Living aboard a Sage 17

[alansmith]

Gio, just so you know....Sausalito...about as pricey as it can get for slips....and you might have to kill someone to get a slip. San Francisco Bay is tightly controlled for live aboard spaces. You better do some serious research before buying anything and thinking you got a slip coming with it. It is serious problem for people who want to live aboard anywhere in S.F. Bay.

You can do a search on custom Google about S.F. live aboard space. This will also tweak you...the smaller the boat....the more they eye you as driftwood and a liability they don't want in their marina.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Meanderthal

I lived on a 25ft ericson for almost a year, in Alaska--loved. Currently live on and sail a 36ft Catalina with huz and large dog--love.

WHATEVER you do, if you need heat, don't use propane. That wet sh%t will make rain in your cabin. Electric or Diesel.

Buy those foam floor tiles and cut them to fit your floor.
!

have to agree on the electric or diesel heat and not propane but not for the moisture issue ( which isn't as bad as some think it will be.) but rather for the safety issue concerning carbon monoxide.
The foam floor tiles sounds like a good cheap idea. I use those rug samples that they give away myself.

[GIOVANNl]

Meanderthal, will the foam obsorb all the water, or just keep condensation level down. If it keeps the condensation down, should I do the same process with the v-birth for the other storage spaces, or something different? Thanks for all the feedback everyone!

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by GIOVANNl

Meanderthal, will the foam obsorb all the water, or just keep condensation level down. If it keeps the condensation down, should I do the same process with the v-birth for the other storage spaces, or something different? Thanks for all the feedback everyone!

Giovanni what one would assume he is referring to is the blue camping pad. ( closed cell foam) doesn't absorb water.
https://www.amazon.com/Ozark-Trial-C.../dp/B071DPQXB7

[TrentePieds]

Quote: "This is becoming a disjointed mess, sorry!"

Far from it :-)! Dead easy to edit it into point form, and then it is succinct and on the mark. The AstroTurf idea is one of those "why didn't I think of that" things.

TP

[dcstrng]

I'm going to echo what has already been said -- you can hideout in anything large enough to hold a human body, but there is such a flood of low-priced, inexpensive classic plastic in the 26-30 range, I'd do a bit of window shopping there and see if anything attracted you.

[Meanderthal]

Originally Posted by newhaul

Giovanni what one would assume he is referring to is the blue camping pad. ( closed cell foam) doesn't absorb water.
https://www.amazon.com/Ozark-Trial-C.../dp/B071DPQXB7

Nope, although that is a good cheap solution I have employed in rarely used spaces, like our cramped aft cabin.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B013A4ATCQ/...4234724107&th=

These come in wood patterns, are also closed cell/don't absorb water.

[Meanderthal]

Originally Posted by GIOVANNl

Meanderthal, will the foam obsorb all the water, or just keep condensation level down. If it keeps the condensation down, should I do the same process with the v-birth for the other storage spaces, or something different? Thanks for all the feedback everyone!

No absorption. The foam tiles for the floor are the night and day comfort difference. No matter how warm you heat the cabin, you won't be comfortable without something blocking the cold bilge from frigidairing your feet.

Excuse the mess: my large fuzzy dog, her princess ramp for climbing up and down the companionway, her food toy, a tarp to temporarily cover our new enclosure frame while I make up templates, a stray trash bag, her water bowl, and scuzzy husband shoes...

But in the midground you can see the wood grain foam tiles on the floor. A year old now, heavy heavy heavy use, still holding up.

[Meanderthal]

Originally Posted by TrentePieds

Quote: "This is becoming a disjointed mess, sorry!"

Far from it :-)! Dead easy to edit it into point form, and then it is succinct and on the mark. The AstroTurf idea is one of those "why didn't I think of that" things.

TP

Thanks! I get a lot from these forums, nice if something I do helps someone too.

[GIOVANNl]

Another question for Meanderthal. Where did you stay in Alaska, how was it, and how was the sailing? I am thinking about heading up that way if I get the chance. Thanks.

[Meanderthal]

I'll PM you later to not derail the thread, but I can say you could spend a lifetime exploring Alaska's coastline. If my husband and I could be together on the boat during the summer, we might never leave these cruising grounds. However, with winter travel...still wonderful, but chilly.

[TrentePieds]

I don't think any of us would have any objection to a a little thread drift in this regard. You learn all kindsa things serendipitously when TD happens :-)!

E.g. to get to Alaska did you go up the "Inside Passage"? Victoria B.C., or let's call it Bellingham WA, to Port Hardy at the top of Vancouver Island is about an 8-day voyage. You can do it in less if you are sufficiently masochistic, but me - I sail for pleasure :-)

Hecate Strait can be anything BUT a pleasure, but no-one - but no-one - should miss Haida Gwai. What do we "moderns" make of a "stone age people" that in the mighty Pacific Ocean that ain't pacific at all, hunted the great Blue Whale from dug-out canoes using spun fibres from the bark of the Western Red Cedar for harpoon line?

Do tell us where you went, and particularly where you put in and where you put your hook down, on your voyage :-)

TP

[Meanderthal]

We are FROM Alaska, so all our experience is based out of three SE AK cities. We bought our first boat in Valdez, then Juneau. We bought our second boat in Seward.

I don't even know where to start, lol. I will say that most of our anchoring selections have been drawn from a local book I consider the Prince William Sound gospel: Cruising Guide to Prince William Sound--Lethcoe.

Prince William Sound is HUGE. We love Sheep Bay, New Chenega, Cordova, Stockdale Harbor and exploring the lagoon there...

But we are newbies compared to some of the people I just chatted with on another thread I started about our last trip out.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ka-193241.html

[Juho]

It's all up to your personal preferences and needs. A 50ft bot is really small when compared to a proper house. I'd like to be able to stand straight at one spot inside the boat.

[goat]

Originally Posted by SweetTeaSailor

Someone gave us an Islander Bahama 24'. We kept it in Dana Point Harbor CA for a few years bf moving back to FL. It was, in fact, like camping. No galley, no head, no motor! But she loved to sail...so much fun. I would spend weekends on her but wouldn't consider it as a live aboard. BTW, water temp made it pretty cold in the winter.

I'd rather have a Dana 24 in the Bahamas than a Bahama 24 in Dana ;^)

Some of the small heavy boats; Flicka, Dana, Allegra and their ilk make much better liveaboards. To paraphrase the racing crowd there's no substitute for displacement.

Some of the later model Flickas came with a head at the bottom of the companion way. Probably in range price wise.

My suggestion, if you can fit a larger boat in your life, a Catalina 27.

goat (offended by the smell analogy) ;^)