2-3 yr plan to live aboard....

Happy Dayz

Active Member
Jun 26, 2017
543
Sarasota, FL
Boat Info
'06 260 Sundancer, 6.2, BIII, Kohler 5kw
79' classic Kona Family Cruiser jet boat..
Engines
6.2 w/ BIII, 502 w/ Berkekley
so the admiral and I are beginning to plan for living aboard and the marina lifestyle. would sell/trade our 260DA for something around 45-50'... then sell house, get rid of a lot of crap, storage unit extra stuff, and transition...

so i ask CSR and those with experience what you thoughts, recommendations, things to consider, pitfalls, etc...

* been in the water since a new-born, boating growing up, had several fun boats, love our 260 and stay out on the hook every weekend we can, will plan on staying in SW FL and cant get enough time on the water...

Thanks in advance!!
 
Interesting
Still working, full time but doing a part live a board thing.
Selling our home now.. then to live summers in NJ on our sea ray 44 Sedan.
Winters in Florida near Tampa in a 2-3 bedroom townhouse

Doing the same clean out now... for us we will have a home base in Florida ... more to come
 
lived aboard a "present 42" back in late 90's. all year round in Hudson river Weehawken NJ. space for decent capacity water heater (at least 20 gal) / also fresh water capacity. I had 200 gal fresh water tank. pick a home marina that has mobile pumpout. I had lectra sans aboard , so wasn't an issue , but if I had to slug to a dock for pumpout all the time , that would get tired. I had a heart 2500 inverter and 8 battery house bank (golf cart) , which made extended hook stays great. boat had one of those combo washers, but I s-canned it and used the compartment for hanging closet. the marina laundry machines were much easier and efficient. marina parking / security / closeness to your slip is a big one for coming back home with groceries / packages etc. be careful to use the "liveaboard" term when hunting for a marina as many will turn you away , but at the same time they cant stop you from spending all the time you want on the boat. see if there is a small liveaboard community there... I had maybe 25 people at Lincoln harbor and we were all on the same dock which made for a nice sense of security. see if you can receive mail / if there are any PO boxes at the marina office. as far as the boat , a dedicated dinette/ eating area is a big plus. since you are full time fla, heat isn't an issue , I installed a webasto diesel fired heat system throughout the boat. with 400 gal fuel , I still had about 75 gal left in spring and was able to hang out in shorts during the nyc winter! I cant believe I just found my old boat on a simple search... brings back many memories. many things were unchanged.
http://www.dimillosyachtsales.com/boat/1985/present-yachts/42-aft-cabin-sundeck/1965/
 
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We have been living aboard for quite a few years. Would not go back to a house again, No gutters to clean, no grass to mow etc. 3 important things we needed, a large bed, a large shower and a salon that was truly comfortable. We are on a 500DA, so we hall all of the above. We keep a storage unit a few miles away for winter/summer clothes change out and some stuff (junk) my wife wont let go of.
 
Following this post. Current plan is to sell the house and boat in 3 years and buy a 40-50' aft cabin.

Moving to coastal North Carolina and will live on the boat for awhile until we buy a house there.
 
Sold the 2800sqft house and acre of grass...we are about 50/50 now. We have a small 2BR/1BA apartment and a storage unit. We will buy another house one day, but for now, we love it.

Bennett
 
Congratulations on a big decision. Choice of boat style is personal. Consider the layout for ease of getting around on board. Stairs are a big one. They all have a few of them, but some are designed that you can't go anywhere without going up and down. Friends have an aft cabin that carrying groceries to the galley consists of up 6 stairs from the platform to the sundeck, walk 4 steps, go down 5 stairs to the salon, walk 4 steps down 3 more to the galley. They hate it, but that's just them. I have old knees so probably wouldn't be for me either. Consider your site lines while inside. If you hear something outside, can you just look out a window or do you have to climb out of the cave to have a look around?
Are you retiring? Traveling far and wide? If you are going to stay mostly in your marina, any size may do as long as you have enough space on board. If you are going to travel a lot, know that after 50', getting transient dock space can become iffy. May not be a problem if you are going to stay close to home and know the marinas. Want to spend a lot of time in the Bahamas on the hook, or travel the east coast ICW?, try to keep your draft to 5' or less. Less is better. Really going to be travelling a lot: Air draft considerations for bridges, low power displacement or semi displacement hulls. And doing a lot of gunkholing? keel protected props.
Be sure the accommodations are adequate for guests, this will be your home now, do you want people flopping in your salon because the 2nd stateroom makes them feel claustrophobic?
Engine room access, even if you're not a dyi'er, ease of access makes for less hourly charges.

Pitfalls: Canvas sucks.
And
We have met countless people that are "all in" and they seem to be loving it, but I'll just throw this out there, it might be more of a consideration for older folks, but consider how you would handle a major health problem that pops up like right now for you or the mrs. Do you want to convalesce on a boat? There might not be time to "Get a place quick" to recover from who knows what ???.
Finally, Karen is all for being on the boat, and like your wife, ready to head out to anywhere on the boat, but if I drop dead, her living on the boat alone is not happening, nor would I want to have her to impose on our kids or friends, while doing everything that she would have to do as well as find a place to live. Maybe getting a small condo might be the answer for us. Someplace to still call home and come back to while out "living the dream". YMMV
I share in your excitement. Doing the loop last year really has us pumped to get back out there on the boat for more lengthy adventures. Good Luck!
 
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Check out this guy, his first book changed my thoughts and put me on the same track. He's on Facebook too and chronicles all his life. He has a different view of things. He's originally from NJ

https://www.amazon.com/Leap-Faith-Quit-Your-Live/dp/1478720921

so the admiral and I are beginning to plan for living aboard and the marina lifestyle. would sell/trade our 260DA for something around 45-50'... then sell house, get rid of a lot of crap, storage unit extra stuff, and transition...

so i ask CSR and those with experience what you thoughts, recommendations, things to consider, pitfalls, etc...

* been in the water since a new-born, boating growing up, had several fun boats, love our 260 and stay out on the hook every weekend we can, will plan on staying in SW FL and cant get enough time on the water...

Thanks in advance!!
 
We spend 3 months on the boat a year. It is Aft cabin. It gives us way more room than non aft cabin. You can get some Aft cabin boats with a bit of a water level deck.
Not sure I could take the small size of a boat for long periods at a dock. Know several people at one marina we moored at that were live aboards. Main problem in Canada was most marinas turn off the water in the winter. You also have limited space for visitors.
If I was to do it full time I would want a boat that was 55+ feet with lots of windows.
 
We’re headed in this direction too.

Plan to start renting the house by the week next summer and hopefully sell the house 5 or 6 years out.

We have a 36 footer now but might like to go to 42 or so.
 
I thought my wife and I would live aboard also then I noticed what she required to get ready to go out every day. The counter in the bathroom is covered with hair implements and potions in addition to all of the other makeup and lotions. There is no way she can transition to life on board.
 
I think we closed on nov 29-30 in that range. Was counting up the other day, dec, Jan, February, and March we spent almost 30 nights.

Space. Living space and storage space.
 
We live aboard 3-4 months every year. Love it, but that's the max for us. We also enjoy having a small house for hobbies, family and guests to visit, storage, friendship base, etc.
 
I thought my wife and I would live aboard also then I noticed what she required to get ready to go out every day. The counter in the bathroom is covered with hair implements and potions in addition to all of the other makeup and lotions. There is no way she can transition to life on board.

Yep, exactly. My wife has the second head all for herself. It actually has a little better storage than the master head. She showers in the master though, because she usually has a sweater or some delicate piece of clothing that she hand washed hanging in her shower. Ha!
Whatever keeps her happy is fine with me
 
I love this timely thread. Everything is lining up for a next spring move to the Florida Keys. Tentatively will see my last patient on March 1, 2019. (35 years) Man I am old!
Daughter will finish her Double Masters Program in May and begin her Doctorate that fall but its paid for. Been looking at boats 34-38 feet. Going the 25th to look at a 36 foot Carver. We have kept one of our rental house's (Gutted/Remolded) for return trips home.
We will spend 70% of time in the Keys and the rest back home. I am excited to hear about other's retirement plans. Great thread! JC
 
wow thanks CSR fam! a lot of great feedback, some i have considered and others not... awesome!

so im 48, engineer, currently pushing to work remotely with current firm or do own design work, so i can work from the boat! we are very simple people and just seems to be the attainable dream...

keep the great stories and comments coming... great stuff to ponder...

of course this week has been absolutely beautiful weather in Sarasota and the weekend is rain and clouds, 2nd week in a row... uuuggg (sorry up north folks..)
 
Always been a dream but we sort of backed into it. We bought our current boat, moved on board last Memorial Day weekend to bring her up from Naples and never left the boat. Sold everything land based and shrunk down to a storage unit. We absolutely love it. Almost everything was covered in this thread with one exception, for me and it surprised me. Living on a boat changed things for me, particularly the way I feel about boating and that was unexpected. Living on the boat every day, I also work from the boat, gives you a different perspective. Boating is not exactly the same when your on it all the time. The winter layup was almost unbearable but Spring was like Christmas and week days away built increadible anticipation for Thursday/Friday to start the weekend. So although that is lost there is a lot gained, it is different. It’s also an experience currently in process so time will tell. I love the lifestyle and probably will never go back to land based life, god (and health) willing but be as prepared as you can for a change - a different perspective of something we all love.
A side note, I also was not aware of others perceptions and preconceptions of liveabords - especially from north to south, it also surprised me. It comes up more often than I had thought.
 
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I started living aboard full time on April 2nd of this year. So far so good. I haven't decided yet what I'm going to do this winter, but I have a few months to figure it out.
 
Too hard to live aboard in PA. Gets pretty cold here. But currently I work from home so can work anywhere I have an internet connection. Wife not so much. She is a teacher so kinda hard to do that remotely. My hope/goal is to be a full-time day trader in the next 5 years or so then my wife can quit her job and we can live anywhere we want then.
 

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