Living Aboard and Wishing Otherwise . . . Is it Just Me ?

[JanetGroene]

Have a physical checkup. It could be an energy thing. Then leave the dock. The magic lies Out There and in returning to safe harbor. Waiting too long to leave could put one in the doldrums.

[redcobra]

Originally Posted by James S

I love pretty much everything about my boat and I love sailing....but I would'nt want to try and have it as my primary residence.

+1
Where would I put my wood shop, my gun safe, my model trains, my cabinet of camera equipment, my......

But then again, if I didn't live near water where would I put my boat?

[S/V Antares]

Sometimes we do things (Like boating) to impress others with our great spirit of adventure only to find it boring or more work that originally percieved. Living aboard in a marina in south fl. is not easy. Crowded and hot. The traffic and hussel some of us are looking to get away from is just outside the gate.

We have been cruising 6-8 months out of the year for the last 5 years. Typical snow birds. At the end iof the winter I look forward to getting back to the house and a part time job. By the end of the summer I cannot wait to get out of town.

Perhaps you should look for work or interest in something away from your boat for a few months each year. Ski in the winter or work in the mountin parks in the summer. Move the boat or move youself but move and see what happens.

[StevePZ]

Like most things, aspirations are usually blind, while experience is fully aware. Whether people or things, it's not uncommon for the love of one's life to have tread wear once it's been tried out a bit. The ingredient that makes the difference is commitment. People can pretty much have /do anything they want, but not usually everything they want. So choose wisely & if you find it's not what you it thought it was, then reboot & start anew. It's not a four-alarm fire; it's just life. All that really counts is you gave it a shot. Not too many 84 year olds on the bring...

[Last Call]

Congratulations

[s/v Breakaway]

Blondie-Dog,
I can imagine staying in one place in a 28' boat could be pretty boring. You need to sail the boat to someplace new that you haven't seen before - a change of scenery, do some exploring. (PS regarding your blog comments about mosquitos and Raid; get some netting for your hatches and companionway!)

[VirtualVagabond]

Originally Posted by StevePZ

Like most things, aspirations are usually blind, while experience is fully aware. Whether people or things, it's not uncommon for the love of one's life to have tread wear once it's been tried out a bit. The ingredient that makes the difference is commitment. People can pretty much have /do anything they want, but not usually everything they want. So choose wisely & if you find it's not what you it thought it was, then reboot & start anew. It's not a four-alarm fire; it's just life. All that really counts is you gave it a shot. Not too many 84 year olds on the bring...

+1

Welcome aboard Steve. This is a great forum, and that was a post with some good wisdom.

[VirtualVagabond]

Originally Posted by tgzzzz

This may be true of the near places. Mooring balls abound. Anchorage rules. Fees, fees, and dinghy thieves with bolt cutters lurk in the night. Dye packs in heads. Beer @ $50 a case. Towboat U.S. I've read on here of "credit card captains" having ruined this or that.

My experience is that the waterfront communities have never wanted our boats spoiling their view, peeing off the backstay, flushing overboard, and dumping our trash, and they've finally figured out a way to have some control, and make some money on these newer generations of "cruisers" with lots of disposable income. Of course, those days may be over. The news this morning was of a possible second great depression here in the US. It would surely be felt round the world.

Still, as I prepare my small, paid for vessel for the next excursion, I have realized I'll need to go a little further, out of the safe zone of cell phone towers, towboats, and the calvary to ride to my rescue; maybe learn a new language; become ever more reliant on myself to fix things, cook new things, obtain clean water. I'm not tossing out my paper charts.

So I'm still optimistic about the future of my own cruising. I'll be heading south from here.

3rd world cruiser

That just triggered an old memory. As a kid I grew up in a pretty religious home and happened to love wild west stories. At church we'd put a few coins in the plate to support the missionaries in far off lands. Hell, I was in S. Africa... we were the far off land!
I also confused calvary and cavalry. But my mother's teaching instincts came to the rescue. "Just think of the missionaries as the Calvary Cavalry, going to the rescue..." Never got it wrong again

[VirtualVagabond]

Originally Posted by MarkJ

This is why its crazy when we read some posts from new people who have never been on a boat wanting to sell up and go long term cruising.

It may well turn out to be boring or damn frightening for them.

Constantly meeting new people can be a chore too. A depth of friendship can be hard to comeby as a week later we, or they, up-pick and carry on. (remember meeting new people can be scary for some)

I feel a goal is important. I am sitting out the hurricane season so its basically sitting here doing nothing for 6 months (I am meant to be saving money too!). I wonder by the end of the 6 months my posts here will go more and more crazy?

Every time I find life is getting tedious and everything seems like more effort than it's worth, it's when I haven't got something to look forward to that's going to throw up a few obstacles to get there.

If you're in a place where everything is going smoothely, maybe you need to kick over a few garbage cans, figuratively of course, make a bit of noise...

I remember reading in one of Bob Bitchin's articles (Attitudes and Latitudes) that he'd get bored just cruising and hanging out. His cure was to set a new destination and start planning the journey. He was in the Pacific, getting bored. So he decided to go to Greece and explore a bit of culture. The research and planing got him totally alive again, as did the trip over the next couple of years.

On the other hand, maybe you just need to get

[impi]

Grew up in a farm and own a farm in a beautiful part of the country. Rented out the house - live onboard and have never looked back - absolutely live it !!!!
Trick is to sail a lot - keep moving and anchor in different places.

[beiland]

Originally Posted by Lifegoal2sail

... And what's left? No all I want is to slow down. Chill out and sit back with some good music a drink and a good breeze.

....something like this

"Forget the Mekong…get whatever rig you want and stay on any of the many rivers in Thailand…I just sold a raft I lived on for four years on the Mae Klong River (think up and down from Kanchanaburi (Kwae Yai, Kwae Noi))…loved it, miss it…needed the dough or I'd still be there…many photos at:

Picasa Web Albums - pra maprow - raft

[impi]

Originally Posted by beiland

....something like this

"Forget the Mekong…get whatever rig you want and stay on any of the many rivers in Thailand…I just sold a raft I lived on for four years on the Mae Klong River (think up and down from Kanchanaburi (Kwae Yai, Kwae Noi))…loved it, miss it…needed the dough or I'd still be there…many photos at:

Picasa Web Albums - pra maprow - raft

Wow - that is really amazing man !!!!

[beiland]

Let me clear up a possible misconception. That raft in Thailand was not mine, but rather belonged to another gentleman who as I understand eventually went onto becoming a monk over in Thailand.

I married a Thai lady myself who lives in the northern Issan region. Feeling that I needed to have some sort of part time residence down near the coastal areas, I was contemplating building a floating 'Thai or Bali style' cottage for use along the shore.

During one of my recent visits to Thailand I was looking thru some Thai forums and found that reference to the river raft trip by that gentleman. I couldn't help but post that on the subject forums having to do with raft/houseboat living.

Glad everyone enjoyed it.

Here are a few more raft photos from Thailand

[gunboat]

To Lifegoaltosail. You say you ll be ready to go when ur son gets out of highschool? Today in North America the average age for kids to become independant is 32. Lol. I have 2 in their mid to late 20s still need help regularily. Like all the posts have been saying - things have changed in many ways. Our idylic memories of the past no longer exist. But... The future is what you make of it. Live your dreams and good luck.

[djambalawa]

I'm another planning to liveaboard with my wife - I've spent a lot of time on boats but mainly only trailerable ones for fishing trips. Hired the odd houseboat etc for a week and enjoyed it. I enjoy camping etc and do a fair bit of that.

So yeah I'm hoping that its the life for me but I don't really know for sure. I'm willing to give it a good go with some kind of commitment.

I think something that will help is that I'm not doing it for a life of comfort and peace etc but quite the opposite. I feel that living in my "comfort zone" in the suburbs is killing me - I really believe that we all need challenges etc to keep us going. Even a life of scenic serene anchorages probably gets dull fairly quick - but those anchorages are heaven when you've just come in from a rowdy sea.

I think I saw a thread here somewhere where someone mentioned some study of a crew of a ship. For a few months they were allowed to do anything and they nearly went mad with boredom.. and then for a few months they were all given daily tasks etc and were very content relatively.