living on a houseboat or sailboat

924slover · 09-09-2009, 05:23 PM

I've always had this dream about living on a houseboat and renting a garage for the cars instead of renting an apartment. no electricity bills etc and you can move whenever you want. what does everyone think? what are the logistics of this? (yea i know I'm surprised i used a big word too)

jyl · jyl's Garage

Sounds cool, romantic, carefree.

Also sounds cramped (in an affordable-size sailboat anyway), hot (where's the AC when its 90 F), cold (or the heat/hot water when its 0 F), dim (do sailboat-sized solar panels work well year-round?), forget about many hobbies (no room), weird chores (emptying the sewage), etc.

Of course, a proper slip should have hookups that solve some of this (shore power, fresh water) but what's rent on a liveaboard slip and a nearby three-car garage?

Seems like an okay thing to do when you're young, single, love the water, and live in a warm climate. In NY I'm dubious.

924slover · 09-09-2009, 05:44 PM

most larger sail/houseboats have heaters and some have ac, a 30 foot sail/houseboat has multiple rooms and standing room but you bring up some very good points.

jyl · jyl's Garage

I knew someone who lived in a 35 foot sailboat. It was a small space - sure there were two staterooms, a head/shower, and a central kitchen/dining area, but these were sized more like closets than "rooms". And his "closet" was like something you'd store an ironing board in. Very cozy. Maybe he had a heater but it would have been a primitive propane thing, and he definitely had no A/C.

Then again I knew a couple who lived on a 45 foot power boat that was sort of houseboat-ish, that was a lot roomier with all the conveniences of a small condo. It was designed more for interior room than seaworthiness, indeed they didn't even know how to skipper the boat when they bought it.

I will say that, either way, it seems like fun, for a while anyway.

924slover · 09-09-2009, 05:57 PM

me and my father have also been toying with the idea of purchasing a 30' + sailboat to use as a vacation home. we have been sailing for years and love it.

slakjaw · 09-09-2009, 06:02 PM

This is my plan when I eventually leave Minnesota.

fingpilot · 09-09-2009, 06:25 PM

I have lived on a number of sailboats and a Grand Banks once too.

The last boat was a Hunter 43, at King Harbor in Los Angeles. All of the above mentioned concerns are true. I was by myself at the time, the boat had electric heat when in the slip, and a hot water heater when not in slip powered by a small diesel boiler. I bought a portable A/C for the summers in LaLaLand, and ducted the heat out a porthole with a blank cutout for the 4" pipe. Of course, those kind of amps worked only in the dock. The marina was allowed only a 1% liveaboard rate (1% of the slips were liveaboard), and I waited 4 years for the permit. That priveledge was another $180 a month on top of $11 a foot/month for the boat. Electric was on a meter and the water was 'free'. Sewage pumpout was once every two weeks at $20 each time.

What I discovered was that I loved living at the marina (gated parking), but was in front of a Joe's Crab Shack, and on a sat or sun night, the parking lot P.A. was really obnoxious until 2am. After three years of replacing the speaker wire about twice a month, they gave up and went to a pager system. BTW, I have several hundred feet of pretty heavy duty speaker wire available for donation.

Waterfront living in SoCal is unobtanium anymore, and it was my last chance at doing it.

I would not want to share the accomodations with anyone you were not VERY intimately aquainted with.

It took almost an hour to get the boat ready to go sailing once I lived aboard. Prior, it was 15 minutes.

I lived aboard in San Fran Bay, it was much tougher in the winter, everything you owned stayed 'damp', and even things like my uniform would pick up the dampness that could be detected after flying on 2% humidity all day once in a hotel room cross country.

Lived on the Grand Banks in Cabo for a year. Was uncomfortably warm in the summer (on an anchor), and you also had to 'sweat' the hurricane season.

Lived on a 45' Herreshoff in Palma Majorca for two years. Best ever.

slakjaw · 09-09-2009, 06:31 PM

I know 2 people who do it. They pull into the dock every morning and pull back out every night.

924slover · 09-09-2009, 06:32 PM

I love the water and i love surfing so hopefully i would be living in a bay on the jersey shore.

nota · 09-09-2009, 06:57 PM

I lived on a 24 sail boat fot 2 years
and a 47 ft Fiber glass house boat 75 to 87

at anchor the boat points at the wind
a few big hatches and cloth wind scoops
will cool fairly well for no wind days a car el-tric rad fan
can move enuff air to work
awnings to limit direct sun can really cut temps
being miami based we only had a few real cold days
oil or gas heat will work we use gas to cook and cool
old amonia and propaine refigerator worked ok
but needed to be flipped once a month or so

we hauled water batterys and fuel by rowing
but now common and cheap solar cell work
as do windmills

a different world out there
and the bad crazies can't swim

onlycafe · 09-09-2009, 07:57 PM

back in '71 when i was a cab driver in nyc i knew someone who lived on a houseboat on the hudson at the 79th street boat basin. the coolest thing was being only minutes from mid-town manhattan, but on the river.
i used to crash there from time to time, very restful after a night of running the streets.

pwd72s · 09-09-2009, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 924slover

I've always had this dream about living on a houseboat and renting a garage for the cars instead of renting an apartment. no electricity bills etc and you can move whenever you want. what does everyone think? what are the logistics of this? (yea i know I'm surprised i used a big word too)

I have a friend who was a "yachtie liveaboard" for 18 years...the Mediterranean for 12 years, then made his Atlantic crossing, lived in the Caribbean for 4 years. All aboard an old 57' Gaff rigged Ketch. Even in a boat that large, if you're claustrophobic, don't do it. Every time I returned from being volunteer crew, my small home felt huge.

If you think maintenance on a home is tough..try boat life for a spell. And you'd better be willing to ditch the cars...

924slover · 09-09-2009, 08:11 PM

I've been thinking more and more about doing this i don't mind boat upkeep

pwd72s · 09-09-2009, 08:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 924slover

I've been thinking more and more about doing this i don't mind boat upkeep

Then goferit! Stan pretty much enjoyed his stint...but I often wonder how he'd have gotten along without my USA based "gofer services"...I was a favored customer of West Marine, was constantly sending him stuff he couldn't get in some backwater or another.

Sailing time? I probably enjoyed more hours under sail aboard my 15' mutineer than he did as a liveaboard...over the same years.

924slover · 09-09-2009, 08:20 PM

for fun sailing i have my 16' hobiecat. ill probably look for more of a houseboat because there's less upkeep ( no constant wood upkeep, scraping rigging etc). i can survive on about a 25-30 footer for a while im not to clausterfobic. and im in my 20's so im gonna try to go for it

pwd72s · 09-09-2009, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 924slover

for fun sailing i have my 16' hobiecat. ill probably look for more of a houseboat because there's less upkeep ( no constant wood upkeep, scraping rigging etc). i can survive on about a 25-30 footer for a while im not to clausterfobic. and im in my 20's so im gonna try to go for it

Why not? You're the right age for it...

924slover · 09-09-2009, 08:27 PM

i gotta get the money first lol

Tobra · Tobra's Garage

Guy I knew lived on a houseboat on Lake Conroe, TX for a long time. Had a lot on the lake with a dock, little apartment type place over the dock with a groovy slide you could use that shot you out in the water pretty good, electric hookup, water and sewer too. Saved him a fortune in property taxes having what was essentially an unimproved lot.

Knew a guy who lived on a boat in Sausalito, more expensive than I would have imagined.

924slover · 09-09-2009, 09:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tobra

Guy I knew lived on a houseboat on Lake Conroe, TX for a long time. Had a lot on the lake with a dock, little apartment type place over the dock with a groovy slide you could use that shot you out in the water pretty good, electric hookup, water and sewer too. Saved him a fortune in property taxes having what was essentially an unimproved lot.

Knew a guy who lived on a boat in Sausalito, more expensive than I would have imagined.

That sounds awesome a house boat with a little studio above sounds sweet

Nostril Cheese · 09-09-2009, 09:57 PM

ex had a boat in Redondo Beach. I cant imagine living in the damn thing. Small, endless varnishing, it was hot, then cold, not comfortable to sleep in. Your results may vary.