live aboard experiences?

[BaseCampAnne]

Two of us with C-Dory 22's are dreaming of major downsizing, simplifying, trying to retire sooner rather than later and moving onto boats, perhaps Ranger 25's or 29's 😀
I realize many take long trips, but we are both wondering about going full time on a boat.

Do any of you have any experience with this :?:

Thanks,
Anne

 

[captd]

Check with Bill and El on the Halcyon. They were and are still mostly full timers. The Halcyon is a 22 ft C-Dory. Look for Halcyon Days in the C-Brats. One of the Nuts wiill probably post a link for you. I'm not smart enough. 😳
captd

 

[norbhat]

We full-timed on a 44' Tollycraft (doing the Great Loop) for a year and are now beginning a three month stint on "Two If By Sea," our Ranger 25'. If the feasibility of full-timing on a Ranger 25' is the question, our answer, after three weeks aboard, is "Yes." Check with us at the end of our three-month Inside Passage and we may have a further perspective.

Norb and Ruth Hattendorf

 

[Bay Ranger]

It's hard to know how another couple would manage on an R-25, all I can do is relay our experience. It all depends on your expectations and requirements.

We recently spent 6 months on our R-25, Bay Ranger, cruising the ICW from Maryland to Florida and back. Elaine and I coped well in the relatively small space, but then, our previous experience included 20-years worth of traveling in Europe in VW pop-top campers! So the R-25 seemed spacious to us! It may to you too after the C-Dory 22. Needless to say, you really have to like your crewmate!

We think we could spend a year doing the Great Loop. For me, knowing I was returning to land-based living after a year would help me cope with spending a year on board. We live pretty simply on-board, so the one-burner butane stove works for us. We also found storage to be adequate, but took a the minimum number of clothes. We found the v-berth
roomy enough. We did get in each other's way from time to time at anchor or in a marina It was mainly passing one another going fore and aft.

Living aboard an R-25, for us, would be a stretch. The R-29 would probably work for us, although we only been aboard one at a boat show. It just seems there's a little more "walking around room" on the 29. Again, that's us. Bill and El would have another take on that, having spent so much time on their C-Dory 22. We also know couples who could never survive on such a small boat.

Ed
Bay Ranger

 

[walldog]

Check with Bill and El on the Halcyon. They were and are still mostly full timers. The Halcyon is a 22 ft C-Dory. Look for Halcyon Days in the C-Brats. One of the Nuts wiill probably post a link for you. I'm not smart enough. 😳
captd

http://www.geocities.com/bill_fiero/index.htm

 

[BaseCampAnne]

Thanks for your feedback about living aboard! I believe my almost 9 year old lab and I could fit nicely as long as not much else is brought along 🙂

Have any of you who take extended trips ever imagined selling the home place and moving onboard permanently? I was thinking that by the time most everything from the house and garage is gone except for a few things that will fit aboard (and possibly in a small storage unit,) the next steps will seem easy in comparison :!:

In your travels have you ever stayed at the same location for a month or more? Have any of you ever spent a month or more of the rainy season on board? I am guessing that our wet winters might be more enjoyable in the San Juans than most other places in the Puget Sound due to less precip in the islands and perhaps lighter skies more often.

Always dreaming,

Anne

 

[Bay Ranger]

Selling everything and moving aboard full time would not be for us. We have a townhouse on the water, and keep the boat right here, so we think have the best of both worlds. Condo fees take care of all the groundskeeping, snow removal, etc. so it makes it easy for us to come and go on the boat. We kinda like the idea of always having a place to come home to. That's just us.

We've met a number of boaters and RVers who have sold it all and never looked back. Sounds like you're close to that. Good for you!

As far as staying in one place on the boat, we have done so in a marina, but not on the hook. We spent two months at the Bradenton Beach Marina on the Gulf Coast of Florida this past winter. We totally enjoyed it. The beach was just across the street from the marina, we could walk to restaurants, shops and the library. There is a free trolley that runs the length of the Anna Maria Island so we found ourselves walking the beach to the grocery or West Marine, and hopping on the trolley for the 1 mile trip back. The trolley connected with the bus to Sarasota so we could go to Sarasota for 65 cents (senior fare) and enjoy the things larger cities offer. There were bike paths to the south and we would consider taking folding bikes another time.

Ed
Bay Ranger

 

[bluebayou]

Anne,
You pose a vast question, and the replies so far indicate the breadth of possible answers.
Someone else gave you the "link" to Halcyon Days, with Bill and El, and that's the bible of live aboards on smaller craft, as far as I'm concerned. I was going to follow them, until I stepped on a CD-22. Being 6'3", I could not see out the windows, even sitting at the helm. Which led me to a CD-25, and then, finally a Ranger 25. Then, I sold my home, put everything in storage that was worth keeping, went " off the grid" and began a live-aboard experience on a Ranger 25.
Your previous experience with "small is beautiful" is the most important gauge. Others have lived on small camper trailers and small sailboats, or in small cabins, before living aboard a small boat. You did not say what your Living Small experience was, and that's an important factor. For me, I have lived from only a backpack much of my life, and my wife and I had a 26' Airstream trailer and lived on that, so the Ranger Tug seemed not only spacious, but even more elegant than anywhere else I'd been that was that small.
And I think I will emphasize that the feel, the fittings of a small space do matter, very much. I love the teak wood interiors, they are alive and friendly. I love the brass portholes, and the wonderful stereo. When it's raining outside and you're confined to those quarters, they had better look good to you, hour after hour.
Likewise, I can say that all the light from the big windows and the 5 skylights DOES make a difference. I never feel too constricted or too dark on a cloudy day, with all that light pouring in all those windows.
There are mechanical considerations, like how much fresh water do you use, how much do you use the house batteries when not in a marina, but they all depend on where you're going and how much you are willing to pay moorage fees at marinas. Bill and El avoid marinas whenever possible; they love life on the hook. I have found myself liking a little more frequent visits to marinas, to get electricity, fresh water, and stop worrying about being a skipper for a few hours, or a few days. Then the Ranger 25 becomes a very nice hotel room on the waves, as someone told me this month.
If you can afford the R-29, of course it's more spacious. If you plan to stay in one continuous body of water, like Puget Sound, or some Inside Passage or canal and river system, the R-29 is also fine. If you plan on towing it from place to place, be sure you understand the weight and width differences, and how that will affect your towing vehicle and your comfort on the road. I like the R-25 on the road; it's not TOO big, and my 3/4 ton pickup handles it fine.
Hope that helps. Contact me further if you want some stories too long for this medium.