Best products from r/liveaboard

is it the pop top model ? Internet can come from your wireless carrier, a dock side phone outlet, or a boosted antenna from a shoreside access point.

I have lived on several different boats, but the best thing I can say is :

• bring your changes of clothing and your laptop. That's all you need. Put everything else into a storage unit or get rid of it.
  
  
• If the boat is an 80's model, you may have second thoughts about drinking out of a 40 year old water tank. But a 5 gallon water jug and find a place to keep it on the boat.
  
  
• You will have 30 amp service. Use it all. Don't worry about solar this and that - it's expensive and you don't need it. The electricity however is very useful.
  
  
• • Buy an electric kettle. I go through 3 pots of hot water when it's time to do dishes. It's great for instant coffee and tea. Also for other cleaning.
    
    
• • Buy a fan. Not too big or small, one that oscillates. This is half your air conditioning.
    
    
• • Buy a forced air heater. Other kinds are good, but the forced air one is best for you. Let it run constantly, it good to prevent mold.
    
    
• • Buy a light. The clamp on kind. This will provide good light for reading, working, and doing whatever.
    
    
• • Buy an electric hot plate for cooking. I purchased an induction model and it works great, just need special cookwear, which I bought especially for it.
    
    Now at this point, since you are living aboard, I would say buy a refrigerator, microwave, and toaster oven. But in a 25' boat I suppose this may be excessive. Also depends on what you cook and how you want to approach it. If you don't have a fridge I guess you aren't cooking for several days in advance, and you are just eating as you go nightly. Alright plan, but I would rather put the fridge on deck and secure it there. -
    
    

• I realize you are talking about racing, but I would think you could race on other boats first. It's tempting to have a 25' liveaboard / blue water racer / apocalypse survivor boat, but realistically I would focus on being a liveaboard. You sailing neighbors may make fun of you for that though.
  
  

• Throw away all the tools you find on the boat and buy one of those toolsets that come in a plastic molded case.
  
  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00F4AVRGW?keywords=crescent%20tool%20set&qid=1457211905&ref_=sr_1_1&sr=8-1
  
  Of course you still need a hammer, a voltmeter, etc. But having a complete, all there set of tools is the difference between fixing a problem and putting it off for another time.
  
  
• Keep it minimalistic. The less you have the better. Like I mentioned earlier. Don't buy a coffee maker, it's just more clutter. Use instant or some other method. I use a coffee press when I want to be fancy.
  
  
• use your boat and keep it in usable condition. Once the potted plants appear on deck, it's another story.
  
  
• An electric dehumidifier goes a long way to making a boat more liveable.. Only works when you keep the door closed all the time.
  
  I think the biggest issue when living aboard is making a vehicle that was meant for weekend use into one for full time use. Different usage demands require different solutions. For example the 25' is tool small to shower in, and would likely create a real mess. You don't want your bilge filling with nasty smelly shower water in any case, right ? Can you imagine the smell on a hot summer day of all that accumulated gray water residue ? So look to a gym for that service.
  
  I have to say that as far as sailboats go, I really like the boom-tent. It looks so nice on a rainy day with the entry hatch open.

I think the main deterrent is always making breaking into your boat more trouble than it'll be worth. Make sure everything is stowed away when you're not on board, don't leave things laying around in plain sight for anyone to eye up. If you store anything easy to sell (like propane tanks or diesel jerry cans) then do your best to either lock them away, or to thoroughly tie them up. Get various lengths of looped steel cable and some heavy duty locks to secure anything else you might keep on deck (like kayaks or surf boards). Do the same with your dinghy outboard, and even your dinghy when you're on shore. Make sure you hoist and visibly lock your dinghy every night.

Fitting security screens on your hatches and companionway makes a big difference too, since it's pretty easy to pop a hatch with a crow bar. When you're away, pull your covers/curtains so no one can peek in and have a look at what might be worth stealing.

You can get some wireless motion sensors and set them up at various places around the boat. They'll flood the area with light and sound alarms so that's also a pretty effective method of startling someone off. There are also personal alarms which you can activate yourself if you're on board while someone tries to break in. A good ol' air horn will also do the trick. I've got a couple friends who have a Christmas ornament made of maybe 10 jingle bells tied to the back of their companion-way latch so that if anyone fiddles with it, you can hear.

As a software developer I assume you will need to stay connected while travelling. You might find some of the information on Technomadia's blog helpful. They are app developers that live on a boat part of the year, and an RV the other part. They post a lot of articles about staying connected and working virtually from a boat full time.

A good book I found helpful about liveaboard life is, "The Essentials of Living Aboard a Boat," by Mark Nicholas. He lived aboard for years, so some of the technology he mentions is dated, but he lists the potential problems and rewards that come along with living aboard full time while working a regular, full time job while he lived in Boston.

Another book that might pertain to you and I've seen excerpts from is, "Leap of Faith: Quit Your Job and Live on a Boat," by Ed Robinson. You might download a sample and see if it's helpful. Good luck and take care.

I always think it suspicious when people list their boat's condition as "fair" when selling online. I've seen Craigslist boats where the deck is one big maze of spider cracks and softer than a pillow in spots, where the stays are one puff away from snapping, where the rudder can spin freely on the shaft ("it helps to trim the boat") that are listed as "good". If a boat owner lists their boat as anything less than "good", they're either incredibly honest (which is unlikely) or aware of some awful drawback (soggy decks, failed chainplates, clothlike sails, rusty stays, frozen through-hulls, leaky hull-deck joint, or a hilarious and novel combination thereof).


That said, check out "Inspecting the Aging Sailboat", it's a great book that's helped me a great deal and I've spent most of my life on boats:

https://www.amazon.com/Inspecting-Sailboat-International-Marine-Library/dp/0071445455

At the very least, google "Morgan 35" and see what people have to say. Most of what you read online about boats is by nincompoops so be skeptical (but should you be skeptical of me telling you to be skeptical? SKEPTICEPTION!). If you're going to make a big life decision by buying a large sailboat you should probably get it surveyed, especially if you don't know boats very well.


Anyways, you might try looking at a smaller boat? You don't need more than 30' if you're living alone, and you'll save a lot of money if that's your aim. Plus, a smaller boat is easier to maintain, berth, and sail!

Thanks. I don't know if I could do better than what's already out there... things like Diet for a Small Planet and other hippie and camping cook books were an influence but I've only really incorporated a small part of that. Part of the difficulty in writing a cookbook I'm realizing is that taking advantage of what's local is really hard to document comprehensively. I spent a lot of time in Arizona in the US and moving away was difficult... I was completely addicted to the free grapefruit, oranges, figs, dates, prickly pair fruit, all growing on the side of the road, and to the mesquite flour, fresh roasted peppers, etc, etc.


Diet for a Small Planet is outdated now but still has a lot of the hippie food spirit. https://www.amazon.com/Gorp-Glop-Glue-Stew-Favorite/dp/0898860172 is a good old fashoined camping food cookbook.


My father camped a lot, partially to get away from the fussier parts of raising kids (simple meals, wash your dishes in the creek without soap and re-use them, not worried too worried about getting dirty, etc) and my mother canned fresh fruit and veggies so I blame them ;)

Here's what I think would be nice for me:

1. A first aid kit (not applicable if the boat already has one).
   
   
2. Sunscreen (it's always good to have extra--not applicable depending on the climate).
   
   
3. Air freshener for the head.
   
   
4. "Boat Beer" (cheap canned beer that you always have aboard just in case)
   
   
5. A useful sailing book like this: http://amzn.com/B00E1JR3P6
   
   
6. Binoculars.
   
   
7. Those nets that hold fruit and stuff.
   
   
8. A nice brass bell/thermometer/hydrometer/barometer
   
   Yeah these are basically all things I want.

I would highly recommend the book! It's absolutely amazing. Additionally, if you dig it, check out Fatu Hiva, in which Thor Heyerdahl comes up with the inspiration for the Kon-Tiki expedition.

> https://www.amazon.com/Dexas-Scoop-Cutting-inches-Handle/dp/B003PDO0FU/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?keywords=Curved%2BCutting%2BBoard&qid=1562806006&s=gateway&sr=8-3&th=1&psc=1


I love simple details like that which make a world of a difference.
I would have never thought about that.
(That is, until I encountered that issue after I get my LiveAboard Boat)...
Great recommendation.

Foam cushions are either open-celled or closed-celled. Open-celled absorbs water, like a sponge, but closed-cell foam does not.

Closed-cell foam rings or seats are used for U.S. Coast Guard approved throw-able life preservers, so this is normally better on a boat or in any humid environment.

Closed-cell foam is made in different densities and stiffness, so you need to find some that suits your tastes as to how cushiony it is. You might combine two or more different densities in layers of different thicknesses in order to get the kind of cushioning you want.

Then there is the issue of the cushion cover... which generally ranges from stiff-but-durable to soft-but-short-lived.

Here is one of many examples of closed-cell foam (without a cover) : https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B013XQXY1O.

Also, buy this book,


https://www.amazon.com/Boatowners-Mechanical-Electrical-Manual-4/dp/0071790330/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2DA9RJ21LVSZ8&keywords=nigel+calder+boatowner%27s+mechanical+and+electrical+manual&qid=1563409415&s=books&sprefix=nigel+calder+boat%2Cstripbooks%2C403&sr=1-1


Boat repair and maintenance is not hard -- but there is a lot of specialized knowledge. YouTube and forums are great resources -- but they are not a replacement for a well written, comprehensive book. You need all three sources!

Kanberra gel! Amazingly this stuff works at inhibiting mold, and really helps with the overall smells, and funk. Indvidual units are very expensive but buy the refill and make your own. just use short mason jars and cheese cloth, cheep and effective. also hose out your bulge.
http://www.amazon.com/Kanberra-Gel-Purifier-Refill-Pouch/dp/B008JHX846/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1449510338&sr=8-2&keywords=kanberra+gel

I use a Nanostation M2 to pull in wifi from the marina. It's pretty powerful. You can plug this into your computer or into a router to set up a personal wifi network for your boat.

I am 6'1" and liveaboard a 45' Gibson houseboat. It's pretty tight but I have about two inches of space above my head. My knowledge of boats is limited but I have been on a few larger vessels that had about 7' ceilings so they do exist.

It's mostly okay but sometimes it can feel a little bit claustrophobic.

Here are some must have books that will help with the mechanical end of things:
http://www.amazon.com/Chapman-Piloting-Seamanship-Edition-Handling/dp/1588169618

http://www.amazon.com/12-Volt-Bible-Boats-Miner-Brotherton/dp/0071392335/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1457992044&sr=1-1&keywords=12+volt+bible+for+boats

I recommend this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Living-Aboard-Revised-Updated/dp/0939837668

Re learning: get something you can hope to dock.

This was a great resource for my wife and I (boston, 42' trawler): https://www.amazon.com/Essentials-Living-Aboard-Boat/dp/0939837668.