Encouraging live aboards

[Goodxcharly]

New heading!

Encouraging liveaboards or houses are or are not cheap.

[newhaul]

Originally Posted by Star Fire

Ditto! It depends on the boat and the house. As a retired contractor, the last thing I ever want to do is work on a house. But I really enjoy boat work, most of it, anyway. I’m learning so much!

Plus, I only spend money when I go ashore. There’s really no place to spend money on the water. Wind is free.

There is something to said for the fact that sailing is not for everyone. Living on the water and living near the water are two completely different lifestyles. There’s plenty of opportunities to spend as much as you want in either. I have no electric bill, no water bill. Pump outs usually cost around $5. It’s free to drop anchor in most places.

I agree, marinas are just trailer parks on the water. But, there are nice trailer parks and not nice trailer parks. The real investment with boats is time. If you do the work yourself, you’ll save a ton but, that’s time you don’t get to spend sailing and exploring. There’s plenty of free stuff to do on land.

It’s not so much which one costs more, but how your own spending habits. Done right, living on a boat can be much cheaper, if you choose. Those who choose not to keep their boats in seaworthy condition, won’t be around for long. It’s a self limiting problem. Just let natural selection do what it does. Nature seeks equilibrium.

Actually agree on most but in my opinion the win isn't really free as a mode of travel and power generation on the boat . A new main for my boat is $4,000 same for a new jib . Wind generator$2,000
Full disclosure I am retired shipwright.
But not lost time when you are in a marina fixing and learning how to fix stuff.
That is not lost sailing time. You now know how to do a work around for a problem when you are sitting in some remote atol where repair facilities don't exist.

The main thing I save on a boat vs on land is food costs.
I eat a lot of fresh fish and various other sea life.
I disagree with the no electric bill you had to purchase those solar panels and associated gear , or that wind or water generator and fuel if you charge with your iron wind or a Genset.
Water usually costs something . I assume you have a watermaker. How many gallons at,.50 per gallon to recover the cost. Of the unit?
Sorry I'm a bit of a realist
These are the things I have to consider when helping a customer decide to or not to do something to their vessel.

[Mike OReilly]

There are lots of potential cost-saving advantages to living on a boat vs a land-house. But I think the biggest advantage boats have over land homes is size. Even the largest boat is (generally) quite a bit smaller than your typical land home. This means less to support in the way of infrastructure and utilities, and less to fix and maintain.

It also means way less space to fill with 'stuff'. Go into any typical home and you will find mountains of stuff, most of which is rarely ever used or needed. For example, it amazes me how many clothes and shoes people tend to own. Even modest homes with frugal folks have way more 'stuff' that I could ever dream of fitting into my floating home.

There are other obvious benefits to sailboats. They have a potential advantage of being able to move around via wind. Of course the wind isn't free -- nothing is free. But it's way cheaper than owning even the smallest car.

I think living on a smallish sailboat is a lifestyle that lends itself to being smaller. It doesn't have to, and it's certainly not the only way to achieve the same re

[Star Fire]

It’s a much simpler lifestyle. I see land people running around at full speed nonstop, chasing the “dream” that they will never find because they are too encumbered by all that stuff. The people I meet in marinas don’t typically care how big your boat is. If you’re cool, that’s all that matters. I have friends on huge boats and friends on tiny boats. The love is sailing is a commonality that bonds us all as brothers and sisters. Knowing that if they need help and I can help, I won’t even think twice about it… and vice versa.

The way sound carries over the surface of the water is quite inductive to having conversations across fairways and from boat to boat, on the open water. The sense of community is strong amongst sailors.

We chose a less glamorous life so we can do what other people spend 50 weeks a year working, so they can come do it for two weeks. That’s what really makes it worth it, for me. Why be miserable for 52 weeks, just to be happy for two?

Another thing I should mention is the proliferation of self storage units. If you have so much stuff you don’t have anywhere to put it all, so you have to rent a storage unit, you have too much stuff! After a point, you stop owning all that stuff and it starts owning you! Family, friends, experiences are the things of value that really make life worth living. The sailing community really seems to under stand that!