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I have enjoyed living in New England, but as I get a little bit older, I'm thinking about the possibility of living farther south during the colder part of the year. It would be great to be able to enjoy the water year 'round. A while back, someone posted about a lake on which they had property - it may have been in Tennessee, or one of the bordering states. Of course I can't find the article now!

Does anyone have any thoughts about a good lake to retire on? It would be nice if it were not too, too busy, and also not too overwhelming in cost. Thanks for any ideas!

Tim

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A lot of nice lakes in Florida, and South Carolina.

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if you own a place in Mass, and sell, you should be able to own a very nice place in numerous places in the South. Actually your loss of paying taxes alone would be hugely advantagous. I have a friend who just moved to the Huntsville area of Ala and braggs of the numerous lakes and low taxes. I've also lived in Miss, Ga, and Fla, and they are all great places, but to my knowledge, don't have as many lakes, again, with my limited knowledge. Course you have to duck the occasional tornado in those areas, and it still gets chilly there. But hey, even here in Corpus Christi we still get some cold stuff. Been in the 40's for almost a week!

Good luck to you!

Duf

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I can tell you that if you're considering Florida, think about the southwest coast, Punta Gorda, Ft. Myers etc. The real estate market is really depressed there and you can get a lot of property for the money. Fishing in the Gulf of Mexico and around the many many mangrove islands, barrier islands and bays along the gulf coast provides a great winter sport. I'm now looking forward to summers fishing in Lake Mi and winters in the Gulf. If fresh water is your thing, you will be within an hours drive of lake Okeechobee.

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I live in Sarasota FLorida and my "lake" is the inshore area of the west coast of Florida. Sarasota Bay, and Lemon Bay/Charlotte harbor to the south, make up a very nice protected "lake" with over 200 miles of shorline. Perfect for my little Dauntless 15.

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Once you live near the ocean, it is difficult to "settle" on a lake. Agree with above, look for something on the west coast of FL with water access, such as a canal that can get you to the ocean. Best of both worlds.

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I too am looking for a retirement location, and I like the idea of somewhere along the intracoastal waterway because with a 17' Whaler it seems like the best area for recreational boating on salt water. I have been to the west coast of Florida..Sarasota..Punta Gorda..Port Charlotte, and was not thrilled with the public water access. Now I'm considering South Carolina. Any ideas on retirement boating and reasonable home pricing would be appreciated. I'm turning 62, so 3-4 years away is my time horizon.
Thanks
Mike

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I just got back from Edisto Island S.C. and enjoyed the stay there. I was amazed though to find almost no water access for a trailered boat. It suprised me so much that I started searching for boat ramps in the state, and then did a comparison to North Carolina. The access is so much better in NC. We are in Maryland and have been looking at a simililar plan for some time, even bought property in eastern NC a few years ago. We have visited Oriental NC and Wrightsville NC several years in a row and also Atlantic Beach near Morehead City NC. Wrightsville is definately nice off season but I am sure is crazy in season. Atlantic beach is more about the ocean but has lots of back water access too.
Oriental is at Neuse River and Pamlico sound and is quiet off season but probably not crowded in season. It is also the most agressively dog friendly place I have ever been, which is why we will probably end up there.
Look at Town Dock .net it is a little online paper about the place.

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Mike, I've only been a whaler boater for about 5 months now, but have lived in the Sarasota Fl area for 20 + years. I find the launch facilites in our area to be excellent and more than plentiful. For those interested, here's a link to the list of Sarasota Couny launch sites. I've only used 3 or 4 of these, but each has been a great facility and spaced to give me acess every 8-10 miles along the bay front'

https://www.scgov.net/WaterRecreation...nches.aspx

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Gary, thanks for the boat launch info. I will reconsider Sarasota for me and my Whaler exploits. How are the real estate prices down there now? My last visit was in 2004, and they were high then. We stayed on Longboat Key, so that may explain the high prices that I saw. By the way I have only been a Whaler owner since May 2012, but we want it to become part of our future lifestyle in retirement.
Mike

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Lakehouse.com

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Mike, re real estate prices....

Sarasota suffered from a a bad case of real estate greed before the crash. Properties were going for double their value and more at the peak. We've had about a 50% drop in prices since the start of the recession, but buyers are coming back and properties have recovered about 10% from their lows of a couple of years ago. Lower priced homes (less than $150K) have mostly all been bought up by investors groups that have rented them out while the market recovers. I did find a detached villa for my brother in Englewood on a canal with no bridges to the the bay an gulf. It was listed at about $170k, furnished, with a set of 10,000# davits on the sea wall.

Pretty much most of the distressed waterfront properties have been sold, but some are still available at prices conseiderably lower than pre-crash prices. Sarasota and Long Boat Key still demand higher prices than some of the smaller gulf/bay communities.

Come on down, the fishing still good.

Gary

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Here in San Diego county we do not have very many lakes, but a big blob affectionately called the Pacific. Excellent boat ramps on Mission Bay and San Diego bay.

Real estate pricing however will be obscene to most everyone with possible exception of those in MA and D.C. area. But with 70 degrees year round and sunny skies 11 months (June gloom)...the overall package is hard to beat.

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some nice sized lakes are lake norman and lake wylie, both outside of charlotte nc (the latter is north of the city, the former is south). i am from ma and live in nc for several years, and found that most properties on the lake norman was still rather pricey, even by new england standards. others around charlotte also like mountain island lake, though that is quite a bit smaller. lake hartwell is another nice lake on the sc-ga border.

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As an ex-pat native Floridian who fondly remembers his Florida childhood I can only say this "You have to be able to tolerate un-godly crowded living conditions to live in the warmer climes of Florida".

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Thanks for the advice, all - very helpful.

I'm having trouble seeing myself in Florida - I have visited a lot of the state, and it's just too full of people for me. I haven't seen too much of the northen gulf coast though - certainly plenty of coastline, but I don't know how accessible it would be.

I was really thinking lakefront someplace, rather than trailering - nothing like having your boat at the dock or on a mooring and being able to hop in and go.

Thanks again!

Tim

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We bought a lot on Lake Keowee two years ago. It's in the western part of South Carolina. Google it and see what you think.

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There is still remote waterfront properties that come up for sale in Texas that are very affordable.

Yes, we don't always have the beautiful blue water that Florida has, here on the upper Texas coast, but the off-color water lends itself as cover for bait to hide from predators in.

Think about it: lots of bait = lots of fish.

Corpus Christi, where duff lives is primo. Much nicer water than the Galveston area, as well.

Come on down to Texas, we don't bite! : )

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Tim, good luck in your search. Yes those freshwater lakes sound ideal. I used to live in Wisconsin where most everone wanted a "summer" place on a northern lake (for the 2 weeks of summer up there)

I guess it's all a matter of perspective. Some will say that Florida has too many people, but I moved here to get away from the 14 million folks in Los Angeles.......seems kind of spartan around here from my view.

Let us know where you end up,

GAry

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I lived in Ft. Myers for over 35 years. Its like Ft. Lauderdale now, that's why I'm no longer there. BTW there is not a lake any near this area, closest one is at least 40 miles away.

rich

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Dad just bought a place on Lake Rousseau; west of Ocala 8 miles from the gulf...very quiet, not a lot of traffic, limited lake access and lots of stumps, so not used by jet skiers and speed boats, fishing supposed to be coming back but will be end of April before I get to try it out

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Hi, could not help but notice the quality of the finish on your mahogany. I recently put 5 coats of Captains Z Spar on the wood out of a 1970 13 footer but does not look near as nice as yours. Do you put it on with a quality brush or use one of the foam type applicators and how do you keep the ever present dust out of the picture? Thank you, Monty

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I bought a place in 2004 on the St. Johns river. It's pretty wide and has direct access to several lakes. Close by is St. Augustine and the Intercoastal Waterway - you can almost circumnavigate between the two bodies of water. Climate has a slight change of season in winter compared to south Florida and real estate prices are more reasonable.

I plan to live/boat Cape Cod in summer and Florida the rest of the year.

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Thanks Monty! It came out OK - certainly not flawless, but it has held up well. I used the Z-spar Flagship for most of it - just using junky chip brushes. The Flagship built up quickly (I think I used 5 or 6 coats) but it was not really easy to apply - you had to lay it on really heavy, which meant I could only do horizontal surfaces or it would drip. Flagship is very thick, almost like honey, and it tended to leave brush marks with the junky brushes, but if I was careful it leveled out OK. For the final coat I used a decent brush and a different varnish, just a basic spar varnish from my local HW store. It was thinner and leveled out more easily.

I scuff-sanded lightly between coats, and just dusted off afterwards. I did not seem to pick up too much dust; I wasn't terribly fussy about it and I'm sure there is some.

Tim

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Thanks for the info Tim.. You seem to finish about the same as I do.I met a quality furniture maker recently and he told me to use a sealer or filler before putting on the varnish and never use a bristle brush because it tends to brush the varnish out of the grain.He uses a better quality foam type applicator and his finished product looked flawless and just like glass. I love to buy the older Whalers with the mahogany in them and fix them up to sell. Will let you know when I try his method. Monty

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A couple of tips for varnish. Depending on temp and humidity you should thin enough to get a smooth application and good leveling. Practice makes perfect here, but for a half cup of varnish you might use a half capful of thinner. Sand between coats with about 220 to level the surface. Use a tack cloth before applying the varnish. If you have a little dust settle on your work (and you will) just polish the varnish with a damp cloth AFTER it dries at least two days.
Do not work from the varnish can. Never put thinned varnish back in the can. Chip brushes lose bristles in your finish. Use either a good brush or foam. Discard the foam ones after each use.
Be aware that varnish is habit forming and once hooked it's almost impossible to kick the habit. I speak from experience.

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Funny how the conversation went from "Lakefront Retirement" to "Varnish".

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I caused that. How about this. I do all my varnish work on the beautiful Chesapeake Bay in Yorktown Va. This area is also a great place to retire with access to the bay, the ocean , and many inland rivers as well as lakes. If you happen to be retired from the military there are many bases such as Langley, Fort Eustis, Fort Monroe and a large Navy presence. You can fish close to the shore in the bay and catch as many as 10 or 12 varieties of fish most of which are good to eat.The rockfish population in booming and it is common to catch 50 pounders as well as 300 lb bluefin tuna right outside the Che's. Bay Bridge Tunnel in the late season and you can do that in a 17 ft whaler on most days. Hope this helps. Didn't mean to side track everyone..

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I was stationed in Fort Eustis back in the days.

Went to Virginia Beach several weekends and even popped in a few Bars in Norfolk.
Another trip was to visit Williamsburg.

Nice state. I wish I had a boat available to me back then.

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Without gong too far back to the varnish subject, I did forget to mention that the cheapo chip brushes do tend to lose bristles, so you have to be prepared to pluck them out. Clearly not the thing for a final coat, but I found them to work very well for the build coats.

Regarding the place to retire, I have been in negotiations with my wife, and so far, she's not happy with the idea of leaving New England. Pointing out that living lakeside down south compares favorably to living in a shack and eating cat food in New England so far has had little effect, but I am working on it.

Tim

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Tedious, I understand your pain. I am the only one in my family that has left Mass. and the only way I got around that problem was marrying a Virginian.

There is certainly a lot of money to be made in the Northeast, but the high cost of living offsets. We are a colloquial lot of people, and you can't get folks to think of leaving without a stick of dynamite. At best, get her to think of being a snow bird. So many Bostonians go to Ft Myers/Naples area and follow the Red Sox down. "Truck Day" when the team equipment trucks leave Fenway for Florida is a celebrated city event!