What's the Real Picture . . . Liveaboard

[otherthan]

right now I can only visualise...but Iv never don it, so help me get the picture

so I come back from work at 4pm...the boat was closed all day but my solar fan worked...cant wait to get out of my stinking cloths wash and cook myself a good meal...in a perfect world my boat would be confy and cooking a joy...how is it in real life? probably too hot to stay down below and most dont enter the cabin befor sundown?
cooking is to be don outside in the cockpit as its to hot under?

the boat being in the sun all day, becomes unbarable a few hours after sunrise and we are forced to stay under the boom tent or leave the boat.

or am I dramatising? most times boats are comfy and the wind cools the cabin enough to make it livable?

I gues anchoring is best for comfort right?

[skipmac]

Well depends. Are you anchored in Miami FL in August or Norfolk VA in October?

I spent a year in the USVI and it did get hot in the summer but I found that I did get used to the heat. Also you need really good awnings. Shade over the boat will make it way cooler. Many boats just cover back from the mast but to really work you have to cover the foredeck as well.

A good wind scoop helps but on windless days a fan will help a lot. We rigged a large floor fan to fit in the forward hatch. Set it to blow up and out so it would suck a really good breeze through the whole boat. Even if the boat had been closed up for a while and hot inside that would cool it down pretty fast.

Of course being in a boat you can always sail away to somewhere cooler.

[boatman61]

Definitely dramatising mate... stick a boom tent over to shelter the cabin top and cockpit and it'll stay cool enough. If you can while your away from the boat leave a couple of portholes open.. one fore, one aft on opposite sides...
If you take a pontoon berth tie her up so's the bow faces the predominant winds... that way you can open your forehatch and the breeze will flow through and exit the aft hatchway... just like it does on anchor. Also I'd suggest you buy a windscoop for the forehatch.
A useful trick at the pontoon is get a cheap little fan and set a bowl of cool water in front of it... if you have any for your cold box chuck some icecubes in as well.. be surprised how the air blowing over the water cools...
Cooking is now big deal with the though flow of air.... anyway... if its that hot I doubt you'll be at the stove making stews and stuff.. more like salads, cold meats and sausage from the local shops with fresh baguettes and a cold beer or glass of wine..

[otherthan]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Definitely dramatising mate... stick a boom tent over to shelter the cabin top and cockpit and it'll stay cool enough. If you can while your away from the boat leave a couple of portholes open.. one fore, one aft on opposite sides...
If you take a pontoon berth tie her up so's the bow faces the predominant winds... that way you can open your forehatch and the breeze will flow through and exit the aft hatchway... just like it does on anchor. Also I'd suggest you buy a windscoop for the forehatch.
A useful trick at the pontoon is get a cheap little fan and set a bowl of cool water in front of it... if you have any for your cold box chuck some icecubes in as well.. be surprised how the air blowing over the water cools...
Cooking is now big deal with the though flow of air.... anyway... if its that hot I doubt you'll be at the stove making stews and stuff.. more like salads, cold meats and sausage from the local shops with fresh baguettes and a cold beer or glass of wine..

thanks I needed to ask because every time iv visited my boat last summer, she was hot and humide from being closed a few weeks...however after ventilating and placing a boom tent iv spent some of the best sundowns ever on and in her.

cooking for me is real important sins a few years...needed to boost my imiune systhem to fight off cancer...my helth was terrible after an accident that took 7 years to recover...changin my diet to helthy foods has made me lose 120lb in less then one year...I now feel better then at 25old...just want to keet it that way...im telling you this because iv read a few posts where you talked about your conviction...I agree!!
cheers

ps. wine is definitly on my menu

[Mav]

Now I do not own a yatch so they may be different but we do own a nice powered cruiser that is like a condo inside. When at a marina we have shore power and filtered water plus telephone and cable TV to the boat. We can run our aircon so its nice and cool inside in summer and warm in winter. We also have a big genset which allows us to run everything when not on shore power. very spacious below deck and the top deck has a great lounge set up with icemaker and BBQ so if we want to we can have a cook out on a summers night we can. The top deck also has full camper covers so we can use it during any weather.

At the marina we have use of ensuite facilities and large TV room plus laundry facilities and our own car space in the controlled boom gated car park.

Damn I got to stop cause now all I want to do is get down to the boat.

[hummingway]

I'll tell you, Jobi, for reasons I don't fully understand, I enjoyed living on board more then anywhere I've lived. I'm back in a house in large part because I couldn't figure out how to put the recording studio in the sailboat. I only did it for about 9 months but in that 9 months there wasn't a moment I didn't love it. Yes, even when the wind was blowing 70 knots and I was up making sure it wasn't making flotsam out of the boat, though I might have wished I drank a little less of the grog that night!

[Minggat]

Originally Posted by Mav

Now I do not own a yatch so they may be different but we do own a nice powered cruiser that is like a condo inside.

hummm.

Thread drift alert.

Mav, Go here.
Yacht - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

enjoy

[Mav]

Originally Posted by Minggat

hummm.

Thread drift alert.

Mav, Go here.
Yacht - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

enjoy

Okay besides my obvious mispelling of the word yacht, sorry about that it comes from being awake for the past 36 hours, I am not sure what you are meaning?

[Wand]

Originally Posted by Mav

Now I do not own a yatch so they may be different but we do own a nice powered cruiser that is like a condo inside. When at a marina we have shore power and filtered water plus telephone and cable TV to the boat. We can run our aircon so its nice and cool inside in summer and warm in winter. We also have a big genset which allows us to run everything when not on shore power. very spacious below deck and the top deck has a great lounge set up with icemaker and BBQ so if we want to we can have a cook out on a summers night we can. The top deck also has full camper covers so we can use it during any weather.

At the marina we have use of ensuite facilities and large TV room plus laundry facilities and our own car space in the controlled boom gated car park.

Damn I got to stop cause now all I want to do is get down to the boat.

I'd hate your fuel bill...

[Mav]

Originally Posted by At sea

I'd hate your fuel bill...

Yep that is the trade off that is for sure, but it works for us. Besides it doesn't cost us anything in fuel at the marina.

[GeoPowers]

Jobi, you own the boat and you have a place on land. Try out the boat for a few nights, or a week or two, or a month, or....and answer for yourself.

If you like it while still having land ties such as a job- great!

If you don't- quit your job and move somewhere better?? :P

[Wand]

Originally Posted by jobi

thanks I needed to ask because every time iv visited my boat last summer, she was hot and humide from being closed a few weeks...however after ventilating and placing a boom tent iv spent some of the best sundowns ever on and in her.

Okay, warning, this is also a thread drift but my advice to Jobi is to ensure full ventilation to all parts of the boat while you're away - and if you're like most people, that's most of the time. Lock it by all means but set it up so that there is cross flow ventilation to all parts of the boat. It's the lack of fresh air when boats are shut tight and locked down that is a primary cause of problems, especially on wood & steel vessels. It also makes for a more pleasant arrival.

[SurferShane]

I found the fact my steel boat sits low in the water with a low freeboard and reasonable insulation helps regulate the temperature due the lower temp of the water she sits in. Kind of like why the temperatures are always a bit more moderate on the coast over here. I am a bit interested to see what is going to happen in colder climates, but I feel a few more throw rugs and a couple of strategically placed things for insulation will do the trick.

Then the stove is right under the companionway hatch. Nonetheless, who wants to do a big pot of stew or soup in the middle of summer? Why not wait to sundown and spark up the cockpit BBQ?

[Minggat]

Originally Posted by Mav

Okay besides my obvious mispelling of the word yacht, sorry about that it comes from being awake for the past 36 hours, I am not sure what you are meaning?

According to the link, you're on a yacht.

Now we're full blown thread drift.

I didn't catch the misspelling of yacht. But I did catch the misspelling of ... misspelling. Go get some sleep.

Beware. I excelled in Obnoxious 101

[SabreKai]

I lived aboard for 18 months when I was a young fella. Best time of my life. Since I used to work midnights, the boat was always cool when I got home, it was mid afternoon by the time it got too stuffy to sleep. Of course back then I had an awning but never bothered to rig it. Don't know why, just never did. Since then I've learned. Awnings are rigged anytime I am down on the boat unless I'm planning on going out. However, I will never leave the awning up if I am going to be away from the boat for more than 8-12 hrs at a stretch. I"ve long since changed the design of the awning so it is much more user friendly and now my boat is cool within half an hour of getting the awning up, and the ports open. As long as the wind is blowing from South through North West I get a good breeze coming down the forward hatch and life is quite nice. Its the hot days with no wind that really make it hard below deck.

As for food on hot days? I do the bread, sausage, salad thing in the cockpit. Hell I used to have a couple of sausages hanging from the boom at one point. Cool drinks and cool foods. Very seldom do I cook in the summer months. When I do, theres a 14 inch square hatch directly over the stove, so heat goes out instead of collecting in the cabin. Ventilation at all times is the byword here.

Sabre