Liveaboard on a Mooring

[reed1v]

Be careful where you moor if you moor in the summertime. Lots of naked women hanging out on moorings in Ventura. Your wife might not take to that.

[Greenhand]

Showers: As mentioned, you can choose a boat with a nice shower or use a sun shower on deck. Or, since most of the mooring fields are run by near by marinas, you may also get marina privileges to use shore showers.

100 gallons of water - depends partly on whether or not you shower. We use the shore showers, with occasional sponge baths on board. If I do the dishes, 100 gallons lasts us 8-10 days. If my partner does the dishes, it only lasts a week.

Heating: It is Southern California, you can get by with woolies and hot tea. Although we used a cabin heater last year, this year we have switched to a heated blanket that warms up the bed before we get into it on the coldest nights. We could certainly survive without or use hot water bottles.

Diesel: Again, it depends on your comfort levels. Just for moving the boat, we have gone through about 15 gallons in just over a year, including sailing, pump outs and motoring to the other end of the bay to take the boat to the yard.

[SV THIRD DAY]

We have lived now going on 3yrs on a Mooring in Morro Bay, CA.
Diesel heater keeps us comfortable.
Generator makes our Hot water for showers.
And....
You can rent a mooring here for $250/Mo with No Live Board Permit needed if only weekending and a week vacation here and there.
Where you gonna keep a boat in California for that little money?

If you want a tour of Morro Bay or need some local intel...just email me
svthirdday@yahoo.com

[cuthbert]

Interesting that no one has mentioned the head as a limiting factor. I lived on a mooring for two months and the one thing I needed to keep an eye on was the need to empty the holding tank. Two water tanks, two positions on the battery switch, so there was always a "reserve" in those areas, but the head has no forgiveness. (Or do two head boats have two holding tanks?)
Maybe I eat to much fiber or perhaps many revert to peeing in the sink and taking a "number two" in a plastic bag? Ladies tend (sweeping generalization) to like to use a tissue and flush after a pee so that exacerbates the issue.

Every 5 -7 days was a chug out to 3 mile point to dump, this worked well for charging batteries, generating some hot water and resetting/checking the mooring.

One other mooring advantage is its the best place to be in case of zombie apocalypse etc.

[Blue Crab]

Every 5 -7 days was a chug out to 3 mile point to dump, this worked well for charging batteries, generating some hot water and resetting/checking the mooring.

While perhaps an inconvenience, this is good for the engine too.

I recall a recent thread on this topic wherein I commented on how inconvenient a mooring is as noted in the above posts. I got a slap on the back of the head by a very long-term cruiser who claimed to have never found anything inconvenient at all. As always, attitude is everything.

[monstads]

Originally Posted by cuthbert

One other mooring advantage is its the best place to be in case of zombie apocalypse etc.

<drift>
As much as I myself would like to believe that, I unfortunately think that zombies would either float (decomposing matter, and gasses) and would flail their way out to you, OR once the decomp has progressed far enough (or if they had some intelligence to weigh themselves down) they'd just walk on the bottom and climb the mooring chain. Sort of like in the Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

No, I think always being prepared to set sail, and have supplies for say 3 years or so on board at all times, and sail around out there making heart shaped GPS tracks (http://reidstoweart.com/GPS_art_page7.html) until the zombies die off is the only sensible plan to handle the zombie apocalypse.

</drift>

[NoConplain]

Originally Posted by UNCIVILIZED

I hope that that helps, & feel free to hit me up with any questions. And please pardon any typos, as my confuser, er computer, isn't cool on interfacing with the automatic spell checker right now.

Ciao

PS: I can do boat rec's, & links to expert reference sites for same, needs be. Though it'll only be a paragraph of info. Just say the word.

Now, that`s an awesome feedback. Obrigado

[SV THIRD DAY]

It depends on where you have a mooring and the size of your holding tank. Our pump out dock is 500ft away, so its no big deal to head over there every 7-10 days.

[Liam Wald]

I live aboard 3-4 months a year while actively cruising so work is not an issue.
In fact, for me, living aboard while working (something I did for a couple of years in the 80's) does not work out very well.
Presently I use...
Dickenson propane fireplace/heater is a really good product.
Solar panels and MPP controllerare a must.
Shower in cockpit. (either sunshower of diesel heated water tank).
Footpump in galley (never use pressure water).

[SV THIRD DAY]

Let me say this right now....
If my wife was asked to use a Sun Shower we would NOT be in year 8 of Living Aboard....heck I wouldn't be either!

So just some advice, do what you need to do (and spend what you need to spend) on the boat and system to make life Comfortable while living aboard on a Mooring or even at the Dock.

It's a disconnect I see all the time where the Guy thinks its fun and good enough to rough it and live like he is camping...but the wife? Well many a cruising and live aboard dream have been crushed by not making sure the Wife is Comfortable. I have seen wives leave at the Dock in Mexico AND here in Morro Bay, all the while the Guy is oblivious thinking he is living the dream while she is living the nightmare.

A single Guy live aboard and cruiser is common and many of them didn't start out as single, but ended up that way!

[Greenhand]

If you are on a mooring, rather than anchored out in the great beyond, the holding tank can be dealt with via a pump out boat. They come, they pump, you don't even have to be aboard.

Or you can have a composting toilet that contains everything in a way that you can ferry it to shore to dispose of.

Like the shower options, the most important thing is that you know the various options and what is acceptable to everyone involved in the living arrangements. Unfortunately, people sometimes think that option X is acceptable, until they try living it.

[01kiwijohn]

we keep our boat fairly simple; it is only 36' x 10' so don't have any excess room anyway. We live aboard for about 5 months per year, mostly at anchor.
We carry only 70 gals water & we have a cover, for the hard dodger, so we use a sun shower out there which we do primarily to keep the mess and humidity out of the inside of the boat. In colder weather we add a kettle full of hot water.
I finally added a Dickinson, Alaska, diesel heater. On its lowest setting, it uses only 1.2 gal per 24 hours, and we have to open a hatch to keep the heat down. Added a couple of computer cooling fans to circulate air into the ends of the boat.
Out in the ocean, we conserve water by washing in salt, then spritzing with a spray bottle.
Living on the hook has some inconveniences, to be sure but, what else do you have to fit into your busy live-aboard schedule? Besides, you meet some of the nicest people while you, and they, schlep all your stuff back and forth.