What Do You Miss the Most? What Do You Like the Most?

[Kettlewell]

Zombie thread revival! Not living aboard at the moment, but have spent many years doing it. I would happily live aboard forever, but my wife misses her land friends too much. Some people call her the mayor of our town because she can't walk a block without stopping to chat with someone she knows. For myself, the most important things we had to store or were missed were our photo albums (though now with digital we could do away with those), my library (I own hundreds of boating books), my motorcycle, and various family artwork (we have a family of artists). The things I love the most are the peace and quiet (in the right anchorage), going to natural places that we would never get to see from land, the closeness to nature, living outdoors most of the time, being able to travel yet never leaving the comforts of home, the adventure. Land life is so dull and boring to me. I try to spice it up by hiking, mountain climbing, skiing, snowshoeing, paddling, photography, motorcycling, etc., but almost any ordinary day onboard has a bit of adventure to it.

[Marylab]

My husband retired and his dream was to live in a sailboat and cruise in the Virgin Islands for a start. We moved on to a sail boat and I don’t miss material possessions. I miss seeing my grown daughters. I didn’t think it would be this hard but it really is. Its been two months so I will give it some more time and figure out how to see them more.

[boatpoker]

Originally Posted by Marylab

My husband retired and his dream was to live in a sailboat and cruise in the Virgin Islands for a start. We moved on to a sail boat and I don’t miss material possessions. I miss seeing my grown daughters. I didn’t think it would be this hard but it really is. Its been two months so I will give it some more time and figure out how to see them more.

We miss the kidlets (grand daughters) most. We fly them to wherever we are when the stars align. They love being on the boat with us.

[chrisr]

lived aboard for 5-6 years now

what do we miss ? the owner misses the grandkids and being able to do whatever / whenever (instead of eg waiting for full batteries / watertanks to do washing etc)

i miss the great friends we have made all over the world who we might see again...or maybe not

all material possessions are gone now and neither of us miss any of it

cheers,

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by chrisr

lived aboard for 5-6 years now

what do we miss ? the owner misses the grandkids and being able to do whatever / whenever (instead of eg waiting for full batteries / watertanks to do washing etc)

i miss the great friends we have made all over the world who we might see again...or maybe not

all material possessions are gone now and neither of us miss any of it

cheers,

Aw shucks, Chris, we miss you too! Hope that you are enjoying FP as much as we did all those years ago.

Jim (and Ann)

[Hope123]

My guitar and travel partner these*are the two main essentials I will never skip.*

[chrisr]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

Aw shucks, Chris, we miss you too! Hope that you are enjoying FP as much as we did all those years ago.

Jim (and Ann)

haha...yep - i'd say we are !

and i hope you are enjoying hobart as much as we did too. did i ever tell you that hobart is where debbie and i first met ? fond memories...

cheers,

[Strygaldwir]

Kept the Porsche and Mercedes. A friend was kind enough to store them. Rented a storage unit for about 6 years. Kept dining room set I inherited from my mother, bedroom set, living room set, 6 or so business suits, stereo system, roll top desk, some one of a kind art pieces. I also kept diving equipment, basic clothes, eating utensils, some camping equipment and basic tools that went on the boat.

Got rid of 5 cars (yes, I restore them as a hobby too. Kept the two most valuable.) 3 bedroom sets, family room furniture, kitchen pots and pans, 5 large aquariums.... Lots of misc. stuff. Pretty much everything that would not fit in one container. What I miss is my vinyl record collection, and VW bug I had since high school.

After cruising, found it was so much easier transitioning back to shore. Very glad I kept what I did. Yeah, storage was about two hundred a month, but it was well worth it.

[Hudson Force]

My wife, Nancie, and I moved aboard fresh out of college and now, after 45 years of living aboard,we have spent the last 5 years living on land. This means my post flips the question, but follows the same thoughts.

What I miss the most about living aboard: The independence and self-reliance of managing my own home. Spending time close to the natural world,-being aware of the weather, tides, wildlife, and natural circadian rythyms. Raising our anchor at dawn and navigating to new places; often without interaction with others and often sharing the adventure with other cruisers. Having friends and a since of community in about two dozen ports that we frequented.

What I like the most about moving ashore: Health care for my wife who has mobility issues and is no longer safe on deck. Frequent time with our children and grandchildren. The incredible consistancy of bottles remaining upright within a huge refrigerator. Quick access to everything near or many miles away.

[sailorboy1]

land = convenience

boat = non convenience

Right now I am in a slip and have a car. There is just no real comparison for this over being at anchor somewhere when you need something.

[mako]

When I lived aboard, I certainly did not miss lawn mowers, but did miss the storage space. Today however we have a single digital picture frame to replace thousands of photos, and Starlink to keep connected and stream movies every night (bye bye DVDs and illegal torrent downloads).

After a decade moving around overseas, we've really become much more realistic about possessions, and much less materialistic.

Our final decision now is to own a home as well as have a boat for worldwide adventures, and over the next 2 years I'll be building a small, low maintenance retirement home to coincide with cutting the ties to work-life.

I suppose that will be the best of both worlds.

[wholybee]

With no hesitation or thinking about it. My garage, and a place to work on stuff. I had more tools and shop equipment in my garage than could be fit on a boat 5x the size of mine. Building a bit of carpentry. Breaking down a large sheet of plywood. Larger fiberglass projects. Rebuilding an engine. A full electronics work bench.
Now I am stuck paying up to $200 per hour for an inexperienced kid to do a lesser job than what I used to do. Things that used to be simple and take a weekend, now get spread out over months. It sucks.