Living Aboard?

[Tom Ipock]

I've been doing some heavy soul searching as to whether or not moving aboard will ruin my boating experience. My wife and I have been discussing doing just this. Currently, we have been caught up in the "boat in the back yard" scenario, which means you look at it but don't use it - it's nice landscaping. Our boat gets much more use when we have to pack up, load car, drive hours, haul several dock carts down the dock etc. Just walking out the back door is way too simple? So the current question of which one we don't need - house or boat is the talk of the day. Our boat is a 58MY widebody, so there is plenty of room. I'm sure furniture and household things can be stored. However, what do you do with things you need access to such as records, files, seasonal clothes (we're in NC & have seasons) and other items that I will think of as soon as they are stored away - what do you need to take? Will living aboard give you too much of a good thing? Do you still take the boat out for cruises? How do you get up in the morning to go to work? At home, I'm up every morning at 6 - on the boat, I have to be dragged out at 9. We are still working, and will for about another 6 years. After that, we plan to do extensive cruising and I don't want to kill that dream by having a bad experience living aboard. Anyway, just looking for some feedback from you folks to help us make a decision.
Thanks in advance,
Tom

 

[REBrueckner]

Why don't you decide for yourself? Move aboard the boat in your backyard and use the house just for storage for six months. Shut off the frig in the house...You'll soon discover the pros and cons. If not, what's holding you back?? Maybe that can give insight into your final choice...good luck, a nice "problem" to wrestle...

 

[MicroKap]

I've lived onboard the past three summers up here in NJ. In late April, it's still a little chilly and you've got to make sure the heat is working well. Fiberglass hull doesn't make the best insulator. In October, when it's cold and rainy, make sure the heat is really working or else you will never get rid of a chill. The first two summers were on a 43' express style "non-hatteras". I bought my 60' 1980 Sportfish in June of 2004 and lived on it last summer by myself and this summer with my wife (we got married in Nov. 2004). I'm not big on using dockside water, so even though the freshwater tank is large, I always seem to get low around midnight. I don't want to hook up to dockside water and have to go out on the dock in the morning when I want pressure to take a shower, etc. Also, you'll find that "marine grade" toilet paper starts to get to you. This past October, we were stuck on the boat when the fixed dock went under during a Nor'easter. That was a whole lot of fun.

As far as the rest of the experience, cooking onboard is not really an issue. Living on the express cruiser was a bit dreary because for the full summer that I lived on it in 2003, it seemed to rain a few times a week and it felt like living in a cave. The sportfish allows for plenty of light and space to relax. There's plenty of storage. It's not roughing it. It's economizing. If you have the ability to store your "stuff" elseware, but have it handy enough if you need it, that would be great. Also, you'll find that you will need a complete tool kit because it gives you plenty of time to fix all of the things that were "waiting" for you and then some. On the other hand, you have to make sure that you put everything back together every night because it may be something that would get in your way when you need to leave the boat in the morning. You also end up waking up dead tired because of all the maintenance you can now do without having to make time to get down to the boat. Make sure that you have a really comfortable mattress.

It's a great experience, but you learn that you take a lot for granted living in a house (ie. constant electric, air conditioning that you don't have to clean strainers, fresh water system "malfunctions", 50 amp electric service, water lapping the side, rain hitting the deck, thunder echoing thoughout the cabin, the threat of lightening hitting one of your antennas, etc.)

Don't throw yourself into it before you figure out how to economize or else you will be tripping over everything, even on a 58'.

Larry K.
1980 60' Sportfish
Monmouth Beach, NJ

 

[jim rosenthal]

I lived aboard for years, on and off, on three boats: a 37 Egg Harbor, a 44 Striker, and my 36 Hatteras. Some thoughts:
-if it gets cold, so will you. Boats are not designed as houses. They can be kept warm, but it is always something you have to think about. Obviously, it is manageable- I am no rocket scientist and I did it. The biggest problem is that when the water gets below 50F, there isn't enought heat in the water to make water to air heat pumps work well, and this is what marine AC is. You have to rely on heaters, and it really is not safe to leave them running in the boat. Which means you generally come home to a cold boat. They are not well-insulated.
-depending on where you live, a marina in the winter can be a very dangerous place. Ice and snow on the dock are a huge hazard. Some places I lived, we had lines strung up and down the dock to hold on to when you were walking on the pier. Falling off would have been a disaster. Maybe a lethal one.
-covered slips are MUCH better. And much safer. If I were to live aboard again, it would be in a covered shed slip. No question. Everything works better. No matter what season.
-weather is less of a problem than you might think, except for winter as noted. Storage is a problem- all the liveaboards I knew had either storage lockers, which are not cheap, or divested themselves of a lot of what George Carlin calls "stuff". My boat is far smaller than yours. I kept what I needed on the boat and the rest in a locker, a 10x20. I still managed to have one guitar and amplifier on the boat, but not a very big one
-parking is a problem. If you are lucky enough to get into a marina with covered slips that also has covered parking, you are in very tall cotton indeed. It's not common. Most of us have garage parking- you miss it when it is not around.

Basically, as a liveaboard, you trade convenience and the kind of no-brainer operation that you get with most houses for romance, a different kind of comfort, and a new kind of living experience. The best thing is to try it in mild weather and see how it goes. I would not trade the experience for anything- it was a lot of fun and only intermittently annoying- like most of life. The big plus is that after you haved lived aboard, you are far better equipped to use your boat when you cruise with it, because you will have worked the bugs out of all the ships' systems while you are living with them day-to-day.
It is easy, when living aboard, to get into the "boat-as-immoveable-house" syndrome. I found that I did well with a rule that the boat had to be ready to get under way in thirty minutes. This helped me keep things picked up and not too cluttered. When using your boat as a house, you do run the risk of having it resemble a house a little too strongly in the sense that it doesn't go anywhere ever, even though theoretically it can.

 

[Captned]

My 2 cents,

I would wait and then cruise. Living aboard is great, I've been doing it for the last four years, but.........It's tight, you better really like the Admiral, you have to pay the marina, (which goes up every year) the bar seems to be a lot closer, sometimes you do fail to notice how nice it is, I don't use the boat nearly as much because all your "house" stuff needs to be put away before you go cruising, fishing, etc..., the galley is not quite right, the fridge is smaller, you have to rent a storage place for all your other crap, the beds never quite right, the ac always seems to be too hot or too cold, when you go to someone’s house you look around and think to your self "geeesshhh, look at all the room!", when its raining you get wet walking to your truck, you have to hump your groceries, goodies down the dock in a cart and load them on the boat, rain or shine, something is always breaking, your marina neighbors are not always the greatest, all the other boaters think every nights a party because they are cruising and don’t understand that you cant stay up all night drinking, hurricanes a coming, sometimes you wish the damn thing would just stop rocking! That being said, I plan to live aboard the next five or so years. Go figure. Must be something I like about it.

Captned
1978 46C
Miami Beach

 

[Jaxfishgyd]

We have been full time liveaboards for just over 5 years now and we love it.
Sold our 4br, 3 bath, 3 car garage, when I retired at age 49,sold and/or gave away 95% of our stuff and the rest we have in a 10x10 storage unit.
Took the "Admiral" about a year to really adjust fully. But we can/do boat 12 months a year here. We take the boat to all Jaguar homegames, cruise "up" the St Johns River, it's an easy day ride to either St Augustine or St Simon Island.
We have a monthly dock party and it's a close community.
Check out www.livingaboard.com for any questions you have.
Best time was when we had friends over for Thanksgiving 2 years ago and had the dinner while cruising on the river.....
And we just have the 43' Hatteras DC.

 

[Pascal]

ok... where do i start

i moved aboard 2 years and 3 months ago and my only regret is not to have done it sooner!

background... i've had boats for the past 20 years, last one before LA was a 37 express. We (married for almost 20 years then) used to keep it in a slip at our condo. Dream set up in many way... take the elevator down, walk past the pool, get on the boat. Wife was never much into boating, so it was always a strugle to go out for more than an afternoon ride.

Then i decided to move the boat to the keys... about 75 minute drive from home. It became a week end get away and i woudl leave friday evening, coming back home monday morning. That was the bg mistake... got bitten by the live aboard bug and realized that wasn't enough. around the same time, we got separated (not major reason...).. wife moved out, i sold the 37 and got the hatt.

In my opinion the 53 (or 56, 58, etc...) is the perfect liveaboard giving you a ton of space and plenty of privacy. i find it jsut as confortable as the 1800 sq ft condo i was living in before... do i really need a 250 sqft marble bathroom with couple size shower, bidet and jacuzzi? nope.... for 5 minutes a day, the 53's head is all i need. i don't have a desk in my bedroom and enough room to valtze around, so what? and the list goes on.

I can't really say that living aboard means making any sacrifice or lacking comforts. The A/C works very well (cleaning the strainer once a month is no big deal...). The galley is smaller but so what? i still have a full size fridge (slightly smaller than the sub zero we had) but it can still hold a couple of weeks worth of groceries... carrying the groceries in a cart down the dock? big deal!!! i no longer have to tip the valet.... The 53's tanks are big enough for 5 days of fresh water, what's the big deal in putting the hose in the filler every 5 days? Holding tank is good enough for 2 weeks, i could put a lectra san to avoid pumping out.... pumping out must not be such a big hassle since i haven't spent the $ on the LS.

I don't really feel I making any sacrifice or economizing...

as to ruining the boating experience... NO WAY! if anything, it's making it better. not having to drive to the boat, worrying about what food is on board or what clothes are there...

I make sure that the boat is always cruise ready, that means no junk hanging around. excluding pre flight checks (oil, etc...) I can leave the dock in 5 minutes (fire up engines, discon power, untie the lines) and i do so at least once a week. In fact I can count on the fingers on ONE hand the number of week the boat stayed in its slip more more than 6 days in the past 27 months!

No, I think I am lucky and it's clear that some places might no be as great.

No snow or ice, no worry about winterizing, heaters and freezing water lines... Right on biscayne bay where a foot chop is considered rough and plenty of fun week end spots within 1 hour... Marina in a good location, fairly safe (hopefully... off duty cops on patrol at night)...

if i was living aboard up north, with cold winters, rough water, etc... i might not be singing the same tune! bottom line, you mileage may vary depending on where you are but if you can find the right location, reasonable weather, living aboard will enhance your boating experience!

let's see.. what did i miss?

going to work every day? so what? it's no different except that walking down the dock is much more fun than taking an elevator! I'm actually considering ways of downsizing my business and running it from the boat... maybe.... coming back at night, the minute i get on the dock i feel i'm on vacation... love the feeling!

obviously, your wife needs to be aboard on this (pun intended)... something i didn't have to worry about!

I have a storage where i keep the stuff i don't want to get rid of... some nice furniture pieces, etc.... no big deal.

only downside is that real estate goes up, boats don't... if you can keep your house and rent it then that problem is solved.

any ?, just ask....

 

[Tom Ipock]

Thanks for the input guys. What I didn't say in my opening was that my wife and I tried this about 12 yrs. ago aboard a 49 Gulfstar. We had sold our house and decided to give it a shot rather than buy another. Problem was "terrible timing". It was winter - the coldest one we had in years. Both of us got the flu for what seemed like the entire winter. We were miserable, and she finally told me if I didn't buy her a house, she would kill me. I'm still here, so obviously we moved ashore. We'll never forget that misery.
But now on the Hatt, we spend almost every weekend during the winter on board in South Carolina, and even with freezing weather, other than on / off boat, we have never been bothered by cold. The heat works great, and with a small ceramic heater on the aft deck, it's like a sun room during the day. We probably spend more nights on board in Winter than Summer, because there is nothing else fun to do. We really hate to leave on Sunday afternoon. As a matter of fact, it's really fun to spend Sunday night and sit around and watch everyone else pack and leave with sad faces.
Running the boat is not a problem as the two of us have been handling our boats for almost 20 years. She knows what to watch for and helps out a great deal. As far as keeping things ready to go, we both hate clutter, and keep things ship shape most of the time. It's good to hear that you still have the desire to toss the lines and go - that's what I was afraid would go away.
Well, more thinking......
Thanks,
Tom

 

[jim rosenthal]

Tom, go for it. You sound like you don't need much encouragement, and good for you. I think you all will have a great time.

 

[spartonboat1]

Regarding opening post and rate of use, vs. boat out the back door. The noted yacht designer Tom Fexus described the Florida Sandwich (for those with the money) of a Boat in the front well, a swimming pool in the back yard and house in the middle. He too noticed a major drop in the use of his boat, once it was out the front door.

He developed a rate of use equation:

R of U= function of distance from boat (1/D) x inverse of length of season, so the farther you are away and the shorter the season, the more you use it. So he literally moved his boat back to NY and found he used it more than ever from FL.

Unfortunately, when I was going through my early days of owning the boat and was infatuated (you overlook all the warts and you want to save from that evil prior owner who didn't really take care of it as well as you can), we would drive 10 hours each way from OH to MI and back in one weekend. Go figure...but we had a great time. Thank God Buick's love freeways.

Now we are closer and my wife lived aboard last summer, and I was up there almost every weekend. Mostly I noticed that we started hauling un-necessary stuff off the boat (see the other thread on that issue), and I caught up on cosmetic and other maintenance that I had not been able to get to.

As far as temps, N. MI is cold in Spring/Fall, but I have not noticed that the reverse air heat is affected...throws much heat. Usually, we don't run it all night when cold, but throw on the proverbial/literal extra blanket. Frankly, its refreshing (usually). If really cold, heat it is.

I think our drill may be to use the boat as a retirement "cabin" in the "summer", a sometimes fuzzy logic term on the Great Lakes, and keep the "downstate" house.

My fav...breakfast and coffee on the aft deck, feeling the sun heat gain raise the temp during the am and listening to NOAA radio. The loud music from the Pink Pony on Mack Isle in the summer is an acquired taste.

 

[Angela]

I think living aboard is a unique personal decision. There isn’t an affirmative yes or no answer. The answer depends on each person, individually, and all of us will have varying views based upon our own personal experiences and lifestyles. I suspect one’s geographical location would have a lot to do the living aboard experience (I’m talking about .... winter .... yuk!).

I purchased my first “big boat” in February 2003 which was a 33' Cruisers, Inc. express cruiser - not a “big boat” by my standards today, but my boat prior to that was a 20' pontoon and before that a 17' runabout. So, this boat, with all the comforts of home with the exception of a washer/dryer, was enormous to me. I had a four bedroom home on a lake in Ohio at the time. The boat was on Lake Lanier in north Georgia. I used to commute back and forth on the weekends between Ohio and Atlanta because I worked in Atlanta during the week. After I bought the boat, I stopped going home and my Ohio house sat vacant for a long time - I had moved onto the boat and just couldn’t stand the thought of not being on her over a weekend. For me, living aboard was quite do-able and comfortable. With no children or a husband, living aboard fit my lifestyle - it was just my cat and me. I had a boyfriend at the time, but he wasn’t nearly as interested in the boat life as was I, so he had to go! And I can honestly say that that boat has been one of the best things to enter my life, despite the fact that she wasn’t a Hatteras. Moving aboard really changed my life and my entire outlook; even my career will have been affected since I plan to run a charteryacht business in the Virgin Islands, now, once I find my Hatt. When I realized how much I loved living on the boat, I eventually sold my house and left nearly everything in it - furniture. Life became so much more simple and I found I really didn't need a lot of "stuff."

Living on what I now call a “small boat” can be challenging, but I’ve been through two winters on her and I do have to manage water from time to time when temps remain in the teens and 20s because the marina shuts off the dock water. My water tank was only 70 gallons. I think that was part I disliked the most, but it wasn’t all that bad, it just became a part of my boating routine a few times over the winter. Managing groceries in my tiny refrigerator was probably the most challenging thing of all since I am very fond of cooking, gourmet style, but I figured it out and it just became a part of what I do. Even Emeril would have been impressed with all the galley equipment I had in that little boat!

What I didn’t know is just how passionate I was about living aboard - something that I think I just took for granted at the time. I sold the boat this past October because I’m seriously on the hunt for a 58' Hatteras. Now, being temporarily boatless, I realize just how passionate I am for living aboard. I think I am in the most miserable state of my life at the moment that I’ve ever been in because I don’t have a boat and am temporarily living on land. I just hate living on land! I have absolutely no desire to ever own a piece of real estate again. Wherever I live needs to be wet on the bottom. My life has become just that simple.

I tend to agree with others who have suggested that you try living on the boat first before selling the house and its contents, but to get a true sense, you’ll really have to be adamant about not going into the house for anything - use it like a storage facility. To dissuade that temptation, you would probably get a more realistic test of how you and your wife will feel about this by moving the boat to a nearby marina instead.

What I don't miss in the least bit is the lawn maintenance yardwork that goes with a house. I have a few plant containers on the boat in which I grow my own herbs for the galley. That is all the gardening I care to do.

I was hooked when I boarded the boat the very first time. For me, I discovered an unknown passion within myself ..... that has lead me to my quest for a Hatteras....and no substitutes!

I hope you find that same passion in living aboard as I have.

Ang

 

[Passages]

Ang,
I'm impressed!
Wish there were more women like you.

Tom,
No, living aboard should NOT kill your passion for boating.

Back in my single 20 something days, I lived on board a 36' wooden Trojan convertible for 2 years. Primative by todays standards but It was all I could afford. I remember that period as some of the best times of my life. I no longer had weekends, but 2 day vacations. Friends, entertaining and good times were plentiful. There were a few other liveaboards at my marina and we formed a close nit community. The things I disliked most on board were potable water related - refilling tanks in the winter and having to trudge to the marina shower each morning. Issues you should not have to deal with in southern waters on a big Hatt.

You need to decide if a simpler life is right for you. It was for me. When the kids are grown and I retire, my plan is to move back aboard a LRC or MY, summer in New England and winter in FL. But that's still 12 years off .

 

[Pascal]

spartonb. Breakfast on the aft deck is also one of my favorite moment. since the weather turned cooler, we've been taking the boat out almost every wed night, usually just up the bay, anchoring off downtown miami. great view at night.. .then wake up early, enjoy breakfast on the aft deck with the sun rise lighting up the city... raise anchor at 8, in the slip by 8:30 and at the office by 9.

that Rate of Use is dead on...i used the 37' much more when it was an hour+ away in the keys than when it was right at the bottom of the building.

I also coudln't imagine not living on a boat, i don't see myself on land in the future...

 

[spartonboat1]

Pascal: Thanks for the response.

Since you run your boat almost every day, do you every get tired of the cool sound a Detroit Diesel lighting off? I still get chills when those bad boys burst to life and I can tell a DD across the block/marina and my cousin who has a 45' sportfish, but cat's or cummins, mentioned how nice they sounded underway. I acquired a taste for that sound when deckhanded on a 118' yacht in the 60's and she had 4 GM (DD) 6-71's...when at full song, I'll bet there was a 30 mpg wind into the engine room through the open deadlight on the ER door.

Sorry, way off the thread. My fav line from my son's mother in law, first time aboard. "That's the first time I ever got lost on a boat". (and we're little vs. a 1510)...

 

[Tom Ipock]

[QUOTE= we've been taking the boat out almost every wed night, usually just up the bay, anchoring off downtown miami. great view at night.. .then wake up early, enjoy breakfast on the aft deck with the sun rise lighting up the city... raise anchor at 8, in the slip by 8:30 and at the office by 9.

Where is your main dock? You must be in the Grove area? That is one of my favorite spots in Florida - from the grove down the bay and "Gilberts Resort"
Tom

 

[Trojan]

Sounds great! You lucky Dog. I'm setting here looking out over 65 acres of 14 inches of new fallen snow.This sucks. I want My boat. Evan the wife wants to be on the boat and thats a good omen. Because she is a newbe to boats with only 3 years of service. I figure 5 to 6 years and I can give the house to the kids and we live on the boat full time. I'm ready now. Bill

 

[Pascal]

tom, yes at Dinner Key Marina in the grove.

 

[jim rosenthal]

This time of year, since I still have to work (and frankly like what I do), I am glad to be in a house- we've had some snow already in Annapolis. But today I went for a three-mile walk around Greenbury Point (for those of you who know Annapolis, that is the area where the radio towers are, just South and West of the Bay Bridge). It's forty degrees or more today, not a cloud in the sky, and the water is just about flat calm. And oh boy did I wish I was out on the boat and going someplace!!! And not coming back for a while!!! Once you have experienced that style of life, you are not the same.
Angela, I think you are going to have a very successful charter operation and if you cook as well as you write, I hope to come down and book some time with you all.