Where Do You Stay When Your Boat is Out of the Water?

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AllenC

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Hi folks,

As a relative newbie returning after three decades away from boating and currently saving up for my first liveaboard, I have been wondering where the full timers on this forum stay when your yacht is in dry dock for maintenance/repair, etc.

Do you sleep onboard and use the yard's facilities (if there are any) for showers, toilet visits, etc., or do you stay in a hotel? I'm especially interested in hearing from those of you who work from your floating home, especially internet based workers like me. When it's necessary to hire a third party to do some work, the whole security issue comes to mind: you really want to be around and 'at home' when this is happening. I'm assuming that those of you who live and work on your boat just take time off until the work is done and use the time to catch up on boaty chores that perhaps you have been putting off?

Would greatly appreciate hearing your views/experiences/advice.
 
We live stay on the boat regardless, as all our stuff is around us, a decent ladder is a winner. As for as security, you are a little less inviting 2.5 meters of the ground if you pull the ladder up at night. If the stay is short we use the holding tanks, if not the port's.
 
It depends on how long we'll be out of the water and what work we're doing on board. If we're just splashing a bit of antifoul about then we'll live on board, but if I've got the cabin sole boards up or lockers emptied to work on stuff then we'll probably stay in a local apartment.
 
You will work out what is best for you depending on where you are and any restrictions you have for example on your mooring, weather etc. If you are in the Med, many marinas do not allow you to live on board out of the water, but others do. If you are in holiday locations, normally easy to get short term shoreside accommodation in the winter. If you are living in the UK you may find the winter hard going unless you make suitable arrangements for keeping warm and having easy access to dry land if needed.
 
Carmel2 said:
We live stay on the boat regardless, as all our stuff is around us, a decent ladder is a winner. As for as security, you are a little less inviting 2.5 meters of the ground if you pull the ladder up at night. If the stay is short we use the holding tanks, if not the port's.
Click to expand...

How do you manage to use the holding tank-how do you flush?

Peter
 
AllenC said:
Do you sleep onboard and use the yard's facilities (if there are any) for showers, toilet visits, etc., or do you stay in a hotel? I'm especially interested in hearing from those of you who work from your floating home, especially internet based workers like me. When it's necessary to hire a third party to do some work, the whole security issue comes to mind: you really want to be around and 'at home' when this is happening. I'm assuming that those of you who live and work on your boat just take time off until the work is done and use the time to catch up on boaty chores that perhaps you have been putting off?
Click to expand...

Use yard facilities. Bucket to avoid a long walk in the middle of the night with trip to the facilities to empty said bucket the next day. Obviously the latter potentially awkward if you're not strictly speaking supposed to stay on your boat on the hard. Not to date had any unexpected guests climbing my ladder in the middle of the night (in the UK) and assume that I would hear anyone attempting to separate boat from nice shiny prop, so security is definitely better with me aboard. Personally I would prefer to be around if I needed to hire someone for something: If I don't know how to do it I want to look over someone's shoulder to learn.

I like to balance doing boat work with hacking code. I'm generally rubbish with any manual task so after a day of stressing about something like basic woodwork I have to restore my confidence with an evening of hacking arcane network code. If I don't I tend to get rather glum thinking I'm useless.
 
AllenC said:
Hi folks,

As a relative newbie returning after three decades away from boating and currently saving up for my first liveaboard, I have been wondering where the full timers on this forum stay when your yacht is in dry dock for maintenance/repair, etc.

Do you sleep onboard and use the yard's facilities (if there are any) for showers, toilet visits, etc., or do you stay in a hotel? I'm especially interested in hearing from those of you who work from your floating home, especially internet based workers like me. When it's necessary to hire a third party to do some work, the whole security issue comes to mind: you really want to be around and 'at home' when this is happening. I'm assuming that those of you who live and work on your boat just take time off until the work is done and use the time to catch up on boaty chores that perhaps you have been putting off?

Would greatly appreciate hearing your views/experiences/advice.
Click to expand...

Most of the time, when the boat is on the hard, I'm at home in the UK. When I'm preparing the boat for the season I live on board, using the marina facilities, mainly, but a slop bucket for overnight and tea-leaves. It's a good idea to lead old pipes from the heads and galley grey outlets, either into the sea or into a soak-away.
An increasing number of yards will not allow people to stay on their boats - those I eschew as it needs a very considerable discount to offset the cost of hotel accommodation. In Malta, I did book into an hotel, mainly to enjoy the benefits of air-conditioning.
One has to beware the habit of some yards, in Preveza for example, to make an additional charge for liveaboards on the hard, which bears little relationship to the costs, to them, of electricity and water. It's a frequent cause of customer aggravation, the additional charges, as power and water are decreasingly included in the storage fees.
Some people hire an apartment for the winter months as the winter months can be cold and wet (temperatures frequently not too different to the UK and in the Adriatic, colder).
If one does live on board some form of heating is desirable - I use a fan-heater as there is usually shore-power available.
My boat has a lifting keel and I prefer to have the boat sitting on this to avoid the feeling of instability inherent in a keel boat, in a cradle, when it's blowing. Competent yards usually store boats bows-on to the prevailing wind.
 
AllenC said:
Thanks folks. Good to know that some yards are okay with boaters kipping on board when the yacht is on the hard.
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In the UK I think you'll find it's against the rules in most places. However it's something that many yard managers will turn a blind eye to as long as you're discreet and they can reasonably tell their insurers that they neither gave you permission to stay aboard nor knew you were doing it in the event that something bad happens.
 
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AllenC said:
Thanks folks. Good to know that some yards are okay with boaters kipping on board when the yacht is on the hard.
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Check the small print for additional charges. EG Grenada Marine

Electricity (less than 5Kwh/day) US$6.50/day
Electricity (heavy load/Aircon or dehumidifer) US$3.50/day plus metered consumption
Water (mandatory charge for liveaboards) US$4.50/day
Garbage Disposal (mandatory charge for liveaboards) US$2/day
 
TQA said:
Check the small print for additional charges. EG Grenada Marine

Electricity (less than 5Kwh/day) US$6.50/day
Electricity (heavy load/Aircon or dehumidifer) US$3.50/day plus metered consumption
Water (mandatory charge for liveaboards) US$4.50/day
Garbage Disposal (mandatory charge for liveaboards) US$2/day
Click to expand...

One problem, in Greece, is that there's usually no small print and most N Europeans couldn't read it if it was printed.

One puzzle explained: discrete = finite; discreet = with care - big problem with spell-checkers, it's an idiot machine in charge.
 
charles_reed said:
One puzzle explained: discrete = finite; discreet = with care - big problem with spell-checkers, it's an idiot machine in charge.
Click to expand...

You misunderstand. Yard managers tend to go easier on computer scientists. Makes a change from the continuous problems they normally face on a day to day basis.
 
Hi

Last winter we went to Syros and had the boat in a boatyard for five months. We lived ashore in a small one bed apartment just five minutes from the boatyard. My husband could pull the boat apart to his hearts delight, make as much mess as he wanted, empty every tool out of the tool box. A man would happily live on the boat while working, but a woman sees things differently.
 
rivonia said:
How do you manage to use the holding tank-how do you flush?

Peter
Click to expand...
I have a polythene pipe which I screw into the the black tank sea skin fitting. When the BT is full I pump out into a 5 gallon polythene container which fits onto a small two wheel trolley. When the the poly container is full I wheel it off to the toilets and pour down the lavatory pan. As the contents have been macerated its all liquid anyway. It's no worse than dealing with the cassette toilet (portapottie) I used as a caravaner, and get to use my loo when I want to. The other benefit is that I'm using systems all the time which have a habit of " gumming up " if left alone too long.
 
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