saying we can't ever communicate with you again is horrible, although highly unlikely. However, three months away from "home" really stretched our limits and it's going to hit well over that. Our normal is 6 weeks away, then home for three and that's where we're happy.
We've gone from one extreme to the other in our lives. We cruise with family and friends or extended family. My point is that it's not about the things or the house, but the other connections you have to people on land. Whether children or parents or grandchildren or siblings or whomever it is. Your best friends. There was a time we could have just check in twice a year, but that's not our life now. This is what each person and each couple must address. How long can you go without seeing "so and so" and "so and so." The pandemic likely tested you on much of it. How was it? Right now having typed this I'm in tears because Wifey B and I have just talked about the need to hug certain people. 30 years of my life, I really had no one and was convinced I needed no one. She was like that for 21 years. 12 years of our lives, we were convinced as long as we had each other, we were ok without anyone else. Now 9 years later and need our extended family more than words can express. Well, we've hit all extremes. Now you all have to figure out where you land.
