What's on your yacht?

[Ninpo]

Hi all,

As some of you know I'm thinking about making the move to become a L/A in the next few years, as most of you already know (as far as I imagine) it can be a bit of a shock to the system - moving from say a house/flat to a Yacht.

So is there anything that you miss from living in a house/flat?
What kind of homelies do you have in your Yacht? TV, books, games consoles, laptops etc?

As I said, I'm hoping to become a L/A oneday but there are some things that I really like to do, i.e. play games consoles, play guitar etc...

Does anyone here do anything on their Yacht like this?

Cheers,

Ninpo

 

[lefkasman]

So is there anything that you miss from living in a house/flat?Ninpo

Guess that's a very wide ranging question, it all depends on the size of your yacht, some yachts are so large and luxurious that I doubt that there is much difference to living in a house or flat, however I would say that for a medium sized yacht say thirty to forty feet by far the worse part is not having a proper bathroom and W/C

 

[baggypipes]

things on board

Wev'e been living on board for 9 years in south france & italy, now in the uk, no land house. the only thing we miss is a bath, some marinas do have baths but usually only in the female section. We carry just about every thing we want, i have my 2 sets of bagpipes my wife has her art work & she's writing a book. We have a tv for the winter months, which is packed away after. we have heaps of dvds, cds books games etc. Our dog & two cats regularly keep us entertained. When we start moving again we enjoy meeting people, & doing the tourist bits there is so much to see & do. No time to get bored.
PM me if you want to know more,

 

[mike_bryon]

A UK winter or three living abroad means death for books they can’t take the condensation. So people swear by e-readers. Damp can be a problem for musical instruments to but laptops seem perfectly happy at least mine have been. No condensation problems out here thankfully.
Its not always convenient to try to live a ‘house life’ on your boat. Less is more on a boat except you need more tools and spares than house dwellers.
I dread the idea of living in the dirt again, at least in the UK. I expect I would be perfectly happy living in a house in the Caribbean.
best wishes with your plans

 

[Nostrodamus]

We have no creature comforts what so ever... just living life is enough... I mean three guitars, X Box, three laptops, I pad, Sat tv, DVD's, two bathrooms with good showers.
We moved out the house to get away from all that so have just stuck to the minimum to get by on.

 

[Orla]

I guess a lot depends on the size of you boat:-

2 x acoustic Guitars
1 x electric Guitar
1 x fiddle
1 x midi keyboard
Mini recording studio
Lots of art painting/drawing material
1 x sewing machine
Complete change of sails
3 x laptops
1 x flat screen TV linked to laptops and sound system
Lots of music DVDs
Loads of books

That is loads to keep us happy, don’t need anything else really, technology has helped massively to make living aboard very comfortable.

Oh forgot:-
Loads of whisky
huge amount of tools and spares
and a wonderfull wife who puts up with all my stuff

 

[Ludd]

I guess a lot depends on the size of you boat:-

2 x acoustic Guitars
1 x electric Guitar
1 x fiddle
1 x midi keyboard
Mini recording studio
Lots of art painting/drawing material
1 x sewing machine
Complete change of sails
3 x laptops
1 x flat screen TV linked to laptops and sound system
Lots of music DVDs
Loads of books

That is loads to keep us happy, don’t need anything else really, technology has helped massively to make living aboard very comfortable.

Oh forgot:-
Loads of whisky
huge amount of tools and spares
and a wonderfull wife who puts up with all my stuff

Ha! You just said that cos she looked over your shoulder!
All the best.

 

[Orla]

Ha! You just said that cos she looked over your shoulder!
All the best.

The electric guitar is a new arrival, LadyMac forced me to buy a Les Paul when we were in New York last week on Holiday.
Cant fault her really, she has a great taste in guitars also

 

[TopDonkey]

You have all the creature comforts that you would normally have in a house or flat when living aboard, i pack loads into my 27ft of space including an acoustic guitar, 61 note digital piano, 2 laptops, 1 tablet computer wifi internet acess through phone, full hifi system,2 x flat screen tellys (1 in bedroom, 1 in cabin), digi box, microwave, oven electric and normal kettle, proper comfy sofa

As for tools, i have enough onboard to completely strip and rebuild both engines, including a 25ltr air compressor in the engine bay

Living on a boat doesnt have to be a compromise in any way at all, I bought an older boat and ripped its guts out and am rebuilding it to suit my needs and am putting in what i want for comfortable living aboard a boat

 

[lefkasman]

How strange (to me) that so many musicians complete with a comprehensive range of instruments would want / choose to live on boats, I would have thought that the constant damp/humid atmosphere during the six + months of winter would be detrimental even ruinous to delicate musical instruments.

And how about musicians, are they not normally delicate sensitive souls, can they really adapt to such harsh living conditions, enlighten me.

 

[Nostrodamus]

How strange (to me) that so many musicians complete with a comprehensive range of instruments would want / choose to live on boats, I would have thought that the constant damp/humid atmosphere during the six + months of winter would be detrimental even ruinous to delicate musical instruments.

And how about musicians, are they not normally delicate sensitive souls, can they really adapt to such harsh living conditions, enlighten me.

We do adapt.... I play the spoons as well!

 

[maby]

Well, currently we are only part-time liveaboard, but planning to move to almost full-time later this spring.

What do we miss when we are aboard? Washing machine, plumbed-in toilet, dish washer... At the moment, we live on the boat about five days per week and return to the house the other two days (we are using the boat as a base for work rather than commuting every day). Hence we can bring the dirty washing back home and do it over the weekend. If we were full-time liveaboard, I think that having to use the marina laundry would be a pain.

We have a holding tank, but it is not very large and the marina has no pump-out, so the only way to empty it is to go out to sea - not convenient, particularly in the winter. Hiking down the pontoon at midnight in the middle of winter is a definite downer!

 

[Carmel2]

In the winter a bath, in the summer we use the dinghy.

 

[tonybannister]

When we started out we drank out of plastic and ate off melamine. Then we realised we are not camping out - this is where we live. We now even have stemmed wine glasses packed away carefully with more robust ones for everyday. But if we decide to have a nice dinner on board we can do it with a degree of style. And we are 30 foot, not that it makes much of a difference as our dining table seats 6 (OK everybody has to move if the toilet is needed)
Tony & Jan

 

[Bobobolinsky]

How strange (to me) that so many musicians complete with a comprehensive range of instruments would want / choose to live on boats, I would have thought that the constant damp/humid atmosphere during the six + months of winter would be detrimental even ruinous to delicate musical instruments.

And how about musicians, are they not normally delicate sensitive souls, can they really adapt to such harsh living conditions, enlighten me.

My boat is toasty and dry, it's got sat tv and dvd, but I will only be using them during the winter. The only thing I don't have is water

Water tap is frozen and having to use the health centre for showers. Have to buy bottled water

 

[TopDonkey]

I wish i was a musician, i'm just an aspiring musician, and have been for the lasst 10 years

Damp shouldnt be an issue for a liveaboard, if fact, if you do have damp issues, then you are doing something wrong !, my boat is dry and warm despite me not having finished the insulation yet, I have my heating on half this morning and have had to open the window as its getting a bit too warm onboard and its exactly 0 degreesC outside today

 

[Ninpo]

Thanks for all your input everyone

I'm getting a better idea now of what it is that possible to do as a L/A.
Basically most things you could do in your bedroom in a house

 

[Nostrodamus]

And we are 30 foot, not that it makes much of a difference as our dining table seats 6 (OK everybody has to move if the toilet is needed)
Tony & Jan

Is the toilet under the table?

 

[Orla]

Damp shouldnt be an issue for a liveaboard, if fact, if you do have damp issues, then you are doing something wrong !, my boat is dry and warm despite me not having finished the insulation yet, I have my heating on half this morning and have had to open the window as its getting a bit too warm onboard and its exactly 0 degreesC outside today

Exactly, I have no issues with damp/condensation, my main guitars are out all the time, instruments not used very often are in there cases.
They have been onboard now for five years and are immaculate.

You have to get your boat set up right for the environment you’re going to be in.
Insulation, ventilation and a really good heating system. I don’t recommend ebersplutter type heaters for living aboard.

Somebody else said they can’t keep books onboard, yes you can.
Just spend the time and money to get the boat set up right and sit back and enjoy

 

[tonybannister]

Is the toilet under the table?

Has been known if we do not move fast enough