Is the Liveaboard Life Still Free and Easy?

[DockDanger]

Hello everyone! I used to be a lurker many years ago. I've recently moved back to the states and have nothing holding me down, so I have been thinking about getting a classic like an Alberg 30 or Triton 28 and living aboard on the hook, or maybe even a cheap mooring, on the east coast or in the gulf. I would fix the boat up and improve my sailing over several years so that the boat's abilities grew with my sailing skill until I could hopefully make offshore passages. (I know--big dreams, small steps.)

But I just can't justify paying more than perhaps $100 a month for easy dinghy dock access and showers when it should be possible to anchor out, use a solar shower, and do my laundry in a bucket. I see posts about Florida and Georgia trying to run off people anchoring out, private mooring littering the east coast anchorages, towns enforcing rental of expensive moorings.

Wherever I go I'd need to stay for some months at a time and work in order to eat and fix up my boat, and work for me would be a minimum wage retail or food service job--the new American Dream. I would need to be someone the town didn't want to run off. So many places that would welcome you seem fixated upon fleecing the sailor of all he has with $10/day dinghy docking fees, or $500/month mooring, or $900/month slips. And then there are the cruising fees outside of the US. Wow have they gone up! I paid $100 a month for my last apartment so these prices seem crazy nuts to me.

Is it possible to live simply on your boat, working and saving your money to fix her up? I must think that it can still somehow be done, but maybe I'm wrong or even a delusional romantic. If it is still a viable lifestyle how does one go about it?

I'm thinking I'd anchor out and chainlock my motorless dinghy to a bridge (or hide it somehow and chain to a tree) then ride a folding bicycle to work--taking the oarlocks with me. I'd drill small holes in the oar blades and lock them to the dinghy with steel wire.

(Regarding the expense of outfitting the boat, I don't want the fancy electronics and know I'd need to put it on the hard in a marina for repairs sometimes.)

Thanks for reading my post.