How Big ( or Small ) Was Your First Liveaboard Boat ?

[hooligan6a]

Originally Posted by Bash

I've lived in two harbors that didn't allow liveaboards under 35'.

What was it like living with a bunch of snobs? Did the boats have to have air conditioning too?

[Hudson Force]

Originally Posted by hooligan6a

What was it like living with a bunch of snobs? Did the boats have to have air conditioning too?

Consider rethinking this idea. The marina's policy might be exclusive, but it's not a proper assumption to consider people with boats over a certain size or with air conditioning as "snobs"

[wolfenzee]

The two most common reactions I have to my size boat (30') is wow that's huge or that's tiny

[hooligan6a]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

Consider rethinking this idea. The marina's policy might be exclusive, but it's not a proper assumption to consider people with boats over a certain size or with air conditioning as "snobs"

That's why they call me Hooligan.

[Dameon]

I think that many harbor masters will have some leeway about boat size if you talk to them and your boat's clean and you're quiet. Unless of course they're trying to be "exclusive". Which is just another way of saying they're snobs.

35 feet, though, seriously? If women had similar size requirements (relatively speaking, of course), the human race would die out!

[LauderBoy]

I've noticed marina requirements tend to be pretty flexible.

I think some marinas that have 35ft requirements are just looking to recoup some costs with liveaboards. A 35ft boat pays more for a slip than a 30ft one. And there are extra costs for a liveaboard. My marina right now is rebuilding one of the bathrooms to add more shower stalls, because the 3 showers we currently have doesn't quite keep up with our needs. We also use the wifi more.

It'd be interesting to know if those 35ft required marinas also had large liveaboard fees.

[Hudson Force]

I have never seen an actual case where a boat of lesser length was denied access to a marina, but I have seen cases where marinas charge by the size of the slip and not the boat length. If the shortest slips were 35' then a 30' boat or a 25' boat would pay for the slip at the same price as a 35' boat. I am more familiar with slip rates and marina practices in the southeast US where most rates are by the boat length without regard to minimums.

[Brannick]

Still on my first boat, a 34' Columbia mkII. And last Saturday I paid her off so that's a very nice feeling!

[Bash]

Originally Posted by hooligan6a

What was it like living with a bunch of snobs? Did the boats have to have air conditioning too?

This was a rule of the harbor, and had little to do with the tenants. Here in the Bay Area we are ruled by an intergovernmental agency, BCDC, that limits most harbors to 10% liveaboard occupancy. It's fairly simple economics: if a harbor is limited in how many liveaboards it can take, it's going to make more profit by making certain that the liveaboard tenants are larger boats. Why rent liveaboard slips at $500 per month when you can rent them at $1,000 per month?

By the same standard, the newest harbors being built in this area tend not even to make slips under 35'. It's flat-out uneconomical for them to cater to smaller boats.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by CaptForce

I have never seen an actual case where a boat of lesser length was denied access to a marina, but I have seen cases where marinas charge by the size of the slip and not the boat length. If the shortest slips were 35' then a 30' boat or a 25' boat would pay for the slip at the same price as a 35' boat. I am more familiar with slip rates and marina practices in the southeast US where most rates are by the boat length without regard to minimums.

You're lucky. Around here, you pay by the slip size. I've got a 46' boat, and the three harbors I've kept that boat in have all required me to put it in a 50' slip because it's "too big" for a 45' slip, even if one was available. That means that for the past six years I've been paying for a 50' slip, which around here goes for $800 per month, not including electricity.

[Surfer Girl]

24' sloop we bought in Southampton called 'Ariadne'. We prepared her for live aboard (very basic obviously as a 24 footer) and sailed her across the English Channel on a 24 hour crossing to Le Havre. Forecast was good but half way across we copped a gale. Ariadne handled it no problem but needless to say, after 24 hours straight on the tiller, I was exhausted. My girlfriend at the time didn't have the experience to helm a small boat in a gale.

Got to Le Havre, dropped the mast, scrounged some second hand car tyres and headed through the French Canal system to Sete and the Med. Ariadne only had a 6hp outboard on a bracket on the transom but it gave us no problems.

Once at Sete, up went the mast and off around the Med we went....

One of the best spontaneous trips I've ever done. Met some fantastic people, had a great time.... Oh, to be 28 again!

[moniia]

I'm reading your posts and just counting... Just paid for a berth in my marina - cosy little one on Canvey Island in the UK - till 7th of Dec. Three weeks, £64 for a 44 ft boat. 4 weeks it is just under a hundred. I would go bankrupt if would pay anything around sums you are paying...

And, to be on topic - this is my first proper liveaboard boat - Bruce Roberts 44. Pretty good size, a bit big for me if I would like to sail her somewhere, but perfect for living on. My friend's boat, I am actually negotiating buying one on my own, which would be 35 ferro.. Just right for me (I live and sail alone).

[Doodles]

1st - Baba 30
2nd - Niagara 31
3rd - Wauquiez Pretorien 35

All plenty big enough for a couple and two parrots! But the next will be bigger of course.

[Artif]

We went too big for our first boat, and got burned badly, well wet actually, because she sank on the moorings while I was still fitting it out, still chokes me up that I let her down and didn't salvage her. Circumstances at the time were more than a little trying.

Back looking for another boat now though, 4 years later, with different set of priorities of what we want in a boat.

Here she is just before the fateful day 62', just short of 100tonnes, and our home for 7 years.

[meandmyhunny]

34' Hunter, it had an aft cabin so seemed bigger than most 34' boats. My wife and I are not living aboard these days but will be as of next fall, think the 46' will be much more comfortable, cheers.