Thinking about living aboard?
This Summer the Decision is Easy
By Lynne Porter
We didn’t decide to live aboard last summer because we had some grand plan or design. We sort of “backed” into the idea without much planning or thought.
Our decision stemmed from my inability to get around after having two minor foot surgeries just weeks apart. I recuperated at home the first time, with my mother-in-law waiting on me. After the second surgery, my husband suggested that I recover on the boat. His rationale was that since everything was in relatively close proximity — sleeping quarters, head, galley, and salon — I would be able to get around without needing someone to care for me. So, we packed up for what we thought would be a two-week stay on the boat, our longest on-board experience in our eleven years as boat owners. It was soon apparent that it was one of our best ideas.
By the time our initial stay ended, neither of us wanted to return to our normal routine of spending only weekends at the marina. So, my husband said, “Why not spend the rest of the summer on the boat?”
This wasn’t the first time he had made such a suggestion. Ever since we first became boat owners, he has wanted to spend the summer on the boat. I always resisted. Our teenage daughters would have complained incessantly about being away from their friends and they were also too young to be left at home. Moreover, our previous boat, a 26-foot express cruiser was not large enough to spend more than a few days aboard. But now, as empty nesters and owners of a 41-foot sedan fly bridge boat with a master stateroom, a second berth, and a fully equipped galley, including a full-size refrigerator, it took only moments to make the decision. Soon, we were headed home to pack for another glorious two months aboard our boat.
We acclimated rather quickly to our live-aboard lifestyle. It was a great decision for us. Year after year, we’ve felt that the boating season just wasn’t long enough. Every weekend on Sunday evenings, along with our boating friends, we would reluctantly pack up after yet another great time on the boat, yearning for the next weekend, the next boating trip. Now, we were able to enjoy our passion fulltime, at least for the summer.
Surprisingly, living aboard did not greatly impact the way we boat. Our boating group usually takes several trips during the season and when we don’t have a scheduled trip, couples usually take turns hosting day trips to close by destinations, often to have lunch or dinner.
The biggest impact was on us. We interacted more with each other. At home, my husband usually retreats to his office after dinner and I am a floor or several rooms away. On the boat, we watched TV together either in the salon or the master stateroom, (each more tolerant of the other’s tastes in TV programming!) or we sat together in the cockpit, sipping a glass of wine, just enjoying the peace and solitude and the occasional visit from local waterfowl.
Our experience taught us a lot about ourselves. We thoroughly enjoy the water and spending the summer living aboard reinforced that, along with our determination to get as much as we can out of our investment. We learned that we were adaptable — that we could live comfortably in less space than we are accustomed to in our daily lives and with fewer material things than we usually enjoy. We learned to appreciate marina life, not only during the weekend when the marina is packed with friends and weekenders, but also through the week, when it is quieter, the water is still, and the natural beauty speaks to us without having to compete for our attention. And we learned to appreciate each other more.
What started out as a one-time solution for recuperating from surgery turned out to be an experience worth repeating, so we’ve decided to live aboard again this summer. We have discovered that, for us, home is where our boat is, and that living aboard has brought
us closer together.
