Gonna live on a sailboat.

[QueBert]

Had a friend in Long Beach who lived on a big ass ooooold pirate ship, it was freakin ginormous. Wasn't in the greatest condition but it was still pretty bad ass. I am not sure for the life of me where one gets a pirate ship though.

 

[zinfamous]

And of course, there is always the final indignity awaiting you when, after years living dockside, your stuffing box starts to leak, your bilge pump fails, and you come back from a date to find just a mast sticking up where your house used to be.

speaking from experience?

 

[KeithTalent]

You're gonna need a bigger boat.

KT

 

[Markbnj]

speaking from experience?

Ha, no, not exactly. I never lived on a boat I owned, and the ones I lived on were in regular commercial or private use, so the danger of sinking occurred primarily away from the dock.

But I have seen plenty of yachts sink at their moorings for various reasons, including inattention and weak batteries.

 

[BoomerD]

As completely fucking helpless as the OP is, I can just see the thread now.

Hey guys, I've fallen off my sailboat and am now floating in Boston Harbor, but the tide is carrying me out to the open ocean. Any suggestions as to how to get back to my boat?
Please reply before my phone gets too wet to work properly.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

Being a better person is a much greater adventure than seeking fulfillment in silliness.

 

[Sonikku]

I think this could work, but you need to invest in a Katana. Then you need to get a pony tail and occasionally decapitate people. And possibly move to France.

 

[zinfamous]

I think this could work, but you need to invest in a Katana. Then you need to get a pony tail and occasionally decapitate people. And possibly move to France.

Don't forget Amsterdam. Lots of people live on boats in Amsterdam; and as far as I know, none of them are the katana-wielding, pony-tail wearing, immortal types.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

Don't forget Amsterdam. Lots of people live on boats in Amsterdam; and as far as I know, none of them are the katana-wielding, pony-tail wearing, immortal types.

All the better; little competition.

 

[manimal]

Don't forget Amsterdam. Lots of people live on boats in Amsterdam; and as far as I know, none of them are the katana-wielding, pony-tail wearing, immortal types.

 

[T_Yamamoto]

Yes, you get to be the homeless guy living on a boat down by the river.

Or be the guy from pit boss. Shorty lives on a boat

 

[Anubis]

where would you hang that artwork i sent you for secret santa if you moved into a boat?

 

[Rubycon]

I've done some cost calculations, and I can actually save a lot of money by purchasing a decent sailboat (32 feet?) and living on it full time. Looks like I can dock it in Boston for about $6000/yr, and then there'd be the upkeep and maintenance, but still cheaper than buying a house and paying a mortgage or contuing to throw away the rent I do now (which is $1400 plus utils).

Is there a flaw in my logic? Has anyone done this before? I'm taking sailing lessons beginning in two weeks to start the process.

What have you used to do said calculations?
Sailing lessons teach you the rules of the road and how to sail but this has nothing to do with living aboard that vessel!

Liveaboards are interesting people, I've met quite a few that were downright paranoid to very kind that will tell you their life story all night long...

Try *simulating* what liveaboard life is at first to see that tip of the iceberg!

Move everything into your smallest bedroom.

Use plywood to block off everything in your bathroom except a 3' x 3' square over your toilet. Use the shower in the EIGHTH house down the street for bathing to simulate walking from your boat to the marina showers down the dock.

Use a laundromat to wash all your clothes. Park your car a minimum of 300' from the laundromat to simulate hauling the clothes and stuff up the dock. Do laundry at LONG odd intervals, only when you would be in a marina that HAS a laundry. Take a cab to a strange laundry across town to simulate stopping at a marina without one or with one that is broken.

Seal off your kitchen and cook all your meals on a camp stove in the little bedroom so you can experience sleeping in a boat where someone burned dinner.

Get a humidifier and run it wide open in the bedroom for practice in "mildew control".

Shut the breaker off to your water heater, air conditioner and any other electrical luxuries...leaving only one 20A circuit energized.

Use more plywood to block off 3/4 of the closet so you can practice storing stuff in lockers. Cut off your TV cable and watch TV on rabbit ears.

Use a car stereo instead of your big home entertainment system. Park your car at the same house you take showers (8 houses away).

Put in a Change-of-Address card and have all your mail sent to a friend's house 20 miles away.

Rebuild your toilet once a month taking apart all the plumbing and putting it back together.

Every time you do anything electrical, leave your lawn mower running outside your bedroom window for "The Generator Effect".

Take the screens off your windows and leave them open so every fly, mosquito and gnat in the yard has easy access to your "cabin".

Use a boat battery to power all your "stuff" through an inverter. Charge it only once a week to simulate being in a marina.

Give that 8th neighbor $12/foot every 30 days.

When you fill up your car, say with $60 in gas, give the 8th neighbor an extra $60 to simulate marina gas prices.

Don't go to WalMart. Buy all your supplies at the most expensive 7-11 you can find. If you MUST go to any other store, use public transportation or call a cab...liveaboards don't have cars on their boats.

Paint your house, or pay the most expensive painting company in town to paint your house, every year. Use the most expensive paint you can find. Paint the bottom floor twice to simulate putting anti-fouling paint on a hull.

Take your car to the most expensive dealership in town. Have him overhaul the engine and do whatever he wants to it every year. Make believe he is the ONLY place this can be done within 100 miles. Be nice and smile at him.

 

[edro]

Does the harbor ice up in winter?
It might be nice to not have your boat rocking in the water for a season.


Other than it would ruin your boat.

 

[Dr. Zaus]

I've done some cost calculations, and I can actually save a lot of money by purchasing a decent sailboat (32 feet?) and living on it full time.

I'm not really doing this to save money. It'd be a nice extra. I'm more doing it for:

Hi, i'm looking to get married so that I can have sex every day; anything wrong with my thinking?
...
but I'm not doing it for the sex...

 

[SearchMaster]

I think Ruby and Mark have answered this thread fantastically. If you still want to do it....go for it!

I saw an episode of House Hunters recently where a guy wanted a houseboat in Seattle. It seemed interesting but I couldn't do it permanently. And he was looking at pretty nice houseboats and stationary houses in the water, not smallish sailboats.

 

[Zeze]

I think Ruby and Mark have answered this thread fantastically. If you still want to do it....go for it!

I saw an episode of House Hunters recently where a guy wanted a houseboat in Seattle. It seemed interesting but I couldn't do it permanently. And he was looking at pretty nice houseboats and stationary houses in the water, not smallish sailboats.

OP isn't gonna do shiet. I guarantee it.

 

[clamum]

As completely fucking helpless as the OP is, I can just see the thread now.

Hey guys, I've fallen off my sailboat and am now floating in Boston Harbor, but the tide is carrying me out to the open ocean. Any suggestions as to how to get back to my boat?
Please reply before my phone gets too wet to work properly.

This x9001.

 

[martech]

I've done some cost calculations, and I can actually save a lot of money by purchasing a decent sailboat (32 feet?) and living on it full time. Looks like I can dock it in Boston for about $6000/yr, and then there'd be the upkeep and maintenance, but still cheaper than buying a house and paying a mortgage or contuing to throw away the rent I do now (which is $1400 plus utils).

Is there a flaw in my logic? Has anyone done this before? I'm taking sailing lessons beginning in two weeks to start the process.

Not many people if any that responded to your post seem to have any experience keeping a vessel as their home.

The funny thing is many of them are correct when it comes to cost. If you have no training, real professional experience or it was the way you were brought up it WILL NOT be cheaper in the long run.

If you do this I recommend living on the smallest boat you can and at the least volunteer (to learn) on the larger sailboats in the marina on the weekend most livaboards and pros are happy to share advice and experience.

I bought my first home at 19 y/o (a 32ft Pacific Islander for 10k) Worked great for a home until age 23 After I moved to a 48 Hans Christian the now to a 54 CT Ketch which cost over 200k. I'm 36 y/o now.

Prior to going into the (land based) tech field I was trained as a marine engineer. I can do almost all my own engine, plumbing and electrical repairs without assistance or needing 2nd opinions. This saves a small fortune.

I do have a much lower cost of living and live on what most would consider a sailing yacht. I also live with a g/f over 2 years that took to the lifestyle.

That said. IMHO if you plan to go for this life do it.

I know young and older professionals who do it. The boat next me me is lived on by a very successful attorney. Down the dock is two college grad students. The boat across from me is a webmaster, 4 slips down a retired Actuary and his wife (on a cruise to Turkey right now) a few slips across is a Nurse and a teacher and a few others I have not had the privilege of meeting yet nearby (No college myself) G/f is an Executive.

We all help each other, have parties and get together unlike normal communities. If I get a knock at my hull at 3am I get up and go help (without question) like most living aboard. If a friend is away I watch their boat and take care of it. The last time I got sick I did not have to leave my quarters as the community brought me my food and sprayed my decks off for me. I have a normal land based job and my g/f and I coordinate our vacation time to cruise.

All in all I have what most people would consider a normal life. I consider my land friends my normies and I have my ocean friends called liveaboards.

You have to embrace most forms of minimalism to be happy at this.

You can be in style... for example

I like to dress well but this means when I acquire new clothes (I actually throw out donate old fashions even if they are still in good shape)

Other -

Anything I don't use in one year such as a tool, part or anything else I sell throw out or donate.

I do actually kill a lot of my own food. Rather than a 500 dollar grocery trip I will go visit friends on land and hunt. Many times I can yield enough meat to freeze to last a whole winter. In the summer I spearfish and follow other seasons.

I have normal TV when alongside. Even HBO and Skinemax.

I have good shower pressure and good power.

The truth for all of the perks

It is much more than taking care of a normal house. For the price and upkeep of my particular boat I could have a nice studio apartment in the City. But I find living on a boat much more interesting and all my friends show up to my parties because it's not a near 300k apartment in the city. If fact in Boston you cannot find a apartment with the size and storage my vessel has with the views I wake up to.

The big choice you have to make if you're an existing professional is the continued learning. I see 5 types of people in this community.

Idealist _ which normally do not last.

Learn as you go types - These are normally retired people or hobbyist that literally learn as they go. (many of them have the money to pay me to fix their mistakes) Which is fine if you have a nest egg or have a decade left to live.

Romantics - I've only met a few of these people usually you last hear from them on a VHF (Mayday)

Bums - same on as boat as in the street

Autodidactic - This is all of the above. These are the people that make the switch and stay. It requires street smarts the bums have, you have to be a bit of a romantic, you always have to be learning and you need to be a bit of a Idealist to get along with your community.

 

[ManBearPig]

Wow, one of the best first posts ever. Nice job. :thumbsup:

 

[mnewsham]

Reading that wall got me so excited I soo wanna fucking do that, near the end I was crying (literally) man I wanna do that...

 

[Slammy1]

I used to work with a girl who lived on a sail boat, her husband ran tours. This was in a nicer weather area than Boston. She said their usual weekend was to sail around the Keys looking for little islands.

 

[blankslate]

I've seen enough movies to know that this can only work if you are a detective. Oh, and during the next year, a girlfriend or someone you're having a one night stand with will end up murdered in your boat and you'll be implicated.

On an upside he might be in a good place for the Zombie Apocalypse. As long as he doesn't seek safety on an island in the middle of a lake with refugees from a mall.

 

[tcsenter]

I don't know the feasibility or cost/benefit or even just the everyday realities of it, but I got to admit, I've been somewhat intrigued by this idea for years and years. You know, one of those things you come back to all the time in your mind and you wonder about it, but come-up with a lot of reasons not to do it or why its a bad idea, and then you die before you ever give it a whirl.

More than just living on a docked sail boat, I've had one of those recurring fantasies of actually sailing, and being a sailing hobo, in a matter of speaking. Go into this port, stay a few to several months, set sail for another destination, stay for a few to several months.

What's weird is that I also have a fear of the open ocean. As long as I can see land, its usually not a problem. But when you get out where every direction you only can see water on the horizon, the thought of that raises my pucker factor to 11 on a scale of 10.

 

[Fritzo]

Had a friend in Long Beach who lived on a big ass ooooold pirate ship, it was freakin ginormous. Wasn't in the greatest condition but it was still pretty bad ass. I am not sure for the life of me where one gets a pirate ship though.

Did he get a lot of booty?


HA!