Pat and Ali Schulte have been profiled on the Tiny House Blog before when they lived the nomadic life on their 35-foot catamaran and in their 1958 Volkswagen panel van. Now they are in the process of fixing up a 43-foot Spindrift sailboat and living on it with their two children: 16-month-old Ouest and another one who is on the way.
Their comprehensive and beautiful website profiles their living and working on the boat with a child in tow. They purchased the Spindrift in the San Francisco Bay area, and are living there until they can get the boat ready to sail down to Mexico. They purchased the boat for around $40,000 with money they saved up while working, and are doing much of the boat repairs themselves. For additional income Pat also does some day trading and they have written a book on their around the world sailing adventure.
The Schultes emphasize that they plan on keeping their lives simple by not buying a lot of stuff, TVs, cell phones, insurance or a lot of toys and clothes for their children. They are proud that Ouest will grow up on the water rather than in front of a television.
Photos Courtesy of bumfuzzle.com
By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]
Wonderful! Beautiful boat!
The boat is beautiful and I admire their determination to lead simple lives “on the water rather than in front of the TV” but I have to say (as a parent myself) that choosing not to have insurance is not responsible. Children get sick no matter where or how they live and will need to see a doctor at some point. As someone who’s not had insurance at one time, I guarantee it’s better to have even minimal coverage. If we’re talking life insurnace, that’s even more important. Things happen on land or on water…even in your own home…and children will need to be provided for should the unthinkable happen. Best of luck on your journey!!!
As a follower of Bumfuzzle I can tell you that the insurance thing is only not an issue because the Schulz family has done very well for themselves early on. They were able to retire at an early age and take the catamaran/Porsche/VW/Spindthrift adventure around the world because they have plenty in the bank. I think if the occasion came up where finances became an issue, Pat would simply go back to work and their lifestyle would then become a little more tame like the rest of ours, but as for now, they are free from worrying about the ridiculous international insurance rates that would be of little to no use to them.
As Jess said, they’re not irresponsible but find it’s cheaper to just pay “out of pocket”, especially in Mexico where their first (and second to come soon) child was born. Health care is much more expensive here in the states. Love their latest “home” and plan on moving onto our own sailboat soon!
I’m sure it may be cheaper to pay out-of-pocket for routine checkups, a visit to the doctor when you’ve got the flu, and even childbirth (in Mexico). They’ll be singing a different tune though if there’s a serious accident or illness requiring a lengthy hospital stay and/or surgery. In one of their blog posts they say that the husband and wife have been without health insurance for 10 and 7 years, respectively. That doesn’t sound overly responsible to me. A lot can happen in 10 years. I hope at least the children have health insurance in case of a catastrophe. It’s one thing if you want to not wear your seatbelt and kill yourself, but it’s another thing if you neglect to secure your child in a childseat – the child doesn’t get a choice in the matter, and shouldn’t have to suffer for the neglect or irresponsibility of the parent.
10 years worth of insurance payments would set a small family back about $100,000 over the course of those 10 years. If they have been smart and invested that money it should be worth about what $135,000+ today. Seems to me they made the smart choice.
And one bad car accident or serious medical emergency requiring a lenghty stay in the hospital, surgeries, and rehabilitation could easily cost that much. You’re confusing a smart choice with being lucky. Let’s say I’m a compulsive gambler and I gamble away most of my paycheck every month. After years of doing so, I hit the jackpot, and win far more than I ever paid in. Winning big would not make years of gambling it away a smart choice; it’s just lucky. Gambling that you’re not going to become ill at some point, or have an accident requiring medical attention isn’t smart, even if it happens to work out well in the end. All it takes is that one car accident…
Do you work for an insurance company Josh? Welcome to America, were at least in the past we had the freedom to make our own choices even when others thought we were foolish. The fact that this couple has been able to live a life, as opposed to simply trudging through work everyday for 50 plus years wondering how they are going to afford the house payment, food, and insurance, makes them heros in my book. As to risk life is full of it.
Don’t work for an insurance company; I’m just not foolish. One of the things I learned as a Boy Scout was to “be prepared.” As an Army infantryman and paratrooper I came to value the importance of having not only a plan, but contingency plans as well. It sounds like they had the plan to not get sick or injured, but not the backup that insurance provides. Young healthy people get into catastrophic accidents all the time, and young healthy people can inexplicably be stricken with serious forms of cancer. I can’t imagine that anyone who could afford health insurance would be so foolish as to be pregnant and try to bring a child into the world without it. As I alluded to with the seatbelt analogy, if you want to gamble with your own health and welfare, that’s fine. But having children changes the dynamic of the situation drastically. Now there’s a duty to not only ensure the health and welfare of the child, but of yourself for the sake of the child. A bad accident leaves one or both parents injured and they can’t pay for all of the treatment and go bankrupt trying. I don’t imagine it’s an easy feat to raise kids with no money.
No kidding. That’s why we try to do what we can to mitigate it. We weat seatbelts, put smoke detectors in our homes, we don’t walk through the bad part of town in the middle of the night, we wear blaze orange when hunting, we don’t walk through bear infested country with cold cuts in our pockets. Oh yeah, and we purchase insurance so that if the unthinkable happens, we don’t lose everything.
Good for them that nothing terrible happened in all those years without insurance. They have more than just themselves to worry about now. And I think that’s what the original poster was concerned about as well. – children can have serious health problems for seemingly no reason at all.
I love that his toy box is a Sierra Nevada pale ale box, so funny!
Wonderul, I love it!
GREAT – fellow water liver… http://www.EarthBall.org – in the Keys Fl. Earth
going to mexico? don’t you worry about all the gang members who are killing their own people not be mention Americans? Didn’t you hear the recent news a husband was killed the wife excaped in a racing boat? Mexico is dangerous country please thing and do research before you even try to travel. just a thought. Your boat is neat I love it.
My inlaws had a similar Sindrift (only larger) and spent 7+ years cruising Central & South America. One recomendation they always gave other cruisers, was to have a small mortage on the boat as it deters the foreign goverments from seizing the boat at whim.
That is one of the nicest boat cabins I’ve seen. I’m a big fan of the ‘traditional’ nautical wood interiors.
That is a gorgeous interior, and the wide-angle shots are great. That light coming in from outside just makes the whole place glow.
That is a beauty! 43 feet is a comfortable size boat for two… What’s the beam?
Seriously? Did you hear on the evening news what happened in Oakland, CA last week?
What I really admire about Pat and Ali’s lifestyle is that they are able to stay home (stay boat?) with their children to help and watch them grow up. Their daughter and the new baby will not have to be shipped off to a daycare center or a babysitter when they are still so young. I have friends who had to go back to work when their babies were just six weeks old.
Great job,
My wife and I really loved the island and trans atlatic compilation on youtube. We’ve got young monkeys ourselves and although were currently engaged in the grind were simplifying and planning on the not too distant future. Buy you both a drink if your ever in NYC – Brian and Alysia
Alot of children are growing up with far less luxury than this beautiful home…did you do the woodwork yourselves? Is nice to see young parents raising future generations in a simpler life..do you manage to have a simple garden on deck?
Also wondering if you practice survivaltrainig, I probably would feel more ok without health insurance if so. I congratulate you on exposing your children to a self-doing way of thinking!! Common sense is becoming way to rare in our youth
After reading some of the comments on here about insurance, traveling through Mexico, etc. I think the only people who are not thinking about their kids are the people writing that crap ! Read the book, travel the world and learn something about other countries, you might just learn something and so will your kids, the most important is that we all don’t want to be American’s ! Sorry but I just don’t get ignorant(and I use that phrase in both ways) people. I think these people are the “cruisers” Pat and Ali talk about in their book.
I love the stsirs is thatto yhe e sailboat…my boyfriend and I sre redoing a boathes ready im not im just can noy visualize living with no job no insurance and neither one of us in young