Liveaboard Lessons - boating magazine wants your expert tips!

[ozcesq]

Hello fellow liveaboards, longtime lurker here but first-time poster.

I'm a journalist writing a piece for a Seattle-based boating magazine about the wisdom liveaboards can pass on to recreational boaters - basically lessons learned the hard way - and I'd love to get your input. I've been posing the question to my marina neighbors but wanted to cast the net a little wider, hence this post.

I'm after tips and tricks regarding making your boat a more comfortable, safer or easier to maintain vessel - the sorts of things you learn from being on your boat full-time that can be of benefit to someone who perhaps only uses their boat on weekends, or during nice weather, or in a short sailing season.

I'd love to get your ideas on comfort, security, marina etiquette and neighborliness, making best use of limited space, relationships with marina managers, environmental factors, boat systems (plumbing, electrical etc), weather and anything else you've figured out through living full-time on your boat that you'd like to pass on others.

As an example, some of the suggestions so far include choosing the right mattress, locker ventilation and cabin moisture control. What other issues have you solved?

Please email me your thoughts at ozcesq (at) gmail (dot) com, let me know if it's OK to quote you in the story and include a wee bit of info about yourself (your name, where you live, the type of boat you have and how long you've been living aboard).

With thanks and regards,
Charlotte Franklin
Freelance Journalist

[GordMay]

WELCOME aboard, Charlotte.

You’ve certainly come to the right place for cruising & liveaboard information and tips. I’d recommend perusing the forum, including the sections:

The Life Aquatic Aboard a Boat
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f26/

Engineering & Systems
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f11/

If you have specific topics of interest, the CruisersForum “custom” Google search engine works very well:
Cruisers & Sailing Forum