More travelling liveaboards a good thing?

[daletournier]

Oh and Ann is 100% right, but unfortunately I can be one of those proud guys..ouch :-) , but I'm blaming it on the rest of them..lol

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[Hudson Force]

I can't buy into this generational conflict suggesting that cruisers starting now know less or that having access to technology "dumbs one down" or even that statement that modern boats are not built as well as the old boats of the seventies.

I've been around sailing, cruising and living aboard as long as most or longer and I've always been aware of the variety in the quality of boats and the skills of their owners. I don't believe that there are "good old days" for the boats or their crew. Since my first days sailing in the 1950's I've seen sailboats and sailors that I've admired and those less able. I've had my own times of pride and bad choices.

I think the crusty old salts who remember the good old days have forgotten their idiots friends and their own bad days or that cedar planked Tahiti Ketch that they turned down, but their buddy left wrecked when it fell apart on a calm day among the rocks!

[valhalla360]

Some fundamental flaws in your assumptions

Originally Posted by softdown

Of course the answer is a matter of perspective. What is your perspective?

There are a few factors that point to increasing numbers of liveaboards:

1) More sailboats are built every year. Sailboats are rarely torn apart for parts. Older ones may be given away of course. There are plenty of people that are happy to take on the project of rehabbing an old sailboat. More sailboats equals more sailors. Most sailboats built 30-40yrs ago are long since scrapped.

2)Global populations are exploding. The expansion is almost exclusively among the very poor. The wealthy populations all have steady or dropping populations.

3) Populations are increasingly transient. Sailing around without a home is more viable for those with no need to hover around a certain location. They still aren't as transient as you might think and not all jobs are near a convenient port.

4) Many modern jobs lend themselves to a traveling lifestyle. We may no longer need to ride a desk from 8 to 5. This one I agree with but it's a very gradual change.

5) Solar panels are cheap now. Making your own power is a lot more manageable than it used to be.Power is still very limited on a boat anchored out.

6) Making freshwater from saltwater didn't even used to be possible without the slow, energy intensive process of distillation. Now we have reverse osmosis that operates around 800 psi. Some specialized units can make a lot of perfect freshwater out of saltwater. These units remove everything undesirable while making freshwater.In most modern areas, it's still cheaper and easier to bring in fresh water from shoreside sources. In fact in harbors, you are often warned not to use the reverse osmosis unit as any oil residue can damage it.

7) More internet in more places. This is really just subcategory of item 4. Without internet access remote work doesn't work for the vast majority of jobs.

8) A reality TV show on liveaboards is simply a matter of time. When money can be made, an American will try it. Other nations have many successful entrepreneurs...of course.

You are way behind on the TV show. I recall a couple from 15-20yrs ago on TV and youtube is rife with them.