Motor Yacht or Sail Boat?

[tgoodwin]

I have been reading alot here in the liveaboard area. Was wondering if most are living in sail boats? Have not seen much with living on motor yachts. We have recently bought and are living on a 42 foot BlueWater Motor yacht. Is there another section I should be looking in? Sorry new to the boards. Tammy

[David M]

Welcome to Cruisers Forum Tammy!

As far as space goes, for a given length, power boats tend to have more room. They tend to be shaped more like a shoebox and less like a watermelon seed.

[Don Lucas]

I would dare to say that if all it came down to was living on board that we all would go the trawler/motor boat route.

[jm21]

I'm debating this a lot with myself. Powerboats have a lot more room and typically have a lot more amenities but I think they would be a lot harder to dock singlehanded. Power boats use a ton more gas except for trawlers, but trawlers are more expensive and I bet the engines would be hell to repair or replace on a lot of them.

It's a tough call. If I was looking at newer boats it would be sail, but the older sailboats are pretty spartan and small inside.

[jenny.caron]

We started on a power boat too - a 33' Carver Mariner. It was a great boat to start living on, but we have dreams of someday cruising so in the end we chose to make the move to a 35' Ericson sailboat. While we have less living space in the sailboat, we have more storage, and there are ups and downs to that. Most of our friends who live on land see both boats (the old one is still at the same marina) and ask us what we were thinking when we switched! It definitely is roomier on the inside, but we don't for a second wish we had done it any other way. The power boat was a great transition from land to sea, but we love turning off the engine and hoisting the sails!

[tgoodwin]

We looked at sailboats briefly. I did not like the closed in feeling. In our blue water no matter what room I am in I have a full view. I do have a question though. This will be our first winter on it. I have seen some boats with tarps and covers. Since the Great Northwest is prone to snow and ice. and we have a canvas top with windows. Is tarping recommended? and should we remove the canvas and windows for the winter?? sorry to be such a novice. But hopefully we will get the hang of it pretty soon. Thanks Tammy

[sqrtof2]

I am currently looking for a trawler to live aboard. I visit this section of the forum for live aboard advise and the powerboat section for things that are relevant to the trawler.
Congratulations!