Living aboard and Still sailing Daily

[bobnlesley]

Originally Posted by swordds

...the surest way to stop sailing your boat is to start living on it. The “stuff” used for living gets in the way of sailing...

So what about those thousands of yachts long-distance/ocean cruising; do you think that the crews all fly home each evening?

[Hudson Force]

For our years of living aboard getting underway was always a ten minute task. Take off the shore power cords, one particular lamp that we would lay on it's side, and remove the dock lines while the engine warmed to get away from the docks. This was accomplished by not owning a lot of stuff; keeping everything secured, and not storing anything unrelated to sailing on the deck. We also never kept anything stored on the dock or in a dock box. We could leave for an afternoon sail or for a six month cruise in minutes. There's a great freedom in not owning so much stuff!

[GILow]

This is a subject near and dear to me. It took three hours solid work to get the boat ready for a sail a few months ago, and since then I’ve been working out why and what to do about it.

Mostly the ideas above cover it for me, but I’ve started converting a space under the dining table to be a “box of last resort” for the incidental stuff that simply does not seem to have a logical home. It’s basically a 100 litre space, lined with carpet, into which I can toss stuff. The “lid” is the cabin sole that is under the table. Yet to see how much it helps.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by vpbarkley

... On a different tack, catamarans require much less battening down because of limited heeling under sail.

I see what you did there. [emoji846]

[arsenelupiga]

Originally Posted by vpbarkley

This may not be helpful to you, but having a boat with adequate storage space makes the boat much more suitable for extended cruising. This is one area where having a larger boat pays off. Most smaller boats necessarily sacrifice conveniently accessible storage space. On a different tack, catamarans require much less battening down because of limited heeling under sail.

thats it. We enjoy sailing our L 400 and living on it. Shoud add that well setup and effective sail plan is critical so one can store or change or deploy sails quick and painless and achieve sailing joy.

[fxykty]

Originally Posted by bobnlesley

So what about those thousands of yachts long-distance/ocean cruising; do you think that the crews all fly home each evening?

Liveaboard does not equal long distance cruising, though of course cruisers are living aboard.

I believe the OP is referring to liveaboard at a marina and having a land-based job. Unless you’re very strict with keeping things in their (secure) place, getting the boat cleaned up for sailing is a pain. Potted plants, candles, place settings, etc. More so for monohulls where nothing can be left out, versus a catamaran where most things can be left out if the conditions aren’t miserable.

I do know a liveaboard couple on a 41 foot Beneteau who joined a local sailing club so as to be able to go sailing on club boats. They only take their boat out once a month or even less, and then only for a weekend or more. Day sails are on club boats.

[RaymondR]

Being a lazy old sod I'm not going to read all the previous post so please excuse any repeats.

I live aboard, cruise a couple of thousand nm of coastal cruising a year (and consequently day sail a lot) and am a restless old bugger who is always mucking about with some project or other and am probably one of the untidiest people about. Over the years I have developed a technique of stowage which appears to work infallibly.

The first thing is you have to get your head right and don't think of it as "needing to stow". The correct viewpoint is "if I leave that loose will it self seek stowage without damaging itself or anything else."

The next thing is the realization that sooner or later all small things left loose is going to end up in the bilge, keep the bilge pumped dry and if that's where it wants to travel, let it.


Then their is the "tack" technique. Am I going to be on the same tack for the whole voyage and if so which is going to be the low side and if I leave the dishes in the drying rack ar they all going to end up on the deck.

Cultivate a mental attitude of disencumbrance rather than of loss. I discovered this technique when a thief stole and old computer I needed to get a spreadsheet off. I realized that I could waste two days being upset about it being stolen when I could rebuild the spreadsheet on an hour and fell good for the 47 hour balance if I considered the thief to have disencumbered me of it and encumbered himself with the obsolete piece if junk.

You might be thinking what the hell's that got to do with sailing. Well, I sometimes leave biodegradable stuff loose on deck in the hope that nature on the form of a bit of rough sea will disencumber me of it. I discovered this one whilst battling an infestation of bed bug I picked up from the spine of a hard cover swap book from a laundromat.

To get rid of the little monsters I had to take all the fabrics out of the boat and store them on deck. Unfortunately (or from a disencumber viewpoint, fortunately) I ran into a very nasty wind against current situation and the decks ended up pretty well swept clean. When I got over the guilt from the sea littering aspect I realized that most of the lost stuff was things I would probably never use again and had just hoarded and that the sea had done me the favour of disencumbering me of it.

I could go on with a couple of more pages of examples but the message is, that if you want to successfully dispose of vast quantities of "stuff" you must view the thieves that steal it, or the relatives who spirit it away, or the rats that eat it, or the partner who infringes your property right with lawyers and courts as "disencumberers" doing you a favour rather than miscreants doing you a disservice.

By cultivating the beneficial habits of untidyness and viewpoints of disencumbrance versus loss you can both sail every day whilst living with hoarder propensities without suffering any mental discomfort.

[Tillsbury]

Also, as long as you have sufficient space, lots of stuff can help. My cupboards are generally full, and I know exactly what’s in them. Full cupboards don’t rattle and the stuff in them doesn’t move about when heeling.

I don’t live aboard full time but I always ensure that I unpack and stow everything I arrive with the moment I get to the boat. And similarly I tidy up after cooking and eating a meal, so that we’re pretty much ready to go with five minutes notice any time. The things that live on the counter top go straight into the sink with a rubber mat at the bottom. Then sail cover and power cable and lines slipped and off we go...

[Chayal]

I keep just about everything in plastic totes, organized, and stored.

This takes minimal discipline...

Obviously having a boat with sufficient storage is ideal.

Our current Samson has a large V locker that two people can sit in.
The quarter berths were also converted to storage.

The inside layout is tight. Perfect for 2. No more.

You have to give something to get something and I’ll gladly sacrifice some living space for more storage

[chuckr]

I have been a fulltime liveaboard and cruiser for 14years. All the Carib, almost all the Med and almost all the Black Sea. Usually spend 6 to 7 months underway and the rest sitting out winter or hurricane season. I can have this boat underway in less than 20 minutes. Things are put away and it appears you turned your boat into a version of an apartment with all the stuff. You do not need all the stuff. You only think you do.

[wingssail]

Living aboard does not mean you have to stop sailing. We've lived aboard for 34 years and we get underway about 35-45 times per year. The peak years were 1988 and 1990 when we got underway 95 times in each of these years. (this is all documented in our logbook, online here: Log Book Pages)

If you love sailing, and want to do it often, you can.

As several others have said you just have to have some discipline about keeping things tidy. It helps if you don't have too much stuff (like toasters, etc) that sits out on a counter. In our case nothing sits out. Everything has a place which is safe from heeling or a rough passage and we put those things back into their place when not actually in use. The computer, printer, and other nav station stuff are always secured for sea. Our decks are absolutely clear, the cabin sole is uncluttered, clothing and tools are put away. The galley is tidy. Any loose items in the cabin can get tossed into the pilot berth and secured with the lee cloth. We feel better about living in an uncluttered environment.

We have a check list for getting underway. it includes things like closing the sink drain in the head so it does not overflow, latching the storage baskets, locking in the wine glasses, and putting up the lee cloths.

We have long been proud to brag that we could get underway within 30 minutes but actually, it isn't always possible. And I have to say that I am skeptical of those people who say they can always get underway in 10 or 20 minutes. We are not camping on our boat, maybe they are. We cook and entertain and do projects and live lives that are not too different from normal shore bound lives. So if we have just finished a dinner with four guests and there are dirty dishes on the table and wine bottles all over we aren't going to be able to get under way in 30 minutes unless we just throw everything in a pile behind a lee cloth or something, which we are not going to do.

Nor can we get underway quickly when a boat project is underway. Right now the water maker is in pieces on the workbench and it has been there for two days while I repaint the bulkhead where it is normally mounted. I could probably stash the pieces somewhere but that would take extra time. So right now we can't get underway in 30 minutes. But the goal is to get it all back in shape as quickly as possible so that we are ready.

[Hudson Force]

Maybe this idea that living aboard inhibits spontaneous day sailing comes from people that accumulated ownership of stuff ashore before moving to a boat and failing to adapt. My wife and I moved aboard right out of college when everything we owned would fit inside our VW trunk and carrying on to our first boat in one trip. Even with so little, we discarded much of the little we had. Now, with wifi, there's even less need for books, manuals, entertainment electronics. Even now, after moving off our boat due to my wife's health, I could walk away with one back pack and a roller bag without missing anything left behind. I doubt that that's true for my wife. She would need a back pack and two roller bags, but I would need to go back for them! We've gathered some stuff after fifty years married, but 45 of those were on the boat. 'let go of all that stuff!

[PirateFoxy]

I feel like this is an issue of what ‘stuff’ you have and also how much effort you’ve put into organizing what you have.

By organizing, I mean things that are regularly used should be kept such that they are secure in their location but also easy to get out and put back. So on a shelf with a rail to hold things in place, in a cabinet, stuck to the wall with magnets or Velcro, etc. If you’re finding you have to unpack a lot to ‘live’ in your space, then your space needs to be better organized.

Even decorative items can be secured - instead of free standing lamps, use wall mount that can be secured to a cabinet or similar. If you want to have a plant on a shelf, set up some kind of railing or similar to hold the plant in place, etc.

There’s always going to be a small amount of stuff that accumulates from people being in a space, but imo if you’re avoiding cooking because you have to unpack a lot to make any food, then your kitchen needs a SERIOUS amount of work to be a functional space, and is not actually prepared to be living space.