I'm new to this but serious.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by HappyMdRSailor

I haven't taken advantage of dockside service in all the years I've been there... But it IS available... Hit the bar and the pool a few times however!

If you ever wanted a Cali vacation, The Morgan sits unloved 99% of the time... You are more than welcome to her any time...

Nice offer.. Thank you... may take you up on that... one day..

[VLKSLGN]

Thank you Happy, I will look at Marina Del Rey as well (sorry I left that out). I will be looking at all of these over the next year. I really hope to meet all of you, or some of you in the next year. If you are ever in the Ventura harbor look me up. I work at a bar in downtown. I'd love to meet you all and talk about this. Your first margarita/mai tai/beer is on me! Patrick

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Nice offer.. Thank you... may take you up on that... one day..

I REALLY and truly hope you do!!!
She really is a blast...

Now.... About my needing to move a boat....

[HappyMdRSailor]

Originally Posted by VLKSLGN

Thank you Happy, I will look at Marina Del Rey as well (sorry I left that out). I will be looking at all of these over the next year. I really hope to meet all of you, or some of you in the next year. If you are ever in the Ventura harbor look me up. I work at a bar in downtown. I'd love to meet you all and talk about this. Your first margarita/mai tai/beer is on me! Patrick

Sounds like a plan Patrick! Me love a good drink as much as.... well me... Lots of fun places restaurant/bars in the basin area of Ventura... Very clean marina too...

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!
Power boats that size are quite large enough for liveaboard and you might even find something smaller that will do for you. Get aboard as many as you can and take notes as to which brand and year you like. Get familiar with diesel engines and take a power squadron class or two. Of course these are just suggestions.
kind regards,

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by VLKSLGN

I have been looking at the aspect of living aboard for about 3 months now. I've read the blogs, read the books and researched what boats would be applicable for me. I'm a single guy with no kids, not looking for marriage and works enough to buy and maintain a 32-38ft boat in the next year (from what I can gather with my online and personal knowledge). My Uncle is a live-a-board in San Diego and has been for the past 15 years. He has nothing but good things to say about it. besides maintaining the ship itself I can't see a down side. I've been a mechanic for 20 years on V8 car engines and can do that work, I've also done wood work and pretty much anything you can name. I'm a bit shy on electronics but this I feel I can learn.
I'm a self sufficient man who has lived in small spaces (shared apts. rented rooms) and feels comfortable in them. I don't need much to live and keep my possesions to a minimum. I live a simple life and want to continue doing so. At the same time I would like to own something that could be mine. I've spent time on the water, mostly at dock, but for weeks at a time and have always loved it. the rocking of the boat, even in rough waters actually puts me to sleep.
I can't find a negative reason to not go through with this.
But like I said. I'm going to give this a year of thought and preparation before I actually commit. Over this year I will check out the harbors and docks around my area, research boats and take coast gaurd classes to prepare myself for actually owning and running a boat.
I'm looking for any information, any do's and don'ts, any tid bits of advice from the live-aboards that I may not know.

Thank you for all input. I look forward to it.
Patrick

Patrick, I hope you'll visit my blog. This is the topic. Right now it's very hard for readers to participate, but soon I'll be moving it to my own domain and it will be more "reader friendly."

It's not a commercial site.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Hmmmm... maybe I should relocate....

I pay $550 a month, live aboard, in a resort marina. Really.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by David_Old_Jersey

You sound like you have a good handle on what you are intending to do and a better than average skill set to acheive it

Am not living aboard, but I would suggest before buying:-

a) checkout where you will be living / mooring the boat before buying - for availability and prices as well as for shoreside services (do you need 24/7 walkon access in a marina? parking? nearby shops? security for boat (and car?!)? access to public transport? - simply the dull stuff pretty much the same as living in a house!).

b) If you are considering buying away from your home port / area research how much it will cost (in fuel / crew or captain / aggro!), remembering that no boat is ever "ready to go", at least not on an extended trip. Will find that the further away a boat is the more it costs in cash and aggro, so that "bargain" may turn out not to be. IMO the ideal boat purchase is within a days sail of "home". and ideally in the same harbour! - not just on relocation costs but on buying visit / travel costs (likely you will kiss a lot of frogs - that is just boats!).

c) Internet and reading is very useful, but you also need hands and eyes on experiance of boats. the more the better. Poking in corners and asking "dumb" questions of everyone and anyone to get a handle on what is normal / expected imperfections and what is pig in a poke stuff! Boat Brokers and Vendors pretty much the same as in the S/h car trade - except sometimes (often?!) a little bit more forgetful about problems. and sometimes a lot more devious........caveat emptor.

Whilst you likely will get a survey for "the" boat, it is way cheaper for you to screen out the no hopers yourself rather than paying someone else hundreds of dollars each time to do that because you didn't get much past the curtains.......

All that means I would go boat shopping as soon as you can, even though not intending to buy yet. It's called being a tyrekicker! and I would include boats you likely would not buy due to design, size and especially condition (being worse than you would touch with a barge pole!) - you will nonetheless learn a lot of the common areas to look at and think about on all boats, especially on the POS boats - so you don't end up with a polished turd........

d) For the living aboard angle - I would think carefully whether you want a boat that will only be tied to the dock 24/7 (nothing wrong with that) or one you will be using at sea (at least now and again). As a motorboat gets older more of the value gets tied up in the Engines, ones that do work! Especially on the older end of the market likely will be discovering engines in various stages of last legs and owners with varying levels of skills and budgets to maintain (big old cheap boats tend to get bought by those without the budget to buy big new boats - the maintainence on the older is more expensive than the new one, 3 guesses how that often goes!). Obviously you being an engine guy is a big plus - nonetheless plenty of a boat engine does involve marine specific parts (and anything with "marine" in the title is wayyy more expensive than having "auto" written on the box!) so don't over assume that is one area of the boat that will be the easy / cheap bit for you to deal with.....all that a long way of saying is that if not leaving the dock then the value might be found in buying a boat with fooked engine(s), perhaps with one eye on fixing later - or not!

Anyway, a bit more of a ramble than I first intended.........

What he said -- whatever you buy, get an engine survey!

[Jim Cate]

G'Day Patrick,

There has been a lot of good advice here and I won't reiterate any of it. My big suggestion is to carefully research the AVAILABILITY of a live-aboard berth in any of those great spots you mention. For instance, last I heard the waiting list for ANY berth in Sta Barbara was on the order of twenty years long at the current turnover rate. Due to the prejudice against living aboard your boat, many marinas don't allow it at all while most others limit them to a small (~10) percentage of berths, and the demand is high.

At any rate, as one who has now lived aboard (whilst cruising) for 26 years I know just how great a life it is. Worth working for!

Good luck, mate!

Jim