So What Do You Do At Night?

[Macblaze]

Originally Posted by redhead

We've been living aboard for a year at the dock. Assuming all goes well this summer we'll transition to traveling and anchoring. I admit I've been spoiled with WiFi, Netflix and a local library a mile's walk away. I don't fret about provisions or things to do all day long, but sans TV and a library, we're not really into board games, what do YOU do in the evenings? I'm a reader so I can get a Kindle, but my husband, not so much.

I'm smiling as I write this, because I've tried to think when we've been cruising before and the longest was 3 weeks on a vacation, so lots of eating out and walking touristy islands, etc (no real budget). I remember listening to VHF one night in the Bahamas after 5 days of rain and this guy was just about to commit suicide he was so bored. I don't want to be that guy.

So what do YOU do? As always, thanks.

As I type this I am busily ripping dvds at the library for when we take off :-). We don't have enough battery to go more than 3 days on the hook anyway so watching tv series (and old movies) on the laptop is our treat. We drop the salon table, make up a cozy couch and work our way through old series. Last season we got through the complete West Wing, The Newsroom, IT Crowd and finished off Gilmore Girls.

This year I am going for Mad Men, Yes Prime Minister (and Yes Minister), Black Books and ...?

Other than that it's cribbage, baking bread, hiking the anchorage (so many great places to visit in the PNW) or reading. I have a over 400 ebooks on my Kobo reader these days and am just starting to stock up on some must reads for the summer.

We also have a few "card games" like SkipBo and Flux. If you have a dedicated game store around its worth visiting and asking for recommendations—that's what we ended up doing. There are some fun ones (like Flux) that are silly and fast and don't take much concentration or dedication to learn.

[CharlzO]

Originally Posted by zeehag

tbodine, sounds like you need a wind generator or two.

If he's referring to his Potter 19, there might not really be a feasible option for a wind generator just on space alone. I'm sure he probably has enough solar for his average usage on the starting battery and cabin lights, and just didn't want to push it a little farther running an inverter or 12v to recharge the laptop. Larger solar would do it easily but again, space on a smaller craft.

I usually watch TV if I'm in range of cell service for my hotspot. But I'm also into books and whatever else I can think of. I'm easily amused.

[Lizzy Belle]

Originally Posted by zeehag

however, when there is wifi, i abuse the hell outta netflix..

Kind of OT, but whyyyyyy do people stream on public wifi?
No wonder wifi usually s*cks

[hellosailor]

Who needs a library?


I have access to two online, and can "borrow" books (between 10-30 days typically) for free. I also have something like 500 downloaded into a Kindle, often free on Amazon, as well as the public domain free ones.


Movies? Borrow the dvd's while you are there, use something like Leawo Blu-Ray software to rip them to a hard drive in mp4 format, and watch them while you're offline. It will take an hour or two per disc, something to entertain your computer while you are eating dinner.(G) Hard drives, including external laptop drives, have become dirt cheap. Easy to store 500 movies for less than $100, and that's smaller and cheaper than any other way.


Of course if you're out sailing, odds are you're up early and early to bed as well. Or, on night watch.

[belizesailor]

At night? I sleep. Sun comes up, I wake up. Sun goes down, I go to sleep. No problem.

Boredom on a boat, can't even imagine it. Too much stuff to fix!

[StuM]

There's a reason that 9:00pm is called "cruisers midnight"

[neptunesjester]

I've done the sunrise to sunset thing, would read a little after dark and then go to sleep.

After the urge to have other options got too great, I installed solar panels, a big battery bank, and an inverter. I could then watch movies. Watched them so many times, I have them memorized, so I installed an over the air TV antenna. After I got bored with that after too many weather days stuck in the cabin, I installed in motion satellite system.

Now when it gets dark, I'm so tired from fiddling with all those systems, I usually just go to sleep. Problem solved after lots of boat dollars.


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[Hudson Force]

If I'm not sleeping, then I tend to do many of those things at night that I might do in the daytime. Then, of course, I have systems that allow for me to have plenty of electric lighting aboard.

I liked that, play a musical instrument, answer. There's always much to learn,- a new language, new boat skills, new cooking skills, .... art, literature...?

I've had people that live in houses ask my wife and I, "What do you do when it rains?" I never understood this question or what they think life n a boat is like. Could it be that you could do the same things at night on a boat that you might do if you were in a house? A conservative amount of 12VDC and the proper equipment can provide you with most anything.

I'll add that in wilderness anchorages without light pollution, the sky before sunrise and after sunset offers a magnificent display of passing satellites!

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by Macblaze

As I type this I am busily ripping dvds at the library for when we take off :-). We don't have enough battery to go more than 3 days on the hook anyway so watching tv series (and old movies) on the laptop is our treat. We drop the salon table, make up a cozy couch and work our way through old series. Last season we got through the complete West Wing, The Newsroom, IT Crowd and finished off Gilmore Girls.

This year I am going for Mad Men, Yes Prime Minister (and Yes Minister), Black Books and ...?

Other than that it's cribbage, baking bread, hiking the anchorage (so many great places to visit in the PNW) or reading. I have a over 400 ebooks on my Kobo reader these days and am just starting to stock up on some must reads for the summer.

We also have a few "card games" like SkipBo and Flux. If you have a dedicated game store around its worth visiting and asking for recommendations—that's what we ended up doing. There are some fun ones (like Flux) that are silly and fast and don't take much concentration or dedication to learn.

Your boat is clearly more reliable than mine is. My hat is off to you.

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by belizesailor

At night? I sleep. Sun comes up, I wake up. Sun goes down, I go to sleep. No problem.

Boredom on a boat, can't even imagine it. Too much stuff to fix!

LOL. This.

[Davy J]

We watch DVD movies every single night..........................

Yep, I said it, we watch DVD movies every single night...................

We have a fairly large collection of DVDs so watching re-runs isn't to bad.

Here is a little secret, of which I wish I could profit.

Go to Best Buy, buy this TV/DVD combo.

Insignia 28" Class (27.5" Diag.) - LED - 720p - HDTV DVD Combo Black NS-28DD220NA16 - Best Buy

It is powered by 12v DC. All you have to do is find the right 12v adapter and waa-lah, a TV that sips power. You can thank me later.

[roverhi]

We went to bed early so not much time after the sun went down. Read a bit, played card and board games, would entertain or go over to another boat if there was one around, dive for lobster, never really felt bored. During the day spent hours in the water snorkeling, hiking and exploring on land, working on the boat though that didn't take up a lot of time, even went sailing just for the fun of it, helped the locals with projects, etc. Days always seemed to be full of activities.

If you have to have movies. TV or other externally supplied entertainment, might want to stay close to civilization perhaps play marina to port. That's a variation of a drinking game we used to play, stop at every bar on the left/right side of the road till we got to a destination.

[sailorboy1]

Don't you old people going to bed so early get to the point you just wake up early? Still the same number of hours to fill.

[leftbrainstuff]

Originally Posted by redhead

We've been living aboard for a year at the dock. Assuming all goes well this summer we'll transition to traveling and anchoring. I admit I've been spoiled with WiFi, Netflix and a local library a mile's walk away. I don't fret about provisions or things to do all day long, but sans TV and a library, we're not really into board games, what do YOU do in the evenings? I'm a reader so I can get a Kindle, but my husband, not so much.

I'm smiling as I write this, because I've tried to think when we've been cruising before and the longest was 3 weeks on a vacation, so lots of eating out and walking touristy islands, etc (no real budget). I remember listening to VHF one night in the Bahamas after 5 days of rain and this guy was just about to commit suicide he was so bored. I don't want to be that guy.

So what do YOU do? As always, thanks.

Audio books and podcasts
Maintenance
Computer programming
3D CAD modelling of future enhancements
HAM radio
Work remotely
Baking
Practice weather forecasting
Video editing and blog updates

Never a dull moment

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[boatman61]

Socialise.. when in port..