Living on a boat?

[Litprep]

Hello everyone, new guy here. I am about to graduate college and I got this crazy idea. I was thinking instead of buying a house, I would buy a boat to live on!

I am really new to the boat/yacht world. I'm glad I found this site, I plan on doing lots of research.

I guess my first question would be: Is it even possible to live on a boat all year long? I am single, no family, so the space isn't a issue.

Ok, next question, what kind of boat am I looking at? I mean what is the smallest size of boat that a person can live on?

And one last question, how much would docking fees and insurance fees be for owning a yacht? I know it varies from location to location, I'm looking at California.

Thanks!

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[AndrewB]

It is certainly possible to live on a boat all year round. Some people live on extraordinarily tiny boats, but to my mind the minimum for one person in a spartan existance is 26 feet. This depends a lot on the weather. If you live somewhere that regularly goes subzero or is very wet in winter, you need more space.

The majority of people who post on this forum are based in the UK, where the possibilities for residential moorings or being able to live aboard a sailboat unofficially are different from the US. I've heard that it is not easy in California at present, but for that and some idea of costs you would do better to ask on a US sailing board like CWBB. Here are a couple of relevant threads from that board's archive:

1. <A target="_blank" HREF=http://old.cruisingworld.com/forums/arch_067/index.pl?read=315453>Liveaboard costs</A>.
2. <A target="_blank" HREF=http://old.cruisingworld.com/forums/arch_067/index.pl?read=314309> Slips in/around Huntington, CA</A>.

Incidentally, there is a special board on this website dedicated to liveaboard issues you may find useful. Go back to the main index (in blue bar above) then scroll down.

 

[Litprep]

Andrew, thanks for the quick reply and also the links to the other threads!

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[jonjo]

A boat is quite an expensive route to buying living space by the sq foot.

The cheapest I can think of is a UK canal boat. A nice example kitted out for year round living would cost $120k and provide about 34 sq metres.

> and I got this crazy idea.

But don't let my logic put you off, you could have a lot of fun. However too smaller a boat might drive you mad and/or you will end up living like a savage.

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[Trevethan]

I work in London, but have a house in Czambridge so my wife and I more or less liveaboard our 40 foot sailboat.

We have just about enough room, but every so often she gets a little stir crazy.

She wasn't used to boating when we met so I had to iontroduce her to the idea of boat ownership and living slowly... it started with her saying I want to live in Jamaica, and me sayiong ahh if we had a boat we could do that... hmmm.. so I'll burn in hell for that but... she generally likes the life, but has problems with the motion when the wind gets up, expecially when lying down.

Living where you are there is no shortage of cheap (ccompared to here) boat.

Set a budget and then knock off 20% Go as big as you can afford on that reduced budget, as you will appreciate the space. The extra 20% will then cover some of the additional costs that always rear their ugly head once you've handed over your cheque.

Be careful what you buy -- get the boat surveyed.

Look for berthing. Try and get an idea of how much it might cost for a boat of a particular length

Look at both sail and motorboats.

Sailboats have advantages - cheaper to run annually lower maintenance bills often and look prettier (imho), however motor boats will often provide more usuable space. but their larger engines tend to cost more to service and frequently you have 2 instead of one.

Spend lots of time in the bioats. Try and ,make friends with someone with a boat and try and spend a night or two aboard .. it might not be the romantic life you think (actually it isn't at all like you think, but I like it.. mostly)

above all good luck and enjoy the experience... get some boating experience first

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[Metabarca]

I suggest you have a chat on this US site; they'll probably be able to provide specific help re California. Link here: <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html>http://www.comoy.com/saillinks.html