Between our YouTube Channel and our blog, we share a lot of our life on the water. However, there are always things that go undocumented. Over the years, we have met plenty of new liveaboards who feel like they were “duped” into this lifestyle by its romanticized portrayal on social media. In our experience, living full-time on a boat is expensive, it is hard work, and it is time-consuming. Is it worth it? For us, yes. Is it worth it for you? I’m not sure!
So, in an effort to paint a more realistic picture of boat life, here is a bullet-point list of things we failed to document in January 2023:
- The block for our jib sheet broke and caused the line cover to chafe. We replaced the block and repaired the portion of the affected line. The replacement block was $120, and we had to sail back to St. Thomas to get it. A friend let us borrow their car, so we didn’t need to pay for a taxi to pick it up.
- The furling line for the jib got pulled down into the drum so that we couldn’t furl in the jib. We had the full sail out, so Ray pulled and re-spooled the line while I steered the boat.
- The toilet seat + lid in the owner’s head broke. It looked like the plastic hinges just gave out and crumbled. So, we bought a new one for $70. We installed it and inspected the other heads on the boat for spider cracks: all others look fine.
- Ray scrubbed the teak in our cockpit three times. We need to find a protective mat to lay over the teak when we’re using the grill because we get drippings everywhere when we use it!
- Our Navionics chart cards locked up our B&G chart plotter. This has happened to us (and others) before. We notice it happens less often when we’re using C-Map charts, but either way, turning the system off and back on again usually fixes it. We’d love to upgrade to a Furuno chart plotter one day…
- We ripped a hole in our screen door for the salon, so we ordered a new one off Amazon for $30. We pay $24.99/month for a mailbox at Island Mail in St. Thomas.
- We filled one of our 7lb propane tanks for $15 and purchased a small tank for our grill for $8.
- We purchased 65ft of 10mm Dyneema core line to replace the line on our dinghy lift for $87.75.
- Ray replaced the impeller on the generator (general maintenance) with a spare we had on board.
- I scrubbed the bottom of the boat once.
- One of the sections of our helm enclosure ripped during a gusty sail. The factory enclosure was not sewn with UV-resistant thread, so this is not the first time the sunbrella portion has torn. We repair it by hand with UV-resistant thread we keep on board.
- On three separate occasions, our planned anchorage/mooring field was full when we arrived. It’s always smart to have a plan B!
- The fan above the bed in the owner’s cabin started making a loud, strange noise. Ray took it apart and lubed it up, which seems to have fixed the problem. We will likely replace that fan in the future.