Life Aboard

[anjou]

If your tied to the dock, I see no reason why life aboard should be any less quality than life ashore.
Electricity and an adundance of water are all thats needed, oh, and a well designed boat too.

Last night I came in from work, used the head (no where else to go) took a long hot shower, I cooked (as I do for every meal, never takeouts) Pasta Carbonara on the domestic size four ring stove, washed the dishes in the domestic full sized sink, then sat in front of my roaring log stove in my 14' long x 9' wide saloon watching TV and then retreated to my walk around double bed in the fore cabin.
This morning im sat in the wheelhouse, (waiting for the washing machine to finish so I can hang it out to dry) eating breakfast and typing this.

Take a look at your boat, decide whats important, customise it to your needs and live in comfort. If its your home, make it a home.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by VirtualVagabond

I struggle to hold down one job!

Does that mean I don't get to go in the galley?

Cute! You could do three jobs somewhere on board -- Rail meat, not hard to learn to steer with a wheel, and you could probably clean the head. (Oh wait I bet you know more about boats than that!) What I do with people who crew on my boat is let everyone go with their strengths. Had two others once. The woman really didn't cook so how could she compensate for a galley's limitations? The other guy and i cooked, and she cleaned up. We were all happier that way, doing things we were comfortable doing.

And -- holding one job in this economy counts for a lot!

[barnakiel]

I do not get that bathroom limitation. We use ours when we need it - offshore. In port, we use the shoreside facilities.

b.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by Unicorn Dreams

We have one piece of galley equipment that has a single function, the counter top ice maker. Guess you could get beer cold in the ice hopper.

If you jam a finger you could quickly stick it in the ice bin to keep the swelling down.

There ya go -- three purposes!

[sail-fish]

In the year we have lived aboard we have noticed:

Houses do waste sooooo much space. I'm sure we could store all our stuff in the kitchen alone

Washing is a pain in the arse - to other live aboards without washing machines. Ours was built into the boat and can never be removed

We have unlimited power and water (fixed price live aboard) and are very toastie in winter (much better than cold damp new zealand houses).

Doing any small modification on the boat turns the house into a bomb site and raises stress levels exponentially for the other half.

our fridge and freezer are way bigger on the boat than in the house, which is surprising, but being also the benches we have learnt to keep them clear and make sure to get all the ingredients out to cook first otherwise your trapped

noticing the weather as mentioned before but also because of the weather checking the lines in the middle of the night when the weather turns to custard.

noticing the marine life in the 'garden'. Having traded insects and birds for fish and gulls is quite cool. Even a seal and some big rays.

But the best thing by far, is taking the house on holiday no packing and no unpacking - just a quick hose down afterwards.

[VirtualVagabond]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

Cute! You could do three jobs somewhere on board -- Rail meat, not hard to learn to steer with a wheel, and you could probably clean the head. (Oh wait I bet you know more about boats than that!) What I do with people who crew on my boat is let everyone go with their strengths. Had two others once. The woman really didn't cook so how could she compensate for a galley's limitations? The other guy and i cooked, and she cleaned up. We were all happier that way, doing things we were comfortable doing.

And -- holding one job in this economy counts for a lot!

Dumb like a fox... hey, sometimes I get away with it...

[VirtualVagabond]

Originally Posted by anjou

If your tied to the dock, I see no reason why life aboard should be any less quality than life ashore.
Electricity and an adundance of water are all thats needed, oh, and a well designed boat too.

Last night I came in from work, used the head (no where else to go) took a long hot shower, I cooked (as I do for every meal, never takeouts) Pasta Carbonara on the domestic size four ring stove, washed the dishes in the domestic full sized sink, then sat in front of my roaring log stove in my 14' long x 9' wide saloon watching TV and then retreated to my walk around double bed in the fore cabin.
This morning im sat in the wheelhouse, (waiting for the washing machine to finish so I can hang it out to dry) eating breakfast and typing this.

Take a look at your boat, decide whats important, customise it to your needs and live in comfort. If its your home, make it a home.

Totally agree .... (which is surprising because I really had to bite my tongue... finger?... with your poor me girly thread)

I get pretty tired of the cruisers who don't think you can be the genuine article unless you're living like a caveman.

By the way, you're doing a great job on that boat too.

[anjou]

When deciding whether this project was a goer and if I could live aboard, I had a thought.
Whilst sitting in my appartment one day, looking at the room sizes and trying to visualise cabin sizes, it occured to me that if I dipped my feet in paint and walked round the appartment all day and then looked where I had walked, I would realise how little room we actually need.

Ditch the crap. We realy dont need much of the junk we accumulate. You will actually feel happier and free once you go through this process. No more feeling responsible for inanimate objects.

Remember the saying. My bedroom is the boat, my living room is the great outdoors.

When your on the boat, your closer to nature, so make it your world.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by VirtualVagabond

Totally agree .... (which is surprising because I really had to bite my tongue... finger?... with your poor me girly thread)

I get pretty tired of the cruisers who don't think you can be the genuine article unless you're living like a caveman.

By the way, you're doing a great job on that boat too.

I prefer people who are more "live and let live." Many ways to live a life,and most don't understand mine -- but they're not me.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by anjou

When deciding whether this project was a goer and if I could live aboard, I had a thought.
Whilst sitting in my appartment one day, looking at the room sizes and trying to visualise cabin sizes, it occured to me that if I dipped my feet in paint and walked round the appartment all day and then looked where I had walked, I would realise how little room we actually need.

Ditch the crap. We realy dont need much of the junk we accumulate. You will actually feel happier and free once you go through this process. No more feeling responsible for inanimate objects.

Remember the saying. My bedroom is the boat, my living room is the great outdoors.

When your on the boat, your closer to nature, so make it your world.

That's one of the things I figured out: most of the space in my condo was "walk around" space. I'd rather walk OUTSIDE.

[anjou]

Home is where you park it.

The world is your lobster.

[Unicorn Dreams]

Ice maker is 120V, runs off inverter. Just turn it on when you need ice. Go to Walmart.com: Save money. Live better., they have them.
Also, we have wind and solar, plus a big battery bank...

[osirissail]

Living aboard as a "static" live-aboard, that is, not going anywhere beyond an occasional day sail or weekend away - is quite different in its economies from a cruising live-aboard (a boat that is almost always going to new and different places).
- - Solar and wind generators are not really cost effective for static live-aboards unless the boat/life-style is severely electrically limited - no refrigeration, etc. and only lighting and communications.
- - Solar panels are expensive and the cost per watt per 24 hours is many multiples of shore power costs.
- - Wind generators require lots of wind, which is not a normal thing when anchored/moored/docked in a sheltered location. And the wind generators and required wiring, batteries, etc. are not cheap.
- - The real economy of static living aboard, IMHO, is the drastic reduction in living space. All those "other rooms, etc." in a house or apartment increase the costs of living, be it heating, cooling, lighting, or just rent.
- - Some countries and/or States have regulations/laws that prohibit the discharge of "black water"/sewage from vessels which means using shore-side facilities. Some even restrict/prohibit "grey water"/sinks, showers, etc. discharges from vessels. Other countries could care less what you dump into their waters.
- - As a cruising live-aboard, things like wind generators and solar panels are cost effective as the only other source of electricity or replenishing the batteries is the diesel engine and its alternator.
- - I find the reference to a counter-top ice maker interesting. According to the specifications on the Edgestar Titanium Ice Maker that was linked to by another poster - it makes a pound of ice per hour and holds 2.5 lbs. so would have to operate, ideally, for 2.5 hours at 2.7 amps 120VAC. Converting to 12VDC through an inverter you are looking at approximately 60 amp-hours or so out of the batteries. The average small boat consumption for a refrigerator/freezer is 75 amp hours per day. I think I would opt for the frig/freezer and ice trays rather than the counter top ice maker - unless - hooked up to shore power.
- - As another poster stated, having shore power and shore water available makes living aboard quite pleasant and enjoyable. Not having it would, most likely, mean a very Spartan lifestyle.

[Simes]

Unicorn Dreams, where do you find a counter top ice maker? Does it run on 12 volts?

What a fantastic piece of luxury to have on a small craft.
I am so jealous.

Simes

Aarrg, just read the above post by Orissail.

[Tori]

Our head limitations center around the fact that it is a smaller contained head with no holding tank so we have to pump out frequently. And the shower being less frequent is due to the fact that we have no shower so we use the marina shower.

Don't get me wrong we love the boat and as funds allow make it more and more comfortable.

Just thought for those that do not live aboard the things that we have found challenging would be informative.