Living while "on the dry"

What is your strategy, as a liveaboard, when your boat is above ground (on the "dry") for maintenance? A women we met who lived aboard Elizabeth II stayed in her daughter's apartment while the ship was drydocked.
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I'm looking forward to the answers to this one! We've only had one day where we had to stay with friends. Come springtime, we will need to be out for a few days. ..maybe get a hotel and have a staycation?

Coot- What is the time frame you have in mind? Asked as I am able to stay onboard during my haul for annual bottom hair cut and shave. (Paint and zinks)
which at the longest, takes two full days and tides. The yard keeps the employee head open and dropping gray water is not a concern. Power is available and one can eat and sleep. NOTE: due to the angle of the yard rail system, one has to point one's head up hill for sleeping.

For us 'slow' boats, that feeling must be akin to a 'fast boat' cruizing at high speed where one walks up hill at full tilt!! Just joking, just joking.

Al-Ketchikan

You hook up power, a water tower for your A/C if you need it, get a good ladder or stair way and look at it like a working camping trip.

Many stay aboard their boats on the hard for some long periods. I have see it in many DIY and other boat yards.

Where we get lifted out there are toilets and showers open 24/7. We use a bucket 'n' chuck it for nocturnal needs and grey water. We get 5kw of power and Wi-Fi.
Any inconvenience we experience we see as an incentive to remove the proverbial finger from the fundamental orifice and work from daybreak until dusk.

I am sure there will be answers all over the map.

Where I am and many other marinas I know of do not allow you to stay on board.

We've done it for a few days in a few places that supplied power. The only hassle was grey water discharge that went directly overboard (the galley sink); we turned the other grey water sump pumps as well as the bilge pumps off, having sumps that overflowed into the bilge. These were yards that had showers available, and during temperate weather, though we had a couple of fans and ceramic heaters if we needed them. The biggest hassle was the very tall ladder needed, though we were in one yard, Thunderbolt in Savannah, that supplied a big rolling metal stairway; we were almost the smallest boat in there so they had them for the megayachts. The next biggest hassle was workmen showing up early in the morning and us generally being in the way. For extended hauls, we stayed in a motel and used the time to explore the surrounding areas.

The question is for a liveaboard and that can still mean a few different things as well as why you are on the hard.

Another huge question is money as in who is doing the work, dyi or yard.

If you have the money, the yard is doing the work, heck I would be on a cruise ship.

Unfortunately I can't, so if a planned haul, I would find a yard that allows staying onboard. If unplanned and the only yard available doesnt, a motel room or apartment depending on the time involved. If the yard is doing the work, often the dry storage bill is reasonable enough to offset the cost of longer stay type rentals.

Greetings,
We have had two occasions where we were "on the hard" for some period of time and experienced NO problems staying aboard. The Hinckley yard in Thunderbolt, GA (Yup, very tall wheeled steps there as well) and AYB in VA. On both occasions, power was supplied and staff were quite accommodating.

In 2012 we hauled out for a major and spend ~5 months on the hard living on Hobo. We built stairs so we didn't have to deal with ladders. We bought a camper port-a-toilet that fit in the shower perfectly so no mid night trips to the bathrooms or peeing in a bottle. We had a window AC unit and a stand alone 12000 BTU AC unit that ran 24/7s. Gray water was piped to a drain. Other than feeling like we were living in an igloo for 4 month it was pretty comfortable.

Longest we lived aboard on the hard was three weeks. We even were able to figure out how to have the washing machine drain into a dock cart which was then dumped into the ocean. Same with the shower sump.

Living aboard on the hard is toughest for sailboats with water cooled refrigeration. Several couples I know had to buy cheap 110v residential refrigerators while on the hard.

Some also bought the porta-potty units. We just used the boat yard bath rooms.

For our recent haulout, we stayed with a liveaboard neighbor. Power was supplied to the boat for the entire haulout period, and water was available. There was a strict "no discharge" mandate.

We hauled out last year for 5 weeks. We lived aboard without any issues. We used a window AC in a hatch and bought a port-a-potty for at night use.

Paper plates are useful as sink draining overboard is usually not possible.

If a 2 head boat a composting toilet install would be fine and get you set for the eventual no discharge until 12 miles at sea regulations.

Shower at the boat yard .

If in a tourist heavy area ask the boat yard crew if local resturiants have a "Locals" discount card , 15% to 25% can make a difference.

We were eternally grateful for our 210 gallon holding tank and freshwater VacuFlush heads.

READY2GO said:

We hauled out last year for 5 weeks. We lived aboard without any issues. We used a window AC in a hatch and bought a port-a-potty for at night use.

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Great ideas.
Thanks ALL

The only time we've ever lived aboard was on the hard in a marina. We had two boats hauled in the same marina. We showered at another marina 5min away. We had the second boat for space untill we sold it. It was part of the process of moving to Alaska. We'd do it again given similar circumstances.