Working while anchored out

[gibbonsj]

Hey All.
I am currently looking into cutting costs of living next year. I already own a small keelboat (Jouet 24), it is stored on a pile mooring a ways out of the city (Auckland) where I work, I was wondering if it is feasible to anchor the boat much closer to the city and to live from there.
My main concern is leaving it anchored all day while I'm away. Does anyone have any experience in this field / recommendations or is it just too big of a risk. Obviously I would take all precautions like oversized anchoring gear / the like and only anchor in places with excellent holding.
Just wondering if other people have any ideas or if I'm barking up the complete wrong tree.
Thanks

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, gibbonsj.


Perfectly feasible, if somewhat inconvenient, depending on local conditions/regulations etc.

[svMarite]

Maybe you can go back the past 15 yrs in the forums, it's been answered 100s of time.

[denverd0n]

Does the boat have full standing headroom? A separate shower? What about doing laundry? Where are you going to dock your dinghy that it will be safe all day while you're at work?


Back when I was in my 20s I tried living on board my 23 foot boat in a marina. I was docked, had no issues with a dinghy, had laundry facilities, and a workable (though extremely spartan) bathroom available. Even at that, after about three months I realized this was NOT the way I wanted to live!


The boat did not have full standing headroom, for one thing. Let me tell you, getting dressed while sitting down and trying not to bump your head is okay for a couple of weeks, but it gets real old, real quick. Having to schlep all your stuff a couple of hundred yards down the dock to perform all of your morning ablutions before going to work gets even older, even quicker.


Of course, it's a very personal thing. Maybe you wouldn't mind the many inconveniences. And, of course, I don't know what sort of facilities your boat has.


I would just suggest that if you are going to do this, you should have an exit plan in place ahead of time. You may discover that it is not at all your cup of tea, and you don't want to be stuck with no alternative.


Good luck.

[gmakhs]

If you solve the bath ,loundry and dinghy issues , and if you are comfortable in the boat I don't see any issues with your idea

[Dockhead]

If you would be happy living in your car, then you will be fine living in a small sailboat. If not, then think twice, especially living on a small sailboat not connected to land, so you can't even stretch your legs without a dinghy trip.

[mikeod]

I've been anchored and working every day for a few years now. You must pick a location with shore access and good holding. If your going to do it you have to get comfortable with leaving your boat anchored. That comes with experience. Finding good anchorage is easy it's the shore access and parking that's the hard part for me.
Good luck

[grantmc]

Plenty of people do what you're proposing in Auckland. Most do it with approved and permitted mooring blocks. If your boat comes adrift it can be damaged and do enormous damage. I doubt you would be able to convince an insurance company to cover you for even 3rd party just to anchor up permanently. You'd be liable for any damage caused to other people's property and the cost of recovering your boat by Harbour Master.

Auckland is a big harbour with big tides, lots of boat wash too. In many bays the boat will be on the mud at low tide, not too much fun walking to/from shore.

Suggest you have a read about Auckland rules here : Harbourmaster. Moorings is bottom right on the page. You can call them too; they're actually really helpful and will likely suggest a few out of the way quiet spots.

Also consider putting down a mooring block. It is not difficult to do and all up with chain and permit for 10 years would be under $2K. There are moorings to rent too. The NZ web site crew.org.nz would be a good forum to ask about moorings.

Get a copy of Andrew Fagan's book Swirley World in Perpetuity. Lots of information in there about living on an 18 foot boat in various bays around the city.

[akprb]

Right over by Bayswater Marina! Might be able to work a deal out for parking and shower access.

I drove the ferry out of there (The Osprey). Boy I miss it :-(

Go for it!

[Shrew]

Originally Posted by svMarite

Maybe you can go back the past 15 yrs in the forums, it's been answered 100s of time.

Your 80 contributions make this a horribly ironic response.

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by denverd0n

Does the boat have full standing headroom? A separate shower? What about doing laundry? Where are you going to dock your dinghy that it will be safe all day while you're at work?


Back when I was in my 20s I tried living on board my 23 foot boat in a marina. I was docked, had no issues with a dinghy, had laundry facilities, and a workable (though extremely spartan) bathroom available. Even at that, after about three months I realized this was NOT the way I wanted to live!


The boat did not have full standing headroom, for one thing. Let me tell you, getting dressed while sitting down and trying not to bump your head is okay for a couple of weeks, but it gets real old, real quick. Having to schlep all your stuff a couple of hundred yards down the dock to perform all of your morning ablutions before going to work gets even older, even quicker.


Of course, it's a very personal thing. Maybe you wouldn't mind the many inconveniences. And, of course, I don't know what sort of facilities your boat has.


I would just suggest that if you are going to do this, you should have an exit plan in place ahead of time. You may discover that it is not at all your cup of tea, and you don't want to be stuck with no alternative.


Good luck.

[picklesandjesse]

Done it a lot in my life. Way to go, and you get the satisfaction of not being sucked into the system. Also get closer to living like an animal which we are of course.

[gibbonsj]

Awesome, Thanks for all the info everyone! basically re-confirming a lot of what I suspected already. @grantmc awesome info about that book, I'll definitely go and locate a copy. Also the mooring idea is actually a pretty good one, I hadn't thought about that. I have lived rougher than the boat before, its just a question of being able to work around all of the inconveniences and to maintain the lifestyle for an extended period of time.

[denverd0n]

Originally Posted by gibbonsj

...and to maintain the lifestyle for an extended period of time.

This was the killer for me. I took my boat out for weeks at a time and felt very comfortable living on it. After moving on board, though, I started looking at each of the little inconveniences, not as something to deal with for the next week or so, but as something that I was going to have to accept and live with indefinitely. That changed the whole complexion. That's when I realized that I either needed to get a significantly bigger boat, with much better on-board facilities, or move back to an apartment.


FYI... My choice was to move back onto land, save some money, and then get a bigger boat. Life got in the way, as it often does (in this case in the form of meeting and falling in love with the most wonderful woman ever), and it ended up being many years later before we got a bigger boat.

[Group9]

Half of Key West is doing it from all appearances.