The Young Liveaboard

How to Sell a Dream

http://boatbits.blogspot.com/2013/12/how-to-sell-boat.html

Bob links over to this guy’s sailboat ad. Couldn’t have said it better myself.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/boa/4234040827.html

What does captian kurt, popeye, captain hook and tommy lee have in common? They are all bad ass people. Why? Because they were all in command of ships. You should be in command of a ship. You should buy my boat.

I can offer you the opportunity to be in command of this Catalina 27 sailing ship for about the cost of a lot of the stupid stuff you bought, buy or are thinking about buying. I present the following:

Malls & Nipple Milk
I can tell you this; the boat I am selling is less than the cost of that couch you bought at Pottery Barn* after spending 3 weeks researching it on Google**. I don’t care if your favorite mall doesn’t have a roof on it and has a theme. You should be ashamed of half of the mall things you spent hard earned cash money and time on. None of it will take you across oceans and it will not get you a buffaloes milk at Two Harbors (or a nimby cup). Not even close. Do you want your only source of alcohol laden milk to be your pregnant girlfriends nipple because I guarantee it doesn’t have 8 types of rum and 4 types of artificial sweetener in it. If it does muchacho then you should be hanging out with jcvd on a regular basis and won’t be needing this said boat. Back to your mall things.. If you add up the cost of your bed frame, mattress, headboard, box spring, stupid fancy pillows from Target, decorative duvet cover with a cool pattern from ikea and your designer pajamas it probably costs as much as I’m asking and you can have a f*$king BOAT of which can sleep 5 people and will guarantee you more bidness. You won’t find that guarantee in the bedding department at Macy’s. Note: your lame duvet made from rare dead birds is always on sale, you did not hit the Macy’s Bed Bath and Beyond jackpot and score a 300 feather count for 35% off, everyone did and just because you laughed at some actor making fun of Bed, Bath and Beyond doesn’t give you a pass for going there or not going there. And are you really spending your miniscule amount of free time on Earth counting feathers or laughing at jokes about retail stores? And by the way, if you are the type of person who covers your bed with any amount of (especially more than two) decorative pillows, please do not call about my Boat. I am not interested in selling this to a decorative pillow type which is too bad because you my friend are the type that needs this boat more than anyone.

Recreation, Drinking and Sea Monkeys
I understand you have many options on how to spend your free time. How you choose to recreate says a lot about a human being. What I am offering you is the open Pacific Ocean, fishing, going to islands, breathing salty air at sea, breathing atomic four gas powered exhaust fumes, drinking rum, drinking whiskey, drinking cheap beer, drinking expensive beer, drinking the dead sea monkeys floating in the drink that your friend backwashed, spear fishing anything that moves, endless supply of gold colored fish to make into tacos, trapping crabs, getting crabs, free membership to hbyc, a money pit, a fist pumping teeth grinding laser eating dance platform, a new kitchen, a boom that might hit you in the head, a $270 slip fee, the ability to t-bone a stand up paddle boarder, the ability to bbq a t-bone steak, the ability to bone in the v-birth, the chance to see whales, the improved chance to bring a whale out of najas and tying knots. These are fine things. These are gentlemanly things. They certainly beat sitting in car traffic towing your sand rail or three wheeler past a bunch of meth labs to glamis or driving a boat in circles in the std filled cess pool commonly referred to as “the river” or any other so called lake. Does a real man or woman want to recreate in a standing pool of “fresh water” or in a hot desert with a bunch of drunk yahoos with engines strapped to their backs?

Fast Transport
This boat travels as fast as your Audi on the 405. 6 knots at best. And you spent over $30K. Way more than a domestic car just because of the cool logo, neat ads and foreignness of it. Not to mention the way it makes you feel when you look at it after you park it. You could have got a Ford, a 3 wheeler, a sand rail and this boats for the same price. Enough said.

360 Degree Ocean View and the Mexican Navy
Always wanted an ocean view? See above description of how lucky you are. This boat comes with an ocean view of your damn choosing! Imagine a house that could do that. Those creepy realtor types would be drooling all the way to the bank. (Please no inquiries if your picture is on your business card). For the price of a ocean front strand house you could buy a boat like this every month of the year. In fact for $3,000,000 (reasonable price for a strand house) you could buy 600 boats like this. That’s more than the entire navy of Mexico. What would you do with that many boats? You could tie them together end to end and stretch them from Manhattan Beach pier to Hermosa Beach pier 1.7 times. Toss in a few more and you could have a two way sailboat highway spanning the two piers. This would be enough to move the annual 6 man party to sea and save the fun in a town loosing its charm faster than antartica is loosing glacial ice. Everyone would be happy because the kids could again dress up, beam each other with volleyballs and drink booze in the open sun on a WEEKEND. You would be the damn Kevin Bacon of the beach area. People would make movies of how you returned the joy to such an under privileged area of LA. (Math: 1.8 miles between piers = 9504′ / 27′ boat length = 352 boats required for a one way span.)

Screen World or Water World?
Each day the average person spends ?? hours staring at a computer screen, ?? watching a television screen, and ?? hours looking at a smart phone screen. (You do the math). The hope is that eventually there will be enough devices “invented” whereby 24 hours of your day is spent looking at a radiation emitting electronic display screens. These devices with clever names starting with i will range in size to span every increment of that Home Depot tape measure you never use. This will be toped by the inevitable invention of a gigantic screen that allows up to three people to be imbedded in, is only 2 microns thick, is named after a fruit and hurtles through outer space endlessly. I have good news for you my screen collecting swollen eyeball friend. This boat comes with an lcd tv screen and there is cell service all the way to Catalina Island! So you don’t have to skip the pirate dress up wine mixer because you are worried about missing all those great things happening on social media and on dvd.

Boat Includes
— 4 sails
— Atomic four engine
— Mast
— Boom
— Hull
— Rudder
— Tiller
— The book sailing for Dummies (You must have an IQ of at least 30 to learn how to sail)
— A bow with no arrows
— A bunch of life vests

Attention Doomsday Preppers
If you are a doomsday prepper then you have just hit the powerball lottery scratch off confetti falls out of the sky jackpot. Feel free to go into one of those evangelist religious on stage convulsions right now because when shit hits the fan in L.A. (and it will) do you want to be on the roof of your liqour store with a high powered riffle or in the open ocean reading moby dick with a milky rum drink in your skilled knot tieing hands?

In Summary
This boat is cheap, it gives you access to buffaloes milk, it is more fun than your current hobbies, it is fast enough, it has an ocean view, it comes with a TV, comes with everything you need and it might be helpful in case of a disaster. Most importantly it puts you in command of a ship. Go ahead break a bottle of Champagne over the bow, leave your mall things on land and grab the tiller.

$5,000 OBO / trade offers accepted

*ARE YOU F$##KING KIDDING ME. A STORE NAMED “POTTERY” “BARN”? WHOEVER USED THIS TERRIBLE NAME TO DUPE PEOPLE OUT OF HARD EARNED MONEY INTO BUYING EVERYTHING BUT POTTERY OUT OF ANYTHING BUT A BARN AND SELLING SHIT ALL MADE IN CHINA BUT DESIGNED TO LOOK ANYTHING BUT CHINESE AND I STILL HAVENT SOLD THIS BOAT IS BEYOND ME.

** Google = Best slot machine ever invented. Insert letters instead of coins. Output hyperlinks instead of cash. Google is paid by 3rd party XYZ business for the participants pleasure of playing this terrible slot machine for “free”. But participants pay end up paying in dead brain cells instead of cash and XYZ business trades cash for a snowflakes chance in hell of converting a mouse click to a sale. Only benefit of all this is it finally puts bad newspapers out of business.

*** If you happened to buy a mattress from that old white guy who shrieks “if you find a mattress for a lower price your mattress is free!!!” please, please, please, please don’t f$@king contact me. Did you really think that A-Hole is going to give away a free mattress if you found one for a lower price? Have you heard of anyone getting a free mattress from that damn place? How can our government allow such a thing. I will not give you my boat for free if you find one for less. In fact you will probably be more likely to sink would be my guess. And if you are the type that needs the government to protect you or wastes time complaining about the government also don’t contact me.

This Fire Is Out of Control: That Time My Sailboat Caught Fire…

A sad sight…

First, a story of stupidity

In 2004 my sailboat was in Charleston, SC while my job had moved to Kings Bay, GA. I was planning to live aboard SeaWitch, my 1970 Cal 28, in the quiet city marina in Fernandina Beach, FL. Unfortunately, I continued to run into problems delivering my home. Between finding the time, a good weather window, and my cranky inboard Atomic 4 engine, everything seemed to be against me. After doing maintenance one day, I decided I’d give the old engine a paint job to complement all of the mechanical work I’d performed.

I figured it wouldn’t take too long, as many parts were already off and being reassembled. They could be spray painted with high-temp before assembly. I could quickly tape off the block and touch up the spots I wanted to. This baby would be a beautiful fire engine red. Women would be attracted to its raw marine power, and likely drape themselves over it while professional photographers made SeaWitch’s engine compartment the next cover page for Hot Rod magazine.

I probably dumped about four cans of spray paint into this job. I had my engine blower running as well as several fans. Since SeaWitch used petrol gasoline for fuel, the blower was an easy mitigation against fume built up. That’s right: a sailboat is a giant Tupperware container, keeping water out and gases inside. Like, paint fume gases…

Later that afternoon, as I was preparing dinner, I decided to light a candle for dinner to help mask the lingering scent of the paint. Hatches were open and the fans were doing good, but it was still evident. I dropped the match, and a half second later heard the loud “POOF”, watched the cabinetry fly open, and saw through every opening in the sailboat’s cast interior the flash of light caused by the flames. I had just set my boat on fire.

General Quarters, Action Stations!

The first thought that went through my head was “I’m highly embarrassed I just set my boat on fire. I hope no one notices my stupidity.” Hey, what can I say?

That thought quickly changed to assessing the situation. I could see orange light in the bilge areas around the engine. This was from some loose paper towels used in the project. I grabbed the nearest fire extinguisher (in the settee) and got to work. Pin pulled, canister aimed, and a couple of short bursts at each flame. Once the visible flames were out, I rapidly opened all lockers that hadn’t blown open and did a search for any remaining flames. Once done, I was in consequence management mode.

The first problem was not smoke but fire extinguisher agent. The typical extinguishing agent aboard a boat is powder driven by compressed gas. It’s possible to have small sized CO2 or liquid extinguishers, but powder is pretty common. It works on a number of fire types, can be maintained relatively easily, and packages well compared to its firefighting capability [i.e. bang for the buck.]

This powder was everywhere. It’s fine and spreads rapidly when touched. Thankfully I had my particulate mask nearby and was able to throw it on while finishing my search for flames. Once the search was complete, I began the process of airing out the cabin. First I ran the bilge blower for about ten minutes to completely evacuate gases or anything heavy out of the bilge area. Then I ran a box fan from the forward hatch to drive smoke and powder out of the main cabin. At sea, I would have used both the 12VDC cabin fans and opening the forward hatch to catch the wind.

As the atmosphere got better, I began the detailed search and battle damage assessment. Was anything still warm, indicating flames behind it? Any smoldering bits in dark corners? On the submarine we had a thermal detector to assist us in this effort, but on SeaWitch I had to rely on my eyes watching for wisps of smoke or changes in color in the darkness.

I ventilated the cabin for a good hour. My smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detectors were reset and indicated everything was tolerable. It took several days of part-time cleaning to vacuum up the known powder, and months later I still found spots where it collected. A vacuum with HE filtration helped immensely.

What went well

1) Knowing where the extinguishers were, and how to operate one.

2) Keeping a level head and fighting one thing at a time (one fire at a time, then ventilating).

3) Conducting a thorough deep search and staying aboard for several hours after to ensure things were safe.

What didn’t go well

1) Should have ran the bilge blower the entire time I was working. On shore power, there was little reason not to. The cabin fans were unable to lift enough gases from the bilge.

2) Bravado: while I still don’t think firetrucks were necessary, it was poor of me to think “This is my problem.” It could have easily changed into everyone’s problem. Thankfully the fire was extinguished quickly. If it took more than a minute though, getting help would have been the next major thing to do.

Attainable Adventures has a great article covering fire safety aboard sailboats. Well worth the read as it treats the details with ease.

(Photo courtesy of Flickr user Peter Robinett)

Setting sail!

Here in Djibouti Africa, I felt it was time to go big or go home. I intend to do both eventually. In the meantime, I’m putting some hard earned cheddar where my mouth is: I bought the domain for The Young Liveaboard. Now it’s time to transfer my content from Blogger to this new site and begin the slow process of building something worth while, of value, that will last.

Here’s to sails set and prows pointed to the horizon.

Decisions Decisions: Factors in Sailboat Upgrades and Improvements

http://volkscruiser.blogspot.com/2013/08/if-it-aint-broke.html

I’ve long been a fan of Bob’s writing, having enjoyed almost 7 years of daily (practically) posts from the Caribbean. He switched off of “BoatBits” for a while now, but started up a blog known as “Volkscruiser”, the implied meaning being a cruiser for the masses.

I didn’t know it at the time, but I was joining the Volk when I purchased SeaWitch in 2002. An aged Cal28, she was one of the thousands of reasonably priced fiberglass production boats of the 70’s available in the U.S. These “classic plastics” are an ideal choice for the young, or beginning, liveaboard. If one sticks with a firm understanding of ROI.

Return on Investment

As a financial phrase, ROI means the ratio of profit to the amount invested. In life, ROI is a flexible term with a subjective meaning. Investment could mean time, money, attention, or effort. But harder to measure is “return”.

In 2004, while on patrol with my first submarine, USS Rhode Island, I made the choice of bringing out the latest Defender catalog. Based in New England, Defender is a well-known source of all things marine. I spent several evenings flipping through the pages with a notebook next to me, jotting down ideas for upgrades to SeaWitch’s systems. Sometimes the pictures would remind of a part I knew needed replacing. Sometimes it was an improved product that promised additional utility or efficiency. Sometimes it was a whole new concept that I “knew” I needed to incorporate, i.e. solar charging for my batteries.

I don’t regret spending the time day dreaming, but such behavior can become destructive with an older boat.

Facts

When doing an initial survey or taking stock of what you’ve got, there are a few important things to keep in mind.

1) No boat will ever be perfect: Even if you had unlimited resources, there’s always “something” else that could be improved. And use will always cause systems to fail, given enough time. The state of a sailboat is constantly changing. In that way, it’s really a living thing.

2) You must understand the minimum effective state for your vessel: Call it whatever you want, but there’s a minimal amount of equipment or capability that a sailboat must have to sail properly and safely, and to carry you (and others) from point A to B. Any future purchase should be married to one of these things.

3) Define what success looks like ahead of time: Measuring return is tough unless you know what it is you’re looking for. If I spent $1000 on a solar charging system, but always stayed at marinas, what was my return? I charge on shore power at every opportunity, maybe my engine charges, and I have a large capacity battery bank. Those solar panels aren’t doing anything other than making me look like a “real cruiser”. Vanity may be an appropriate measure, but just understand what it is ahead of time. Do you want to look like a cruising boat, or be a boat that cruises?

Your Money or Your Life

Most upgrades will not provide a financial benefit to the resale value of your sailboat. That’s just facts. It’s not much different than doing home makeover and improvements; most won’t pay for themselves, but some are more valuable than others. You should try to ensure that any effort made at improving your sailboat adds real value, in the form of convenience, safety, performance, or comfort, and if it does those things, then it will likely add to the “real” value of the vessel as well. If those $1000 solar panels leave my batteries topped off at all times, no need for shore power, and I spend a significant amount of time away from other sources, then I won’t mind if the resale value of my boat doesn’t go up by the total cost of installation. But, all things equal, a sailboat with good working systems will outsell one without, especially if marketed correctly.

As Bob mentions, a good filter to test purchases is the traditional advice: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

What systems do you look at first when deciding to upgrade or replace gear? Are traditional areas of concern still valid?

Living Aboard Vs. Living Abroad

Definitely abroad… spray covered dodger from a recent trip of mine

The difference is in placement of that ole “R”

For many years I’ve pondered the nature of of living aboard in contrast to cruising. Starting in 2002 when I first began my research into the lifestyle, I met with significant confusion. The internet was a small place back then, but there were still a number of resources available. I figured that a simple “Excite” search of “Living aboard a sailboat” would immediately bring me to a page or two that detailed a systematic process to analyze the life. The overwhelming amount of information was all focused on sailing across oceans. While interesting, and useful to a great extent, it didn’t help one bit in finding a marina, managing services, and finding out what to expect at the dock. Frankly, even these days that’s not too far from the internet truth: most sailing magazines are focused on getting away from shore as fast as possible.

With that in mind, what makes a person a live aboard versus a cruiser?

Cruising: As a verb, cruising implies movement. Cruise ships are often places of leisure and relaxation. A warship goes on cruise, and it means a steady pace to accomplish some mission. In sailing parlance, it probably denotes someone (or someones) who reside solely (or predominantly) aboard their vessel for substantial periods of time, with an intended purpose of traveling to different locations via the water. The reason for this travel may be intrigue, work, family, safety, curiosity, or even boredom. But the fundamental verb is moving. Cruisers may stay in an single port, or even a region, for a lengthy period of time, but they are in a state of near-readiness to leave, if they choose. By the nature of their housing arrangement, they do “live aboard”.

Living Aboard: As a verb, implies staying. It describes the choice of home, as opposed to living on land. As mentioned, cruisers live aboard, but so do folks who are quite happy to stay in one location while aboard their vessel. The narrow boats of London, barges of the Netherlands, and that old relic floating in the harbor with the weirdo on board could all be classified as liveaboards.

For myself, I always believed I was a live aboard more than anything else. While I tried to maintain a sailboat capable of cruising, I recognized my primary goal was comfortable living aboard my boat while living a “typical” livelihood. This meant having easy access to shore to pursue my career (as a military officer), as well as access for my social activities like church, dinners, and exercise. A marina was a convenient platform to accomplish these things from. While it certainly seemed like a transient lifestyle to my peers, in many ways it was anything but. While I didn’t own a house, or rent an apartment, it was easy to be lulled into the mindset of permanency that shore living induced. I had a small storage unit for those things that wouldn’t easily fit aboard, but were so “essential” to my life that I chose to keep them nearby. Many of my tools fit aboard, but why not keep a few sheets of plywood available for a rainy day up the road?

The perfect cruising boat (which is a unicorn – imaginary) would have plenty of margin aboard for activities like construction and repair, exercise, and other hobbies. But in reality, the boat gets put into “cruising mode” before leaving port, which means things are less available, less convenient sometimes, and the purpose of the sailboat is now two-fold: both safe travel and tolerable living conditions.

On the other hand, the live aboard sailboat is focused on comfortable living and convenience. And in my view, there’s nothing wrong with that. So don’t let the popular magazines sway you: it’s OK to be comfortable as a working guy or gal, with the unique living arrangement, knowing you can prepare and pull lines at your leisure.

What do you think? Are liveaboards mischaracterized?

7 Reasons Living Aboard in 2013 Rocks More Than A Decade Ago

Photo Credit: b316728 on Flickr — Loran-C circa 1970: Photo Credit: b316728

In the summer of 2002 I purchased, moved aboard, and sailed my new home, SeaWitch, to Charleston SC. A Cal 28 flat topper was certainly an interesting choice of living for a young naval officer, but it opened up some of the best years of my life. But that’s not to say it was all easy; far from it. The learning curve was sharp! I’ve thought about this often in the last few years, and what the differences might be in living aboard today vice then. Ten years doesn’t seem like a lot, but our society has made huge advances in some areas in that time. Let me preface this list with some context. This comparison is made against my live aboard lifestyle. I think it applies to other lifestyles as well, but maybe in different ways. It’s all perspective.

– Relatively small sailboat living (say under 35 feet in length)

– A working professional career (i.e. still going to work regularly)

– Desire to stay in contact with folks easily

– Staying on the U.S. East Coast conducting local cruising In not particular order….

1) Cell Phones Are More Advanced!

In 2003 I left Charleston for a short training program in Connecticut I knew I was moving farther south to Amelia Island at the end, so I was looking for a new cellular provider to support me down there. And provide service in CT. And a phone to possibly be a modem for my laptop while aboard. And be small. And do awesome things. I spent an unseemly amount of money for a Cingular candy bar style phone, that with a super-expensive cord (sold separately) could possibly tie my laptop to internet for an outrageous rate. And it didn’t work. Fast forward to 2013. How common are smart phones? Heck, they are computers. Bottom line. I can do more on my Motorola Droid2 Global than I could on my entire computing suite in 2003. And for about the same monthly price. The networks have changed since cellular became popular in the late 90’s and early 2000’s, which means better choices in providers and wider coverage. And there are several independent marketers trying to level the playing field, such as Ting. Better choices here would have meant better connectivity in more locations.

2) Tablet Computers

Sometime after moving down to Amelia Island, I left my laptop under a leaking hatch when it rained. Sure enough, my very enjoyable Sony Vaio laptop was a goner .. I found an auction for a View Sonic tablet, the V100. I think it cost me close to $500. Ran Windows XP. Had a huge 40gB hard drive and wifi. And needed a magic stylus to write on the screen (that also cost $50 to replace). It wasn’t bad, just…old. Again, fast forward to January 2012 when I decided to consolidate my electronic empire into one(ish) device: a Motorola Xoom tablet. No more portable DVD player, netbook., or Kindle. It was the closest to “the one thing” that I’ve gotten. I can’t describe all the ways a nice tablet like this (and the great apps running these days) would have benefited me living aboard. Entertainment station. Small-form computing with a bluetooth keyboard. Chart plotting. Inventory. Managing my finances on Mint. Photos on projects or memories. Everything stored, synced, and backed up in Evernote. Shelf space saved by having books on there. Sigh… And all for less than I paid for that V100, and no pen required.

3) The Internet Has Grown

One advantage folks have in 2013 over my old self is the vastness of the internet and its exponential growth. The availability of knowledge and information is substantial In 2003, I was spending several hundred dollars a year on books, both for reference material (how to do certain skills or activities) and motivation (what were other people doing.) Fast forward to 2013 and there’s plenty of both, online, and mostly free. That’s not to say we shouldn’t pay folks for their time and experiences. But, no one needs to go to Barnes & Noble and shell out significant sums just to learn whether this lifestyle is of interest. Instead, the avid reader can find numerous blogs of those already out there doing it. Many sailors keep well-maintained websites detailing improvement projects and repairs; YouTube videos exist for practically anything, and the variety of formats means there’s information available in some media for everyone. Are you interested in a particular design, or constrained to look for a new-to-you vessel in one geographic location? Great! Head onto Craigslist or eBay and set alerts for what you’re looking for. Read the numerous reviews many designs have received. Classifieds? If you want to, there are several online platforms selling boats, so paper is practically a thing of the past. Or shout out on Facebook and see who you know that knows a guy who knows a guy. The barrier to entry has never been lower.

4) Social Connect-ability

While not a game changer, social tools like Facebook and Twitter have changed the way we connect with others, and that is certainly applicable to the sailing sphere. If you’re a coastal sailor, it’s not unheard of to do check-ins with family via Twitter on your phone. Keep up with that couple you met on the docks in North Carolina via Facebook. Reach out to like-minded individuals on a topic or location via various forums and Facebook pages. Heck, one could even keep up a sailing resume via LinkedIn for potential clients. The danger of these tools is the enticing seat of the armchair sailor. It’s also never been easier for the critic to come home from work, sit at his or her desk, troll the forums for someone seeking inspiration or practical advice, and proceed to kill dreams. Sometimes knowingly, sometimes innocently. I’ve frankly avoided forums lately due to my hiatus from cruising. I don’t want to become that guy. Just keep in mind that there’s a place for everyone in this community. Some folks have earned their stripes; some are still earning them. And some will never earn them and sit on the side and spout ignorance.

5) Depreciated Boat Value

I purchased my first big boat, a 1970 Cal28 flat-top, in 2002 for the whooping price of $8500. Sailboats up to the lower 30’s were going for as low as $10-15K. What’s funny is these same boats haven’t really changed value too much. If anything, some prices have gone down due to the depressed economy. Bob, over at Boat Bits, described a reader’s story that if you find a good used boat it’s likely to be snapped up quickly, so come with cash in hand. That said, in my opinion the market has only gotten better for someone interested with getting in. A five digit budget of $10K to $30K will yield an amazing amount of quality used vessel. Even under $10K there’s lots of availability. And since inflation has theoretically reduced the value of my 2002 money, the deals are even better today.

6) Lifestyle Design Is In

I’d like to say that cruising sailors defined this term before the likes of Tim Ferriss got a hold of it. But, the increasingly visible segment of society who are shaping their careers and lives with flexibility, mobility, and freedom make this idea something important to incoming live aboard sailors. The perfect example of lifestyle design was my neighbor in Charleston, SC. He was an A/C repairman. He had the capacity to do much more (education, credentials, grit) but willingly chose to be content with his limited (by most social standards) role in society. He would find an employer, who provided tools, truck, and jobs, and work for a period of one year. In his spare time during the evening he free-lanced doing A/C repair on our marina’s boats. After that one-year period, he’d quit, sell off anything too bulky to carry around, and took his liveaboard sailboat, a well-maintained O’Day 25, down south to the Caribbean for one to two years. Then he’d come back to a new location in the U.S. and repeat. He’d even move around during the year if it suited him. While the fantasy of simply writing about your adventures in a blog and earning a six-figure income is highly unlikely, there’s plenty of opportunity for folks to take advantage of the changing face of business to combine sailboat living with a career, or leverage existing technology to make traditional cruising careers more efficient and effective.

7) Digitized Media

Not that it was debilitating, but in 2002 the collection of stuff aboard SeaWitch was pretty substantial. I had a hearty set of VHS tapes, a growing DVD selection in both cases and CD sleeves, the music family of your typical college student, and an appetite for reading. Space was a big problem. In 2013, I’m on a mission to downsize our media footprint, which is helpful in our home but makes me feel confident we could shift to the boat easily without a lose of lifestyle. Many of my books are purchased via Kindle, and I have plans for a digitizer in the near future to keep all of my favorites near at hand. Most all of our music is in mp3 format and on our computers and phones. Even our DVD collection is largely backed up on an external hard drive in mobile format. With little effort, my laptop and two hard drives could find their home easily aboard (and I tend to keep accessories aboard so I need not think of them.) and we’d be 90-95% established. With a handheld scanner and small-form printer, we have a tiny office ready to go! So much different than my set of four file boxes aboard a 28′ sailboat…

Convenience In Line With Simplification

Not that one needs all of these things to live aboard. Hardly. But, for those who enjoy some of the conveniences and comforts of modern living, the shift to a water-based lifestyle is much easier these days. Consider your options and feel fortunate we’re living in a Golden Era of life!