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Anyone here liveaboard or ever lived aboard a boat? The missus and I have been thinking about the ultramobile/permanently tropical lifestyle of boat living. I figure if I can set up a dental clinic in the jungle, surely I can put something together on a trawler of some sort. I’ll have a sign on the bow: “Dr Dave’s dentistry, will work for food, gas, and bait” Fresh Mahi, snapper, or grouper every night.
I figure I can just steam to the next location of our mission teams and wait for them at the port….hmmmm….the possibilities are endless.
Seriously though, anyone doing/done it? What do/did you think about it? Where are/were you?
years ago I was a Merchant Mariner, when I got out I researched a single-hand (no wife at the time) live-aboard situation. As I am a particularly lazy Bastard, I felt the easiest was motor driven. Of these I settled on the Dutch River Barges, which can be fitted to any particular lifestyle. Due to their shallow draft they make excellent coast-wise vessels and of course great river boats. The price of fuel being what it is nowadays would dictate motoring to where you want to “park” her and then tying up in a shady spot for awhile. If you are a handyman type and don’t mind a “fixer-upper” that is the cheapest route to go. I’ve posted a photo and a web-link for your perusal, (she’s going for around $65,000 USD) you can find a lot of different sites and photos of some really nice barges, just “google” Dutch River Barges. In my experience I’ve found the LuxeMotor Barges to be the nicest. Good luck and God speed,
Another good site: http://www.barges.org/
I know a few people who live like that and they say it is about as expensive as a real home. The maintenance costs are said to be higher (“A boat is a hole in the water you pour money into” is how a boat owning buddy described it to me) and mooring costs and plumbing, water, power etc are supposed to be disincentives.
Attractive alternative lifestyle for sure, but the resale value may not be a very attractive option.
OK, I figured it out. Here is the boat:
It can be bought and outfitted out of the vast PB financial reserves. A tv crew is invited aboard as the first PB cruise is commissioned to terrorize the high seas and any port we can find. It will be a reality show illegitimate child between “Dangerous Catch,” “Survivor,” and “The Real World” except following PBs around the world on a big trawler will most certainly have a higher entertainment value than either. It may be the first opportunity for network TV to actually film someone being forced to walk the plank for real as the losers get voted off the boat.
There is no telling what would actually happen, but we all know it would sell to the networks. Who’s in ? :)
Holy crap Dave – that boat is HUGE. You would most definitely need a licence to skipper it anywhere near civilization as boats that big tend to make big holes in other boats when driven badly.
Seriously though, you would need something about half that size for what you described.
As luck would have it, my old man is a marine engineer and at this very moment is working on converting a fishing trawler to live on. He wants to go live up on the Great Barrier Reef and maybe take it around to the NW of Australia. I am pretty sure he is not putting in a dental chair though.
Actually living on a boat is much different than owning a boat, cost wise. And it is cheaper. I am willing to bet that Lee and Mike’s friend’s all tried to do it while paying mortgages or rents on a house. Both my GF and I were bought up living on boats and it is a lot cheaper than houses but if you are trying to do both, then it is more expensive. Ditch the house and get a boat if you don’t mind ditching an appreciating assett in favour of a depreciating assett.
Fuel cost is an issue, but if you are living on the thing then you don’t have to have it tied up at a (expensive) Marina berth when you can steam for ten minutes and drop a (free) anchor for the evening/week.
Fuel cost can also be minimised by getting a motor / sailor.
The view is always better than living in a house.
Hold on, just for clarification to everyone, I was just kidding about buying that big trawler. I wouldn’t want something that big really. Too bad sarcasm doesn’t go through message boards very well.
In real life, I would most definitely be looking at something in a 40-60 foot range. A bit easier to manage. If we ever went that route, it would most certainly be after ditching the house and stuff. If we decide to live aboard, it will be nothing but the boat.
I still think it would be cool to film a PB reality show on the big trawler in the picture though. Rob and Lee, you guys would need to wear eye patches and get funny looking hats and a parrot to make it authentic. Practice saying “arrrggghhhh” alot too. “Bastards At Sea,” it will be the next big thing.
I have been thinking about buying a boat for some time now, I think that I have settled on a Endeavor 42’ sailboat (and no, I will not name it the “St. Vitus Dance”). Endeavors are great boats and you can get one for only 100K.
Boats tend to cost you about 10% of there value a year to maintain.
If you claim it as your “primary residence” (US citizens only) you will get the same tax benefits as owning a house. If you buy your boat with a corporation that you own the tax deductions are pretty substantial (Dr. Dave, I would buy it under the name of your NGO = HUGE tax breaks).
Endeavor 42’ sailboat
i have talked to alot of people that lived on board when i was in the usvi….one of the advatages is that you never have to pack your stuff to go somewhere, you just go….that is, if the boat is inclined to be moved. one down side not mentioned is that you could be continually wet for weeks in stormy weather….even if you re moored in a nice place. but i think if you approached it from a 2 to 5 year plan it would be cool. check out marinas near large urban centers….there are nice boats that a couple or someone bought to live the dream after they retired and six months later packed it in….
@jamesintheworld wrote:
That is one bad point about owning a boat, you have to make your monthly payments and pay rent (slip fee) wherever you park it
That’s only true if you’re staying put in the harbour (in which case you should get a house). If you’re actually using your boat to explore a little, there wil be nobody to collect any fees.
Live-aboard…..ya I ve done it. Its tends to be a lot more work and more expensive than you think. I lived on a 34ft Hunter Sailboat. like your home you can write off the interest. Look at getting it registered some where like Deleware so you will have no property taxes on it.
Pros: great lifestyle, relaxing and cool.
Cons: lots of work and even in a marina bad weather will keep you up all night! Plus you have the concern of having to up and move in 48 hours in the event of an approaching hurricane.
Correct me i’m wrong, but caint believe the doc wants one of them silly little yacht club sailboats. Maybe a floating outpatient medical facility instead?
75-90 feet (just under 100 ton) seems more like it. The rules for registry change at 100 tons. You will probly want to register it as an R/V or “research vessel” that will open the door for obtaining government grants, welcoming short-term volunteer Medical School students, etc. And can fill the bill for your 501(c). Wilmington DE registry is deffinitely the smartest and most versatile tax-free USA registration you can get.
A boat this size can easily sleep 6-8 permanent crewmen aft of the wheelhouse with an adjoining galley, plus providing an entirely separate captain’s quarters for you and the wife in the fo’c’s’l under the foredeck. Lots of space for housing medical facilities, even set up an outpatient ward that can service up to 50 or 100 patients a day on the spacious back deck that can easily be enclosed, and if push comes to shove can accomodate short-term overnight care for as many as a dozen comfortably below decks.
You will need a small 2.0 litre diesel power plant for electrics. Something bigger like a CAT 3406 for propulsion under way. Fuel capacity should be at least 2,000 gallons. Think 3-6 gallons per hour fuel consumption under way at full steam, travelling at 4-6 nautical miles per hour. 2,000 gallons should be enough to take you anywhere you want to go, even circumnavigate South America knowing the ports of call. Water tanks should hold at least 750-1000 gallons, probly more if you plan on making it into a floating out-patient clinic. Deffinitely you want to be as self-sufficient as possible in this regard, assuming you want to take your floating medical practice into the remotest regions where there will be no luxury yacht club boat-slips to provide dedicated shore power and water supply.
This advice comes to you from a former commercial fisherman. And the specs given above roughly describe everything from the typical Texas shrimper to Grand Banks Swordfish long-liners and Virginia Capes Scallop trawlers on which i began my post college career about 20 yrs ago, not having a clue in the world about settling down into a particular profession, just wanting adventure for the heck of it. Meanwhile the USA commercial fishing industry is so beat to death that you could probly buy the kinda vessel I’m desribing for a song. Bayou Le Batre AL is where vessel refurb work could be done by the best for stainless steel medical lab, tables and custom cabinetry, etc but you’d be better off looking to buy at Newport News VA.
Here’s a few that fill the bill and can probly be purchased fully operative (lacking hospital/medical upgrades) for the price of a decent semi-tractor trailer rig:
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(edit:= Wishing you godspeed and success, Mr&Mrs Dr.Dave, in all of your endeavors. Cut me a private msge if y’all think there’s anybody in your Lexington office who might be interested in speaking with me offlist with respect to putting a floating outpatient clinic on the seas. Now located in Bardstown vacinity not doing an awful lot with zero family committments, could put aside a year or 2 to help put the project together.
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