Permanent?

[vidar]

hello i posted here a month or so ago about getting a moving aboard and was wondering how permanent it can be. im stuck between buying a small home or buying a boat. i found a good deal on a 30 ft lancer. but also have a good deal on a 3 room hut.
I am disabled but it doesnt effect my ability to sail as i have gotten into it. sailed a friends 28" cat on the lake a few weeks ago solo.

do yall have any suggestions as every one i know is wanting me to get something land based as it is considered permanent.
yea i know the hut is almost as small as the boat. do boats have good ovens in them if i were to gerry rig a propane system on it? as i make my own bread by hand and have done so for the last several years.
nothing beats the taste of homemade stuff

how permanent can living aboard be i cant afford the bit 100k boats but can afford something around the 30' range. and late 80's but it will need some work done to it. which isnt a problem i dont think. i see lots of people move abourd for 1-5 yrs but has anyone lived on the dame boat for 20+ years??

[Talbot]

Hi

Decent boats have decent ovens. Propane in a boat is not something to gerryrig as the resultant explosion upsets the neighbours.

The ability for you to be able to live aboard can only be assessed by you as it is very dependent on existing mobility and longer term expected changes.

For comfort onboard a boat, you need to consider the ability to have decent heating, a shower, refrigerator, and some space to breath. Very-Long term on a 30ft is not something I would consider, as I think it is a bit small. You definitely also need headroom, and space for stuff (books, clothes, tools, etc.

Can it be done - yes definitely (planning to do so myself) - but in a slightly larger boat.

[vidar]

well i am living with 5 roomates in a 2 bedroom apartment right now its costing me about 100$ a month but it beats being homeless again. size isnt an issue for me as i can always get off of the boat/go for a swim or something. i just want some place i can call my own preferibly mobile and thought about a 30'er would do but you say bigger? bathing and hygene wont be a problem. nor is the size it would be an upgrade for what i have now i just want to know if its possible to liveaboard more permanently or is that one of them things that is not done.

[Talbot]

In your present circumstances, I would say that the living aboard a 30ft may well not be the problem.

The biggest problem is then finding somewhere to keep the boat. A lot of marinas have an official policy against lievaboard. However, many of them will turn a blind eye if you play the game, and keep the boat looking ship-shape, go sailing occassionally, and do NOT hang the washing out on the lifelines.

Recommend that you investigate this aspect next, as marina costs may be a factor for you.

[Wotname]

While a small boat does have a lot of advantages over a small home (hut), it will require more maintenance (and dollars) than a house.

If you don't maintain a house, it will slowly fall down however the value of the land remains. If you don't maintain a boat, it will sink (often rapidly) and at the best be worthless and at the worst, cost you money to remove from the waterway.

[cdennyb]

I question the sanity of living aboard a boat and being disabled (you didn't mention what type of disability and how severe). Sitting at the dock, living on a boat, maybe... depends on the help network you have to lend some support to your lifestyle. Sailing blue water, I don't know. It ain't as easy as the movies make it appear.
I'm not saying a disabled persona can't do it... but be realistic in what you think it really is. Life ain't all about baking bread on a crowded 30ft boat using a propane stove, there's a lot more to look at. Are you financially able to pay someone to do the maintenance stuff talked about earlier, or can you do it yourself? Are you on a fixed income with a stashed 'nest-egg"? you might need to dip into that ocassionally without warning. If you're a roommate with others, how much help are you NOT going to get if you move out? Do you have a significant other person who can provide the needed support and assistance? You've made a vague general question without much in the way of details so to the rest of us out here we can only read into that question what we imagine the case to be.
Whichever way you choose to go, I'm sure you'll make a good choice. After all, if it don't work out for you then you can always move back ashore.

[barnakiel]

Go for the home and get a small boat too. Probably the best combo to most people.

b.

[Ex-Calif]

To answer your question specifically - yes there are lots of people who have lived aboard for 20 years. There are many ways to do that.

- Some have a large boat 40-50 feet and keep moving and on the hook
- Some people live in houseboat type places that are semi permanently attached to a dock
- Some people live on cruising boats and take off yearly or twice yearly

I am reading between the lines here but I suspect you think living on a boat can be cheap. The real answer is that it is not. You have to maintain a house and you have to maintain a boat. This can be close to parity in $$ terms depending on the size of the boat. If you want power and water hook ups you are going to be in a marina. Marinas will charge you for consumption and for the privilege of docking there. It can be as high or higher than normal rent on an apartment or a house payment.

If you want to be mobile, consider an RV with a towed sailboat. Then you can move at will and sail any lake or coast you like.

[hugosalt]

If dollars and long term stability is main consideration, go for house...if dollars get tight you can fall back on renting a room
out and still have more space with the remaining 2 rooms than
on a boat. If your goal is to be mobile/sail long term, suggest
a 32' at a min...+2' equals much more volume...and a Lancer 30
is a small 30 footer...say compared to the room in a Catalina 30.
That said, cautions in above posts all apply...in addition the cost
and/or time and know how, post purchase, to bring a 20-25 year old boats systems to live aboard condition (and then maintained) should be considered!

[Pblais]

i see lots of people move aboard for 1-5 yrs but has anyone lived on the same boat for 20+ years?

I do know folks living aboard more than 20 years. They clearly are no where near done. To be honest the average runs into the the 3 to 7 years range. Being average is no measure. Only a few people are average and most are more or less. If you think you are average then that is about how long you will last. I have friends that quit after 7 years but are still living aboard now 9 years. They probably are really done but making the change is not easy. Changing your life on your own terms is what it's all about. Under that condition you should do anything that seems right.

You don't measure your life by how many years you can do something.

If you live aboard a long time you'll quit when you've a mind to and it will seem just as good an idea as the day you changed your mind to do it in the first place. People do that a lot and live long and happy lives. Nothing is forever works both ways.

[Hudson Force]

I doubt if it qualifies as permanent, but we have lived aboard since 1972. We're ready for something else when it looks like an improvement. 'take care and joy, Aythya crew

[vidar]

well my disability is more of a mental thing i dont need assistance from anybody. i was homeless for a year or so and loved it. yea i know crazy right. i am more of a person that needs to be mobile and function better where i dont know anybody or anyone. im very solo capable i often tend to do all of my activities by myself. that being said and the costs of the boat considered looking at prices i am very smart. smart enough to be able to read a book on boat repair and figure things out from there.

i do have some nice things not many but some and they can all fit into a 20' boat if i wanted them to. most of the time when i travel i do so with just the cloths on my back.

often my family tells me im going to do something stupid to get myself killed and want me to get a land based home but unless i can travel with it i dont want it. all costs of the boat have already been considered and are managable on my income. but without the surprises that are involved with it. i dont have a cookie jar to jump into when i need the extra$

i mean im looking at pro's and cons and i just want to move aboard more and more. my problem is finding something that will work for what i want.

i have found that if i dont get seasick living and moving around in the gulf would be perfect for me. as i have prices of dock fees and a couple of docks that told me they would allow me to dock there for 6+ months out of the year.

big thing is finding something that i can agree with myself on that would be a good investment for me to be able to move aboard while i fix it up without fear of sinking.

long term stability is no problem at all as i can survive with very little in terms of $

[michaelmrc]

you know living aboard a small boat well it aint for everyone. no showers single quarters no privacy if your not alone. but ive been doing it for a year now and man i dont miss much of anything. well maybe the laundry

[michaelmrc]

of course all my family thinks im nuts as well. there may be some truth in that haha

[Pblais]

big thing is finding something that i can agree with myself on that would be a good investment for me to be able to move aboard while i fix it up without fear of sinking.

Well there you are. Stuck with yourself. Could be worse. You need to take a little bit of a push when you can. You still don't know all you don't know and being mobile is not enough to cover that part. It does mean being stuck to something - your boat and you aboard. Been known to scare a man half to death or set him free.

You could probably fix a lot of things but you really can't fix everything (no cookie jar). So long as you stay within the grasp of your reach you should be just fine. It does mean you have no limitations, but then that isn't a problem you are not familiar with. If you look at it that way it''s not that new just a lot different. Needs time to get used to so - do so!

When faced with a choice of smaller yet better boat or the larger. The smaller would be the one. Should it serve you well you can curse the small size for all your days happily ever after. Should it fail it won't be large enough to hide on or save you.