Our Dream is Becoming a Reality ...

[beachlvr0168]

My husband and I are finally realizing our dream of becoming liveaboards and working towards our goal of being fulltime cruisers. We just moved on to our boat fulltime and are in the process of getting her ready for cruising. We still have tons to learn and plan to take our time learning all we can so we will be ready for anything that may come our way. Any advice for new liveabords is truly welcome

[Hermanns]

Congrats us too - not a easy journey, but it should be well worth the efforts

We're new to the forums - greetings from SoCal.

[beachlvr0168]

We are new as well. Where in SoCal are you. I am orinally from the LA area. Have family in San Jacinto. I agree with you in that it isnt an easy change but it is very freeing to let go of material things and concentrate on what's really Important. We plan to cruise the Caribbean within the next 2 years.

[Target9000]

Awesome. =)

[Celestialsailor]

Welcome to the forum.

[Laffangurl]

Welcome and congrats big time on moving on to your boat and towards your dream! Wealth of info shared here to help make the journey a little easier, enjoy!

[s/vPainkiller]

Congrats! CF is an awesome resource. I'm sure you'll have a million questions. "Search" is your friend. You can learn a lot just by looking through old threads.

Scott

[SkiprJohn]

Aloha and welcome aboard!
Good to have you here. Best advice for liveaboards is to not gather more stuff than is necessary.
kind regards,

[JerseyMermaid]

BARNES & NOBLE | The Art of Living Aboard a boat by Al Fittipaldi, BHI Publishing | NOOK Book (eBook)

I just finished reading this book on my Kindle App and while the only reviewer on Amazon says it's filled with inaccuracies and generalizations, I still felt it to be wildly helpful if you've never lived aboard or need a good understanding of what to include on your boat. The reviewer made a recommendation for another book that is about the liveaboard lifestyle that I'm going to pursue next, but if you take all things equally in measure, it's still recommended from me as a great read with a ton of information.

Authors write based on experience and opinion...keep that in mind and you'll be just fine no matter where you begin!

Good luck and wishing you all the best,

~Danielle

[seahag]

Welcome and best of luck to you with your new pursuit!

[beachlvr0168]

Thanks everyone! Enjoy all of the threads and great advice on here!

[wingNwing]

Welcome! Best advice I can give, from 10 years aboard and still lovin' it:

(1) Figure out what makes YOU feel like you're camping out, and address that. (whatever it is)

(2) Collect friends, experiences, and memories instead of things.

(3) You and husband can't give each other the kind of physical space that you could when you lived on land, but you can - and must - respect each others' virtual privacy. No shoulder surfing or reading each others' drafts without permission. If you overhear each others' cellphone conversations, or *bathroom noises,* no comment.

[beachlvr0168]

I think right now it is in the galley, trying to figure out what to do about a stove. I currently have a 2 burner alcohol stove and no oven. Can't decide between propane and electric.

[wingNwing]

What's your intended cruising area? Will you be anchoring out a lot, or marinas only? Propane will make you more independent and self-sufficient.

[beachlvr0168]

We hope to be anchoring out as much as possible to keep costs down. Thanks for the info about propane. Now to figure out the logistics of adding it to our boat.