What Are the Most Common Headaches of Living Aboard ?

[got seashells?]

Hello All, we are new and excited/curious. We have decided to make this our lifestyle and given ourselfs 3-5 years to be true liveaboards. (our son graduates in 3). What is the one annoyance or issue you deal with most often that you wish you would have been informed of before your first year out?

[Minggat]

Welcome Welcome. Do you livaboard plans include any cruising? Are you planning on living aboard on a mooring?

* marinas * storage * sometimes your neighbors are too available *

While you're asking about the headachs, don't forget to ask about the good things.

[got seashells?]

Good point to giving you all of the information. We are looking at Multihull's, we will travel for 9 months out of the year and have our children fly to wherever we may be at the time of their vacations. We plan return to land legs for the hurricane seasons. We want to travel at our pace and see things as they are meant to be seen and not thru the eyes of a tour guide.(we have had some wonderful ones and no rub intended) I figure my mornings will be something like this. Wake up,brush hair and teeth, make a cup of coffe and watch the sun come up. Dress for the day by getting on my snorkle gear and jump in for a bit of a look around. The rest of the day will depend on what I read here to help me decide what to plan.

[Minggat]

While cruising is living aboard, living aboard does not necessarily include cruising. So you've just said a great deal more. The 3 things I listed apply to cruising, but are more directed at boaters that are yet to drop the docklines (or never will).

Headaches of cruising? I'd start with, working on your boat in exotic places. There's always something, and getting what you need is not as easy as it was in your home port.

[got seashells?]

Thank you, What are the three things that you wish you had known but had to learn the hard way the first year? I am not afraid to learn from others mistakes.......I just hate learning from mine.

[Minggat]

I feel like you're asking the wrong question. Or at least one that would take a great deal of memory diving. And then I don't think I would want to limit it to 3. In addition, neither you or anybody else even knows what boat you'll be on just yet.

At this point, you're just looking for a boat. Get that out of the way and then livaboard for as long as it takes to feel like your got a handle on things. Your questions would be better developed.

Sorry if my convoluted response is not a direct answer to your question.

One foot in front of the other.

[sailingaway221]

1/ get a bigger anchor
2/ it takes twice as long and twice as much as it should to fix anything on a boat
3/ I should have done it a long time ago.

Oh and you don't need a huge boat..... size it carefully... smaller is cheaper and easier to repair and maintain

[got seashells?]

Thats what I am looking for, would you buy alot of plastic storage containers for food storage and keeping things dry? Or does plastic not work that well? I did read that you should store your wine bottles in tube socks. That is a good one that i would not have thought of. I was thinking that I would be baking my own bread but is that something that I should leave to the locals and just buy as needed? Did you find you packed to musch of the wrong stuff and not enough of something important? I told my husband about the anchor. Good advise. And while I dont know what type of boat as of yet I do know that we are looking at 9 months on it at any given time as our home. I am trying to get a feel for things that are as of yet the unknown but a bit of been there done that sometimes helps.

[maxingout]

I found that when my Privilege 39 catamaran was new, it didn't have many annoying problems. After five years of offshore sailing, the maintenance started catching up with me. An older yacht would have meant no grace period in maintenance issues. There would have been things to fix right away.

The most annoying thing about long range cruising is that the weather rules my life. It decides when it is safe for me to leave the yacht. Squalls and lightning must be taken seriously. It's not like having to dash from a house to a car in inclement weather. About the only thing I like about living on land is the fact that weather doesn't rule my daily life. I live fairly oblivious to the weather most of the time.

[bewitched]

Things breaking - Manuals help - there will be online manuals for 90% of the things on your boat. Download them all before you leave. Having a comprehensive toolkit (incl. electrical).

Not having the right spare - impellers, belts, filters, pumps, decent electrical wire & connections etc.

Not understanding the boats systems - probably more applicable to older boats (like mine!!) where things have been added / removed over time. Understand what goes where, draw out wiring diagrams, plumbing diagrams etc before you leave.

Power (or lack of) - match your passives / battery bank to your power needs.

HP Sauce. It is amazing how difficult it is to get hold of HP Sauce - take plenty.

[RainDog]

Originally Posted by sailingaway221

2/ it takes twice as long and twice as much as it should to fix anything on a boat

I must be doing it wrong. It always takes me at least four times as long as it should.

[MarkJ]

There is always a headache!

Yesterdays was finding a part for the oven.

Today’s headache is I am trying to find the French Police De Frontier so they can clear me out. However they are verrrrrrrry elusive! Unlike some countries the Froggies don't want to see me go!

It doesn't matter who idylic the location something will keep you from thinking all is paradise!


Its still pretty good, though.





Mark

[Sunspot Baby]

Bumping my head at the companion way coming into the saloon. Now that's a real headache. Even after nine years with this boat, I still occasionally fail to duck far enough. Slow learner?

George

[sailorboy1]

One more broken toe this weekend! This is starting to be a headache for me as it's always on my mind.

[Hudson Force]

We are retired now and often underway, but for the years we were working and while our children were young; it was often a "headache" to find a suitable liveaboard marina. Once when our children were 4 and 7 years old, we were looking at a possible marina that was in a rural area, had other children and a large lawn area. All seemed wonderful, but we were anxious about the "characters" that lived aboard there. They seemed to be of a different subculture. When we were at the marina store and snack bar, we saw several of these men toss their empty drink cans in to the bushes. Not the littering is the most evil offense, we still thought that this was not for us and we were about to leave when one man called from the door, "Here comes Jerry!" Jerry soon entered with great excitment about seeing all the cans in the area. Jerry was mentally handicapped and toured the neighborhood collecting cans to supplement his income. After sharing a snack and conversarion with his friends, he was collecting more cans and down the road on his route. We elected to remain at that marina for a few years and even tossed our own cans about when Jerry was due. This turned out to be an excellent stay for us, but still,- finding a good liveaboard marina can be one of the biggest "headaches" for life aboard. Take care and joy, Aythya crew