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Living in a Sailboat as your home fulltime...

post #1 of 16
6/28/10 at 12:01am
Thread Starter 
Anyone done it? Anyone want to do it? Sounds like fun....... Buy a 30-40 foot or longer sail boat instead of a house and live in a marina...... Get tired of your neighbors sail away. Sail to your vacation spot..... Where would you dock your boat? Think you could live the lifestyle?
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post #2 of 16
6/28/10 at 12:15am
I would like to have an extended sailing adventure, but definitely wouldn't want to live on one full time...
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post #3 of 16
6/28/10 at 10:09am
I know a guy who lived on a boat in Miami. He liked it. If money wasn't an abject I'd say go for it, but Boat payment+upkeep+slip fees= way more than a house or apt. Would be pretty cool though.
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post #4 of 16
6/28/10 at 10:23am
yeah, if money was no object i could definitely do that. could probably live on this, too: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astoria...ding_studio%29
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post #5 of 16
6/28/10 at 10:30am
wasn't there a thread about living in a houseboat just a few weeks/months ago?
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post #6 of 16
6/28/10 at 10:40am
I looked into this at one point. It seemed like it would be great if you had the right personality. I can't help but think it would be outstanding from the standpoint of wooing young ladies. However, it is a massive PITA I learned. A few caveats I learned in the process of researching: - Any cool sailboat with nice wood decking and brass features is hugely, hugely time-consuming. You apparently need to budget at least one full day a week towards preventive maintenance, cleaning, waxing, polishing. - Marinas don't like liveaboards. I guess they're considered to be sort of like rats. Most don't allow them. If you've been doing it a while and get to know the right people, it is tolerated at some places. But most likely you're going to end up at a place specifically for liveaboards, and so you sort of end up living at a trailer park. - Prepare to make serious compromises. You can't have nearly as much stuff, simple conveniences like shitting and showering are more complicated, and your car will become a total wreck as it is used to store all kinds of crap. - You will constantly smell of diesel fuel. One guy has a great "blog" of sorts, a personal site with all kinds of info about his experience living on a 38' boat. It's a great compendium of practical information. http://www.sleepingwithoars.com/ Good luck with your choice.
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post #7 of 16
6/28/10 at 11:37am
MacGyver used to live on a houseboat in later seasons. I always thought that would be kind of cool.
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post #8 of 16
6/28/10 at 12:30pm
I own a 43' sailboat and spend some weekends on it. Mine has two staterooms, two heads a kitchen, two airconditioners, and a diesel generator. It's fine for a weekend, but would get pretty cramped long-term. I'm used to my conveniences.

Still a sailboat is designed for sailing performance first and living comfort second. Generally, internal space is at a premium, costs and maintenance are high and inconviences are many.

That said, I met a lawyer and his wife in St. Thomas that lived with their two small children on their 35' sailboat, so it can be done.

I just wouldn't want to do it.
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post #9 of 16
6/28/10 at 12:33pm
Wait how can this be more expensive than a house, assuming the house is like 400K?
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post #10 of 16
6/28/10 at 12:40pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by MetroStyles View Post
Wait how can this be more expensive than a house, assuming the house is like 400K?

Well, it depends on the house. Is it a new, fairly low-maintenance house, or an old one that you need to spend big money maintaining? There is no such thing as a low-maintenance sailboat. Is the house in an HOA or is it a condo with monthly fees? Slip fees on a sailboat are likely to be $300-$800 a month or more depending on where you have it moored. This is before electricity, of course, which might be the only thing less expensive than a house...but only because it's so much smaller.

The original cost of a sailboat can be that high ($400K or more), especially if you get one like Douglas mentions that has lots of teak on the topsides and is a higher-end boat. Mine is a cut-in-half Clorox bottle with almost no topside teak, but then I hate sanding and refinishing things every few months. Mine was a fraction of the $400K you mentioned.

In my area, though, a $400K house is going to be around 4,000sf with a pool, so comparing that to living on a sailboat is really apples and oranges.
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post #11 of 16
6/28/10 at 1:04pm
At the nearby marina here in DC there are a number of folks who live aboard full time. There are also some who use their boat as an alternative to a condo in the city. At one point it was cheaper than buying a studio in the same neighborhood. From what I gathered from listening, it is less than $1000 / mo for slip fees including utilities and were able to buy an older 40-50' yacht for around $100k. That seems cheap to me, but I suspect the mechanicals weren't top notch since it was more of a floating house than anything. Compared to a condo, the slip fee was about the same as a condo fee but the price for the boat versus the studio is at least $100k cheaper. Though I suppose a boat would depreciate faster. I wouldn't want to do it year-round, but they seemed to like the lifestyle. Actually it has made us think about spending two months a year on boat up north rather than getting a summer place. Of course, I'd have to (re)learn to sail.
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post #12 of 16
6/28/10 at 4:15pm
Unless you're wealthy, you'd have the living space of an Econoline Van with the maintenance costs of a house. How much maintenance you can do yourself will depend on your outlay, and the biggest expense/headache is the engine and electrical systems. Fridge/freezer/icemaker/water maker/lights/radios/computers all hate salt water and will cause you no end of grief if you're living aboard.

You have to really, really love sailing and the lifestyle, first and foremost. If you don't, then you're just trading your land based problems for a whole world of new water based problems.
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post #13 of 16
6/28/10 at 7:15pm
there have been at least three recent threads about similar ideas recently, which puzzles me because i can't think of anywhere i would like to live less, except prison. to each his own, i guess
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post #14 of 16
6/28/10 at 8:16pm
I always blamed the house boat fantasy on Quincy.

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post #15 of 16
6/28/10 at 10:28pm
If I was single I would do something like that. Wife and kids on a boat is to much.

I did come close to buying a house boat 6 years ago. It was a little weird but seemed very exciting.
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