The smallest Live-aboard?

[Wardy]

So what is the smallest live-aboard craft you have come across?
I only ask because I have read with interest threads that say... 'The yacht needs to be 40+ feet long for comfortable live-aboard'. Unfortunately I can't afford a boat in that length range so i am looking at boats from 30 to 36 feet (Westerly's, Moody's and similar).
The one thing i am trying to find in a boat is an athwartships aft double berth, larger than average heads and a rather open plan saloon/galley. Any suggestions for vessels i havent considered are very welcome. max cost £33k.

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[Koeketiene]

a boat is an athwartships aft double berth

Why would you want that? Legend does those I seem to remember.

Size: personally, I find 38ft more than enough for 2.

<hr width=100% size=1>Experience is a good teacher, but she sends in terrific bills.

 

[merlin]

Two of us have lived very comfortably on a Moody 33 mark I. We converted the aft cabin to a very large athwart double berth by just replacing the trim along the sides of the in line twin berths with 3x1 for support and putting slats across. Including the foam and an extra cabin light half way along the cabin the whole thing cost about 60 pounds sterling.

We now have a lot of extra storage beneath the bed and the slats are held in place by the weight on them and pins front and back that hold them tight, without needing to go through them, so we have quick access to stern gland etc.

We met a couple living on a 27 footer but they tended to live mostly in a harbour near relatives and just cruise for a month or two locally. It did look a bit small for our tastes or for extended long distance cruising without acces to alternative storage.

Good luck,

Merlin

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[Micky]

We have just been looking at a Profile 33 as a possible live aboard for us. It has everything that we think we need to make quite a comfortable home as well as being quite user friendly for fishing trips. We are also taking a look at a Colvic Atlanta tomorrow, don't know much about it yet, but have been told that it would also make a good smallish live aboard boat and a first class fishing boat. Anyone got either of these?

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[sailorman]

a friend of mine lives on a 26 footer in u.k.

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[Paulka]

We lived aboard our 35 ft. for nearly one year, with two kids 11 and 12 years old.

Yes, it was in the Med!

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[mikewilkes]

Have you considered a cat?
We live very comfortably on ours and she is 9.21 x 4.09 - metres that is not feet!


<hr width=100% size=1>Mike

 

[halcyon]

The couple who owned our boat before us, did a trans-Atlantic run, down the East coast of America, around the West Indies, back to the Azores, them Gib, a short trip around the Med, up throught Biscay to Dartmouth, lived on board for a year there, then came down to Falmouth and did another year.
The boat a Halcyon 27.

Brian

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[capsco]

When in Golfe Juan, summer 2003 met a couple in the old port living on an self built plywood "motor boat"and it was 8 feet long [yes eight] lady was Japanese both were qualified divers.
Did any other forum members see them ???

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[Paragon]

Hi Mick

Used to have a Colvic Atlanta, nice boat, not that directionally stable and tended to roll as I remember. Anyway, not a bad liveaboard if you can get one nicely done, bear in mind most will be part/all home built and finish and quality can vary considerably.

Good luck with the search anyway, other fine boats are mentioned here which would also be well worth looking at.

HTH

Regards

John

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[PaulS]

Then there's that old guy from the former Soviet Bloc who is circumnavigating in a ten ft sailboat he built on the balcony of his apartment. Last I heard he was in Australia

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[PaulS]

And for something a little more than just anecdotal...

MARCONI
Rig designed for Pardeys in 1964. Launched ,October 31st, 1968. Length on deck, 24'7". Waterline 22' 2" beam 8' 11", draft 4' 8", displacement loaded for cruising 10,686 pounds, sail area - working plan 461 square feet. Construction - built by Larry and Lin of mahogany on oak steam bent frames with every third frame sawn. Solid teak decks, original cost $7,765

Voyaged - 45,000 miles - eleven years, eastward through Mexico, Panama Canal, to Europe and Baltic. Three years in Mediterranean, south through Red Sea, across Indian Ocean and through China seas to Japan, then Canada and south back to launching port of Newport Beach, California.


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[moodycruiser]

How about "Shrimpy" ? - she was just 18 foot and went round the world ! I think that would constitute a live-aboard for that length of time. (There is a book, named after the boat, a really good read if you can get hold of a copy).

<hr width=100% size=1>Tony

 

[kds]

Met a French couple somewhere in Majorca in their third year on a 23ft. round bilge, wood boat with 4ft. headroom. All it seemed to have below was a double bed - after seeing the girl, I could understand it.
Ken

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[Gerry]

My daughter lives aboard a Halcyon 27 on the hamble. She has been a live aboard for over a year now and finds the boat quite comfortable!

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[dk]

My wife and I and our 10 year-old daughter lived on our old 24ft woodie for a year with no real problems. We took her down to the Med then cruised around all year. In the sunshine it's the deck space that matters. We had no shower or oven - just a bucket and a camping stove! We did have a gas fridge though, which was the ultimate in luxury!
We're about to do it all again - but this time on a 35-footer with all the gear. We've sailed all sizes up to 80ft since those early days, but find anything bigger than 40ft too expensive to moor/maintain and too big to squeeze into tight places safely.

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[ccscott49]

I know a guy who lives on a 22ft boat, another on a 26ft boat. I lived on a 34ft boat, I was very comfortable, (and younger) but the guys on the others, not so sure about comfort. I now live on 57ft, now getting too big, I will downnsize, to 46 feet, which I think is comfortable. (depends how you quantify comfortable) I think the "comfort" thing, is a personal choice, I would not be comfortable in 20-27ft, 38 and up, yes, but thats a personal view. Plus of course, are we talking permanent liveaboard, or six monthers? I liveaboard permanently. The guys on the small boats also liveaboard all the time.

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[wazza]

I met a couple living aboard the same boat as I have (Najad 343). They'd done it for 2 years.... seemed very content!

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[AndrewB]

Beat this!

When I was a liveaboard in Oare Creek in Kent many years ago, there was an old guy on a 14ft Cambridge punt living there in a mud-berth. He had built a crude wooden frame over the punt, covered in heavy polythene. He told me he'd lived there for three years, summer and winter. He had no money, but would not accept benefits, other liveaboards would give him food. With no power, no furnishings, it was hard to imagine such a frugal existence. He put me in mind of the Kent 'hedge-dwellers' who were a familiar sight in the 19th Century, I believe.

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[mainshiptom]

Re: Beat this!

I live in Faversham in a house but there are lots of live aborad boats around here, This is a great area for doing just that !

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