Cruising while NOT living aboard?

[Discovery 15797]

Originally Posted by more

only strange people living on boat all year, living on boat all year is not healthy all this people have problem with back,neck

[Simi 60]

Originally Posted by more

only strange people living on boat all year, living on boat all year is not healthy all this people have problem with back,neck

We think only strange people live on dirt.

My wife had a problem with her back and neck on land
High stress, sitting in front of computer all day

Out here the problem has miraculously vanished

[JPA Cate]

So the question is "how do you strip your boat for long absences (over 1 month)?"

We try to get a slip we can tie in the middle of, but tying on just one side can be made to work okay. Do the sweaty work first. We remove both head sails, "brick" them, and eventually stow them below. We wrap the mainsail with a long line, the length of the boom, and if there will be strong winds, we remove the weather cloths. We tie up bow facing in. We put chafing gear on the dock lines where they go around cleats, and add two springs (one port and one starboard) Usually they can go to different cleat than the bow lines. This is to help spread the load on the dock.

If no one is looking after the boat, it is long enough to be gone that one should double up on the four dock lines. We had one chafe through and another almost through, but our boat watcher handled the one that broke. One e-mail, and how to get into the rope locker was all he needed. Twice, for these long stays, we have had someone watch the boat, both were good friends, and both did beaut jobs, one even brought us fresh fruit and a nice bottle of red to "greet" us on the saloon table when we got back, and took us shopping later in the day.

[It was common for us to return with a duffle bag of boat gifts for the boat on our return. We amassed quite a collection of duffles! We tried to come back with our clothes clean, so no laundry to do on arrival.]

We strip the beds and wash all the linens. If you're concerned about mold, I'd buy the bags you can self vacuum (the little pump's built in) and store them in there. We leave our shower bilge pump on automatic (because rain that enters the mast during rain drains to the shower sump). Other than that, everything is turned off at the breaker panel. We close the engine through hull. We've never had a problem with our water, even after 7 months, the longest we've been away from the boat in 33 yrs. We leave a stick-it over the start button that reminds us to open the engine intake. We leave the solar panels on, the fridge empty and off, with the lid supported open. We don't have a freezer to fuss about.

We travel light, following Mark Twain's advice, "Take less clothes, and more money." When we're ready to leave, we bring down the bricked sails, weather cloths, &c, after we take our bag and backpack outside. All hatches and ports closed, dorades facing fore and aft. Lock and leave.

Our boat has been kept as simple electronically as we could be happy with, and so there is no genset to de-commission, or anything like that. The batteries are lead-acid, and the solars keep them charged, the whole time. We do top them up with distilled water before leaving, and usually change the oil. We keep track of engine hours, though, so it's oil is always in good nick.

Ann

PS. As to more's comment... Yes, to landlubbers, we are strange. No worries, though, those who love sailing "get it". My hairdresser (who has been cutting my hair where we are now for 25 yrs. or so) burst out laughing when I told her we had lived aboard for ~35 yrs.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by more

99,9999999 people doing like this
have boat in marina and coming on boat xx week yearly or on weekend
only strange people living on boat all year, living on boat all year is not healthy all this people have problem with back,neck

"only strange people living on boat all year"

Yes, absolutely. Definitely strange.

"living on boat all year is not healthy all this people have problem with back,neck"

Now here I disagree. Running up and down a ladder all day and walking 200mt to the toilet or to the parking lot...this seems to me to be healthier than sitting on a couch.

And if we are sailing, which we do quite a bit, then the movement of the boat and us trying to deal with that movement, is as good as calisthenics all day.

So I think a liveaboard life, including all year around, is good for health.

[Coastal Nomad]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Sheesh, I sure wish you had told me this back in 1986 when Ann and I moved aboard and began cruising full time. But then, I suppose that some folks think we're "strange"...
And yeah, some health issues have popped up during those years, but then at age 84 and 82, that could possibly not be related to living aboard, doncha think?

And those have been the best years of my life, mate, and well worth the cost of having you think I'm strange and sickly.

Jim

Same here Jim. Haven't done what you have, but have been living aboard in my '81 Hunter 27 for nearly 6-years now with now physical ailments other than normal old age (about 20-years younger than you....give or take). Still feel like I'm in my early 20's (and prolly just as stupid as I was then LOL).
Oh, and Jim? I used to be "Teknishn" here a while back. Had to re-register for other reasons. Hope you and Ann are doing well (I miss her witty replies here).

For the OP, I liveaboard down in Mississippi at the moment. However, my boat is registered in another state further north, which I've sailed from...twice in 4 years. I do not have a land based address in my name, I use a relative's address for boat registration. For insurance purposes, I am not a full time liveaboard. I am simply out on an extended cruise (granted, it has been a few years...a very happy few years I might add), and my insurance company has no problem with that. Cruising while not being considered a liveaboard is easy. First, don't make your boat your primary residence. Second, when applying for insurance you will be asked the primary purpose of the boat. Reply "recreational" or "pleasure" (both of which are true with liveaboards like me, trust me...I take my boat out every week and try and break her so I can make her better...recreational and pleasure...So I'm not lying here ;-) ). Never say "Liveaboard" to an insurance company...brings on a whole nother set of hoops to jump through (and it won't be cheap).

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Coastal Nomad

I do not have a land based address in my name, I use a relative's address for boat registration. For insurance purposes, I am not a full time liveaboard. I am simply out on an extended cruise (granted, it has been a few years...a very happy few years I might add), and my insurance company has no problem with that. Cruising while not being considered a liveaboard is easy. First, don't make your boat your primary residence.

I was just having a conversation about this today. Is it wise to use a relative's address? I know many cruisers do this, a brother, son, daughter in law, etc. and the allow those people to handle their financial matters, keep a room full of furniture, etc.

We've never done this. It's not that I don't trust my brother or son, it's just that they have their own life. If they have to move, or, heaven forbid, die, then what? In the first place I don't think it's fair to burden them. ("but it's no burden, it's my brother..." Yeah, right.) Secondly while it solves some problems, (like a physical address is required. Yep they have that, but do you say you live there?) it seems a bit dodgy to me. And finally, I want to be independent, I can take care of my own stuff.

So we keep a mailbox in the states, at a Private Mailbox Company, and have for 38 years. Everything goes there and they send it to me when I request. If some company or government agency demands a physical address I give them my old marina address, but I make it clear that we are travelling right now and rarely at that place, please send mail to my mailing address. We keep no belongings anywhere but with us. We are independent. But Coastal Nomad is right, we don't volunteer that we live aboard, we're travelling on our boat. Our residence is in the USA, at the address provided.

This is important, and it works.

[thesaltytar]

Sometimes I miss living aboard! I really do. But I enjoy land life too. I do find myself enjoying having a smaller boat, both for ease of day sailing and even the "roughing it" aesthetic of camping it comes with because it feels so nice to go back to a (relatively) larger home when the adventure is done.

I've always missed a boat when I was in a house and sometimes missed a house when I was in a boat. But this is a compromise that works for now, having a smaller version of each. And as the cost with ownership of either is geometric with the area, I think I might be coming out ahead to where I was or would need to be comparably.

So mail - I remember a service called St. Brandon's Isle, I believe, that handled packages and mail. Do you use something similar? I tried keeping a UPS box for a couple years but it just seemed difficult. Not sure why in retrospect.

And how/what do you claim state residency? I suppose it doesn't affect me as much because I will be claiming the RV location but I'm still curious what the general consensus is.

[thesaltytar]

Originally Posted by wingssail

I was just having a conversation about this today. Is it wise to use a relative's address? I know many cruisers do this, a brother, son, daughter in law, etc. and the allow those people to handle their financial matters, keep a room full of furniture, etc.



We've never done this. It's not that I don't trust my brother or son, it's just that they have their own life. If they have to move, or, heaven forbid, die, then what? In the first place I don't think it's fair to burden them. ("but it's no burden, it's my brother..." Yeah, right.) Secondly while it solves some problems, (like a physical address is required. Yep they have that, but do you say you live there?) it seems a bit dodgy to me. And finally, I want to be independent, I can take care of my own stuff.

I had a similar conversation actually with my SO. I think it's a combination of neither of us come from large extended families, and we don't want to be a burden, and our families are... Well they're not smoothly oiled highly functioning machines (Hi mom, love you!) that a bit of distance just seems to make for better relationships overall.

It seems like a lot of people we know that are more nomadic, and it seems a lot of cruisers rely on the social net provided by family. No judgment. It probably makes things a lot easier.

Anyway that's all really off topic you just reminded me of that time I had a conversation and it made me stare off into space with a puzzled look for a while.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by thesaltytar

...So mail - I remember a service called St. Brandon's Isle, I believe, that handled packages and mail. Do you use something similar? I tried keeping a UPS box for a couple years but it just seemed difficult. Not sure why in retrospect.

And how/what do you claim state residency? I suppose it doesn't affect me as much because I will be claiming the RV location but I'm still curious what the general consensus is.

We use "Ballard Mailbox Service" in Seattle, great group of young folks run it. The thing I am most concerned about is that the neighborhood is gentrifying so fast that soon someone will buy their property and demolish the building and put up a high rise, which may inconvenience me.

We list our residence as the Ballard Mailbox Address, so... Washington State. And for those agencies which want a street address (not believing that 2500 people showing that as their address really live in that little building) I give my old marina address which is also in Seattle, Washington. That seems to be fine.

And we have a Seattle skype phone number (which forwards to us where ever we are).

In these ways we appear to have been stable even though we've lived in several countries.

This has never caused any problems except when I mentioned to one bank officer on the phone that I hadn't been back to the US for several years. They immediately closed my account. I won't make that mistake again.

Oh, and when I was in Washington trying to get license plates for my car and they wouldn't accept my mailbox address unless I could prove that I lived on a boat by showing them the registration, which was on the boat in Mexico. Uh, I had to give them brother's address which I later changed. Apparently they were used to people who live in RV's and have no permanent address and accept the mailbox type of addresses, if they show them their RV registration. Interesting.

[smac999]

This is 99% of boat owners. Take a few weeks - month off In Summer go cruising. For 11 months a year you live normally and work. Boat sits at a dock plugged in.

Very few people live on a boat. Most marinas don’t even allow it.

[Tetepare]

Originally Posted by wingssail

trying to get license plates for my car and they wouldn't accept my mailbox address

Ha. Did that. Had to renew my drivers license and they insisted on a physical address and wouldn’t back down. I finally gave them a physical address, which they questioned since it seemed I’d backed down. But it was an out of state address- United Airlines HQ. They didn’t like that so I told them to use my dock. They didn’t like that either. They could not understand that I was, as they saw it, homeless yet far from destitute. Finally they gave up and used my PO Box.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by Tetepare

Ha. Did that. Had to renew my drivers license and they insisted on a physical address and wouldn’t back down. I finally gave them a physical address, which they questioned since it seemed I’d backed down. But it was an out of state address- United Airlines HQ. They didn’t like that so I told them to use my dock. They didn’t like that either. They could not understand that I was, as they saw it, homeless yet far from destitute. Finally they gave up and used my PO Box.

That makes me chuckle. You won.

[wingssail]

Originally Posted by smac999

This is 99% of boat owners. Take a few weeks - month off In Summer go cruising. For 11 months a year you live normally and work. Boat sits at a dock plugged in.

Very few people live on a boat. Most marinas don’t even allow it.

smac, I don't think that is universal yet (and I hope it doesn't become universal).

We lived in marinas in the USA, I know of several people that still do, I think that marinas ARE becoming more restrictive, but so far, "Most marinas don't do allow it". Maybe Canada, it is different. We lived on our boat in many countries. Only one, Australia, had restrictions against living on a boat, but they allowed it for cruisers. Australia is very bureaucratic. But surely the trend is to restrict it.

The thing is, it is a unacceptable life style. There are actually (I dare you) no rational reasons against it, but people, officials particularly, are against it. Everyone should live the same way, in a box. You choose a different lifestyle? They make it illegal.

But yes, most boats are owned for recreation. How do you know it is 99% of boat owners? People buy them and use them occasionally. Racers use them more often. Cruiser wannabies dream of cruising and go to seminars and watch YouTubes videos and fix their boats up, but mostly people don't take them out of the slip that much and few actually live on them full time. Most of the people who do live aboard or go cruising don't last long. But some of us do.

But if only 1% do become liveaboards, that's still a lot of people.

But I know it is a losing prospective, like a lot of things. But I'll live out my days on this boat, hopefully, and keep sailing.

By The Way, I never want to be thought of as someone who "Lived Normally". 1984

[contrail]

Originally Posted by more

99,9999999 people doing like this
have boat in marina and coming on boat xx week yearly or on weekend
only strange people living on boat all year, living on boat all year is not healthy all this people have problem with back,neck

What rubbish! Lived aboard, 12 months a year, for 36 years, part time for an additional 4. I am not thought of as strange, and you are lucky if your health is as good as mine. No problems with back or neck, either. I think my health is a result of living aboard! Check with a few others who have done the same thing.....there are a number on CF. I am guessing this is another opinion on something you have not done.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by smac999

Very few people live on a boat. Most marinas don’t even allow it.

Most people that liveaboard don't stay in a marina.