Liveaboard Poll

Gabe n Em said:

OK, OK, I said "Liveaboard and love it" here's the dirty truth:

We've been aboard 3 years and have recently started talking about a house. I want a garage, she wants a garden. Neither of us wants to fear for our house in the next hurricane. I'm sick of always doing boat maintenance, she's sick of everything breaking and stinking like bilge/diesel/poop/coolant/boat/whatever. We go out more than any other boat in our (very tiny) marina. But even that's only 1-2 times a month for a weekend or less at a time.

HOWEVER

We're both terrified of having to buy all that junk you dirt people have (Furniture, beds, TVs, Washer, Dryer, etc, etc, etc), we cannot afford a dirt house with the scenery we wake up and fall asleep to, and HOLY MOLY is a good day on the water TOTALLY WORTH IT!


Sorry to continue to muddy the waters of decision making

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I too also voted "Liveaboard and love it" but after nearly 5 years the winters are getting too me. Specifically, I hate the wind! Everything else has been great. This year has been the worst and it is driving me to Zillow looking at condos :lol: The cold I can stand, it's the night after night after night of getting beat to death with 30+mph northerly winds with gusts 45+ and it just goes and goes and my flybridge canvas has blown out seams and I don't get any sleep and I bloody well hate it. This is the first year where I didn't get my March reprieve and look forward to it dying off as we just got another blow the other night and I just wanted to cry at like 2:30 am listening to my flybridge surround sound like it was going to be ripped off and the wind gennies screaming and creaking dock lines and....

It seems that location is very much a key to being a happy liveaboard. Most people don't enjoy living on a boat in a very cold climate.

What I hate about living aboard a boat. The 3 minute walk in the cold wet windy rain to get to my car, taking the garbage out or hauling groceries. The fact that my car lives out in the open in a parking lot were some idiot is bashing his door into it and the seagulls keep dropping shells on it. I used to own a nice Porsche, now i’ve learned to drive a cheap ford explorer and not care about what my car looks like. I used to hate it when my garden hose froze and I couldn’t get water for days at a time(have a water maker now).

What I like about living on the boat. Walking the 3 minutes down the dock in the sunshine enjoying the view to my boat. Sitting on the back deck watching the world drift by. Knowing when there is a knock on the door it’s going to be some one I know who at most needs a hand and not trying to sell me something or trying to con me. Finally, if I really hate my neighbor it only costs me 2 gallons of diesel to move to a completely different neighborhood and I still have the same house.

BandB said:

It seems that location is very much a key to being a happy liveaboard. Most people don't enjoy living on a boat in a very cold climate.

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I can say with 100% certainty, even without any firsthand experience, that I'm one of those people.

tiltrider1 said:

... Finally, if I really hate my neighbor it only costs me 2 gallons of diesel to move to a completely different neighborhood and I still have the same house.

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I can't tell you how many times I've said, 'if only I could just pick up my house and move it somewhere better.'

ksanders said:

Here is another aspect to consider...

If you take away the asset portion of the equation, and don’t use home ownership as a comparison...

Living on a boat large enough to be comfortable provides a lifestyle that would be unaffordable otherwise.

Try renting (or buying) a waterfront condo (or home) sometime. The price can be litterally unobtainable.

Compare that to the cost of buying a boat and putting it in a nice waterfront location... say Downtown Seattle, or Downtown San Diego for example.

You can get a liveaboard 50’ slip in Downtown San Diego for something around what $1400 a month (including liveaboard fees) plus the price of a boat.

How much would a condo cost you a month that had direct 0 steps to the water access for your Kayak?

This is still something I am considering as a retirement snowbird destination. Park the boat in San Diego or somewhere else warm. and go spend 3-4 months on it a year. Spend a month or so moving it north in the spring, and south in the fall, and enjoy the Alaskan summers.

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Heap big medicine here. Our boat is in Point Loma, where the cheapest houses are north of a million. It's a great neighborhood with a gazillion bars and restaurants within walking distance, and a 5 min Uber to downtown or Ocean Beach. We couldn't afford to live here if not for our boat.

However, I've lived in SOCAL for so long I wear a jacket when it's 65 degrees. I'm not so sure I'd be so happy with this lifestyle in, say, Washington or Maine.

tiltrider1 said:

I have seen a lot of divorced men end up living on their boat. They enjoy it but usually find a woman and with in 3 years they are off the boat.

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The experienced ones keep the boat and let the woman go.
Life on a boat is harder. Experience or planning can make a big difference. It's your home you need to be comfortable. Everything you need has to be carried aboard. Groceries, laundry, repair and maintenance items all mean many trips up and down the dock to your car, probably parked far away. In the PNW, half the time in the rain or snow.
On board laundry is a huge convenience, especially when cruising. A dock cart makes shopping easier. If you're in a cold winter climate, solve the heating problem so you're not cold and damp. Try to limit your clothes to items needing simple laundering. Get rid of all the stuff you won't be using.

Lepke said:

. Everything you need has to be carried aboard. Groceries, laundry, repair and maintenance items all mean many trips up and down the dock to your car, .

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True, but things can be done easier and surely America has similar.

For example we buy our groceries online and get them delivered, especially the heavy items and can do around most of Australia where a Woolworths or Coles are located.

For collection we pick the delivery time to coincide with high tide, add our mobile number saying call 20 minutes before arrival in the comments and have them meet at a concrete boat ramp.
The refrigerated truck reverses down the ramp to the water and we put the bow of our tinny almost in the back of the truck and 2 months worth of groceries is an easy experience.
This just leaves fresh veg to be sourced locally.

I have checked online and we can get the same service in Thailand with tesco lotus, so that'll be great when we get up there.

I buy most of our other stuff online, boat parts usually from overseas, clothes, electronics, cases of wine, all online and 99% of the time cheaper than an actual store.
With our postal service I can set up a virtual mailbox anywhere in Australia for all that stuff to get delivered to at no cost. God knows why you'd pay for a post office box.
Pick a post office near the water, short walk, bum a ride, bus or uber, back to the dinghy and back to the boat.

BandB said:

It seems that location is very much a key to being a happy liveaboard. Most people don't enjoy living on a boat in a very cold climate.

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We lived on board in the PNW for a couple of years. Not New England but we still had some cold temperatures. We had a Webasto hydronic system with two zones, plumbed through the water heater. We were never cold or damp but we knew we wouldn’t last. The answer was to move closer to the equator. Fewer clothes, more time outside and longer days. What’s not to like!

ksanders said:

Here is another aspect to consider...

If you take away the asset portion of the equation, and don’t use home ownership as a comparison...

Living on a boat large enough to be comfortable provides a lifestyle that would be unaffordable otherwise.

Try renting (or buying) a waterfront condo (or home) sometime. The price can be litterally unobtainable.

Compare that to the cost of buying a boat and putting it in a nice waterfront location... say Downtown Seattle, or Downtown San Diego for example.

You can get a liveaboard 50’ slip in Downtown San Diego for something around what $1400 a month (including liveaboard fees) plus the price of a boat.

How much would a condo cost you a month that had direct 0 steps to the water access for your Kayak?

This is still something I am considering as a retirement snowbird destination. Park the boat in San Diego or somewhere else warm. and go spend 3-4 months on it a year. Spend a month or so moving it north in the spring, and south in the fall, and enjoy the Alaskan summers.

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One of the things we have said for years we have 3-12 million dollar condos overlooking our Marina our slip fee is just a portion of there HOA