Living on a boat..... - Page 4

[boatbaby]

unlegal - Yay! Congratulations!! It'll be so fun keeping up with your new life abaord via your blog, thanks for the link! What part of the country are you in? It seems like all the cool liveaboard families are on the west coast. We need some fresh blood out east

onandon - sorry your deal fell through. I guess that boat wasn't meant to be. A Cal43 sounds fabulous! Keep is posted as well.

And boat names... this is harder than baby names for our family. Our current boat came with the name Majestic. Which is fine, but so not us. We just can NOT agree on a new name. So she remains Majestic for now. Our former boat came with a corny name and we changed it to Neshamah - which is a Hebrew word meaning breath, soul, inspiration, wind. Lovely meaning, but as we cruised NOBODY could pronounce it and would either call us on the radio by saying "hey catamaran" or calling our dog's name if they knew us.

[unlegal]

Originally Posted by boatbaby

unlegal - Yay! Congratulations!! It'll be so fun keeping up with your new life abaord via your blog, thanks for the link! What part of the country are you in? It seems like all the cool liveaboard families are on the west coast. We need some fresh blood out east

And boat names... this is harder than baby names for our family. Our current boat came with the name Majestic. Which is fine, but so not us.

Thanks!! I can't wait until our WiFi is set up later this week.

We are in Portland, so yeah, west coast. You're right, though, I hardly come across very many families sailing on the east coast online. But I am new, so I'm sure now that it's 'real', I'll be getting more into the boating world.

Our boat's name is Sue Ann - definitely changing it when we can think of a good one.

[onandon]

We had an excellent test sail and a good survey (no major surprises). The CAL 43 is a go! It sailed like a dream. It's 40 years old but has a new rig, new sails, lots of spares, and an engine with only 417 hours. It's a much bigger boat than we thought we'd be on but I think we can get used to it! We have a zillion things to do to get the boat from Seattle to San Francisco. I think we're going to take it overland. Time for me to start craigslisting and get a yard sale together. Oh boy!

boatbaby- I just said that same exact thing that kid names are easier than boat names. The boat we're buying is Mimi but the name has changed with each owner and it will again. We have Convivia in mind but haven't settled. Since we need to do the paperwork for documentation we need to name it right away or pay twice I guess.

unlegal- thanks for putting your blog up too. I always check zachaboard for new ones and I noticed it was there too.

My husband's blog is www.forgeover.com. It's a mix of topics but I think it'll have a lot more sailing and liveaboard content soon. He's been trying to convince me to be a blogger but it hasn't happened yet (though I have a secret domain name and 30 post ideas).

You all might also be interested in a new forum for boat people that Charlotte and Eric from s/v RebelHeart started recently www.thekeel.com.

[unlegal]

onandon - Thanks! I will check out those links. And you should totally blog. Don't worry about it being perfect; just add as you go. I have like, 6 blogs going. Haha. Ideally, I should probably just put them all together, but it would seem like such a mish mash (our live aboard family blog, unschooling blog, my doula blog, personal journal on Livejournal, stuff to do and see in Oregon (more like a reference than a blog), and my paranormal group's blog. LOL.) So, you see how it wouldn't all work together?

[onandon]

The boat is ours today! Yippee! We signed the final papers and handed over our life's savings. My husband has a plane ticket to go up and de-rig it for the trip home. We'll splash it on May 11th and move aboard within a month after that.

I've got to say it takes a whole lot more than money to make this happen. My husband has been on the phone for weeks trying to work this out. He's talked to boat yards, surveyors, brokers, the seller, the title folks, the coast guard doc folks, the bank (we are taking a bit of a loan), the bottom painters, the riggers, the truckers, the other riggers, the marina, the insurance people and so on. We'll be so happy to be sitting on the boat in a couple weeks enjoying the sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge. Ten years ago we put our names on the waiting list in that marina and we'll finally be in!

The dream has been alive for many years but I really super-appreciate boatbaby for her encouragement and beautiful blog about boat life with a child over the past almost 6 years. My daughter is just a day younger than Zach!

Unlegal-I totally want to know the dirt about the trouble two year olds cause on the boat. I'm loving seeing the pictures of your happy family on board too. I can't wait to get our first day pictures posted!

[unlegal]

Congratulations!!!

Can't wait to see your pictures, too!

Funny, our kids are almost the same ages: Ciara was born 5/04 and Oliver was born 4/07!

They really haven't caused much trouble at all, surprisingly. Just fighting a little more than usual, which is to be expected since they're in closer quarters.

Are you Bethany, by the way?

[onandon]

Originally Posted by unlegal

Are you Bethany, by the way?

Nope, I'm Victoria and dh is Tucker.

[unlegal]

Ah, got it

Your husband just messaged me, too!

[boatbaby]

Originally Posted by onandon

The boat is ours today! Yippee! We signed the final papers and handed over our life's savings. My husband has a plane ticket to go up and de-rig it for the trip home. We'll splash it on May 11th and move aboard within a month after that.

I've got to say it takes a whole lot more than money to make this happen. My husband has been on the phone for weeks trying to work this out. He's talked to boat yards, surveyors, brokers, the seller, the title folks, the coast guard doc folks, the bank (we are taking a bit of a loan), the bottom painters, the riggers, the truckers, the other riggers, the marina, the insurance people and so on. We'll be so happy to be sitting on the boat in a couple weeks enjoying the sunset over the Golden Gate Bridge. Ten years ago we put our names on the waiting list in that marina and we'll finally be in!

The dream has been alive for many years but I really super-appreciate boatbaby for her encouragement and beautiful blog about boat life with a child over the past almost 6 years. My daughter is just a day younger than Zach!

Unlegal-I totally want to know the dirt about the trouble two year olds cause on the boat. I'm loving seeing the pictures of your happy family on board too. I can't wait to get our first day pictures posted!

Onandon - that is so exciting! I was reading your post to my husband and he said "Oh no! I hope your blog isn't causing people to throw themselves in the ocean. Nice work honey." He was teasing.
How cool that our kids have close birthdays... those crazy Gemini kids! Be sure to keep us posted and I'll keep a look out on the blog for updates as well.

[onandon]

Originally Posted by boatbaby

Onandon - that is so exciting! I was reading your post to my husband and he said "Oh no! I hope your blog isn't causing people to throw themselves in the ocean. Nice work honey." He was teasing.

I did print out the checklist for a test sail that he posted to the yahoo sailing with kids group and brought it with me for the test sail. I think we have several hours of questions and answers with the previous owner on video now. You can reassure your dh that we've had our name on the liveaboard waitlist at our marina since 2000, long before boatbaby came along.

After a long drive up to Washington, some gale force winds, some days in the boat yard, an awesome visit with unlegal in Oregon, a few days of driving back, another several days in the boat yard, fresh bottom paint, and re-stepping the mast, we finally got to sail our boat over to our marina and tuck it into our slip. We're so happy to be boat people again!

[LeoneLover13]

2 week trial live aboard vacation!

Congratulations everyone achieving your dreams!

Just to remind everyone, we are based in Guam currently.

We have been trying to figure out the best way of us going about living aboard, and finally we have decided on a test-run. We have paid for a CAL 34 to sail over here from a neighboring island that we are going to live on for 2 weeks starting mid-July. At that point we will likely rent it out for the duration of our stay in Guam (we have one to two years left), save as much money as possible and then head to California (back home to San Diego maybe?) and maybe buy our first boat, rent to own, live in our house there and save more money..who knows.

I have many concerns for living aboard here in Guam, a few are that there is little to no community for it, the marina accomodations aren't great. The boat we are 'renting' doesn't have a shower, we can't use the head in the marina, there is no A/C which is a MUST in Guam, it's pretty scary getting on and off the boat via a 'brow' especially with my 2yr old. There are a lot more, but I'll try not to freak out for now.

Any advice for our 'vacation' this month?! I wish we lived in the States, I would be so much more comfortable if we were living around a close community of live-aboards I could learn from!

[accountclosed3]

ok, i got a squirrel in my brain.

4 years ago, i met a family afloat. it was amazing. i loved their boat, and we went sailing once. it was something special. my dear friend was raised on that boat, and now her parents are retiring to land (in the next 5 yrs or so). my friend will inherit the boat, but doesn't know if that's where she wants to be.

we live in a harbor city, and learned that you can have live-aboard slips. it would be close to work. we discussed the possibility of rent-to-own or just maintaining the boat while she decides what she wants to do by living aboard (paying marina fees, etc).

she also said that all of the family will help us learn to sail, maintain the boat, etc, as it is important to them (even if they do decide to sell it to us).

now, here is what is strange: i actually like the idea.

i'd never thought of it before. i mean, i'd seen boat baby talk about it a it on the waldorf board, and i thought about it a bit when someone mentioned he was 'renting' a boat to live in while the owners were away for $50/mo. but i never really put a lot of thought into it.

other than boat baby's blog, how do i even begin to think about this?

[andonand]

›Zoebird

Sounds like you've already begun. I think a huge part of determining whether you might be a boat person is whether you even consider being a boat person. This lifestyle is so far outside the norm that you would have to have some natural affinity for it to even let it cross your filters.

For some of us the yen is so strong that there is just no sense in trying to disuade us. Sounds like you may not quite be in that category, so you might start thinking about some of the downsides to living aboard and then ask us about them.

I also highly recommend checking out thekeel.com. Its a forum for liveaboards and cruisers. The most active participants right now are all living aboard with children. We are all friendly and knowledgable and totally willing to corrupt—er, encourage—you. I can tell you that the time that I've spend as a liveaboard have been some of the best of my life.

[pickleeater]

My husband and I have been living aboard our boat for 4 years now and we're expecting a little one in March. Glad to see that this thread is still alive! We've been following lots of boat mama blogs for a couple of years now, so I know the basic ''essentials'', but many people have much larger boats than ours, so I'm always keeping an eye out for others so that we can make life aboard as comfy as possible for the little one!

[unlegal]

Originally Posted by pickleeater

My husband and I have been living aboard our boat for 4 years now and we're expecting a little one in March. Glad to see that this thread is still alive! We've been following lots of boat mama blogs for a couple of years now, so I know the basic ''essentials'', but many people have much larger boats than ours, so I'm always keeping an eye out for others so that we can make life aboard as comfy as possible for the little one!

What size boat are you guys on? We are on a 30' with our two kids. My blog is at: afamilyaboard.wordpress.com

Though, I really haven't written much yet

Everyone seems surprised that we are in a 30', but it totally works for us.

[pickleeater]

Originally Posted by unlegal

What size boat are you guys on? We are on a 30' with our two kids.

Everyone seems surprised that we are in a 30', but it totally works for us.

We are on a 35' with our dog and cat. Our boat is a little small for all of us (and baby-to-be) with the 10' beam and my husband's 6'2'' stature (he can't really stand up completely straight - poor guy), but we make it work! We look at larger boats here and there, so maybe one of these days we'll get on something bigger.

Oh, and I should correct myself - all of the blogs I find are of people who live on larger boats - I know that there are LOTS of families living aboard on much smaller boats than our own, but I've found far fewer blogs from those families than the larger boats.

Also, I have to say - it seems that regardless the size of boat, all the boat mamas are using the same innovations to make babies/kids living aboard as comfy as possible. It's always been a pleasure to read about these families on their boats and see how utterly happy they are. We can't wait to raise children aboard!

Thanks for the blog - now I have something new to read!

[notwonamesalike]

Waving

DH and I decided to put our house on the market this upcoming spring (2011), and are making plans to buy a boat.

So many things to consider. Going from 2000 square feet, selling all our things, finding a marina that allows a small dog (do they exist?)

Anyhow...just jumping in....will be checking back later.