What is it like to live on a boat?

Question

What is the shower like? Is it better to have a sailboat or a motor boat? What is it like in the winter? What is it like in general? Do you need a passport or what every time you go to a new place?

Answer 1

it sucks

Answer 2

I lived and cruised from Florida to Grenada> 10yrs> 40 endeavor> Know have a 48 Sportfish>shower like home smaller and have to watch how much water U use> I like it as you can travel where you want> Passport need to travel to any other country's>

Answer 3

What is it like to live on a boat?  Well...

     Michelangelo had his ceilings... The Queen has her castle... Me... I have my boat... lol

     I can only describe it as saying that heaven is not blue sky, white puffy clouds, and angels with harps... nor is it meant to be only the place where you go when life is over...  Heaven is where life begins...  For me, it is teak, brass, varnish, and waking up to the smell of a clean sea breeze blended with that first cup of fresh brewed coffee.... and I absolutely love it!

    I live on my boat... (full-time since 1992) I have lived on all four basic types... a sailboat, a cabin cruiser, a houseboat, and now... I live on the sternwheeler SummerWind (which was custom built specificly for full time living aboard and cruising America's Great Loop).

     What is the shower like?  I have a head (bathroom) that is 6' x 8' and is equiped with a large bath and shower unit the same size you will find in the master bedrooms of most upper middle class homes.  I also have a walk-in closet.  My vessel has central air and heat, a fireplace, 9' kitchen counter with double sink, a pantry, built in wine rack, two refrigerators, and a host of amenities... satellite TV and Internet... etc.

     So... What is is like to live aboard a boat?  For me... its Heaven!  And Heaven is here, Heaven is now... measured in feet along the water-line of my boat.

     For more... I can only invite you to visit my website... there, I describe the differences (and what to look for) if your planning on living on a boat.  You can see good pics and descriptions of my previous vessel "Enchantment" which was a wonderful live aboard sailboat... You can also see pics and descriptions of my current vessel "SummerWind" which I live on now as I am cruising the Great Loop on a full time basis...

     Is life living on a boat for everyone?  Certainly not... but you can read all about that too at my site.

     My website is not research based, not focused on surveys, nor is it theoretical in nature.  The information you will find on it is based strictly on 16 years of personal experiences.

     However, I have found that most all live aboard boaters are the kind of people that look on the positive side of things... we understand reason - it comes natural to us. We take something out of the box, glance at the assembly instructions - and put it all together... We enjoy and are good at sports, act out our stories, solve problems intuitively, we are very spontaneous, unpredictable, and philosophical. We relish ourselves in our ability to obtain quick positive results.  We have the most fun in life.  We are the dreamers, adventurers, inventors, and motivators... We are the ones that get things done when they absolutely have to be done - though be it - usually not one minute before. And last, but certainly not least... we are generally the last ones to panic! (unless of course, it is "our" boat that is sinking... lol).

So... to completely answer your question, be sure to check out:

> www.boatwrights.org <

be sure and check out all its pages... it covers all the areas of living aboard - both pro & con...  and there are a lot of "cons" especially if you have the "wrong" boat for what you want to do, and where you want to go...

Happy & Safe Boating!

PS. If your living on board and cruising... Yes, you will need a passport... and depending on where you are going... in some cases you will also need an additional Visa (and I am not talking of the Credit Card - though you will certainly need that too. lol)  Also, in many foreign Ports, you will need proof of certain shots & vaccinations...

Answer 4

bouncy.

Answer 5

Hi,I have been on the water over twenty years now,If you ever tryed it you would love it.The life style even low budget is great.I live onboard my 57ft Chris craft ,She is a two state room (aft cabin ) cruiser.I have had sail boats, two infact but could not stand the small spaces.As for the bath size well yes some have alot to desire mine is 3ft x 3ft .But most cruisers offer alot better shower and living spaces than years past as too with the larger sail boats the rest  on this one i have a full size washer dryer with an average room size of 14 ft wide the biggest is the master it is 14ft x18ft.As for the winter if you like the cold it is no different than a house on the water. Myself i move south  as the weather cools but not to fast .happy Cruiseing

Answer 6

My brother and sister in-law lived on several of their boats as have several of my friends.  Some were house boats, some were power boats and some were sail boats.

Obviously the house boats had the most conveniences and the sail boats, because they were relatively small, had the least.

Unless your boat has a holding tank for waste water, typically you can not use the restroom while at the dock.  The harbor will have restrooms and showers available by pass key for berth renters only.

Here are some sites with more info.

http://www.livingaboard.com/

http://www.macnaughtongroup.com/living.h...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Live_aboard

http://www.boats.com/news-reviews/articl...

http://livingaboard.net/wordpress_blog/