Liveaboard Sailboat Advice

[Rae_Else]

Hi there!

My husband and I are newbie sailors with aspirations of being liveaboards! We’re looking to get some advice.

Our aim is to buy a 30-34 foot sailboat to liveaboard on in the UK.

We’re aware of our limited knowledge of yachts so thought we’d reach out on the forum to see if anyone has any advice on the models we’re looking at (of course, we’ll get a survey done if we find one we really like) but would be great to get insights.

We really like the look of Westerly Storm, Moody 31 and 33, Sadler 32. Then more recently we’ve been considering a Gib Sea 312 and a Barbican 33.
Would be great to hear from anyone with particular experience of living-aboard any of these.

Another question for liveaboards in the UK. (One of the silver-linings with recent events is that we’re now going to be pretty flexible about where we can choose to liveaboard as we’re mostly working remotely.) If anyone has a particular recommendation of good liveaboard/extended-cruisers marinas, we’d love to hear.

 

[V1701]

Welcome to the forum, I'd say go and see some boats, as many as you can and you'll start to get a feel for what's available for your budget. If your budget is £20k look at anything up to £30k even - it's a buyer's market. Most marinas have a few liveaboards, even marinas that have loads like Brighton where I am you're not officially (according to the small print in the contract) supposed to. There aren't many marinas where they absolutely will not tolerate the odd quiet, well behaved liveaboard with a boat that's kept seaworthy...

 

[laika]

No experience of the boats you mention but do set your expectations appropriately. "working remotely" usually implies computers. I'm sure you've realised that you don't take your triple 27" monitor set-up on the boats you mention: it's laptop territory and trust me on this, extensive working on a laptop on a boat is an ergonomic nightmare and back, neck and wrist issues in the making. If there's two of you you'd both be huddled over the saloon table in the boats you suggest, and where is there to go for conference calls when it's raining? I hurt like hell after 8+ hours at a laptop on board and dream of my custom aeron chair which is currently in storage.

Marina wifi is never to be relied on but fortunately these days we have unlimited 4G plans and 5G in some places.

My solution was to rent deskspace locally: fast Internet, warm in winter and conference rooms available.

Certainly when you're looking at boats, take your laptops and figure out where you'd sit and how comfortable it'd be.

Which part of the country are you looking at? As V1701 points out, In the south liveaboards in marinas are pretty much always "under the radar" rather than having official status which in current times is fairly precarious. Usual hazards of not having a postal address, problems signing up for doctors etc. apply. Also not wishing to sound weird but..."sailboat" is an american term...

 

[sailaboutvic]

Welcome
May I ask why are you thinking of buying a small sailing boat to live on and work from ?

 

[Graham376]

Welcome
May I ask why are you thinking of buying a small sailing boat to live on and work from ?

My thoughts as well, I wouldn't contemplate anything so small. 38 ft suits us but would like more storage space.

 

[BigJoe]

Hi there,

I do not have much experience in the boats you mention, although I did sailed on a Westerly Storm years ago, but boats have changed a lot since then.

I would also look at Jeanneau, Beneteau and similar designs as well, and possibly up to 40 feet in length.

My tuppence worth is that if you are living full time on a boat, then bigger is probably better, just for the extra room and to have good storage, as you will probably have a lot of stuff.

Also a waterproof bimini and cockpit tent, gives you more living space for the 3 seasons that are not summer.

A good battery bank with invertor (for laptops and wifi) with a means of charging that bank when not in a marina, we have solar, but wind might be a better option for the UK, or both.

And a good anchor, but I’m not going to suggest any, as it well drift this thread.

Good luck with your plan it’s the best decision we have made.

 

[Rae_Else]

Welcome to the forum, I'd say go and see some boats, as many as you can and you'll start to get a feel for what's available for your budget. If your budget is £20k look at anything up to £30k even - it's a buyer's market. Most marinas have a few liveaboards, even marinas that have loads like Brighton where I am you're not officially (according to the small print in the contract) supposed to. There aren't many marinas where they absolutely will not tolerate the odd quiet, well behaved liveaboard with a boat that's kept seaworthy...

Thanks for the welcome and the tips on budget to look at, very helpful! Great to hear about quiet liveaboards happening in Brighton and other marinas too

 

[Rae_Else]

No experience of the boats you mention but do set your expectations appropriately. "working remotely" usually implies computers. I'm sure you've realised that you don't take your triple 27" monitor set-up on the boats you mention: it's laptop territory and trust me on this, extensive working on a laptop on a boat is an ergonomic nightmare and back, neck and wrist issues in the making. If there's two of you you'd both be huddled over the saloon table in the boats you suggest, and where is there to go for conference calls when it's raining? I hurt like hell after 8+ hours at a laptop on board and dream of my custom aeron chair which is currently in storage.

Marina wifi is never to be relied on but fortunately these days we have unlimited 4G plans and 5G in some places.

My solution was to rent deskspace locally: fast Internet, warm in winter and conference rooms available.

Certainly when you're looking at boats, take your laptops and figure out where you'd sit and how comfortable it'd be.

Which part of the country are you looking at? As V1701 points out, In the south liveaboards in marinas are pretty much always "under the radar" rather than having official status which in current times is fairly precarious. Usual hazards of not having a postal address, problems signing up for doctors etc. apply. Also not wishing to sound weird but..."sailboat" is an american term...

Thanks for the advice on the remote working. Sure there will be some teething issues to start with and will definitely keep these thoughts in mind. (With regard to where, we're likely to keep the boat where we buy it initially. Looking at Suffolk, the Solent and Plymouth.)

 

[Rae_Else]

Welcome
May I ask why are you thinking of buying a small sailing boat to live on and work from ?

Read quite a few liveaboard books and watched sailing videos on the pros and cons of smaller boat vs. bigger boat. We decided for ease of handling smaller works better for us, as well as the fact that it'll keep the cost of berthing down.

 

[Rae_Else]

Hi there,

I do not have much experience in the boats you mention, although I did sailed on a Westerly Storm years ago, but boats have changed a lot since then.

I would also look at Jeanneau, Beneteau and similar designs as well, and possibly up to 40 feet in length.

My tuppence worth is that if you are living full time on a boat, then bigger is probably better, just for the extra room and to have good storage, as you will probably have a lot of stuff.

Also a waterproof bimini and cockpit tent, gives you more living space for the 3 seasons that are not summer.

A good battery bank with invertor (for laptops and wifi) with a means of charging that bank when not in a marina, we have solar, but wind might be a better option for the UK, or both.

And a good anchor, but I’m not going to suggest any, as it well drift this thread.

Good luck with your plan it’s the best decision we have made.

Thanks for the recommendation on the other boat designs and equipment. Haha on the anchor thread! Looking forward to getting stuck into that sort of one in the near future. Thanks - great to hear that it's a lifestyle you'd recommend!

 

[BobnLesley]

... Also not wishing to sound weird but..."sailboat" is an american term...

We've always referred to ours as sailboats or just boats; 'yacht' sounded far too pretentious for the vessels we've sailed, you say yacht and people envisage 50'+ of gleaming gelcoat and varnished/oiled hardwood.

 

[capnsensible]

Hiya. There are gonna be loadsa opinions, rightly so. So I can only tell you how we did it.

Have just moved ashore after a fab 21 years living on our Moody 33 that was built in 1977 and still going strong. As well as during cruising, we also spent some time running our own businesses from onboard, thanks to the Internet. We had our own RYA recognised sailing school for a lot of years run from the saloon! We have had a holiday let business here in Lanzarote and my wife works as an instructor for an Internet navigation school.

I won't say it wasn't cramped at times but very doable....not sure 7 days 8 hours a day would be comfortable, but we know of an increasing number of people who do.

We were obviously in marinas a lot. But having a ten metre berth for years enabled us to buy another yacht for the school.

So it's possible on your budget. Good luck with whatever you choose!

 

[sailaboutvic]

you say yacht and people envisage 50'+ of gleaming gelcoat and varnished/oiled hardwood.

Sound just like our yacht

 

[sailaboutvic]

I won't say it wasn't cramped at times but very doable....not sure 7 days 8 hours a day would be comfortable, but we know of an increasing number of people who do.

So did we for a year or two but they all Seen to end up back on land , one here well not her but her other half does it and have been doing it for quite a few years , but they do have quite a big cat , Samantha if you like to add to this .

Add to that the op talking about doing it in the UK and not in some sunny place where we tend to live more out side the in .

I also wish them luck but I think when reality hits home they may see it a different way , let's hope that happen before they spend their money .

 

[laika]

We've always referred to ours as sailboats or just boats; 'yacht' sounded far too pretentious for the vessels we've sailed, you say yacht and people envisage 50'+ of gleaming gelcoat and varnished/oiled hardwood.

I wasn't thinking of "yacht" but of "sailing boat". "Sailboat" is closer to the terms used by our German, Dutch and Scandinavian friends but I believe most here would acknowledge that it's an American English term rather than a "British English" one. We can always do a poll on scuttlebutt if that seems to be a contentious assertion

 

[SlowlyButSurely]

Read quite a few liveaboard books and watched sailing videos on the pros and cons of smaller boat vs. bigger boat. We decided for ease of handling smaller works better for us, as well as the fact that it'll keep the cost of berthing down.

Smaller works better for us too. We've lived on our 30 footer for 11 years, some of which has been working full time and the rest cruising full time. Provided you get yourselves organised properly it is totally doable. It's not just berthing that is cheaper, everything is cheaper. There's a facebook group called Tiny Liveaboards which is worth a look.

 

[PlanB]

At the risk of thread drift, will you have a UK address to use for mail, GP, boat registration etc. I may be reading too much into this (apologies if I am), but I suspect you may not be UK nationals/residents, which may throw up the odd other problem.

 

[ryanroberts]

Thanks for COVID, working remotely got a lot more cabinfevery than it usually is. Always used to mix it up with co working spaces, cafes etc even on a much bigger boat.

A quirk of my new boat's layout is that the pullman berth table is raised about a foot above the keel - making a decent standing desk. May be other ways you can arrange something like this. I also now want a decent summer cockpit tent so I can work in the sun with a visible screen.

2 people working full time and living in a 33' tied to a pontoon sounds like divorce fuel, definitely look at co working options near your preferred locations.

It's very helpful to have relatives or friends who can provide you with a permanent address. I just got straight up asked if I was a liveaboard for covid reasons, if I couldn't 'prove' my other address I would be out on my ear.. Marina management knows damn well I am a liveaboard and doesn't care as long as they can make the paperwork look right.

 

[nortada]

Thanks for COVID, working remotely got a lot more cabinfevery than it usually is. Always used to mix it up with co working spaces, cafes etc even on a much bigger boat.

A quirk of my new boat's layout is that the pullman berth table is raised about a foot above the keel - making a decent standing desk. May be other ways you can arrange something like this. I also now want a decent summer cockpit tent so I can work in the sun with a visible screen.

2 people working full time and living in a 33' tied to a pontoon sounds like divorce fuel, definitely look at co working options near your preferred locations.

It's very helpful to have relatives or friends who can provide you with a permanent address. I just got straight up asked if I was a liveaboard for covid reasons, if I couldn't 'prove' my other address I would be out on my ear.. Marina management knows damn well I am a liveaboard and doesn't care as long as they can make the paperwork look right.

Rather than helpful, I would regard a permanent address ashore (in the UK) as essential.

 

[atol]

make sure the boat has at least 50mm of insulation throughout with a wood burner or diesel drip feed heater,uninsulated fiberglass boats become like rainforests inside in the winter,damp,dripping ,moldy and condensation prone
wooden,cored or steel with spray foam are far more suitable