1st year liveaboard

[Lostsailor13]

Moved aboard full time last Halloween and have made it through my first summer and it just keeps getting sweeter every day,there hasn't been 1 day yet were i was like wtf did i get myself into,and over the past year have made continuous improvements aboard my Willard 36,some of which were adding air conditioning,building a California closet on starboard side of foc'sle,adding solar system,8kw Chinese diesel heater,new hot water heater hooked up to the Detroit,4-370 ah 6v golf cart batteries,and just starting my Dickinson heater install which also will heat engine block and oil cooler,its been a busy 1st year but still very enjoyable and fulfilling and hoping for many more to come

 

[HTurner]

Nice! Congratulations.

 

[hmason]

My wife and I decided to try 6 months of living aboard. I don’t know how the time expanded as we are now into 11 years and have never looked back.

 

[mvweebles]

Congrats. As a fellow W36 owner, I've been following your travails with interest.

Peter

 

[tiltrider1]

Wife and I had a 5 year plan when we moved on the boat. That was 3 boats and 25 years ago. Currently we are evaluating another 5 year plan that starts with retirement and living on the boat.

 

[GoneDiving]

Congratulations.

 

[South of Heaven]

Nice.....Very cool. I was a full time liveaboard for 18 months (in a cold climate!).

I loved it but went in a different direction....got married last year!

 

[Constellation1]

All of you who have done this are inspiring. We are planning to start our multi-month stints as soon as hurricane season is over.

 

[Wayfarer]

Congrats on your first year! I hope it continues to work out well for you.

 

[Zoar]

Very cool! Congratulations and keep posting.

 

[calijenn1974]

Hail and we hope to find a welcome community;

We are a family of 10, down sized to 4, sometimes 6-7, usually 4 with two 10- ish year old's. We have a few dogs (we have 3, we have a lab, and 2 chihuahuas and a cat who to date at age 2 has lived in our room only.) We have always been homeschoolers and have dreamt of a houseboat for many years. We discussed about a decade out! Cut to live changing so much we have sooooo many reasons to move up our trip! 1. We no longer are willing to idly wait for life to happen, we are going to happen to life! 2. We no longer have a fluctuating but relatively high income- we are down to a pretty stable, but fixed income which we hope is enough for this endeavor (we are pretty frugal). We also have equity in our home and can sell for a good price giving us the money needed from what we see to buy a trawler, add a boost to our monthly income and maybe help us outfit and decorate our new home in fairly cozy fashion to our very eclectic tastes. We are not lazy by far and love to fish and take photographs. We are not too tech-forward so that should be okay- and we are hoping to find some information about life, living aboard, costs, menus, costs of locks, traveling the great loop which is a plan for maybe 3-5 years from now for us and anything else you can/will share! we would be so grateful!!! Thank you.

 

[OV_59FR]

Thanks for sharing your experience! My wife and I are debating living aboard, which sounds sweet, but we're afraid of the issues we won't see coming.

By the way, is it possible to live aboard for someone who's sensible to cold? My wife often gets ill if she feels cold, and I'd like to know whether it'd be realistic for her to live on a boat in terms of 1) temperature inside of the living quarters and 2) heating prices.

 

[tiltrider1]

Thanks for sharing your experience! My wife and I are debating living aboard, which sounds sweet, but we're afraid of the issues we won't see coming.

By the way, is it possible to live aboard for someone who's sensible to cold? My wife often gets ill if she feels cold, and I'd like to know whether it'd be realistic for her to live on a boat in terms of 1) temperature inside of the living quarters and 2) heating prices.

There is no reason for a boat to be cold and damp other than people are two cheap to spend money. I have heat pumps, resistance heaters and diesel heat. Any one of the is sufficient to cook me right out of the boat.

 

[Lostsailor13]

There is no reason for a boat to be cold and damp other than people are two cheap to spend money. I have heat pumps, resistance heaters and diesel heat. Any one of the is sufficient to cook me right out of the boat.

I agree totally my rig summer,winter,raining fir a week has no moisture mold mildew anywhere under the mattress cabinets nowhere none neve5 been or will be never would let it happen would not live on a cold damp boat

 

[ksanders]

There is no reason for a boat to be cold and damp other than people are two cheap to spend money. I have heat pumps, resistance heaters and diesel heat. Any one of the is sufficient to cook me right out of the boat.

Yep! I was going to say pretty much the same thing.

No need to be cold or damp. I keep my boat at 55% humidity and the temperature I like which is in the mid 60's.

 

[catalinajack]

There is no reason for a boat to be cold and damp other than people are two cheap to spend money. I have heat pumps, resistance heaters and diesel heat. Any one of the is sufficient to cook me right out of the boat.

Same here. Down to 40 degrees of water temp our reverse cycle units put out heat 30 degrees above ambient temp. That means when we wake up on a typical winter morning (think Annapolis, MD) with the cabin temp at 50 degrees, on start-up, the reverse cycle puts out at least 80 degrees. It takes maybe 15 minutes to raise the indoor temp to 72 degrees. No, we do not heat the boat at night. We stay warm and toasty beneath a heavy down comforter. Pot of coffee started upon waking with coffee ready as the cabin temp approaches daytime comfort level. Last winter we had to use resistance heat (oil-filled radiators and ceramic heaters) for maybe four or five days.

 

[BandB]

Hail and we hope to find a welcome community;

We are a family of 10, down sized to 4, sometimes 6-7, usually 4 with two 10- ish year old's. We have a few dogs (we have 3, we have a lab, and 2 chihuahuas and a cat who to date at age 2 has lived in our room only.) We have always been homeschoolers and have dreamt of a houseboat for many years. We discussed about a decade out! Cut to live changing so much we have sooooo many reasons to move up our trip! 1. We no longer are willing to idly wait for life to happen, we are going to happen to life! 2. We no longer have a fluctuating but relatively high income- we are down to a pretty stable, but fixed income which we hope is enough for this endeavor (we are pretty frugal). We also have equity in our home and can sell for a good price giving us the money needed from what we see to buy a trawler, add a boost to our monthly income and maybe help us outfit and decorate our new home in fairly cozy fashion to our very eclectic tastes. We are not lazy by far and love to fish and take photographs. We are not too tech-forward so that should be okay- and we are hoping to find some information about life, living aboard, costs, menus, costs of locks, traveling the great loop which is a plan for maybe 3-5 years from now for us and anything else you can/will share! we would be so grateful!!! Thank you.

Wifey B: So do all 8 of you vote overwhelmingly for this idea? Or are you just going to include some of the family of 8 in the endeavor? Your situation is in no way similar to that of Lostsailor. What's the longest the eight or even just the main four of you have spent on a boat together? Then the sometimes with 6 or 7 or 10 plus 4 dogs and cats. This is the type post that just terrifies me.

 

[Timicrinn]

1st year livaboard

Well for us...sold the house in a hungry market...moved all our 45 years of marriage crap into a 1600 sq ft storage...bought a 94 4788 bayliner...and moved onboard in April. Survey says...it’s better than average for its age. She is in our very owned 50’ slip in Semiahmoo, Wa...livaboard that is. Some adjustment...cramped quarters, small refer...BUT the adventure has been over the top for any expectation we may have had. Ran like a top until one engine crapped out...got her going. Bathroom facilities needed adjusting from big double shower to a phone booth. Toilets...OK...till one quit...rebuild to new. Tender ran like a top till it didn’t any more...I can fix that. Surprises...not the original amount of water tanks as advertised, no maintenance records, electronics good to poor to “what happened it used to work”, did you say heat came with the boat...not, so I guess you need antennae’s and a flux compass for the chart plotter to work...BUT the good out weights the weekly projects that arise as you use a 27 year old boat...and my learning an old dog new tricks seems to be helping the slide into dementia. The people we have met are unbelievable nice, forthcoming of information and help, pleasant fun new and exciting and from all over going all over. As Seamanship boot camp come to a close...our expectations have been exceeded...what is more exciting than pushing boundaries...and boating, cruising and a new found love of the art of boat yoga will give you that sense of adventure...but don’t tell anybody. Oh the 1600 sqft is now 144sqft...and we have been there done many winters in the great northwest near by...grey and rain drives the admiral into deep depressions so we will join the rain birds and fly south to the Sonoran desert...land of cactus and golf courses. Seamanship courses begin anew in March...until then steer a true course on your journey.