Advice for Living on a Sail boat

[JK n Smitty]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

There is a HUGE difference between "Sailing" and "Living Aboard".
Very few "Live Aboards" just drop the mooring ball or dock lines and go out for an afternoon or sunset sail! Sure there are those that do...there are exceptions to almost every rule of thumb. But for the most part Living Aboard and Sailing are two totally different things.

When we were cruising for example with the kids we were on a 36ft boat and it was plenty big for us, but once we decided we wanted to "live aboard" we knew right away it would be impossible for us on a 36ft boat, so we bought a 50ft pig of the sailing fleet but King of Live Aboard boats to live aboard in comfort. And if we decided to head out cruising againg tomorrow, I would want that 36ft boat back! It just goes to show I think the different mindset and needs of Sailing, Cruising, and Living Aboard.

PS: The di-hard sailors will despise you as just a live aboard if you don't get out sailing once a week and the cruisers will bad mouth you if you are not moving your location more frequently than the seasons. So lesson No 1, stop giving a **** about what other people think!

Best advice/comment so far. And very true.

As a live aboard one of our goals is that the boat needs to be sailable in 1 hour. But that doesn't lend itself to going for a sunset sail at a whim. Before we were live aboards we could have been off the dock in 10 minutes.

Now, going for a day sail is a special event. The winds look really good (we don't leave for less than 10 kts because I don't like flopping around in light and variable winds) or we have some friends that want to go out and we made plans to have them down.

We are still working full time so we are pretty limited in our time on the water (need to build the kitty before we can head out cruising). We try to get off the dock most weekends. Typically that would involve heading out to a local anchorage (usually within an hour of our marina) to spend the weekend. Often that will mean just powering over there because the winds will be in the wrong direction or too light to get over there in a decent time.

As pointed out above, I am sure our approach makes us snickered at by both the diehard sailors and full time cruisers. But I don't give a s#!t. I want to be a cruiser. Living aboard is cheaper than owning a house and a boat. It allows us to save for our kitty. But we will be doing it at 40, not 65. If I have to deal with those attitudes from both sides, I don't really care.

Further, I don't ever see myself living on land again. When our money runs out and we have to find some way to start building the kitty again, it will very likely be while living on a boat. I find the whole life style that much more enjoyable than living on land.

[Ex-Calif]

Originally Posted by SV THIRD DAY

PS: The di-hard sailors will despise you as just a live aboard if you don't get out sailing once a week and the cruisers will bad mouth you if you are not moving your location more frequently than the seasons. So lesson No 1, stop giving a **** about what other people think!

No excess baggage here

And BTW - Get that "derelict" 50 off the dock and sail it for Pete's sake -

[zeehag]

you will not be able to know what to buy until you have sailed more... then you can choose your new love on your own without any ones hand to hold.
buying a boat is personal and cannot be done on open forum unless you also choose your lifemate in same fashion...
until you sail you dont know what you like.

[Cubaloco]

Buy a cat


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[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by markpierce

The couple of liveaboards (couples, recovering from injuries) I've known (other than those in houseboats), stayed at our marina for a year or two between lengthy cruises. Both boats (trawler and ketch) were mid-forty feet or longer in length. Trawler went to Mexico but then became land cruisers (probably due to health issues) while the ketch sailed toward the South Pacific:

Beautiful Ketch. What is she?