Livaboards in Britain

Hi, the wife and I liveaboard and travel the UK. We have been at it for 3 years now, our 3rd winter. We started in Essex, now up in North East Scotland, this year down in South West England/Wales. We started on a 23 footer, then a 28 footer now a 33 footer, discovered that that is for us the best size and the most economical for marinas. Its suprising how much more another 7 foot can cost you, both in fee's and places to stop.

Oh ours is a Moody 33, sloop yacht.

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/boatingdreams/
 
Hadenough said:
Thanks for the feed back the plan is back on the rails now. Why a motorsailer? Simply that we will not be venturing south at all and want a boat with an enclosed wheelhouse for space, warmth and comfort. Our present 30' Seadog is a good compromise. She sails fairly well, albeit sedately and admittedly not on the wind but we don't plan to hurry anywhere. We plan to upgrade simply because we have found that the aft cabin and up and over access through the canvas hooded cockpit isn't very practical in cold weather.
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Good luck with everything...:)
 
Hadenough said:
Thanks for the replies and PM's everyone. Good to know that we are not alone and possibly not as mad as we thought. Now that we've found you we will come back with more specific Q's.
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Spent a winter living aboard a yacht in Lerwick marina back in the 1980's. Was quite comfortable with two diesel heaters (taylors drip feed + blown air). Had the control for the blown air heater in the fore cabin so could turn it on half an hour before getting up. Well insulated steel hull meant comfortably warm cabin even with ice on deck.

It is doable, but take into account the long nights followed by dark wet windy days which sums up anywhere on the west coast of Scotland for much of the winter. Most important is a well insulated boat, otherwise (even with unlimited heating) everywhere will be wet with condensation.

Go for it and good luck.
 
we lived aboard our 36ft steel sailing boat in Uk for 3 years before heading off cruising to carribean and med and enjoyed every minute of it. We were nice and snug due to our lovely Dickinson deisel heater and great cockpit cover.We are now heading back to UK and will be living aboard for the foreseeable future. As long as you make sure you have the right equipment you can be very comfortable on board.

Due to personal reasons we are selling our boat if anyone is interested please contact us.
 
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Hadenough said:
You may all think us mad but we are on the verge of thowing it all in and living aboard ------- in Britain! I'm talking about aboard a Motor Sailer and cruising probably based in the west coast of Scotland. Why not the Med or Carribean you ask? Simply because neither of us can stand the heat and love the isolation available in Scotland. We already have a 30' motor sailer on the south coast so know what is is like to exist on a small boat. The intention though is to upgrade to a larger (up to 40') enclosed wheelhouse boat. This will require us to sell up completely and not have the fall back of a house base (but that is another issue).
Why the post? We can't seem to find any info about people doing the same thing. There is lots of info on canal living and going through the French canals etc but we assume that there must be cruising livaboards out there who concentrate on British shores. Is there anybody there? cos if so we have loads of Q's
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We liveaboard and are sailing around the UK, its great.

http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/boatingdreams/

pop in and see us
 
If the sun in the Med is too hot for you in summer why not go there in winter when it is cooler, prices are cheaper and there are plenty of places to anchor for free. When you have a boat the worlds your playground (although I would give Libya a miss at the moment).
 
Hi we are about to become live aboards in britain too, I was just wondering about the logistics of Address', Doctors etc, as we will be "unofficial"!
We are planning on saving up and then cruise the uk before heading off to warmer climates. We are looking at the possiblity of official moorings too, as we would rather not be sneakaboards!! Does anyone know of any live aboard friendly moorings in the south east? Any help will be greatly appreciated.
 
If you have a local friend then you can ask if they'll let you use their address as a "Care of" address.

Once you have legitimate mail going there you can then use that "proof of address" to set up a PO Box?
 
Insulation insulation...... Can you fit a logburner? Just remember to factor in some money for the bigger jobs that only crop up every few years... major engine rebuild, or a new mast and sails.
I have found living aboard to be one of the healthiest and happiest times of my life. I've spent this winter in a house and had cold after cold!
 
Lazeemouse said:
Hi we are about to become live aboards in britain too, I was just wondering about the logistics of Address', Doctors etc, as we will be "unofficial"!
We are planning on saving up and then cruise the uk before heading off to warmer climates. We are looking at the possiblity of official moorings too, as we would rather not be sneakaboards!! Does anyone know of any live aboard friendly moorings in the south east? Any help will be greatly appreciated.
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This is an old thread but to answer your question Brighton Marina doesn't mind liveaboards, loads of us here...
 
nathanlee said:
Phwoa! I want to have a go. Ever since reading Ice Bird, I've fancied sailing down there. I hope the chap writes a book.

I shall have to share this on the old blog.

Thank you.
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I remember reading 'Ice Bird' way back in the early eighties. I was skint and living in a freezing cold, damp old cottage at the time in Cornwall. Getting into bed with hot water bottles was the only place to go for comfort. Reading 'Ice Bird' in bed soon put paid to that though. After reading a few chapters I was bordering on hypothermia... :)
 
Hello and welcome to the forum. We live aboard in London on our Rival 32 whilst preparing to complete two years cruising. I certainly recommend it. We used my Dad's address for all our mail, which seems to work well. Find somewhere that has good facilities like showers as this helps

If you do have any questions I would be more than happy to help.#

Good Luck.

Oliver
 
Hadenough said:
You may all think us mad but we are on the verge of thowing it all in and living aboard ------- in Britain! I'm talking about aboard a Motor Sailer and cruising probably based in the west coast of Scotland. Why not the Med or Carribean you ask? Simply because neither of us can stand the heat and love the isolation available in Scotland. We already have a 30' motor sailer on the south coast so know what is is like to exist on a small boat. The intention though is to upgrade to a larger (up to 40') enclosed wheelhouse boat. This will require us to sell up completely and not have the fall back of a house base (but that is another issue).
Why the post? We can't seem to find any info about people doing the same thing. There is lots of info on canal living and going through the French canals etc but we assume that there must be cruising livaboards out there who concentrate on British shores. Is there anybody there? cos if so we have loads of Q's
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We live aboard a Moody 33 Mk1, and over the last 3 years I have to say you don't want to go any bigger due to the cost of berthing. We have sailed and worked as we travel, stopping when the cash runs out, getting work, saving and setting off again in the spring for pastures new.

I have been writing about it and if you check Amazon the books are there "Boatingdreams"
That sounds like we're rich but infact we are doing it all on a limited budget, it varies as it depends on what we earn each winter Oct to March.

we also have a website on Yahoo Groups called Boatingdreams.

You don't need a big boat, we started on a Hunter 701, then a Trapper 500 and now the Moody.
 
djbreeze said:
This is an old thread but to answer your question Brighton Marina doesn't mind liveaboards, loads of us here...
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But, as I discovered, don't ask them - they will tell you that it is strictly forbidden. Like most marinas, they seem to oeprate a "don't ask, don't tell" policy.
 
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