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Old 27-06-2022, 20:39   #1
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Smallest long term live aboard.

I managed in a 26. Miserable as hell.
So who has a better story?

Ciao
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Old 27-06-2022, 20:45   #2
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Re: Smallest long term live aboard.

Years ago cruising the Caribbean I met two couples from Germany living on a 27' boat they had sailed from Europe. I assumed they were all very good friends.
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Old 27-06-2022, 21:06   #3
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Re: Smallest long term live aboard.

Met a couple in Tahiti. They had left Europe in a 32’ boat. Had a baby on the way. Reached Panama and decided that 32’ was too big for either of them to single hand if something happened to the other, so they traded down to 25’.

When we met them in Tahiti the baby was 1 and she was 8 months along with the second. I know they continued after the birth, but don’t know for how long.
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Old 27-06-2022, 21:45   #4
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Re: Smallest long term live aboard.

We met a couple on a Django. Europeans. It's 24 ft. And, they had wintered over in Patagonia, so it's not like living aboard on the milk run. It looked like a very fun boat to sail.

Back in the mid to late '80's, we met couples circumnavigating on 21-27 foot boats frequently. They were mostly young people in their twenties.

Ann
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Old 27-06-2022, 21:55   #5
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Re: Smallest long term live aboard.

Spent 8 months aboard a Flicka 20, PNW Vancouver Island circumnavigation, very comfortable but slow……
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Old 27-06-2022, 22:01   #6
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Re: Smallest long term live aboard.

What is the difference on how the boat rides , a 32 foot boat I assume will be more stable than a 25 how much more stable is a 40 over a 32 , sorry to ask a stupid question however i have an no experience with sailing and i bought a 31 foot motor sailor , I’m thinking it might be a little too small to give me a desirable ride , Or maybe two lite 14,500 with 7250 of that in the keel , It’s Bluewater rated so the boat can handle it , I don’t know if I can , I put 300 miles under the keel along the Washington coast in April motoring with no sailes out , I didn’t care for the ride at all , as far as Livability goes it is quite comfortable for me
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Old 27-06-2022, 22:58   #7
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Re: Smallest long term live aboard.

Cool stories.
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Old 27-06-2022, 23:09   #8
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Re: Smallest long term live aboard.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Baby tug View Post
What is the difference on how the boat rides , a 32 foot boat I assume will be more stable than a 25 how much more stable is a 40 over a 32 , sorry to ask a stupid question however i have an no experience with sailing and i bought a 31 foot motor sailor , I’m thinking it might be a little too small to give me a desirable ride , Or maybe two lite 14,500 with 7250 of that in the keel , It’s Bluewater rated so the boat can handle it , I don’t know if I can , I put 300 miles under the keel along the Washington coast in April motoring with no sailes out , I didn’t care for the ride at all , as far as Livability goes it is quite comfortable for me
Pitching or rolling motion the problem?

Rolling, put some sail up.
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Old 27-06-2022, 23:43   #9
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Re: Smallest long term live aboard.

For me, the key criterion is not the length by having standing headroom. This puts the lower limit around 31-34 feet depending on design. For a couple, you need to go to 37-40 feet. For a decent, quality life on board, I would say 48-50 feet is desirable. Many people have done it in smaller boats, fewer people have done it in bigger boats. I do not think cost is so important because you can get an older, bigger boat and fix it over time. You will be living aboard most of the time, so what else is there to do?
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Old 27-06-2022, 23:44   #10
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Re: Smallest long term live aboard.

I lived aboard a Cal 2-27 for 7 years or a bit more. It was okay for just me. I had plenty of standing headroom, a shower stall, (had to build that) and a vee berth wide enough to sleep fore&aft or crossways. Had an office nook, too, where the old head and vanity used to be. No fuel smell, after I repowered electric. I generally kept the boat ready to sail, and I never made any long passages but I sailed a lot in Lake Pontchartrain and as far E as FL. Day sailing was great, no fuel to pump or spill or smell. I put in a proper 120v breaker panel and outlets and did a few things to make her more liveable. Paid the princely sum of $2k cash for her with 10 sails and lots of racing add-ons as the owner before Katrina often raced her on Wed and Sun. Originally had an Atomic 4, was not running after being half full of water following Katrina, and I got the A4 running nicely but when the aluminum fuel tank sitting on top of galvanized screw heads corroded through and spilled 10 gallons of gasoline into the bilge, I decided enough was enough. The repower after selling the engine (still running) for $400, cost me about $2300 with a 10.5kwhr bank of golf cart batteries. I even had air conditioning, pretty much necessary in New Orleans, courtesy of a scoopy contraption over the forehatch and a $95 walmart window unit. Life was good. Covered pier, daily cocktail hour with my liveaboard neighbors, and then I got spliced up with a woman who had a house and expected me to live there. Otherwise I would still be a liveaboard, but now on a Bruce Roberts 44, actually closer to 45', with so much headroom I need two sticks to reach and open or close the skylight. This boat would be a palace for liveaboard, but I have to live on the hard now. Wife had two boats, a ChrisCraft with twin 350 gas engines, and a Halman 19 pocket cruiser. She sold both. She lived aboard the motorboat for a couple of years before buying a house in the city. The guy who bought the Halman lived aboard for several months. He couldn't grasp the mechanics of sailing, nor could he manage the outboard, and I think he got hooked up and we never saw him again after those first 6 months or so. (no air conditioning on that little boat.)
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Old 28-06-2022, 01:55   #11
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Re: Smallest long term live aboard.

We locked down the Wellan and St Lawrence next to an 18 foot double ender, 1 cyl diesel, making way to Spain. Owner, 78. Stuff all over the deck.
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Old 28-06-2022, 02:41   #12
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Re: Smallest long term live aboard.

We had 5 guys living aboard on my dock alone.

One each on the following:

Freedom 30 (or 32) An older retired man bought it a month or so ago. Saw him and the previous owner lady it take it out recently on a breezy morning. The boat was impressive sailing in that wind. I was just ahead 700 yards to their starboard and had a good few

Catalina 30

Columbia 29

Unidentified 28'er (he just sold it asking price was $4,000) an another older guy is living on it now

Pearson 27 (he had moved now and boat is for sail)
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Old 28-06-2022, 04:51   #13
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Re: Smallest long term live aboard.

My wife and I lived on a 30' sailboat with 9'-1/2 beam for 7 years while cruising the East coast and Caribbean. We once went 3 years without the boat touching a dock. Being young and poor made being on a small boat easier. (coming off of 4 years sea duty on a submarine likely helped too). Doing it in the 1990's also probably made it easier because we didn't have the internet to compare ourselves with everyone else in the world...the world was just the people we saw around us. No youtube video channels, no cruiserforums, no patreon accounts, no GoFundme requests for the 'We need a bigger boat' moments.

Years later we got a '38 center cockpit, maybe overcompensating for our previous small boat just a little bit. After a year we realized it was too big, so much unused space, friends and family almost never actually visit so the extra berth was just wasted space.

The next cruising boat will probably be in the '30-35 range for us.
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Old 28-06-2022, 04:57   #14
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Re: Smallest long term live aboard.

Met a guy doing the ICW in a canoe with a garbage bag to keep his stuff dry.
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Old 28-06-2022, 05:06   #15
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Re: Smallest long term live aboard.

in the 80s the Austrian couple Karin & Hansi sailed their Whiting Reactor (https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/reactor-25) from NZ through the Red Sea to the Mediterranean. They were in their 20s/early30s. Hans: "The motion is violent. They then circumnavigated several times (4?) in a different boat (a 36' Trisbal) becoming probably the Austrians with the most miles under their belt. Sadly Karin succumbed to cancer when only in her 40s.
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