Living on a small boat

N

nathanlee

Well-Known Member
Joined
9 Jun 2008
Messages
4,990
Visit site
Hi all,

Inspired by a chat this afternoon, I've started a little guide to living on a small boat.
Now, I'm not ever so good at writing guides per se, so I wondered, rather, I ask for your feedback if you'd be so kind.

I want to put together a useful article for all the folks contemplating life aboard in a small budget, so all criticism is very welcome.

http://onkudu.com/2010/05/13/living-on-a-small-boat/

:)
 
Living on a Small Boat

Hi Nathan and all,
Personally, I think the article, or perhaps later a book about living aboard a small boat would be an excellent idea. Your experience and knowledge would be valuable to prospective small boat liveaboards. From what you have already written, I have gained a wealth of information and many ideas.

We have owned a boat for several years now, however, had a similar article or book been in print, I would have certainly bought it.

We also enjoyed following your adventures on the web.
Good luck and fair winds,
Lancelot
 
I think there are two sets of circumstances in which you can live on a boat without toilet, cooker or shower: In a marina (as per your caveat) or on a non-stop circumnavigation.

The cruising life, going from anchorage to anchorage, island to island, country to country and enjoying relatively long periods on the hook requires at least a toilet and cooking facilities. I set off, many years ago, with wife, daughter and dog on a 32' heavy displacement cruiser (luxury!, I hear you shout) for what became a three year adventure. After two years my daughter and the dog jumped ship to pursue their own adventures and my wife and I set off 'down island'. We spent ten months either on passage or on the hook, virtually self sufficient, but it would have been intolerable without the basics of toilet, piped water, cooker (gas in our case) and electricity generating capability.

I agree that the boat needs to be seaworthy first and commodious second if your intent is to travel beyond the near horizon. You also need to strive to for self sufficiency and that means cramming the basics into even the smallest boat.
 
Living on a small boat...

Nice to hear about so many of you living on small boats.

Rob and I have lived on our Sadler 25 since 1999 and are now, still on board the same boat, in Malaysia.

Rob is 6'4" and would like standing head room by the galley sink as well as more room for stores and souvenirs. He had to build an extension on the V-berth so that it would accommodate him.

We have a sea toilet and a cooker with oven (and yes, we do use the oven even here in the tropics) and use a 5 liter plant sprayer and large rubber bucket for showers in the cabin when we are in harbour or crowded anchorages. The bucket doubles as the washing machine.

We love our life even though we live to a tight budget and have to find work at regular intervals on our travels.
 
As usual Nathan, a good read. I think everyone's experience is different as is their idea of what they're after and why. I read as many of these sort of guides, threads (whatever) as I could find (and that wasn't many) before I took the plunge. I wanted to read about people, like you, who'd already done it and about the problems they encountered and how they got over them. When it came to doing it myself I found I had plenty of my own problems to keep me busy and maybe I'll write about those one day. When you can't throw money at a problem you have use ingenuity & imagination but it's also helpful to know what someone else came up with if only to reassure you.

Just wanted to say thanks for taking the trouble to write it down and more power to your elbow. This kind of thing is always helpful.
 
Firstly, I liked the idea of the article.

I think the article (book? / ebook?) would be useful as a guide (not a bible!) for those looking to live small and on a very tight budget, but that in practice most folks would end up with "luxuries" that they / you could do without, but don't want to or they simply came with the boat...........actually your market is really folk who would like to sail away on a £1, but won't ever do :D (and that not meant as a criticism!).

Important to give your opinions based on your actual experiances (we've all got "good" :rolleyes: ideas) - but I think a good idea to also not imply that yours is the only approach, but something that could be used as a basis / hard bottom line for others with bigger budgets / boats / crew - but still needing to be on a hard budget.

I would also not be shy about being clear for the fundamental reasons for your various choices - no money (as well as free choice for a basic lifestyle / love of small boats blah blah etc). Also being clear that your age and crew size :rolleyes: is a major impact on the choices that you were able to make (eg the bucket bog in a single cabin ain't gonna work for 99.99999% of female crew. unless they are German :D). Age? in 10 years time you will still be physically able to live on a Corribee - but odds are you won't want to............IMO only good that you be upfront on this and leave the reader to make their own decisions.

Writing style? better than internet average and plenty of paragraphs / sections :).........and not overly preachy :)
 
Last edited:
great stuff

Well done, keep on at it. It's always really interesting reading how other people have managed to work their way to their dreams.

This is very much a personal thing as we all aspire to different things(living on a boat in a dock, voyaging, part-time, fulltime, etc) but we have all a few common things, like dealing with familly, friends, taxes, communications, lack of fix address in a sedentary world, how people react to this life-change, having the courage to go for it, etc. and of course practical issues to do with the boats, budget, etc.

There probably could be as many books as there are sailors on the matter. If you were to write a book on the subject, I guess your angle would be the thing that would make it a success or not. You can wite a book for people who want to sail or maybe a book on the subject of simplifying our lives or maybe a book which would be more of a travel journal.

For me, one book that has had a great influence on my change of life-style is Annie Hill's "Voyaging on a small income".

Although I'm not quite sure I really qualify as living on a small boat and all as my boat is a full 28 foot :D and I've not lived on it all year round, so you can forget about me rambling on. ;)

Keep on writing and keep us posted.
 
In my experience, living on a small boat will only work and be pleasant if it is the biggest boat you can afford.

I have the T-shirt. I feel resentful and sometimes frustrated with the disadvantages on my present boat because I can afford a bigger boat and be much more comfortable and independant if only I could find one.

I have been trying to upgrade for three years now but due to hangups about my desire for a full keeled boat and buying in sterling, my choice is very very limited. Made even more difficult because I don't live in UK which of course is the last remaining sterling area. Not sure about Gibraltar.
 
Talking of Gib, one remembers the wannabe world cruisers who got that far and stayed. Bay of Biscay may have put them off... When the Gov closed the distroyer pens and evicted them, many non sea-worthy boats were just towed out and scuttled in the straights.
Nathan, I take my hat off to you. Once the system gets a grip, it becomes more difficult. Esp. if children are involved.
A
 
BlueTwo said:
In my experience, living on a small boat will only work and be pleasant if it is the biggest boat you can afford.
Click to expand...

There are plenty of people with that mindset, as I mentioned at the start of the article. I happen to disagree slightly, because I think the best boat is the smallest one that covers what you need.

If I had the money to buy a 40 footer, I wouldn't. I honestly wouldn't want one. Too big, too restrictive, and too much work to keep running.


All points taken on board though, and I thank everybody who commented. I'll make some additions to the article, because it seems I've missed quite a bit out.

Thanks,

Nathan
 
Salty John said:
You also need to strive to for self sufficiency and that means cramming the basics into even the smallest boat.
Click to expand...

Good point, and one which I agree with. I have long pondered the possibility of making my little Corribee self sufficient, but have concluded she's just a tad too small to pull it off.

Recent plans included building a custom fridge (thermo-electric) just to keep milk and the odd bit of meat fresh since it'll save a fortune in food costs if I can take advantage of the two for one deals etc, and not have to throw milk out after a day.

The other big issue was power generation. The 40w of solar panels on Kudu just aren't enough for a modern liveaboard. They are fine for sustainable sailing (chart plotter, light, instruments) but when I throw a 230v inverter and laptop in to the mix, things don't equate. I can, and have, managed 5 days without a shore power top up, although I've had to ration the laptop use (but only slightly).

The final, and hardest problem to solve on a small boat is heating, especially in Britain, in winter.

Still, one of the joys of small boat life is inventing these plans for self sufficiency.
 
Peter, a friend of mine in his 70s, is downsizing from a 32' motorboat to a Hurley 22. He spent a few years on a similar size before so no qualms, he tells me. Lifestyle depends very much on the weather - I'm just a May to October liveaboard but he is all year. During the winter he is in bed cocooned in extra duvet by 7.30pm and gets through a lot of books. In the middle months he lives out of doors, like me, for as much time as he can. I find there's a big difference between static liveaboard and going sailing as well. I've got a lock-up locker ashore so can shift stuff there (winter fleeces, dehumid, books etc) otherwise down below is too crowded when sailing. I have to continually make decisions about what stuff to keep and be ruthless about it - sentiment can have no place. Heating in winter would be biggest prob......without spending on Eberbasto devices and if no mains.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top