We’ve been living aboard Seas the Day for over a month now.  It felt like home the first time we stepped aboard, even though neither of us had ever lived on a boat.

I always wanted to live on the water.  Living on a boat is that and a lot more.  The photos above are our backyard at the moment and will change fairly often, but always with water instead of grass,  and dolphins, sharks, and fish instead of deer and wild turkey. 

I can only describe what living aboard Seas the Day is like as it would be different on each boat, depending on the size and livability.  Seas the Day is very obviously designed for living aboard.  Perhaps that fact makes it less of a “sailing vessel” than some sleeker monohulls.  A few days ago, Mark asked me if I feel claustrophobic on Seas the Day, but I never have.  That is partly due to the 360 degree view from the saloon, but also the surrounding water seems like part of the living area  and therefore increases the feeling of spaciousness. 

There are three cabins, each with a queen-size bed.  The problem with most boat beds is making them.  We do have steps leading up to them on either side, but that’s just for a few feet at the foot of the bed.  There’s about a three inch wooden  edge from the wall to the mattress up each side, so if you balance on one foot, you can try to make the bed without sitting on it.  I suspect one never quite masters a perfectly made bed on a boat, unless you are lucky to have one you can walk around and not climb up into.

Each bed has a hatch above it which can be opened for air or the shade can be pulled so you can sleep and see the sky, much like a skylight in a house, only much closer.  There are also hatches along the sides of the cabins, so you can lay in bed and watch the activities on the water.  Since we are on the Intracoastal, in a busy city, there is traffic on the water all day long, and increases on the weekends.  This traffic usually causes some gentle waves and that is certainly a relaxing thing to feel while falling asleep. 

I love taking a shower in the boat.  There is a hatch to the deck above the shower, and since there is no fan to get rid of steam, I always open it.  It’s fairly large, so it seems like you are standing outside taking a shower.  Of course, gone are the days of long, hot showers.  We now take very quick showers, even though we can fill our tanks with city water from the marina at no cost.  We can also use the showers provided in the marina building.  We also conserve towels, and reuse the same ones until it’s time to wash clothes.  While we don’t have a washer yet, we have to pay to use the washing machines at the marina, and it gets pretty costly.  We belong to a Lagoon 420 users forum and recently asked for advice before purchasing a washer/dryer.  One 420 owner told us they are happy with their washer/dryer and it does a good job with minimal water usage.  He also told us that on shore laundromats are “either expensive, dirty, slow or lose your stuff ( or a combination).”

Now that we have the grill installed, our meals have gotten much better.  We do have two small refrigerators and a freezer unit, so there is plenty of room for cold food.  Last week, we met a Canadian couple, Stewart and Marilyn, at the marina.  She said the biggest mistake some people make when they move aboard a boat is thinking of it as a vacation and not “life.”  Invariably, she said these people don’t live on their boats very long, probably because they run out of money. 

It’s been so hot in Ft. Lauderdale that you can’t sit outside comfortably until the sun goes down.  We usually have a slight breeze, but as you get closer to the ocean, even a block from the marina, you start to get a stronger wind and that is much more comfortable.  Until the sailing class was over, I had to spend all my spare time reading the materials given to us.  Now, I finally can read novels again, although I still have lots of “boat books” to read as well.  It’s wonderful to sit on the cushions in the cockpit or the forward deck and read, even if it’s books about navigation.

I suspect most people who move onto a boat bring more than they need.  I felt like we cut down to a very small fraction of what we had in a house, yet we still have too much.  Too many clothes, too much in the galley, etc. We had to buy some new items for the galley, such as unbreakable dishes and glasses and an unbreakable blender (we love fruit smoothies) and coffee pot, but most of what we brought we had used in the house.  The cabinet space in the galley is generous, but they are all filled.  I have canned goods stored in a space under one of the cushions on the bench in the saloon and some galley items are stored in a drawer in one of the guest cabins.  In the companionway between the two guest cabins there are two storage cabinets, rather narrow, with shelves.  In one we have spices and in the other we store ziplock bags, food saver bags, etc.  I don’t know what these cabinets are supposed to hold, but they work well for a pantry even though they are next to where people will sleep.  Of course, once we are away from a marina, we’ll have to use far fewer disposable items, and are already limiting ourselves to almost none.  We have been advised that when we are away from a marina and go ashore to buy food and other items, we will need to remove all packaging materials and anything we can throw away before we leave shore. 

We have a number of storage holds on the forward deck, but we have to be careful to store light items there as we don’t want extra weight in the front of the boat.  In addition, we have to spread out the weight in other storage areas. 

One of the things we were worried about was learning navigation skills.  However, the more we are studying and reading about it, we realize that we can learn this.  While we will always carry paper charts, we do have an electronic chart plotter in the cockpit and a computer in the saloon helm station which can be used as a chart plotter also. 

I am sure part 2 of this topic, after we leave the comfortable facilities in a marina,  will have many more eye-opening lessons on living aboard a boat.  So far, we couldn’t be happier and don’t expect that to change.