Thanks to everyone who has responded so far, both on and off the list. As expected, the responses have ranged from something like "you are crazy to even consider it" to "go for it". The key message has been to ensure that taking on such a significant project is what we really want to do. The biggest risk for us is starting the project but then for some reason not completing it, as we would clearly stand to lose a lot of money if that did happen. The responses so far have suggested gut feel estimates ranging from 2,500 to 9,000 hours to complete and whatever figure we pick, then expect it to be double that. I think we have been realistic about the level of commitment this would take and we expected to have most of the major work done by the local shipwright. I have been doing lots of estimates in the last week on the cost to complete but when I add in a couple of thousand hours of labour from the local shipwright it is starting to look like it will cost a lot more than we had hoped. Also, we can only put in weekends and vacation time for the next two years so it will be at least a three year project. While we still like the thought of taking on this project, we do intend to keep looking at other boats in the meantime. Form a purely financial perspective we know that we would be better off not buying anything now and continuing with our investment strategies for the next two years. We would then look to buy something that is in reasonable condition that we can start cruising on and progressively fix it up to what we want for living aboard. Logic and practicality is winning right now but as one response suggested, the current case of "boat lust" we are suffering may win over what is rational and logical and that we wouldn't be the first to succumb to this condition! One great suggestion was not to overlook boats in areas such as Hong Kong and we do intend to follow-up on this. We also feel that attending Trawler Fest in Melbourne Fl. in March next year is something we should do anyway as we need as much information and experience before we take the plunge with this boat or any other boat. We hope to make a final decision on this in the next couple of weeks. I will keep the list updated on our thoughts and our quest to become liveaboard cruisers. Regards, Bruce Bruce & Marina Trawler/liveaboard/cruising wannabes Melbourne, Australia