sleeping onboard on the hard

[minkysailing]

I spent three months living on a boat ashore in Turkey quite a few years ago. Never had any problems, but the ladder was always a worry. Don't know why so many people are going into so much details about their toilet methods etc.... get up and go to the toilet in the boat yard facilities...

 

[Poignard]

... get up and go to the toilet in the boat yard facilities...

Mid -winter in Gosport! Bad enough getting out of the sleeping bag to go into the cockpit.

Plus tripping over power leads, hoses, anchors and chains, stepping into paint roller trays, banging your head on bobstays, slipping on fox turds etc!

 

[Baggy]

By the time you've minced to the yard lav at X o'clock in the morning,
you'll be touching cloth.... ( nicked that from a forumite )

 

[Sans Bateau]

Trying to sleep on the hard is easier than sleeping with a hard on!

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

You need a holding tank

I have 2, but the boat goes on the hard for several months and I do not think that using the tank for that long without emptying it is a very good idea.

 

[Corribee Boy]

I sleep on board in a field, when getting the boat ready for it's annual migration up the M4.

Nothing wrong with peeing over the side in the middle of the night - but do first remember that you left your wellies at the bottom of the ladder

 

[SimbaDog]

Still not gonna flush.

Pete

Why not? Simply use the shower head to add fresh water to the bowl & flush away

I always do that before leaving boat anyway as it stops smelly heads!

 

[SimbaDog]

I have 2, but the boat goes on the hard for several months and I do not think that using the tank for that long without emptying it is a very good idea.

Mine's only ashore for max of a week
Can't fill the tank in that time unless I live off Vindaloo

 

[nimbusgb]

Unfortunately the yard where I lay up now forbids it on H&S grounds but I never found it a problem sleeping on board. A bucket in the cockpit was fine for peeing in and it was emptied into the yard lavatory next morning.

The only downside was the clattering of other people's bloody halyards!

Unbelievable! Next they'll be banning double storey houses!

Just spent a month on board on the hard. Boat wasn't quite level fore and aft so there was only one way to sleep in the forepeak, head at the pointy end.

Things not to like:
Very wind nights , it just feels nasty when the boat shakes.
Long climb up and down, usually carrying all sorts of carp. Tie the ladder firmly!
Night time trips to the head. Have to be preceded by getting dressed to some extent and then it's usually raining!
The fridge has a keel cooler so didn't get the beer cold enough!

but apart from that what's the problem?

 

[Daniel5]

I don't like it either, just doesn't seem right to me.

 

[little_roundtop]

my boat will be on the hard one night this week ao i can antifoul for the coming season.
Means a night on the hard aboard.

This always gives me an uneasy feeling.

Do others feel the same ?

Only when it's very windy, which it often is in the marina here in winter. It feels like the boat is vibrating in the cradle, not nice at all.

 

[Deleted member 36384]

I had to collect a yacht from somewhere near Beaumaris in 1987 (iirc), it was on the hard. It was a remarkably windy time and they couldn't launch the yacht so she was tied down on the travel hoist. Off we went to the pub and I started drinking DD Special. "Watch it son," the barmaid warned, "after 3 pints that will go down like water and you will have the worst hangover ever." Many pints later I was stocious. I have no idea if it was the excessive wind (+100 mph and made the Newspapers) or the DD Special but I staggered, from one side of the road to the other, all the way back, climbed the ladder and slept through the storm. I woke with the worst hangover ever. It took about 12 hours to start feeling better. I remember passing houses with really small doors as well.

Anyway, sleeping on boats on the hard shouldn't be a problem.

 

[Conachair]

Did it for a year, every night. Not good. Not good at all.

A year! Flippin heck, Nathan. How long were you in theropy afterwards! I did several months which was enough. Living aboard while the boat´s getting sandblasted really isn´t nice.

Top tip in hot places. Deet on the LX cord. Dem ants love to climb

 

[TamarMike]

Only spent the occasional night aboard while the boat's ashore but in winter it's definitely warmer in the water which is quite a few degrees warmer than a frosty night's air.

Hangovers definitely a problem as it gets. dark so early, and if the pub has a nice open fire. .......

 

[kevink 6771]

I'm spending around one night a week on mine, which has no heating, its sat on the beach at a funny angle, but is only 100 meters away from the pub, and has a porta loo, not a sea toilet, so i'm not too bad.
Dont like it when i hear yobs nearby though

 

[Poignard]

I
Dont like it when i hear yobs nearby though

Yes - a Viking funeral is something you can do without

 

[VicS]

Night time trips to the head. Have to be preceded by getting dressed to some extent and then it's usually raining!

Bucket in the heads if you have a heads compartment otherwise in the cockpit but within reach. ( arms length not willies length)