How many of you have heard you're CRAZY to want to liveaboard?

[BadFish]

Don't get me wrong, I have drank, fought, screwed, and hellraised myself into trouble all over God's green earth. THAT is being young and senseless.

Being responsible is living with your life decisions, whether it's taking care of your boat or paying those outstanding fines in Indiana .

Cheers

Bill

[SweetSurrender]

Originally Posted by gostanggo

i commend anyone in this post!

My wife and i are really thinking about selling our house, land and business and living aboard, getting out of the rat race. were thinking about southern fla. or key west area.
were wondering about employment and other survival issues, can someone shed some light! buy the way, we know very very little about bat life but feel we can handle it, we live, work and play together now. any tips comments
thanks in advance!
Judy and Kevin

We're up in Seattle and getting ready to move aboard for the exact same reasons. It's been a dream for the both of us for most of our lives and this is probably because both of us spent most of our growing up near water.

Florida is not my first choice, but thanks to family it will get a visit anyway. I found liveaboard moorage (click here to get the whole story how) but I had to beg. It's a three to five year waiting list up here at the best marina in our area, Shilshole. The fee is something like $11/foot, but if I go across the pond (Puget Sound) there is plenty of liveaboard moorage for around $5/foot - but with those marina's you get a free tarp with purchase.

I've seen some marinas, with the free tarp with purchase, that I would only consider living in if I was really hard up. The thing about those marinas is the crime rate is up, the boats are not cared for at all, and the marinas themselves are generally far from anything good about our area other than the water. One particular marina, our broker was worried his car been ripped off when he was showing us a boat as he scrambled around the corner to make sure it was still there.... That said it all to me about that marina.

Personally, I'm excited about all the weight I'm probably going to lose. The people that are telling me that I'm crazy will be just plain jealous once I lose some weight! Most of my sailor friends tell me that they lost 10-15 lbs when they moved aboard simply from the changes in lifestyle. How cool is that!? Must be from working on their boat, actually sailing the boat, and keeping it from being a dock-lady. Guess it all depends on where you dock your boat then....

[Hudson Force]

My wife and I bought our first liveaboard boat in 1971 and we've been living aboard since the spring of '72. The "Crazy" label left us by the 1980's when many among our family and friends ashore found less reward in present and future than ourselves. Young or old?.....Yes, we lived aboard in our twenties and we live aboard in our sixties,- the same reward. As for liveaboard boats not being used, I don't see that as exclusive. Many boats in marinas we visit rarely see their owners for any use. Maybe the non-used liveaboards are more apparent. Our boat looks like any well used non-liveaboard. We have no dock boxes, flower pots, tarps or debris that presents any message of stagnation. We have logged 50,000 miles over our years aboard and are currently traveling with the seasons from Maine to the Bahamas. I think people don't "see" the liveaboards that are fulltime cruisers. 'take care and joy, Aythya crew

[Cadence]

CaptForce,

God bless you, if that's not polically incorrect.

How have you made income putting water under the keel?

[Hudson Force]

Cadence, For the first thirty of our years living aboard we were both public schoolteachers in Florida and cruising holidays, weekends and summers to the Bahamas. For the last seven years we've been retired and making the trips from as far as Maine to the Bahamas. Moderate incomes as teachers, but some time for cruising and we're masters of an inexpensive life aboard. 'a lot of time and distance for us, but we are "cockpit potatoes"! Many thirty mile days and anchored by early afternoon. 'take care and joy, Aythya crew

[Hal]

When I started flying lessons and announced that I wanted to become a commercial pilot, all I heard was that is too hard, you are not smart enough, you will never do it, it takes alot of money. I have been a commercial pilot since 1972. Now I want to sail around the world, live on my boat and eat seafood for the rest of my life. I don't want to be stuck where the weather is too hot or too cold. I want to see new things and go to far away places. Now I hear You are too old, it costs too much, you really don't know how to sail, you won't be able to catch enough fish to stay alive, the huricanes will get you. YOU'RE CRAZY! I guess I am, but I'm going to do it anyway.

[Soft Air]

Hal,

I am an airline transport pilot (FAA and ICAO) and when thru exactly the same thing when I wanted to fly...I ended up flying Airbuses and Boeing airplanes for more than 14 thousand hours. I am now putting the planes on the side for a while and getting ready to live aboard (I already have the boat )

By all means do it...you will be as successful as you were flying, good luck

[RickD]

First we don't "live aboard" yet. But it's in the works.

We go to our classes in San Diego in April and we'll spend this summer season on lakes in Colorado on our boat. Next year, we're going to do a few cruises (if things work out).

About 4 years from now, we expect to be able to sell our home, buy a boat and move along.

From the first day we approached our kids with this, one of them stood up and told us, "You're nuts Dad! What the hell do you think you're doing?"

I told him, "Spending your inheritance, son."

Of all the folks I've told we're planning this, only two have said the "You're crazy" thing to us.

EVERY other person has said, "Wow, you have it all planned out. Can I come along" or "I wish I could do that!"

The difference in my wife and I, and most other people is that we're planning this out - and have put in some padding, if things do not go right, we'll still do it, perhaps later, but it IS going to happen.

I don't think it is crazy. I think it is simply a matter of how you look at life and how you accomplish your mission... er.. goals. I've been "Mission Oriented" all my adult life. I grew up as the son of a Marine, who taught me so many skills that he said, "Some day, son, you will use those skills."

He's right. I've used a lot of them working on my new-to-me old boat, and she's just about ready to go in the water for us to continue our Adult Education. (thirty years of college has not really been enough for me and my wife, LOL!)

As I posted somewhere else today.... I subscribe to the Robert Heinlein theory of being Human.... and with that, "living aboard" a boat is nothing more than a furtherance of ones education.

" A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. " Robert Heinlein

Of the above - I've not tried two of them. Conning a ship, but that's coming; and dying gallantly, that one, I shall leave to others to pass judgement upon when I am gone.

[Soft Air]

RickD, thanks for your great post, here is the link to Robert Heinlein at Wikipedia:

Robert A. Heinlein - Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre

Can you publish some pics of your boat?

Here are mmy boat pictures, she is a liveaboard and I also try hard to keep her as a well used non liveaboard:

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...-albums10.html

Thanks

[Sinuous]

We're just now at step one of living aboard--wife and I just bought our first boat.

Do people say we're crazy? Sure, but they smile when they say it. And not in that nervous-around-the-crazies kind of way, more in that I-wish-I-could-do-that kind of way. Most common general quote, "Y'all are nuts, man. That's awesome."

Can we deal with being crowded and cramped? Sure, we live in a huge house now and we still spend 95% of our time there within five feet of each other.

Will I miss my little red roadster? Sure, but I'm moving up to a 33' droptop, and autocrossing gets old after awhile. 1968 was a great year for cars, should be a good year for boats, too.

What if stuff breaks? Same as now, I'll fix it. I know engines, I know electronics, and I can muddle through wiring and plumbing well enough.

Where will you get mail? Well, heck if I know, but we do all our billing and banking online already, and I cancelled my one and only paper magazine subscription after 30 nonstop years. NatGeo online works for me. Donated the 30-year collection to a library.

Won't you get cold? No, we snuggle just fine.

Won't you get hot? Yeah, probably. Guess we'll have to go swimming, then.

Won't you get wet? Definitely. So long as the interior is dry, not a problem. I can seal and insulate.

Won't you get lonely? Nope. One, we've got each other. And two, from everything I've seen and read, the sailing community is friendly and tight and welcoming to newbies like us.

What about the cats? Cats like fish. If they like canned fish, they'll love it still twitching.

---
Mike and Katie

[sneuman]

yep. i get about 50% "you're crazy" and 50% "that's cool."

to the "you're crazy" crowd, I explain how easy it is. Really.

to the "that's cool" ones, I say "There's a fine line between living on a boat and in a van down by the river." (with due apologies to the late Chris Farley).

[zeehag]

there are many who criticize for living aboard and there are those who enjoy the life .......i have found, since 1990, when i first moved aboard my first boat---sailboat, that when the income is higher, the work gets done readily.... when the income shorts, there is slight difficulty in getting stuff done all at once---gotta prioritize. i find also the biggest noise against living aboard comes from many of the yacht club folks who use their boats only a couple of times per year and keep them sterile and unused.....so my hull gets a bit yukky from the diesel spills in this bay---so does theirs.....who scrubs theirs---them??? omg, no!! is beneath them to do the hard work with their own hands.
i maintain and keep my 2 boats as well as i can with limited use of my hands due to repetitive use during my nursing career of 30 yrs----am receiving ssdi income and still have 2 boats-----go figger-----i do have to barter some for underwater work, yes---i am physically unable to swim in cold waters---i have a collagen disease affecting my circulation, therefore prevents me from being able to do some things myself---but adaptation is the major part of survival....is the boat out cruising in sterile condition---i have seen and know otherwise-----the ones with the biggest complaint against living aboard a boat has been the yacht club/marina user with the sterile and rarely used boats, power or sail is irrelevant----
back to subject----the jobs must be prioritized when one has limited income---i will live and sail my boats until i am not any longer able to board and disembark---i am writing C H U M on my chest so when i do fall overboard, my status is well known----i will not live on land .......i will not reside in a marina setting and i will not join a yacht club......and i refuse to remember the name of the one my grand mother joined me up in loooong ago--i keep my rents low by remaining moored as opposed to boat jail--marinas---so unsafe in those--anyone is able to walk through the gates and no one prevents smalll boats from gaining access----(speaking from personal experience)

i also watched as the marina dwellers who donot often come out to their boats have theirs sink, burn to water line and other wonderful mishaps in their absence---breaking loose from moorings, docks and such----these have the audacity to call living aboard "bad" for the boat?? at least we know what is happening inside our boats and repair those things before the fire and before the breakaway and before the sinking---

but we are so crazy to live aboard-----i love it.......and my formosa--which i got from a fella who abaqndoned her for 4 yrs to go 500 miles away to work---before i bought her from him, she broke away from mooring, sprung a leak, shorted wiring----and broke piston rod(he did that when h eforgot to check oil and muscled her off a shoal). now i get to fix these things on ssdi income and strict budget---but i would rather fix her than shop. or anything else........but is on a strict budget and with ruined hands.......yes my formosa looks a bit rundown---but i am making her better----everything from perspective ...and there are soooo many differing points of view.....
my kat loves his world--is the only one he knows....he guards it well...

and i have heard i am crazy many many many times, as regards living aboard.....

sorry about the length of this--i was trying to answer all at once...

[Chattcatdaddy]

I have a 2 year plan to get the boat and start to liveaboard. Everyone says I`m crazy also, but I have lived on my Cal 29 for a 1 1/2 years so I know whats all involved for the most part. My immediate family understands my motivations, but not exactly how it all works. I get the "are you crazy" from my coworkers.

For instance, while at work the other night I got to talking to my coworkers(90% women...I`m a nurse) and explain that I have a 2 year plan to "retire" and sail away. So the first question is...

"How much does it cost to do that?" As much as you got

"Do I have a lot of savings/investments?" No

"What about working/career" I`m not so much retiring as I`ve decided not to work anymore...

Questions continue...
"What about your bills?" I don`t have any once my car is paid off on 12/09

"Kids" None of those either.

"Sailboats cost too much" Just depends on the vessel!

"What about money" Work when I need the money!

"Hurricanes" I`ll try to avoid as best as possible!

"Wife" She know s of my plan and she might join me....if not she will know where to find me!
"Insurance" Taking my chances...

"when will you come back home" I will be home...

The real world really has no idea of what we are all trying to do...

[Sea Wolf]

SweetSurrender,
I could have written your post! I still remember the the day that Bill and I found out we had the same dream to sail off into the sunset. Go figure!! Both of us were 'dirt dwellers' of the first order, but we put ourselves on a 5 year plan to drop out and, against all odds, we did it and never looked back! Even took the kids with us. That was 28 years ago. Been living on or refitting a boat ever since and we're getting ready to head on out again. The bottom line is that I wouldn't change my life for all the money in the world... nor would the kids who took the first trip with us.

Good Luck to you and don't pay any attention to the nay sayers... they're just jealous that you have the determination to live your dream!

Loree
Aboard SeaWolf
CruisersLife.com

[Kanani]

Originally Posted by RickD

As I posted somewhere else today.... I subscribe to the Robert Heinlein theory of being Human.... and with that, "living aboard" a boat is nothing more than a furtherance of ones education.

" A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects. " Robert Heinlein

Of the above - I've not tried two of them. Conning a ship, but that's coming; and dying gallantly, that one, I shall leave to others to pass judgement upon when I am gone.

I'd add 2 things to that list......overhaul an engine and fiberglass a hole in the hull.