Living aboard

My wife and I have lived aboard on various boats for a few years. We love it! At the present we are fitting out a Vertue and soon will be living full time on her. One thing that we have trouble with is in southern B.C., Canada live aboards are not welcome in many marinas, certainly not at Gov. wharves. To live in the Gulf Islands on a boat is tricky. Anchoring out is the only solution.
Of the four boats we have lived on the 32' motorsailer was the most comfortable.
As an aside it was my wife who found our first boat. She came home a said "I've found us a boat to move onto and travel in". She found the other ones too. She loves sailing and life aboard. I feel like I won the 649 lottery!
Anyone thinking about living aboard should just do it! Some will not end up liking the life but in our experience most would never go back to the rat race once the've adjusted to life aboard. That can take time but if you can leave behind some of the 'ways' life ashore worked and discover new ways of thinking and doing and try to live 'in the now moment', then there is a good chance of success.
Lastly, life aboard is all about the 'now moment', because life 'happens' aboard at times in a much more 'in your face' way. You Must do things when they must be done. Like anchoring safely everytime. Like never once forgetting to turn off the seacocks or the propane. Someone said constant vigilence is the price of safety aboard. If you feel you have the personality to live in constant vigilence you will be rewarded tenfold.
Good Luck

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Re: Living aboard - not always a bed of roses

I lived aboard for a year cruising from the UK to Brazil and back and it is something that I would do again. That said we found after a year of living on a 38 foot boat that we welcomed coming back ashore. On our travels we met quite a few sad cases who had over-cruised, generally the husbands were still keen but their other halves had had enough of an itinerant lifestyle. Talking to other long distance cruisers, the generally opinion is that after 8 to 10 years most want to swallow the anchor.

I'm talking now specifically about live aboards who also do long distance cruising, I have not experience of, or interest in, living in a floating home that doesn't cross oceans every now and then.

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Didn`t the "Pardeys" start off on a very small boat and look what they have achieved.? Happy Christmas all! {:o)))
Rob

<hr width=100% size=1><A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.rejuvanu.com>RejuVanu</A>
 
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