What do liveaboards do all day?

[ridgy]

Continuing the entertaining line of threads regarding long term cruising...a comment on the other thread of seeing local churches getting boring etc. Other than meet like minded souls in the bar at midday, what do you do? There aren't that many things that need fixing on a boat. I have to imagine that drinking features highly.

 

[capnsensible]

Sail across oceans.

 

[geem]

Travel inland. Currently in Colombia. Lots to see and do. Great jungles to hike

 

[LadyInBed]

Tend the garden, mow the lawn?

 

[Robin]

Today, defrosted fridge freezer, restocked same including today's delivery of stores and listed whereabouts and use by date. SWMBO did the week's dhobying whilst I greased pumps on both loos and cleaned shower trays etc. Emptied calorifier overflow tank. Discussed design details of new bow roller system with local engineer. Emptied trash bins. Cooked dinner, vacuumed throughout. Watered herb garden. Watched some TV

Mower NFG so lawns will have to wait.

 

[ashtead]

Discuss anchors and watch charter yachts mess up based on posts on these fora?

 

[temptress]

... There aren't that many things that need fixing on a boat.....

You would be surporise dhow much time is taken Fixing and modifying the boat. As said elsewhere we love sailing long distances. In th epacific you get used to th enext island chain being 1500 miles away....Swiming/diving festure a lot

 

[sailaboutvic]

Let's just say , I have no time to get bored .

 

[Denek]

I am intrigued by this too. We are not live aboard and in fact are still looking for our boat but by next spring we hope to be spending several months at a time on board and I must admit it worries me a little. We intend to travel from the UK sometime during next summer and slowly make our way south and at the moment have no plan other than to reach the Spanish Rias. We will then know if we like the life or not and either continue or come back.
I am not too worried about this part as we can easily come home to see the family once in a while but as you get further away this is going to get more expensive and not so easily done.
I have hobbies. Playing guitar for example. Maybe with time on my hands I will get better eh,
I guess we will just try it and see.

 

[laika]

what do you do?

Get up *really* early because marinas aren't always best placed for a commute to London?

Oh wait you're using "liveaboard" as a synonym for "retiree floating round the med for half the year" like they do on the liveaboard forum...

 

[sailaboutvic]

I am intrigued by this too. We are not live aboard and in fact are still looking for our boat but by next spring we hope to be spending several months at a time on board and I must admit it worries me a little. We intend to travel from the UK sometime during next summer and slowly make our way south and at the moment have no plan other than to reach the Spanish Rias. We will then know if we like the life or not and either continue or come back.
I am not too worried about this part as we can easily come home to see the family once in a while but as you get further away this is going to get more expensive and not so easily done.
I have hobbies. Playing guitar for example. Maybe with time on my hands I will get better eh,
I guess we will just try it and see.

Denek
Living on board and cruising is a way of life , very different then jumping on board for your summer two week break .
Every thing you do takes much longer then doing the same thing when living on land .
Just getting the daily bread can take you an hour easy if not longer , by the time you get in the dinghy walk so far buy it and get back on board .
Weekly shopping is an adventure on its own .

Then there the maintenance. You using the boat every day so there a list of job that need to be done , as one ticked off another one found .
These you can look at as your employment .

Your free time
Cruising from A to B .
Exploring new anchorages , towns , getting on busses or hiring car to explore in land .
Some will moor boat in a marina and go off for a few days .

Then there chill out time .
Swim , go for walks play your guitar, some make stuff , read , listening to radio ,
do research, internet .in some case if you have one TV or watch film .
My co skipper love getting the machine out and making stuff out of our old sails .

Lastly there socially time .
Meet people chat , invite or get invited our other people boats for drinks BBQ ,
going out for meals , you find local concert some time and shows and most importantly having time for each other .

Now before anyone says boring .

The average Joe , Monday to Friday , he get up goes to work comes home eat watch TV go to bed , maybe a pub night out now and then
Weekend , drive to the marina spend time sorting and loading the boat race off to where you when to moor next morning race back to the marina quickly pack the boat , drive back home .
Or
mow the lawn , maybe get a swim or go for a jog . Pub or meal out if you can be bothered to turn the TV off,
Sunday papers as you not at time week day to catch up with the news , maybe a walk , Sunday lunch , more TV bed .

I know what one I rather be going .

 

[John 32i]

I know what one I rather be going .

So do I mate.....still working on achieving it though!!

 

[rotrax]

I inwardly reflect and quietly gloat that First Mate and I are able to enjoy the lifestyle we have chosen for our UK cruising summers.

Makes up for the 49 years of non stop graft and hard work that allows us to finance it!

As others have said, always stuff to do on the boat.

We also keep books turning over at many charity shops-reading is very inportant for both of us, although FM favours an electronic book.

 

[KellysEye]

>There aren't that many things that need fixing on a boat.

Everything on a boat except the electrical kit will break more than once it is made for weekend and holiday sailors. I spent at least one week a day when long distance either doing maintenance or fixing something which happens more often. I carried two spares for everything, exploded diagrams so you know how to take things apart and put back together, also a wide ranging set of tools is needed including ring and open spanners. The longest I went without fixing something was a month in the Venezuelan out islands then when arrived in Bonaire on the first day three things broke.

 

[dom]

Continuing the entertaining line of threads regarding long term cruising...a comment on the other thread of seeing local churches getting boring etc. Other than meet like minded souls in the bar at midday, what do you do? There aren't that many things that need fixing on a boat. I have to imagine that drinking features highly.

I asked AXA this question a while ago re health ins; apparently booze and US health costs feature equally highly in their calculations. According to them people tend to arrive in what they term the 'extended-Caribbean', after which sun-downers, turn to boozy lunches and sadly sometimes sun-uppers. And of course when the clock strikes forty our bodies can no longer process the stuff as well. So yes, it seems you imagine correctly!

 

[JumbleDuck]

I understand that liveaboard owners of steel boats designed by [name omitted] spend most of their time bouncing around on reefs.

 

[dom]

I understand that liveaboard owners of steel boats designed by [name omitted] spend most of their time bouncing around on reefs.

What's not to like? Beach in big surf, allow the motion to sandblast off the barnacles, repaint when the surf subsides, refloat in the next storm.

 

[A1Sailor]

Fishing? Or cruise around looking for birds?

 

[Tim Good]

There aren't that many things that need fixing on a boat

If only a live-aboard boat wasn't a full time job

 

[rotrax]

I understand that liveaboard owners of steel boats designed by [name omitted] spend most of their time bouncing around on reefs.

The boats mentioned above only require three or four hours cosmetic maintainance each year. I know they do-[name omitted] told me.........................................