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I have to say that my experience most closely parallels dacust. I had a 33' cruiser for 6-7 years that was a sometimes liveaboard: 6 months on, 6 months off, 12 months commuting to the boat on weekends and vacations, another year of 50/50, a couple of years of occasional weekends on board, etc. Finished with 18 months liveaboard.
During that time I think once for about 2-3 weeks was there nothing broken or on any of my maintenance or repair lists. However, I will say that there were many months when nothing broke but I did have a list of maintenance work on my todo list.
It also became very obvious after a while that the times when everything was working were the times I lived aboard with greater regularity. I think it was for two reasons. One of course because I stayed ahead of the repairs, but also because fewer things broke even though they were used more often. My theory is the more frequent use was actually beneficial, keeping things moving and lubed, warmed up and dried out, not sitting static and allowed to corrode and freeze up.
Also, for me fixing things and keeping the boat in good order was part of the enjoyment. Learning how things work, how to fix things that I didn't know how to fix, installing new gear were all interesting challenges. Now that I have been landbound for a few years the experience has been quite beneficial. I have been able to do a lot more DIY projects around the house which contributes greatly to domestic tranquility and will hopefully contribute to getting me back on the water in the near future.
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