Welcome to part four in the series on living aboard boats. In this edition we discuss some of the considerations in choosing a marina. Once again, it is hosted by me, Mark Nicholas.
Author: Mark Nicholas
Home is Where the Wind Goes
Here is another terrific article on living aboard, from a couple who lives aboard year round.
Home is where the Wind Goes
“Who needs terra firma? Couple loves life aboard 34-foot sailboat, even
in shrink-wrapped winter” –
For Canada Day, Norman Finlay and his wife, Cheryl Hughes, plan to sail to Hamilton Harbour from Port Credit in their year-round floating home, an Aloha 34 sailboat.
Livingaboard No 3: Choosing a Boat
Here is the third of the videos, a discussion on choosing a liveaboard boat. The video includes interviews on a few of the issues related to choosing a boat. The people I interviewed are real experts and I am so glad that they decided to participate.
Livingaboard No 2: Liveaboard Basics
Ok – here we are again! This is the second video in the series – a discussion of the basics of the lifestyle. In doing this video, I interview Chris Birch, a marine technician from Boston, Don Stonehill, President of the Liveaboard Association of Puget Sound, Rob Doty, a liveaboard and webmaster in Jacksonville, FL, and a few others. I hope that you find this helpful.
The Liveaboard Achilles Heal
This is a little bit of a rant. Today, we had the photo shoot for the LA Times article, and person in the next boat, someone who has been denied a liveaboard slip in the LA area, started complaining about how horrible liveaboards are treated and the lengths marinas go to in order to prevent unauthorized liveaboards.
This boater, an otherwise nice and knowledgeable sailor, is one example of the cause of the problem why liveaboards are having problems in certain marinas and geographical areas. He sneaks aboard and gets in trouble for it. And then makes the marinas all wish that they had nothing to do with people like him.
In truth, liveaboards, as a community, have three problems. One problem is that they (we) often want less to do with society, and as a result we have no community presence. The second problem is that many liveaboards treat their boats like garages, with their possessions overflowing onto the deck and dock, and making the surrounding area unsightly and possibly dangerous. In that vein, many liveaboards also do not (or cannot) perform proper routine maintenance because it is impossible to get their possessions out of the way. The third problem is that liveaboards are scapegoats for governmental authorities and politicians use the ability to go after our scattered group as proof that they are protecting society (most often in connection with environmental issues).
How do we fix these issues? Well for one thing we need to form some sort of community presence. It doesn’t need everyone, just enough of us to make a difference. We need to be presentable, keeping our decks and docks clean, at least as clean as the rest of the marina. These are perception issues that can be changed, if we are diligent.
Nonetheless, the boater who complained to the LA Times hurt us all today. He put at risk our ability to share the fact that we are normal, regular people with a mass audience, and he did it because no marina wants him, as an individual, in their community. I hope that the LA Times can see through this nonsense. But we were all possibly hurt today… and by one of our own. That’s my rant.
Live Aboard Trends
There is a bit of a rebirth going on when it comes to living aboard. Yesterday I gave an interview to the LA Times Deputy Real Estate Editor and we are going to shoot some pics tomorrow for an upcoming edition of the paper. How about that? The LA Times putting living aboard back into the real estate section where it belongs.
I am working on a collection of projects to try to get a handle on the number of live aboards and live aboard marinas, as well as an idea of the trends. But I have a sense. Living aboard is still under fire from some local governments and agencies trying to demonstrate a plan to fight vagrancy and pollution, and to clean up their waterfronts.
The popularity of the lifestyle, however, as well as how permissive the marinas, are cyclical. And it really does come down to money. If a marina has a waiting list years long for its slips, it will choose the nicest boats rather than the nicest boaters. And we’re all pretty nice, but we don’t always have those million dollar boats. But when the number of boaters decrease, and the demand decreases, all of a sudden those self-imposed restrictions will vanish.
In many areas, living aboard is very much coming back in vogue. How do I know this? Well for one thing, the book is continuing to do well. Interest is out there. With real estate prices down and real estate less secure there is less of a desire to buy land at all cost (literally and figuratively). And local governments seem to be more understanding of the lifestyle. We are going to be putting together a list of these rules and issues over the coming months. In the meantime, I will do my best to provide you with updated news on the liveaboard community and issues that effect the every day liveaboard.
In the meantime, be sure to check out Chris Caswell’s article on liveaboards that seem to have things figured out.
Gentle breezes,
Mark
Learning to Live Aboard
Full-time living on board a boat can be mastered. by Chris Caswell
boats.com – Feature: Learning to Live Aboard
Livingaboard No 1: Introduction to Living Aboard
Welcome to the Essentials of Living Aboard a Boat, hosted by me, author and liveaboard Mark Nicholas. This four part series will highlight issues associated with living aboard, as well as choosing a boat as well as a marina. I hope you find this helpful. Remember, be sure to check out www.livingaboard.net for some great information, including the book: The Essentials of Living Aboard a Boat.
The Liveaboard Bum
EJ and Florrie’s website, The Casual Sailor made me laugh. Here’s an excerpt. He’s got a point!
2. Something of a “bum” mentality. The relaxed lifestyle of the layabout starts to become appealing when you live aboard. After a while, it doesn’t get to be too important that you dress in the height of fashion. In warmer places like Texas, it’s possible to live most of your life with two pairs of sandals, two t-shirts, and two pairs of shorts, together with a modicum of underwear. I’ve got so used to this manana philosophy that it’s beginning to be something of a shock when I have to dress up to go into Houston.
Living Aboard article by The Macnaughton Group
Here is a great article on living aboard by The MacNaughton Group. Click on the link for the full article.
Click: Living Aboard for the article. Here is an excerpt:
Our feeling is that an appreciation of Nature and one’s place in it should be the primary reason to adopt the live aboard lifestyle. Closely allied to this is the live aboard’s primary learned wisdom.
The NEW Living Aboard Website is Alive!
How fun! Finally, the multimedia works on the new version of the website, including the fancy video of me making an introduction. There are some great educational videos (at least I hope that they’re great), a new look and feel, and my hope that the site is finally starting to provide some good information to people who are interested in life aboard. Be sure to check it out! It is still right where the old site lived, at: http://www.livingaboard.net/.
How cool. Rob at Flashking did the design and I’m really proud of what he came up with. Stay tuned!
Hello Liveaboard World!
This is the official beginning of my second liveaboard blog. The first was lost when I changed web hosts. That should never happen again now that I am hosting this directly on WordPress. It doesn’t look as nice or have the same functionality, but it should do its part – that being to get you the news you need on this really amazing lifestyle.
Until then, gentle seas, – Mark