Student considering living on board

[Feldon]

Hello there!

My question to you kind sir /lady: how feasible is it to buy a liveable yacht for less than £10k to live on it for 3 years?

About myself :
I am a 20 years old physics student living in Liverpool. I've been on sailing holidays every summer for 3 years now. And you know what? It has struck a chord in my soul and I loved every moment of it! Even though I have got the skills to steer a yacht, I haven't got any papers to show for it. I don't mind discomforts and difficulties. I care very little for comfort (it comes with being young and stupid I suppose) and love adventure.

My idea:
I am hoping to buy a yacht and live on board it for 3 years in order to not only save up some money but also to sail more. I thought, what's the point of spending my grants and loans (over the course of next 3 years) on a flat if I can kill two birds with one stone and buy myself a yacht and live in it throughout my degree.

My financial situation:
I can will get 7 thousand pounds in loans and grants next year. Some 5 thousand the year after that. If I commit myself and spend the summer working, I could get more. I am expecting to spend about £100 per week on a flat next year. Do you reckon that it would indeed be cheaper to live on a yacht (all things considered) over the course of 3 years?

My main concerns and fears:
Even though I can man a yacht, I know very little about maintaining it. Do you reckon that a newbie like myself could manage a second hand, old boat? I am basically afraid to wake up one day just to find something going critically wrong and not knowing how to fix it.

Thank you for your time and I am eagerly awaiting your reply!

 

[rivonia]

My advice to you is to go to your local Yacht club and ask them there. However yes it is feasable and certainly cheaper than renting a flat. get a mate/girlfriend to share with you and so help with the mooring fees and FOOD!. It is cold in the winter and you will need adequate heating of some sort.

Good luck.

 

[bigwow]

Pop yourself down to Liverpool Marina, lots of boats for sale and it's not far from there to your Uni!

 

[purplerobbie]

If you are thinking of liverpool marina it would be cheaper than £100 a week. I have a 40 foot sailing boat and that is about £350 a month.
It is cheaper if you have a canal boat.

There are plenty of people who will help you with keeping it going.

People are doing it so I don't see any reason why you couldn't?

you just need to find yourself a boat now.

 

[Yngmar]

Yep, all very doable. Main expense will be berthing fees. But do keep in mind that it will impact your free time. When your fellow students go back to their nice warm flats to chill on the couch and watch TV (or go clubbing or *gasp* actually study), you will be scraping, epoxying and painting a poorly heated boat with condensation pooling at your feet. On the upside, you'll learn a lot from that too, and it'll be the kind of stuff they don't teach at uni Oh, and come summer, roles will be reversed.

 

[cus]

With thinking like that why do you need uni , yes yes and yes choose very wisely , dont spend to much ,£5 to £7k will get you a really nice boat that if you look after it will serve its purpose well and after uni couple of years out upgrade and off you go ,biggest thing DONT TELL YOUR FELLOW STUDENTS where you live ,as you will never have study time you will be invaded every weekend .Get one with two bedrooms let one out ,have a good look round you will be very surprised whats up for sale , make sure you get a survey and once you get the survey anything you are unsure about come on here and ask

 

[vytieubao]

Even though I can man a yacht, I know very little about maintaining it

 

[rivonia]

Oh and do not forget the dreaded INSURANCE as it is compulsory in marinas. 3rd party will do.

 

[colind3782]

When I looked some years ago, Liverpool was one of the cheaper marina berths around there, half the price of Conwy. Probably because it's a fair way from the open sea.

 

[AndrewB]

When I did this as a student, I felt badly in need of desk space. A dedicated chart table was a help, but the fiddle rail made it uncomfortable for writing, with not much to spare for open books and papers. The same would be true with a laptop. Unless you have somewhere else to work and keep your stuff, choose your yacht accordingly.

As others warn, don't forget to factor in the marina cost, which over 3 years might be getting on for almost as much as the cost of the yacht. You WILL need to be in a marina, with mains power, to make this practicable.

 

[Cardo]

This is all surprisingly optimistic.

I shall try to balance things out.

Just a few things to consider:
The initial boat purchase. Are you after a tub that will sit in the marina 24/7, or something that's actually seaworthy? Are you after something small with a single cabin that is your entire life, or with separate cabins? Separate cabins is obviously more expensive. Unless you find an absolute, under valued bargain, you will not make any money when selling the boat.
Marina fees. In addition to the boat purchase price, you will also need to pay rent for a mooring. Seems Liverpool marina is cheap, but that's still probably at least around £200/month. The counter to this is you likely don't need to pay council tax or water bills. Electric may or may not be included in the mooring fees.
Heating. England is a bastarge cold place in the winter. Your average boat is not well insulated. Heat will disappear through not only every opening, vent, window, etc. but also through the thin, plastic hull. If it's a small boat, a small electric heater will probably do you, but if you're on metered electric, this can be another hidden cost. Condensation is also a massive pain. Boats by design reside in watery places. When it's cold, you close everything up, then you fill the boat with humid air, which settles on all the cold surfaces. Joy.
Maintenance. Not as big of an issue if you don't go anywhere, but if you're planning on actually sailing the boat, you will have yearly/constant maintenance to deal with. Antifouling, engine servicing, rigging, sails, electrical, plus any other things that break, which do. The to do list on a boat is never ending. When you complete one job, three more appear at the end of the list.

Plenty of other obvious and not so obvious costs abound, I'm sure.

One other thing to consider - Telling a girl you live on a boat may sound exotic, but when you bring them back to a cold, damp, dingy little dinghy of a boat, they may well not be quite so impressed.

 

[bigwow]

When I looked some years ago, Liverpool was one of the cheaper marina berths around there, half the price of Conwy. Probably because it's a fair way from the open sea.

Price on a par with Conwy now, unless you have a narrowboat!

 

[Bertramdriver]

I'm surprised I'm saying this but for liveaboard functionality you'de be better off with a narrow boat. Not so sexy but you can still spend the summer cruising the canals and easier to heat in the winter as the newer ones are insulated.
Good luck

 

[7htas]

I started a cadetship in the Merchant Navy 2 years ago, and at one point, I was considering doing what you intend to do. For my study time, I'd have been in Fleetwood, and living in the marina there, But, although the quixotic notion of living on a boat is overwhelming, realism eventually won the day.

Imagine you've woke up late for University, and it's a little above freezing, with a howling wind, and you've got to get up, and traipse out to a shower block in the freezing cold wind. Imagine some serious repairs were needed on the boat? Where would the money come from? These musings alone were enough for me to put my dream of living aboard a yacht on the back burner until I have my OOW certification, and I'm earning enough money to alleviate the above issues, i.e Keeping my boat in a temperate climate and having the funds to cover any escalating costs.

I can see your reasons for- but Liverpool Marina is a cold cold place this time of year! Like another poster said- in the summer it's fine.

Good luck, and let us know what you decide to do.

 

[7htas]

I also have friend, and she lives at Liverpool Marina on a half size narrow boat. Liverpool Marina offer serious reductions for canal boats- I think she pays about 110 per month. It would be prudent to actually get a quote from them for the size of vessel you are intending on purchasing.

Getting back to the poor weather here in the UK, when it's really cold, or we have storms, she generally retreats to her parents house.

 

[Kelpie]

In my experience the cold doesn't matter too much so long as you have a dry boat. It's amazing what you can put up with if you wear good thermals!

 

[laika]

In my experience the cold doesn't matter too much so long as you have a dry boat. It's amazing what you can put up with if you wear good thermals!

Agreed, although the winter before last I frequently had to de-camp to a wifi-enabled bar as my fingers were too cold to type even with the fan heater on. Also "dry boat: and "british winter" don't really go hand in hand. I currently have all the lockers open and the dehumidifier running in turbo laundry mode after a de-molding session. It's not the greatest environment for books and papers...
[Edit: note: A mobile data thingy has vastly increased my bar options since then and last winter and this winter (so far, touch slightly damp wood) have been thankfully mild]

 

[Vara]

i would have thought that a good plan, something like a westerly centaur or something similar should fit the bill quite nicely, cheap, lots of accomodation for its size, would go for plastic as maintenance will be less of a problem.

Heating and keeping interior dry will be a cost issue, but just running a rule over the costs would indicate you should be better off over renting.

 

[Tranona]

I'm surprised I'm saying this but for liveaboard functionality you'de be better off with a narrow boat. Not so sexy but you can still spend the summer cruising the canals and easier to heat in the winter as the newer ones are insulated.
Good luck

But you can't buy one for £10k!

 

[charles_reed]

But you can't buy one for £10k!

True - but they'll be more comfortable and probably hold value better than a clapped-out Centaur.
Look here:-
http://www.abcboatsales.com/boat-sales/