[NYCAP123]

i've been living aboard for 5 years now and i can't say that any of the NYCAP 12 points ring a bell to me. i guess when you dont' own a boat and dont' live aboard one, you know better :-)

Pascal, any time you want to match logs for days actually spent working on the water or managing marinas let me know. Anybody who has been in this business for more than a few years has seen every one of those 12 points. In fact, I believe hat4349 referenced 4 or 5 of those situations himself. So I think your bell may need a new clanger.

[Pascal]

1) forgetting to turn off the dockside water when leaving the boat. High pressure from the dock pops an interior line or coupling and it's straight to the bottom, and maybe a water bill from the marina. 2) tying the lines too tight to allow for the tide drop. 3) putting a fender in place where it blocks your a/c outflow. 4) dead batteries, 5) bugs and rats, 6) limited hot water, 7) neighbors banging into you, 8) lonliness. Mid-week or off season marinas are pretty quiet, especially at night, 9) the clang of sailboat rigging, 10) boredom (Try to budget at least one trip a month so you don't become a dock queen), 11) lack of storage space and the expense of buying in small quantities. 12) having your neighbors hear your fights and you theirs.
----------------

ok, so you're looking at it from a paid captain perspective, not an owner who live aboard.

if you were you...

1)- woudl know that running off the onboard pumps and tanks are the only way to go at the dock... not only do you avoid the risk of a leak but you also keep your water tank refreshed...

2)- tying the lines too tight? give me a break, this is a newbie mistake, plain stupid. has nothing to do with living aboard.

3)- fender on the AC discharge? again stupid new owner mistake... nothing to do with living aboard

4)- dead batteries.. at the dock??? come on, that makes no sense! if you're at the dock, the charger is on...

5)- bugs and rats? I know NY rats are famous worldwide but that's plain silly. and houses dont' have bugs and rats?? keep a clean boat and you wont' have any. i dont.

6)- limited hot water? maybe on a 30 footer.. I have a large water heater on my boat, and room to add a second one if i wanted to. i never ran out of hot water.

7)- neighbors banging into you? how is that live aboard specific?

8)- loneliness? again, not a live aboard specific thing... it's true in many neighborhoods.

9)- i kind of like halyards claning of masts, reminds me that i'm on a boat because i love boats... good neighbors secure their halyards plus when you're inside, with air, you dont' hear them anyway.

10) boredom? schedule at least a trip a month... Since you've never lived aboard on your own boat, then you dont' know the pleasure of sitting on your aft deck on a nice weekday evening, wathcing the moon rise and deciding it was too nice a night not to go out and anchor to enjoy the night even more. i can give you 30 more exmaples... the live aboard tht don't live the slip are not boaters, they are usually folks who saw boats as cheap housing.

11)- lack of storage? again not on a 50+ boat... on average we get groceries every week just like as i would ashore... plenty of room. I'm not the Costco type but if i was that woudl be fine, plenty of room

12)- there aren't that many liveaboards and you are rarely surrounded by liveaboard in your slips. chances are the next boat is not a liveaboard. never had this issue of hearing others fights. privacy depends on the boat and its setup.


bottom line, it all comes down to picking the rigth boat and marina. there is living aboard and their is camping aboard. dont' confuse them

[NYCAP123]

Pascal, you may have missed the 3rd sentence of this thread:

My Question is to those who recall their first year(s) in yachting:

1) some people don't like the taste of tank water. I know that in So. Florida you need to drink bottled, but other places we actually drink tap. 2) In your area there is barely a 3' tide swing, but some place around here we have 10' and further north up to 18'. Tying too tight is an easy mistake to make, especially in your first years. I could go down the list, such as I've seen bigger rats at a pair of prominent Ft. Lauderdale marinas than I ever saw in the so. Bronx, but you get the drift. btyson was looking to learn from what we've seen and done. Personally, I'm still searching for perfection and it seems a long way off. Glad you made it though.

[FISHTIGUA]

Hate to say it but does the OP want to go cruising or just want a floating RV?

How much are they willing to get about? The SW is quite a large area and with just a little more effort you're into Central America and Mexico, fantastic
cruising.

Again, floating RV or a bit of ambition?

[btyson]

Great stuff! The more information I gleen from folks such as yourselves the better experence my wife and I will have during those important early months and years. Like most ventures; its all about expectations. As to the question of what we intend to do: I dont know exactly. I forsee us choosing a marina in the S.E. US to dock and do day trips for several months to aclimate ourselves to our new lifestyle, moving on to another marina for perhaps a month, then another and so on for a year before we venture too far from land. Once I feel comfortable with my sea keeping abilities and perhaps a Captains course or two; we may venture further offshore, Bahamas or Cuba if it ever opens up.

Please keep the opinions & advice comming!

[hat4349]

I have to agree with Pascal on the water issue. Hooking your boat directly to dockside water is an invitation to trouble and I would never do it. We live off our tanks and like Pascal said it keeps them fresh. We drink all our water from the tap and don't have a problem. I have never been hooked to dock water and never will boats are not piped to be hooked to that much pressure for a long time and can burst a line or valve with a pressure increase.


I saw one boat almost sink because a line burst and it was listing very badly to port until one of the marina employees saw it and cut the water. The bilges were overflowing and she was filling fast, no thanks.

I have seen experience boaters also leave the dock with power lines attached as well as newbies doing it. People are fallible human beings and prone to error so make a check list and follow it is the best method. We have our list in excel and when we want to go out we print a copy and check it off as we progress. Yes it slow our progress but it makes it a safer and happier trip, nothing like pulling your power connection out of the boat to ruin a trip. Saw a good friend do that one day on his boat and he has been boating since he was a kid with his dad. But he had company and they distracted him so he forgot, a checklist will help a newbie or an experienced sailor from having an accident.

[Capt J]

I prefer to keep a boat hooked up to dockside water rather than taking it out of the tank. Yes, it does keep the water in the tank fresher, but I usually dump the water in the tanks fairly often anyways. I don't like the pressure change when running off of the water pump (when it cycles on and off) in most boats as well as the noise of the water pump. I find it easy to put a pressure regulator on the hose fitting on the dock (although most yachts have them built in at the dockside water hose connection), I also find it easy to just shut the water off everyday when leaving the boat. If you leave the breaker on for the water pump, it will automatically come on when the dockside water pressure drops enough and you won't end up with a burnt hot water element.

[JWY]

Originally Posted by btyson

..perhaps a Captains course or two...

You might also consider a mechanics course. And there are boat handling courses for women taught by women.

When looking at the marinas, don't forget to talk to the boaters, not just the dock master. Ask why they are where they are and where they've been that they did and didn't like.

Judy Waldman

[NYCAP123]

I've been away for a few days and like what I see here. Very good stuff, especially the mechanics course and the check list. One thing I've found helpful is that whenever I leave a boat I always stop part-way down the dock and look back at her bow to stern. You'd be amazed how often that reminded me of something I forgot from a rag I meant to put away to shutting the water. Sort of that check list but mental.

[q240z]

Spiders. Everywhere. If you're an early riser or a night owl, be prepared to clear the docks of webbing, mostly with your face.

The missus is disturbed by the sound of lines rubbing in their hawseholes when the wind blows 20kts out of the NW during winter. Chafe protection does some good, but there have been times in the middle of the night when an elbow to the ribs has induced me to go up topside and apply a dollop of dish soap to the squeaky bits.

[NYCAP123]

Originally Posted by q240z

Spiders. Everywhere. If you're an early riser or a night owl, be prepared to clear the docks of webbing, mostly with your face.

The missus is disturbed by the sound of lines rubbing in their hawseholes when the wind blows 20kts out of the NW during winter. Chafe protection does some good, but there have been times in the middle of the night when an elbow to the ribs has induced me to go up topside and apply a dollop of dish soap to the squeaky bits.

OUCH! Reminds me of the words ' If it bothers you, get your own ____ ____ up there greasing and let me sleep."

[q240z]

NYCAP123, you must be either happily divorced or never married.

[NYCAP123]

Originally Posted by q240z

NYCAP123, you must be either happily divorced or never married.

33 years and going of married bliss to the best in the world . That's experience talking. BTW she'd say the same thing to me were the circumstances reversed.