Living on a boat can be done many ways and we’ve seen a lot of them.
My Wife, Nancy and I live on our sailing catamaran Wild Rose. She’s a 2021 Lagoon 42. We chose this lifestyle because of all of the benefits living on a boat has to offer. There are lots of benefits to living on a boat, but there are also some negatives.
One of the people we’ve met in the Caribbean sailed halfway around the world and is now a manager of a marine chandlery in St. Maarten in the Dutch West Indies, he and his wife live on anchor in a Marigot Bay. Another retired couple we’ve met who are in their 80’s lives at the dock in Virginia. In my opinion by far our preference is to go cruising.
Cruising, whether on a power boat or preferably on a sail boat is moving from place to place experiencing new locations and things those places have to offer. Cruising is essentially being a nomad. Some people cruise just for the winter, and for some it is a year round adventure. Some cruisers work full or part time and others, like us are retired or taking a sabbatical.
Benefits of Living on a Boat
Active Lifestyle
I find I get a lot more movement living on a boat. Just moving groceries to and from the boat is more active. If you are living on anchor and lifting heavy items from your tender to the boat, these are things you’re not doing living in a house. For some people this is not desirable, but we love it.
Cost
For starters, it depends if you are cruising full time, or living at a dock, living on anchor is definitely cheaper, especially if you are in an area that has high slip fees. Living is much cheaper on a boat for us. We have no property tax, no electric bill, no garbage bill, no water and sewage bill, there are a lot of expenses that go away. We do fill propane for cooking occasionally, but it’s nowhere near the cost of what our natural gas bill was.
We have done both, lived at a dock as well as on anchor. Right now we are at a dock in Virginia, but soon we are going to be living on anchor starting in the Bahamas and working our way South.
Sense of Community
The boating community is clearly a lot smaller than land dwellers, so you talk to other boaters a lot. People seem more willing to help out with boat projects. This has been our experience whether we were at a dock or living on anchor.
Simplifying Your Life
When we lived in a 3000 sq/ft house we had a ton of room. There’s an old saying that if you buy a bigger house you will eventually fill it up. The reality is we didn’t need all of that stuff, especially rooms full of furniture. It’s just stuff.
I didn’t need 50 t-shirts and 40 pairs of pants. Even now on the boat I have too many clothes. So when you whittle down everything in your life you get to keep the things you really love and discard items that are superfluous to life.
Take Your House With You
There is a huge sense of freedom being able to move your home to a new location. We have been from as far south as Grenada all the way to the Chesapeake Bay, we’re going to further explore the bay this summer and then sail to the Bahamas in November, then further south to the Caribbean.
Best Views
Let’s face it, oceanfront property is very expensive for a reason. We get to park our boat where we have the best views. Waking up in the morning to a calm sea and watching the sun rise over a mountain is priceless. Watching the sunset from the back deck of your boat with nothing obscuring your view is even better. The multi million dollar homes on the beach don’t get that, your boat is in the way.
Activities
Now this is very dependent on where you are with your boat, we aren’t doing a lot of snorkeling in the Chesapeake Bay. But people who live on boats enjoy a host of opportunities that are easily accessible such as scuba diving, snorkeling, kite surfing, sailing, fishing, spearfishing, surfing and more.
Psychological Effect
There is an effect on your brain because you are experiencing new things every day. You’re routine varies and brain stimulation is increased because of the amount of new experiences, scenarios and stimulus being thrown at your brain. It makes time slow down and days and weeks seem really long. It seems like you are stretching time out instead of the days flying by.
Cons of Living on a Boat
Maintenance
Boats require work, you need to change zinc anodes and repaint the bottom, polishing gelcoat and stainless, cleaning growth off of the bottom and propellers, canvas repair, winch maintenance, electronics, oil changes, battery monitoring and possibly maintenance, I think you get the idea. Saltwater is an electrolyte constantly eating away at your boat. This requires lots of maintenance, sometimes in tight quarters. Sometimes these issues are expensive, replacing rigging or electronics is going to eat up a large part of the budget. You have to save for these expenses.
A lot of people say that boats take a lot more maintenance than a house. While probably true, as someone who has done both, homes take a lot of maintenance. Stuff lasts longer in land dwellings, but both take a lot of maintenance.
Weather
When living on a boat your are a lot more susceptible to inclement weather and especially wind. When you wake up in the middle of the night and there is a swell rolling right into your anchorage rolling your boat so much making it impossible to sleep you’re going to start paying more attention to the weather. When you’re caught in a lightning storm with a 67 foot mast it certainly gets your attention more than if that happened and you were at your house.
When you live on a boat you are at the mercy of the weather and you need to monitor and prepare for it. You need to keep your boat out of hurricanes during hurricane season and on a daily and weekly basis pay attention to wind and weather to keep boat and crew safe and healthy.
Size
Let’s face it, most people who move onto a boat are downsizing from their home. Moving from our spacious house with a huge basement, garage and nearly endless storage capacity was difficult. You need to be concerned about the amount and weight of items you bring to the boat. I’m not saying we’re minimalists now, but we keep it pretty simple. Shorts and t-shirts are the norm, we have few kitchen appliances, and we’ve had to downsize everything we’ve brought to the boat.
You will notice that I also listed this as a pro up above, and it is both a pro and a con.
Conclusion
So how do you figure out if boat living is for you? Well spend as much time on a boat as possible. Try chartering, ask friends if you can crew for them, rent a bareboat. The more you can get yourself on a boat for as long a period of time as possible the more you will find out if boat living is for you.
You need to evaluate the daily living chores, like disposing of trash, getting fuel and water, or making water with a desalinator. How you set up your boat can make all the difference. We have a lot of solar and make just about all the power we need for daily operation, so we don’t need to run the generator to power the batteries. We also have a desalinator so we can make as much water as we want.
It’s these little things that will really determine if boat living is fun or not. Everyone loves watching the sunsets and having dolphins jump around you. It’s the tradeoffs for being able to enjoy those things.
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