I live on a boat! It sounds so glamorous, doesn’t it? But the truth is this: boat life is a lot like land life, it’s just that everything is a little harder and takes a little more time. Let’s dig into the details of boat life basics so you can see if you have what it takes to live aboard a boat!

Space

We’re living in about 300 square feet of indoor space. I know how tiny that sounds…but it’s almost a nonissue. The boat feels much larger than it sounds. My only complaint is that it’s very difficult to keep it looking tidy – get out tools and parts for ONE project and it looks like a complete mess.

That being said, the layout of our boat is extremely comfortable. It feels big and open!

Power

There are two power scenarios: connected to shore power, and not connected to shore power. Right now we’re at a marina, we have shore power and all the electricity we need (okay, 30 amps…and we need to turn the heaters off so that we can run the coffeepot).

Away from the dock, life is slightly more complicated – we have to pay attention to our power usage and conserve energy. A bank of batteries provides our power storage. We replenish the batteries by solar power (we’re installing about 1000 watts of solar), wind power (we have two wind generators), the engines and/or the generator. We should be able to get by with just solar and wind – yay! – but we have backup options if we need them. Basic needs such as fridge/freezer/water pump are covered by 12V power, but if we want to charge our laptops or run any appliances we need to make sure we have enough power to run the inverter without overloading it with too many devices. No hair dryers allowed!

Water

All our fresh water is stored in tanks aboard the boat. At the dock, we can fill them up any time. Away from the dock, we are careful about our usage and conserve where we can. The watermaker desalinates and purifies water for drinking, but it takes quite a bit of power to run. Between the solar/wind power and the watermaker, we are well set up for off-grid living!

We have a water heater – if the port engine is running, the water runs through the heat exchanger and we have hot water. We can also heat the water when we’re on shore power. When we’re at anchor, there will be no hot water unless we run the engine.

Fridge/Freezer

We have a very small dorm-sized fridge. It was a big adjustment after living in a house with a giant fridge! However, we also have a pretty large top loading freezer (it’s a separate unit), so we’ve adjusted our eating habits to match our fridge/freezer space. We keep a lot of frozen stirfry veggies for easy dinners!

Cooking

The boat has a two-burner propane stove in the kitchen (galley). It’s small, most of the pans we owned when we moved aboard didn’t fit! We have a very small propane oven that is slow to heat up so we haven’t used it too much yet. In order to use either of these, we have a flip a switch on the breaker panel to turn the propane on – we have a dummy light to ensure we don’t accidentally leave the propane on. Propane sinks, so if we have a propane leak we would have a big fire hazard down in the hulls. So far, one tank of propane has lasted us about three months.

We also have a charcoal grill mounted to the outside railing, and we just purchased a portable table top grill – we’re looking forward to grilling on the beach!

Climate Control

Basically none. The boat isn’t insulated, so any attempts to vary far from ambient temperatures are futile. To survive the Charleston summer we had a standalone AC unit, but it’s too big to keep aboard while we’re traveling. It only kept the bedroom cool, the rest of the boat was a sweltering pit of heat and humidity. We also lived aboard during a historic snowfall in Charleston – here’s how that went!

Currently we’re relying on two small space heaters to keep us warm. At best, they keep us 20° above ambient temperature. These two heaters max out our 30 amps of shore power, so if we wanted to add another heater we’d have to run an extension cord to shore. Boats like this are meant for the tropics!

Since there isn’t any insulation, straying far from ambient temperatures leads to a big condensation problem. Condensation problems lead to mold and mildew problems. Typically we’ve seen mold growth on the ceilings, but if our clothing lockers get too much condensation, we start to get mold on certain textiles. This is my least favorite thing to clean up.

Toilets

Some marine toilets (heads) require pumping to flush, our boat came with electric flushers. Just push a button and down it goes! But if anything happens to the electrical system, we can’t flush! Fortunately there are two of them, so if one goes down, we have a backup. The biggest quirk about our toilets is that we don’t flush our toilet paper, we throw it away. This prolongs the life of the macerator.

When we flush, the wastewater goes into holding tanks. These need to be pumped out before they get too full. Otherwise we need to be at least 3 miles from shore in order to discharge them into the water, and switch a valve in the plumbing so that wastewater goes right overboard.

Showers

We have two bathrooms that double as showers – just shut the door, close the cover on the toilet paper, then pull the faucet out of the sink and switch it to shower mode. I would call these showers “extraordinarily uncomfortable.” Some catamarans have an “owners version” which means one hull contains a bedroom and a full bath with plenty of space, but ours has bedrooms fore and aft, with a postage stamp size bathroom in the middle (click here to see the layout, and a photo of the bathroom). While at a marina, we tend to use the public showers there (known to cruisers as “Hollywood showers” because they’re so spacious and luxurious!).

We also have a transom shower, which means we have a shower right next to our swim ladder on the back deck of the boat. This is perfect for rinsing off after taking a swim, or spacious outdoor showers at secluded anchorages.

Beds

Technically, our boat is 4-bed 2-bath! There is a bed (berth) in every corner of the boat. The two in the back are more comfortable, especially in heavy seas. The two in the front are smaller but have much higher ceilings.

Underneath the two rear beds are both of our engines. Underneath the two front beds is lots of storage. It’s a pain in the butt to get underneath them, but there is a lot of space. Because of the separate storage compartments, each bed’s mattress is also broken up into two or three pieces. This is NBD, but it’s a consideration when we’re thinking about things like mattress toppers or covers – if we have one big piece covering the bed, the storage is much harder to access.

Laundry

All laundry is done at the marina laundromat if we’re at a marina.

When we’re living an anchor, we handwash our clothing pretty regularly, using buckets. It’s an okay chore as long as we don’t let it go for too long. We’ll wash clothing with rainwater if we can, since laundry uses a lot of water. Then hang everything in the cockpit to dry!

Internet / Phone

We have a wifi extender, so if there are any unsecured wireless signals near us (does anyone leave their wireless unsecured anymore?), we can amplify them and connect.

If that’s not an option, we have a cell phone through Google FI (this is an affiliate link which nets you $20 off your first bill). We can activate this hotspot and usually get decent internet throughout the Bahamas – no matter how much data we use, our max bill should be about $80. The benefit of Google FI is that it has seamless international coverage – over 170 countries.

Errands

At Cooper River Marina, we parked the car and then had a half mile walk to the boat. At Cypress Cove Marina, we can choose to either be near our workshop, or the laundry/shower room – they’re on opposite sides of the marina. If we’re “on the hook” (at anchor) we’ll take our dinghy in to shore. This is a HUGE consideration for anything we’re bringing on board. Will it fit in the dinghy? How will we haul it half a mile out to the boat? Think about things like groceries – we’re not making two trips if the walk is half a mile long! We have two awesome dock carts that help out with things like that. However, they’re big and we don’t want to haul them in the dinghy. Simple chores like getting groceries requires a whole new level of logistics and planning.

In fact, just about everything boat-life requires much more planning ahead.

The Dirty Details

Currently, we have to wedge a sponge in between the stove and the burner knob to keep the burner lit.

Currently, we have to turn off the water pressure at night. There’s a leak somewhere, it’s too small to find right now, but it makes the water pump run for a second or two every two hours. The pump is LOUD and wakes us up if we leave it on at night.

Currently, the freezer doesn’t seal very well and that creates a small pool of condensation on top of the freezer – right next to our TV. We’ve got to mop that up regularly and make sure it doesn’t short out any power cords.

Those are the realities of boat life. Sometimes things break faster than you can fix them. We keep a close eye on things and keep up with preventative maintenance, but saltwater and time are pervasive adversaries.

Is it worth it?

Hell yes. We love our boat, and we’re so stoked about what life looks like once we cast away the lines and start living life at anchor. The boating community is amazing – most neighborhoods take time and effort to become part of the community, but with boaters, you’re already in. Need something? Someone will help! Have something to share? You’re probably a lifesaver for someone in need.

It’s not for everyone – and that’s totally fine! But truly, it feels like camping for the first couple months, and then you adjust. It all starts to feel normal. It stops feeling difficult and starts feeling…okay, well, not easy. It’s worth it, though.