A Sailing Live-aboard

[miloman]

I was just wondering what people's ideas were about the perfect live-aboard. I am assuming that this boat would be a sailboat, not just a floating dock. To keep the power vs. sail issue out of this lets limit the topic to sailing boats.

What do you think are some important attributes or requirements for the perfect live-aboard.

just wondering what people think about this.

Milo

[Mikey]

This thread; What design features make life aboard comfortable & practical for females? has a whole lot of information that is useful for all, not only women. That will take a day or so to dig through

Apart from that? well, a rather long and narrow pilot house would be my choice. No sense in having more width than necessary as long and narrow boats are generally both faster and more comfortable

Mikey

[timgoz]

Hello,

Big question because of the many different types of people inhabiting this sphere.

Where are you looking to live aboard & what level of "comfort" do you require?

TGoz

[gonzo]

The average live-aboard has plants in the cockpit, bicycles on deck, TV antennas and all kinds of crap on the boat. They never sail, so the mast is usually good for Christmas lights only.

[timgoz]

Hey Gonzo,

There is a way to avoid becoming a "floating apartment" as a live-aboard.

First spend so much on the boat, that you cannot afford dock space.

Then, use totally insufficiant ground tackle, including shore lines.

That will keep you on the move while attempting to find suitable anchoring spots as the winds shift.

TGoz

[gonzo]

That's a solution like stapling your stomach to stop eating. I guess it may work.

[Robert Gainer]

It saddens me to see how a very visible few are spoiling it for the quiet majority. I am a live aboard on a 34 foot sailboat and have been living aboard on boats ranging from 22 to 41 feet for 35 years now. I have always owned a good well equipped boat and in the past have sailed from the United States to Europe down to Africa and over to South America on various trips. Last year I went to Bermuda and next year I am sailing to Greenland.

Living aboard is a great lifestyle and deserves more respect then it gets today.
All the best,
Robert Gainer

[marshmat]

How I envy you Robert. I'm stuck here in Ontario all winter (Not that winter in Ontario means what it used to... temperatures are still positive right now!)
I find the Dashews' boats http://setsail.com/dashew/dashoff.html to be a good source of inspiration and good thinking for the cruising liveaboard, even if the boats themselves are a tad on the pricey side.....

[Robert Gainer]

Matt,
Their boats are very nice but my interest is in smaller boats because they are both easer to handle and less expensive to own and run.

I once had a 41 foot boat but she was a handful and very expenses to keep at a marina or to buy gear for. I started out using a Sea Sprite which is a 22 foot boat designed by Carl Alberg and sailed as far as trans-Atlantic with her but I wanted more room as a full time liveaboard so over the years I have gotten larger boats with the Tartan 34 being almost the best compromise between size, living space and cost of ownership.

If I could find the same hull design in a 36 instead of the 34 I have now I would consider that almost perfect as a liveaboard cruiser.
All the best,
Robert Gainer

[Dave Hawley]

Hi guys,
Yes Rob is quite right, live-aboard really is the way to go. All the kit is is very nice but not everything. If you live in a big house with everything pressbutton then living aboard will a pain in the ass. Many cruisers I have seen over the last 25 years in the Caribbean are stripped down of all the stuff we think of as nessecary on land. A place to sleep, somewhere to wash and a nav station with a bit of cooking space is all you really need.

I even spent 2 months working with a guy called Don Street who writes cruising guides for Imray on his 28' wooden sloop with no engine, just a solar panel for lights and vhf and a bottle of lpg. Some of the best cruising I've ever had, got into all the little bays no-one ever goes to, though we spent nothing on dock fees. The only thing was a battle for ice, thats the one thing I would plan for.

OH, you can't get good Beef in the Pacific Isands, so buy it in Colmb or Ven before going there .

Try it

[marshmat]

Interesting point of price comparison....
Houses in downtown Toronto are frequently sold for over $6000 per square metre, including cockroaches and rat family. It's common these days to drop over a million on a house in a 'nice' location there, plus utilities, phone, internet, parking, repairs, etc.
Marina fees in and near the same city run around $150-$250 per metre per year for anything that fits in a single slip. A 40-foot (12-metre) vessel pays marina fees in one year that are roughly equal to two months' rent on an apartment of similar comfort and size. A 24 m (80-footer) with the interior room of a typical downtown home or nice condo might have marina fees of $6000-$9000 or so per year (it's probably a bit on the wide side, hence a bigger slip)- that's what, one or two square metres of downtown house? Granted that's not a cheap boat to buy, even second-hand.... and of course there's boat maintenance costs.... but it doesn't seem that hard to swing the numbers around in such a way that living aboard at the marina in summer, and then sailing south before the St Lawrence freezes up, could turn out cheaper than living in the downtown core itself.

[mattotoole]

Originally Posted by miloman

I was just wondering what people's ideas were about the perfect live-aboard. I am assuming that this boat would be a sailboat, not just a floating dock. To keep the power vs. sail issue out of this lets limit the topic to sailing boats.

What do you think are some important attributes or requirements for the perfect live-aboard.

just wondering what people think about this.

Milo

I think it depends a lot on where you are, because climate, local cruising grounds, and how you will use your boat all make a difference. Boats get hot in summer. On most of the US east coast you'll probably want air conditioning, in addition to heat in winter. Bug screens too. On the west coast, A/C is not an issue because it's cool on/near the water.

A cored hull (sandwich construction) helps keep the inside of the boat dry -- better insulation prevents "sweat" on the inside of the hull.

I'm sold on canvas cockpit covers, because they create a nice extra room, like a screen porch. Many sailboats have the mainsheet and traveler across the cockpit in a way that prevents a good cockpit cover.

Most production boats have inadequate tankage, especially for a liveaboards. It might not always be easy to get water and pumpout services, especially in winter. How much "stuff" do you need? Winter clothing? Office wardrobe? Books and papers? It adds up pretty quick. Make sure your boat has the capacity to handle it all. Or make sure you have convenient shore facilities to make up for it -- storage, shower/laundry facilities, etc. Otherwise you'll wind up being one of those slobs with stuff all over your boat, and all around it on the dock.