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Old 03-12-2011, 20:35   #1
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Preparing Yourself for a Liveaboard Lifestyle

Stumbled upon this fantastic site recently and have been fervently reading through the threads. So many wonderful seasoned sailors and excellent advice, and an app to boot?!? I'm in a state of pure bliss!

I am currently starting preparation for a complete lifestyle change, going from attic of a house living to liveaboard mooring or on the hook sailboat living.

So many things to think about and be prepared for!!

So...to prepare myself for all the changes, I'm making a list of them all and going to start getting used to them one at a time. Like....

-having only 10% of the clothes and shoes I have now (I'm a woman, this will be an emotional goodbye!)

-get used to drinking my coffee black (no refrigeration so no milk)

-dog will have to be trained to relieve herself on places other than grass (astroturf?)

-no more long showers or baths (maybe I'll wait until I've given up my apartment before I start doing that one)

Ones to add to my list?
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Old 03-12-2011, 20:41   #2
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Re: Preparing yourself for a liveaboard lifestyle

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Originally Posted by bajabound View Post
Stumbled upon this fantastic site recently and have been fervently reading through the threads. So many wonderful seasoned sailors and excellent advice, and an app to boot?!? I'm in a state of pure bliss!

I am currently starting preparation for a complete lifestyle change, going from attic of a house living to liveaboard mooring or on the hook sailboat living.

So many things to think about and be prepared for!!

So...to prepare myself for all the changes, I'm making a list of them all and going to start getting used to them one at a time. Like....

-having only 10% of the clothes and shoes I have now (I'm a woman, this will be an emotional goodbye!)

-get used to drinking my coffee black (no refrigeration so no milk)

-dog will have to be trained to relieve herself on places other than grass (astroturf?)

-no more long showers or baths (maybe I'll wait until I've given up my apartment before I start doing that one)

Ones to add to my list?
Welcome and you can always have dry milk with your cafe con leache...fair winds /far places..DVC
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Old 03-12-2011, 20:42   #3
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Re: Preparing yourself for a liveaboard lifestyle

If you're in the habit of sleepwalking any distance, make sure you go to bed wearing a tether.
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Old 03-12-2011, 20:50   #4
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pirate Re: Preparing yourself for a liveaboard lifestyle

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Originally Posted by bajabound View Post
Stumbled upon this fantastic site recently and have been fervently reading through the threads. So many wonderful seasoned sailors and excellent advice, and an app to boot?!? I'm in a state of pure bliss!
Oh ****..... your gonna have a heartbreak.... its not that easy....

I am currently starting preparation for a complete lifestyle change, going from attic of a house living to liveaboard mooring or on the hook sailboat living.

So many things to think about and be prepared for!!

So...to prepare myself for all the changes, I'm making a list of them all and going to start getting used to them one at a time. Like....

-having only 10% of the clothes and shoes I have now (I'm a woman, this will be an emotional goodbye!)
How big a boat have you got.... its relative to the amout of shoes you can carry.....
buy a Cat and you can take em all
-get used to drinking my coffee black (no refrigeration so no milk)
Never heard of 'Long Life Milk'...........?

-dog will have to be trained to relieve herself on places other than grass (astroturf?)

-no more long showers or baths (maybe I'll wait until I've given up my apartment before I start doing that one)

Ones to add to my list?
If you look for problems or reasons not to do something.... they're there....
Its not hard....
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Old 03-12-2011, 23:57   #5
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Re: Preparing yourself for a liveaboard lifestyle

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-get used to drinking my coffee black (no refrigeration so no milk)
Longlife milk keeps unopened about 2-4 months and is OK for 24hrs without refridgeration in most climates when open.
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Old 04-12-2011, 00:00   #6
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Re: Preparing yourself for a liveaboard lifestyle

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Longlife milk keeps unopened about 2-4 months and is OK for 24hrs without refridgeration in most climates when open.
Go asian style, condensed milk in cans is the norm, no need for sugar either.

Have been drinking it like this for almost 10 years now, don't even have real milk in the fridge.
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Old 04-12-2011, 00:12   #7
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Re: Preparing yourself for a liveaboard lifestyle

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Go asian, condensed milk in cans is the norm, no need for sugar either.
Here they have Noy Noy which is some sort derivative of condensed milk. Makes a nice hot chocolate, but it must be an acquired taste in coffee.

If your desperate there is always powdered milk

I guess the message is life on a boat is different, but there are always solutions and a challenge to our taste buds often reveals something which in the long term we grow to prefer.
When I go to the shops I always buy 1 new "interesting" product. Often I have no idea what it is because the label is not in English.
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Old 04-12-2011, 01:54   #8
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Re: Preparing yourself for a liveaboard lifestyle

Welcome! Thought I share one of my first interesting experiences after moving aboard.

Christmas morning, one month after buying the boat and moving aboard I woke up to the sound of my big bilge running. I had over a foot of water in my bilge (normally about an inch), my stuffing box was leaking at a rate of 30 drops a minute. I had motored for about 3 hours the day before because the wind died down. Once I woke up a little more and the panic subsided I made coffee(black) and opened a book by Don Casey. Armed with the new knowledge regarding my leak and a little caffine I went to work. To my suprise tightening the bolts make the leak worse, a steady stream of water was now coming in. With renewed panic I opened a Nigel Calder book to get a second opinion. Don Casey was right, the only obvious course of action was to continue tightening. After 15 minutes of cursing and skinning my knuckles I got it tight and the leak stopped. It was now 730 am on Christmas, I was covered in sweat and bilge water. I cranked up Christmas music and did a victory dance. A few weeks later during a haul out I found out that the stuffing box was tightened almost all the way and it needed repacking.

Up until that morning I had focused on the little nuances of living aboard. Since then I have thumbed through my now epxanded library more times than I can remember. Sometimes I've had non-boater guests aboard during a crisis, they were not impressed when I sat quietly reading a book while we were in the fog with no power to the GPS. It's always an adventure and one that so far I love.

I do not want to discourage you at all, follow your dreams. I had a
small boat for about a year that I slept on over weekends to kind of ease into things. There are sacrifices to be made but I've found living aboard to be a great experience.

This forum is an awesome place to get insight into all things boating. You will get varying opinions on nearly every topic that will help you make your own decisions.

There are two things you should remember, the Delta Anchor is the best anchor ever made and you should always, always carry a machine gun or 2 with you when sailing....

If you've missed the humor then you need to read more forums!
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Old 04-12-2011, 04:44   #9
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Re: Preparing yourself for a liveaboard lifestyle

No one has suggested Nido yet? I guess you can get it in Vancouver. It is powdered milk marketed by Nestle. (I learned about it on this forum and haven't bought regular milk since then) Tastes just like whole milk. My wife is a coffee drinker and she says it tastes just like milk in her coffee. There is also a product called Little Moos, which are single serving creamers that don't need refrigeration. Yes, you can have your boat and coffee too.
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Old 04-12-2011, 04:53   #10
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Re: Preparing yourself for a liveaboard lifestyle

Ah, a new coffee thread

I changed my coffee ways while I was ashore also. Started grinding beans in a hand grinder and brewing in a french press. I found the perfect creamer combo simply using raw suger, and non-dairy french vanilla creamer (non-fat). The raw suger gives a much richer flavor than regular sugar, and the french vanilla is still french vanilla without the milk
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Old 04-12-2011, 05:19   #11
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Re: Preparing yourself for a liveaboard lifestyle

Welcome in the wonderful world that's called liveaboard sailing. I do not know the size of your vessel, but I use pure cream as coffeecreamer. That is available in small packages. Tere is always space for that.
I am a solo-sailor and use the aftcabin for the storage of my more formal clothing and some of my Armani suits I kept on board are in vacuumbags hanging.

It is the aftcabin where I keep my stores, spare parts and in wintertime the tender plus engine.
Wintertime is coming now and I change to my wintermooring which is located in a town in the north, about 70 nautical miles up.
Masts from deck and now the trip through the most busiest waterways of Europe is going to happen at next Tuesday. I have to pass 6 big size locks, used by the large barges that sail the waterways of Holland.
They are large, unmanageably, and any mistake they make is on your account.
The liveaboard business is to keep your boat clean and tidy, and getting used to the limited space. So far I have managed.

I might change boats in the very near future, which will close up the inland waterways for me and ban me indefinitely to the big outside sea. Hence, no more locks and bridges, sufficient draft under the keel and plenty of living space.

Join the experience and be a happy girl w/o the burden of a house and 9-5 lifestyle.
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Old 04-12-2011, 05:34   #12
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Re: Preparing yourself for a liveaboard lifestyle

As one with limited experience, I believe the biggest issue with this life style is water. No fresh water, no coffee. Depending upon where you are anchored, or where the mooring field is located, a watermaker will work fine. But many places near civilization come with lousy water quality that will muck up the watermaker. This then requires lugging bottles of the fresh stuff from shore. Not fun. I'd like to hear about how this problem is solved by the more experienced liveaboards.
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Old 04-12-2011, 12:21   #13
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Re: Preparing Yourself for a Liveaboard Lifestyle

We love our coffee black and have plenty of Sumatran aboard.
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Old 04-12-2011, 13:27   #14
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Re: Preparing Yourself for a Liveaboard Lifestyle

In Holland all water from the draw is potable, unless stated otherwise. In other countries I would be more careful. For coffee and tea I used sourcewater. It is not burden no 1 - there are many others. But that' s life.
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Old 04-12-2011, 13:39   #15
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Re: Preparing Yourself for a Liveaboard Lifestyle

We live aboard, have a fridge and freezer, hot showers every day, wash clothes on board etc etc. We live on the anchor, avoid marina's. you don't have to give up everything..
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