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Personal experience: How to move to live on a yacht and not screw up

Former editor-in-chief of the Internet newspaper The Village Petersburg, Anna Balagurova, a little less than a year ago, gave up her career and work in the office to go with her husband across the Atlantic. On the website of the Snob magazine, she maintains a detailed blog about her adventures, and she told us about how she got used to life on a ship while crossing the ocean.

I first got on a sailboat a year and a half ago. By some ridiculous coincidence, in Helsinki, during the Flow festival. My friend somewhere picked up guys from St. Petersburg who came there to chase. We, of course, were invited to join, but only as openers - we were not good for anything else. It seems that a friend was then instructed to "mine a spinnaker into a kitty." It was funny to me, but she was practically buried under sail.

Then, by another chance, I met my future husband - a yacht instructor. We drank a lot, talked about how we want to live and travel. In general, we were extremely romantic and agreed that a sailing boat was ideal for both of us. It is simultaneously a transport that moves by the forces of nature (that is, for free), a house anywhere in the world (also inexpensive), and even an opportunity to earn money by teaching or simply rolling people. It sounded like a good plan and we decided to stick with it.

All that remained was to choose and buy a boat. There were several requirements - a reliable yacht for the oceans (the so-called blue water cruiser), in the Mediterranean (so that you can reach the Canaries without entering the evil Viscay and the English Channel), costing up to 60,000 euros (so that there is a little left for an upgrade) and, of course in good condition. Through the Internet, we found several almost ideal options in Sweden at half the price of what we had planned. But all these northern seas ... in general, we became lazy, because it was June, and in November we were going to start in the transatlantic. We bought our 1985 Westerly in Greece. A respectable English shipyard, pedant owners, a beer opener on the step, again. I immediately felt sympathy for this neat and solid boat, for its funny plump owners who, without hesitation, declared that they did not like strong wind, and also - that they will take away the grill, because without the grill their summer will be ruined.

A little paperwork with registering the boat and insurance - and already in July we began to slowly move towards Gibraltar, with stops in pleasant coastal cities, from mossy Sicilian resorts to magnificent Syracuse and Palma de Mallorca. This is how my boat life began.

The first thing you had to get used to was roll and pitch. How to live when your world is tilted 30 degrees? How to sleep when you are thrown from side to side? Okay, let's say you're not in the transition, but at the anchorage, but damn it, you are still shaking, it's water! You go out on the ground - you sway out of habit. After crossing the ocean, I almost stopped paying attention to it. First, I caught Zen from the realization that I would have to hang out in open water for at least three weeks. Secondly, I wanted pancakes and fried potatoes in a five-meter wave, so I had to get out. Remember - sometimes on anchorages shakes almost like in the middle of the Atlantic. So if you want to live on a yacht, train your vestibular apparatus. At least on carousels.

Learn to use water sparingly. If you are not overly rich and cannot afford the extra 400-500 euros per month for comfortable marinas, get used to spending 10 liters of water on thorough washing yourself (in the ocean 2-3 was enough for my body and hair, but this is too Spartan ). There is no question of washing dishes or washing with fresh water - everyone living on the yacht has seawater taps installed (although we wash in laundries and increasingly use paper plates). There is one controversial point here - all waste products are thrown out of the yacht straight into the sea. So-called gray water (from dishes and showers) can be drained almost anywhere in the world. In many countries, black water (from the toilet) is required to be stored in collector tanks on a boat and pumped out in specially designated places. In sum, it all sounds terribly delusional. Shit, diluted in water, is much more harmless than fairies or alkaline shampoos. On the yacht, I try to use environmentally friendly household chemicals and cosmetics, but rather for self-assurance. Because on the scale of the world's oceans, this is ridiculous.

In addition to water, you will have to save energy. We travel in sunny regions, therefore, for our needs (refrigerator, recharging phones and laptops, lights, autopilot), two solar panels are almost always enough. Many people install wind turbines and water turbines on boats - versatile, but incredibly expensive. We also have a watermaker installed - incredible useful thing, giving full autonomy from the coast. True, distilled water should not be drunk for too long due to the complete lack of useful substances in it, which are contained in ordinary water. We fill up full tanks whenever possible. 350 liters of water is enough for the two of us for more than 2 weeks.

Those who live on the water need to periodically get ashore - not all are at home. For this purpose, a small inflatable boat with a motor or oars is usually used (although in the Canaries I saw two girls who ignored oars and paddled with fins). It is almost impossible to leave this enterprise with a dry bottom. So, let's say it's early Saturday morning, you tumble out of a bar. What's next? That's right, you get in a taxi to go home to sleep. And I wander along the beach or promenade in search of my seedy boat, which turned into an inflatable pool overnight, enter into an unequal battle with a wave, jellyfish, a motor even more sluggish than me. In general, one wrong move and the boat is on your head. Recently we forgot to take our paddles with us, for the first time in our life. Of course, on the way back our motor died, also for the first time in our life. We were stuck on our inflatable hernia in the middle of a bay in the very center of Bridgetown, where at that time we were celebrating the 50th anniversary of Barbados' independence. Under the hooting of the crowd from the embankment, they were buried with their hands and after 40 minutes they were on the yacht (the trip under the motor took about three minutes). The ridiculous situations in which you find yourself while living at anchor cannot be counted.

School of captains

Anyone can become the captain of a sailing vessel - you only need a desire and a good instructor. "The Power of the Wind" will teach you everything you need to know and be able to do, and after passing the exam, it will give you an international class license. We conduct theoretical courses in the center of Moscow, and practice in the Mediterranean and the Canaries. Come to class!

Otherwise, everything is at home, or rather in the country. A bedroom with a large bed, a living room with a large table, internet (we have an antenna amplifier to steal Wi-Fi from coastal cafes), even an oven (for storing pans). There is a TV set in the salon - exclusively for watching movies and TV series. There are speakers in the cockpit so that you can dance on the deck or just have a party. As for the parties - yachtsmen are not fools to drink at all. One of the terms that came into my use after moving to the boat - sundowner - means "a glass of alcohol drunk at sunset." Another term was coined by my husband - "Polish yachting". This is when you rent a boat for a week and never leave the marina, because you drink all day. From the name it is clear that it is mainly the Poles who trade in this, not us.

Any racer will spit in my face when they see what my boat is turning into at anchorages. A hammock is dangling on a spinnaker pole, a bucket is tied to the roll of the staysail (well, so as not to drop it), panties are drying on the rails. Books and clothes are scattered everywhere, the kitchen is overgrown with a bunch of little things - this happens to everyone who hangs out in one place for more than a few days. After a couple of weeks in the parking lot, it is difficult to force yourself to go out to sea. Too lazy to collect everything, fix it, put it in the lockers. Reluctance to bother with the anchor, then with the sails. It's good if you have to go for a short time and with good wind... Transitions for more than a day in our case turn into seizure yachting. Long hours of procrastination on deck, and then - a sudden change in the wind, a gust, a torn sheet, running to the harrowing screams of the captain. The first time I was in a stupor that the captain is actually my husband. I still don't understand why he is yelling so! They say that almost all skippers behave in a similar way, no matter how nice people they are in everyday life. In the USA there is a yachting school for women, with women owners and teachers. So, their slogan is "No shout". It seems to me that this is very cool and correct.

In many yacht blogs I read that after living on a yacht it is difficult to return to the cities, because the boat gives a feeling of freedom and all that, and the city subdues itself, leaves only the illusion of choice. It seems to me that in many ways this is slyness. To balance between a low-cost gypsy life on a yacht and keeping the boat fit for major crossings, money is needed, quite large at the current exchange rate. This means that it is still impossible to exclude oneself from the circle of capitalist relations. To some extent, you become a slave to your own boat. If you want to radically change the environment, you need money not only for yourself, but also for the yacht's parking. The apartment can be locked up and forgotten, and only a rather careless owner can leave the yacht dangling at anchor and just dump. The most painless, in my opinion, scenario is as follows: half a year while in Europe good weather, to travel, stopping at anchor, and for the winter to put the boat in an inexpensive marina (if you look, you can keep within 600-700 euros for 6 months) and go home to work. With more exotic places, this will not work out - flying is expensive, leaving the boat even more expensive. If you are tired of everything, you are in a desperate situation.

A big bonus of owning a yacht in Europe is the opportunity to stay abroad almost indefinitely without worrying about a visa. If, without further details, put a stamp on the exit to any of the EU countries. This is done either at the local police station or at the passenger port. Both there and there there are more important things to do than you with your visa, so they put stamps without looking. Upon arrival in the next country, you can "accidentally forget" about the entry stamp until you need to fly home. Such an unexpected loophole still does not fit in my head, because we are all accustomed to serious controls at airports and on land borders. On the contrary, the Caribbean turned out to be a rather bureaucratic place. On almost every Antilles, where we spend this winter, you need to draw up documents for entry and exit. In Barbados, among other things, we were sent to the medical office, where we had to fill out a questionnaire with questions such as “did anyone on board die” and “did the crew have diarrhea”. But there is no control other than on paper. For more than six months, our yacht has never received any checks, although we have already crossed half the world. Whether you carry slaves or enriched uranium. In this sense, owning a boat really gives a certain freedom. This is probably why same-sex couples and all those who, for ideological or any other reasons, have ceased to be satisfied with life in modern cities, travel on yachts quite often.

Photos

andrey stekachev

Summer on a yacht moored in a cozy picturesque bay is a real dream. The Village spoke with Ksenia Kushnarenko, the founder of the Le Picnic market, who spends the summer with her family on a sailing yacht in the Orekhovaya Bay near Moscow, and found out if life on a boat is really like a fairy tale.

Lifestyle

We bought this boat with my parents a couple of years ago in Poland. We went for one, and bought a completely different one. Roughly speaking, we went for a tricycle and bought a motorcycle. It took her a long time to get to us: they bought it in the fall, and she arrived only in the spring of next year.

The boat was launched at the Gals yacht club on the Pirogov reservoir. The first year we stood there, and then we moved to the neighboring yacht club "Nut Buhta" - "Oreshka". It is very cozy here: a narrow bay, stretched out like the bow of Buratino, boat to boat, a compact pier and immediately from it - a hillock with a grove. Upstairs - houses, cafes, yacht parking and a yacht shop. In addition to yachtsmen and their sympathizers, wakers and windsurfers hang out here. Parents live in the yacht club almost all the time, and my boyfriend Zhenya and I ride there as if to a summer cottage. We try to spend all our free time in Oreshka, but if there is something to do, we jumped into a taxi - and already in the city.

Our boat is called Vesta. When we bought it, it had a different name, but traditionally it is supposed to change the name when the owner changes. We had many options, but in the end we chose Vesta: I read that this is the patron goddess of the family hearth. The boat appeared at a difficult moment for our family and, probably, really united and united us for some time. So this is a very symbolic name for us.

In addition to the boat, we have a house in Orekhovaya Bay, and we mostly sleep there.
We also tried it on the boat: nothing in the aft cabin, but in the bow you feel like in a single tent. At night, it is very inconvenient to get out to the toilet: you need to disassemble the bed from the pillows, otherwise the door will not open. Zhenya climbed out through the hatch, but sleep is not easy. In addition, this hatch is quite decent in size and serves as a porthole. The light that enters through it greatly interferes with sleep. Imagine that you are sleeping in a transparent tent - about the same feeling.

But it sways pleasantly on the waves. Sleep like a baby in a cradle. And only nightingales interfere with sleep. The nightingales here are some especially fanatical: they start singing around 23:00 and do not finish until the morning. Without earplugs. In general, we usually go on a boat during the day, and spend the night in a house opposite. We also have a container - the kind in which cargo is usually transported. He is also standing nearby, and we want to transform it into a living space. We have already painted the container yellow, now we are working on the stairs, and then we are planning repairs inside.

Yacht device

Our yacht is sailing, centerboard, quite large by local standards - 33 feet in length, which is about 10 meters. There are only two such large cruise boats here: ours and our neighbor, the French Jeanneau.

The boat was made at the Polish shipyard Maxus. We are not the first owners of it, but it was in perfect condition, and we decided to buy. I remember we went on an excursion to the factory, where they showed us the whole process of assembling the vessel from the matrix to the finished hull. Then we were invited to the regatta on this very boat, where we, together with the captain, took first place. And then there was a party with dances, tables bursting with food, river beer and fireworks. Therefore, we had no chance not to buy a boat.

Inside there are three cabins (one bow and two aft), one latrine, spacious wardroom and cockpit. The cost of parking our boat includes the actual parking itself, that is, mooring, and round-the-clock security - this is 8 thousand rubles a month. Electricity and water are charged separately. By the way, we have the purest spring water, from a local artesian well. The galley has a sink, refrigerator and small gas hob. So we do not eat adjustable soups here, rather the opposite: every day, then tom-yam, fish soup or pasta with mussels. Parents are very fond of throwing up dinner parties - it seems that the whole "Nut" has already attended them. People come to us not only from neighboring yacht clubs, but from Voronezh.

All the water from our shower, toilet and kitchen is drained into a tank, and from there into Pirogovka. But not into the bay, of course - we drain it as soon as we sail away. According to yachting etiquette, no one uses the latrine during anchorage (only if they press it completely). We have two souls: one in the same place where the latrine is, and the second at the stern, right in the transom. It is very convenient: dived, swam, rinsed. Swimming, by the way, is not officially allowed in the bay - the guard swears. This is logical: boats and boats go back and forth. But we still swim.

We never had a summer house, and the boat became a great alternative to it. And the yacht has its advantages. After all, the house stands and stands, but you took the boat and went out in the evening for a ride. Most often we ride along Pirogovka or go to the Pestovskoye reservoir. There is wind - we set sails, no - we go under the motor. The farthest where we went was to Konakovo, to the Volga, through the Moscow Canal. There seem to be six locks there and the same number back.

Theoretically, on our boat you can go to Ladoga, to Onega - we have a good lake type of yacht. But the sea is already more difficult. It would be more logical to take a charter on the spot. There are requirements for going to sea. But if you prepare and if you have time, then you can go there, I think.

The captain is our father. He's the only one with skipper crust. And me, Zhenya and my mother are like this - an underground sailor (from the word payol. - Ed.) as he calls us. We set up the mainsail, work on the staysail, work out overtag turns and fordewind. Recently we went to skipper courses, as a result of which at the end of summer we should receive an IYT Bareboat Skipper diploma (this is an international certificate that gives us the right to manage sailing yacht length up to 22 meters). At the end of the course they promise practice in Greece - this is very attractive. I would like to go somewhere besides Konakovo and Poland - well, to be in the captain's shoes, of course.

Glossary of terms

Cabin
small private room on the ship

Latrine
toilet on the ship

Wardroom
common area on the ship for eating and resting

Cockpit
internal open space on deck

Galley
ship kitchen

Boat bow
the front of the ship

Stern
rear of the ship

Transom
bottom of the flat stern of the ship

Cleaning and maintenance

A boat is no different from a house in terms of cleaning - the only difference is that you have to put things in order much more often. This is a yacht for guests - a holiday, they came and left. And for those who live on it, these are harsh everyday life. All the time you remove something - the space is small, everything is in plain sight.

My father is generally a "wedge-freak": his cleanliness is like in a medical unit, every stopper and every button on the dashboard are signed. It looks funny, but it helps him. He seems to be the only one here. I have not yet seen that their boat was treated with such care. He buys something for her all the time: either a new sail, or a navigation system. Although why is she in Pirogovo? There are no reefs, shoals or shoals of mackerel here.

In general, a boat is a big toy that you can tinker with endlessly. Well, it is necessary to feed it - in the sense of refueling. There is no gas station at Oreshka, so we bring fuel in cans. It takes 40 liters of one gasoline per engine, and you still need a diesel for the heating system.

Yacht maintenance is not a cheap pleasure. Having bought once, you will not only constantly pump the boat, but also repair it. One of the guests threw something into the latrine, and the tank was clogged. And to remove the blockage - 500 euros, take it out and put it down. To buy a storm sail - a thousand dollars, to fix a stem - 30 thousand rubles. 30 thousand rubles for a site of 30 by 30 centimeters is a thousand per square centimeter. In addition, like any transport, the yacht requires regular technical inspection. For the winter, the engine is preserved, the yacht is taken out of the water and put on a trailer for the winter on land.

Summer in nature

We seem to be very close to Moscow - it's ten minutes by car to the Moscow Ring Road, but the proximity of the city is not felt at all here. It feels like you are somewhere very far away.

I love our home. We have panoramic windows everywhere, and we seem to be the only ones who did not curtain them. I studied in Denmark, and I have this habit from there: no one there ever blinds the windows, and no one cares about what you do. But the whole world is at a glance.

So here too - trees are all around, water is just a few steps away. Like in the house, but like in nature. It turns out perfect observation deck, and you are sitting and as if watching TV: the reservoir, hazel, bells, squirrels jumping, hedgehogs rustling, someone is doing magic over the grill, Lena from the wake station to one of the newcomers for the hundredth time shouts about “softer knees”, yacht "Kunashir" has gone, but "Vesta" is ours. To be honest, it's impossible to work. I tried - a failed idea. All the time you are distracted by something. Communication, again. We have a very hospitable yacht, there are always new people on the boat, there is always something to treat. Therefore, if I park for work, I go to the city, there you can definitely get together.

If suddenly this idea comes to mind, it is clearly not by itself, somewhere I saw and heard that people live on yachts, travel and enjoy life. Ok, it happens ... Then you start trying on yourself, and what if it's true, instead of buying a house or apartment in Thailand, Cyprus, etc. buy a yacht?
Pros:
- as in none of the countries South-East Asia it is practically impossible to get permanent residence, then why buy something here? It’s not clear what will happen next and what to do with this house? And in general, on the docks, your only home is, and the land on which it stands on lease also does not warm your soul too much.

Many are happy to buy something, but they cannot decide on either the country, or the city, or the region. Well, really, how do I know where I want to live in 5 years and don't really want to be attached "forever" to some place.

Sometimes I want to travel, but with a bunch of children it is not only expensive, but also quite difficult and tiring. There is an opinion that if a family has children, then everything, life has stopped. You are tied to school, kindergarten, housing ... We do not want to put up with it :)))

yacht: all yours! you want to live in Thailand, you want to live in Cambodia, you want to go to the Philippines, etc. your home is always with you, and the impressions around can change. You can also live in Hua Hin or Samui, Phuket, do business or what we do, but live on a yacht and whenever you want to travel around the islands. This is akin to the Turtle, which always carries its house with itself.

a few more pluses from olegradul

“At sea, you seem to find yourself in a parallel universe living according to different laws. I am still delighted with the world in which I found myself when I started sailing.

There is no such crowd in the sea as in most of the other beautiful places on the planet, accessible by land. You can go to the most beautiful corners any popular resorts, and be surprised to find that you are here alone.

Even the central embankments, always full of tourists, are always open and free from the sea. You can come here and stand, in fact, in the very center of the city, while remaining at home. Tourists will walk along the embankment and take pictures of your yacht, while you can sit inside and drink tea. Or go for a walk with them. "

A yacht is a kind of transportation to a parallel reality. Even going ashore, you still remain a little in a different world than those who move on land.

Having lived on a yacht, you understand in what rigid framework we all live on land, under the constant control of the state. For example, in the sea there is something like traffic rules (called COLREGs). These rules are needed so that the ships do not collide with each other. But no one catches intruders by hiding in the bushes. No cameras, no posts, no radars. Or, here's the admissible number of ppm in the helmsman's blood. Zero three? Zero eight? Yes, as much as necessary! If the captain decided to put someone on watch, then he has every right to do so. All the rules and regulations in force on land, at sea are replaced by just one concept - the responsibility of the captain. On each boat, the captain sets his own rules, but he will also have to answer, in which case. Such a simple law. Freedom and responsibility.

Here you arrive, say, in another country. Or you come. One way or another, you go to the window, hold out your passport, the stern uncle looks at your photo, then at you, then finds a visa, examines it and puts a stamp. Only then can you enter the country. Things are quite different at sea. I had a chance to cross the borders on a yacht five times. In all cases, questions passport control on the ship, he fully trusts the captain. That is, no customs office checks how many people you have on board, who are all these people. The captain himself goes to the port and provides data for the whole crew at once. Either the passport is stamped, or more often just a list of people on a piece of paper (crew list), even without passports. At first, of course, the brain endures: how so? You sail to the territory of another state, no one checks you. You go ashore, nobody cares. You run around the city, you yourself are looking for the services you need (the duty officer at the port, customs), while neither you nor your team have ever looked at a single document! So, for example, having come to Italy, I ran for half a day, trying to put stamps on the entrance to Schengen. I went to the police, to the coast guard, and even to the tourist office. I went around the whole city in circles. As a result, one policeman told me "wait", got into the car, drove me somewhere to get a seal, brought and stamped all the passports that I had with me. And all this, again, in absentia - neither the people nor the yacht had to be presented.

A week later, I got into a conversation with an old acquaintance and it turned out that he, the cunning one, did not register in Italy at all! He just comes on a yacht from Montenegro and hangs out in Schengen as much as he wants, and then back, as if nothing had happened. This, of course, is already beyond good and evil, but nevertheless very well illustrates the degree of control at sea.

________________________________________ __

OK, everything is cool, we decided to live on a yacht, but we do not dream of traveling around the world at a frantic pace, we are a family with four children who just want to live on a yacht, like in an ordinary house and sometimes explore the coast of the Asian region and maybe change countries.
We started to study the yacht market and found that there are simply no such yachts that meet our requirements!
These are either yachts for athletes, lonely sea wolves, little space, a lot of speed, almost no living conditions, a washing machine is a dream! Or charter yachts for weekly travel. A little more comfort, because for the price it is already a yacht for Abramovich.
And our requirements are simple - a yacht-house, light, moderately spacious, with the surrounding space, thought out for long-term living, with shelves, wardrobes, etc.
have to build ourselves! :)

The World or Mir - the first passenger ship, which is at the same time a private home. The inhabitants live on board the ship, and the ship itself moves around the globe. The owners of the cabins do not rent them for the days of the cruise, but they are the full owners. Today the world has entered London.

The huge ship, 196.35 meters long, is on a non-stop cruise all the time, visiting all continents.

The ship has now arrived in London, after which it will go to France and then to Spain.

Great view! The owners of the cabins can live on the yacht all the time, and can only occasionally appear in their apartments. On average, yacht apartment owners live in them for 3 to 6 months.

The ship has 6 restaurants, as well as grocery stores, boutiques and lounges. There is also a fitness center, billiards room and golf simulator.

Launched in 2002, this yacht has 165 luxury apartments ranging from $ 2.7 million to $ 9.1 million for a top suite. About 130 families all over the world own apartments.

In four years, the vessel can visit more than 900 ports in more than 140 countries, if it saves at a maximum speed of 18.5 knots (34 km / h).

The world is sailing all year round. However, its passengers do not have to be in their apartments all the time.

Peace has arrived in London today. V last time he visited the English capital in 2013.

The ship has three-bedroom apartments and six-bedroom penthouses.

The cost of an apartment on a ship is calculated depending on the squares. In addition to three-room apartments, there are two-room and also studios. In total, the ship has about 40 studios.

All apartment owners have access to a full-size tennis court, spa, fitness center, swimming pool, as well as 12,000 bottles of expensive wine.

The routes of the vessel are planned two to three years in advance through a public vote.

An interesting discussion ensued about life on a 40+ yacht. User Alloy boy wondered what it would be like to move from an apartment to a small boat:

“All day long I see yachts from the window of my office, and it seems to me that life on them flows so serenely.- he writes. - Is there really nowhere to turn around, as it seems to me (if you live alone)? How quickly do they depreciate? A quick search shows that the "forty-foot" is comparable in price to an apartment or a small house, but what are the advantages of living on a yacht (other than mobility)? "

Here are the answers he received:

Imaka

“It's a very relaxed life and quite comfortable, but it all depends on your needs and desires. By the way, in most places you will pay much less for a 40-foot yacht than for an apartment.

Life on a boat is not for everyone. It can be enjoyable and relaxing, but it takes a lot of work to make it that way. If there is an opportunity to live on a yacht without buying it, then it is worth doing it.

You must take care of fresh water and emptying the waste tank. For water you will have to run to the shore - sometimes to the marina. In some places there is delivery of water to the boat, but experience tells me that this is rather an exception. Personally, I was so unlucky. When my husband and I stood in one place for a long time, we had to grab 20 liters of water each time we went ashore.

Need electricity? If so, consider wind generators or solar panels - it all depends on the area where you live. Refrigerator? The most energy-hungry device on a yacht. There are less voracious ones, but they will cost you a pretty penny. Want to have a hot shower on the boat? Think about whether your area is warm enough to get by with a “summer shower” every day, or if you should buy a water heater.

What about cooking? If you have a gas stove, especially a Force 10, two burners and an oven, that's fine, some people supplement it with a cockpit barbecue grill. With the stove, you should have a gas sensor in the cabin in case of a leak, gas can accumulate at the bottom of the boat and cause an explosion.

If you are at anchor, then you will have to reach the coast on a brine every day. Take care not to get it stolen. Is there transport ashore? So much the better, you don't have to carry laundry, groceries, etc. on your hump. Do you work every day? Keep in mind that there will be days when getting to the shore by dinghy will be difficult.

Want TV and internet on board? We used to use Mobile Internet... Sometimes I was lucky to catch an unpaired Wi-Fi. A high enough antenna will provide reception of free TV channels. Naturally, the picture quality will "lame" when the boat is moving.

Again, depending on the region, clothing can suffer from moisture and mold. To avoid this, we hid everything in sealed bags.

I would repeat my experience if the opportunity presents itself and if the right person is around. "

drwer2

“I’m thinking about it myself. I’ve been swimming for many years, retirement is nearing, and the prospect of having a second home is attractive. If you work, you probably do not want such a radical change.

If you are not afraid of life in a kennel, then go ahead. On a yacht docked in the marina, you will receive the following: long walks to and from the car with purchases, daily outings to showers in the marina (a drain bank will save the situation, but you cannot empty it in the marina, and it is expensive to pay for it weekly) or you can go out to sea every week to empty it there.

I highly recommend a light (or white) interior. The dark tree is depressing in the winter months. In addition, you can suffer from claustrophobia in winter. That is why for those planning to live by boat, I advise not to save on space. The more space, the better your mental health.

In many ways, it's like living in a camper ... with the likelihood of drowning. "

Doh

No washer / dryer. "Interruptions" with water. With cupboards and cooking, everything is modest. The beds leave a lot to be desired. Shower from boxes. Everything is damp all year round. Gasoline smell if you have a motorboat. Knocking on the dock, even if the boat is tied. Many yachts do not have heaters, and none of which I have been have air conditioning. At best, you will be just cramped. Entertainment is tight. Getting a pet is almost impossible. Straighten up to your full height? Forget it.

Everything, of course, is so, but I myself would like to live on a boat - but only on a long journey, and not huddle in the marina and wander back and forth to work. Maybe live in the Caribbean in the winter and move to Maine for the summer? I would also like from North America reach Europe. A completely different life!

Think of it this way: having a boat as your home is like having a motorcycle for all occasions. Sounds romantic, but how convenient is it in practice?

william g

You don’t have to stay where you don’t want, you are literally and figuratively the “Captain of your ship”, and no one will argue with that.