Living on a boat is a dream come true for me, one that Base and I have worked really hard to make happen. Moving on board three years ago was filled with so much anticipation and excitement.
We had a garage sale and sold pretty much everything. We kept a few personal items and some camping/surfing gear. Everything else was sold or given away.
When we started stowing all our belongings on board, we then realised that we had to get rid of even more of our belongings. We really needed to cull what we owned.
It was hard giving away our things. Pretty things, things I liked, books, magazines, jewelry, clothes, shoes it went on. We had to just keep the essentials. On the other hand, it was really refreshing to cull the stuff in our lives.
Once we got everything tucked away in every corner of the boat, there was one thing I should have done first. I should have made a list of where I was putting everything. We have so many little cupboards and stow away spots, and hidey holes, that whenever I want to find something in particular, I have to go through all of them – not fun.
*Note to self to do this in future… create a boat inventory – it will bring sanity in times of need.*
On to the next boat peeve.
We don’t use our boat toilet in the harbor, we empty our holding tank when we are out in the ocean where it gets diluted and won’t have as big an impact. What we really want is a composting toilet – way better than emptying anything into the ocean…one day!
Yup, the next thing I miss about land is a toilet in my house. When we are in the harbor it’s about a 3min and 30-second walk to the toilet. You need to get really good at timing things. We used to use a skateboard and called it our “poo-pot transport machine” hahaha … we might need to reinstate it. I miss not having to think about toilet usage…. Now it’s the way our entire morning and sometimes life revolves around, it is all about timing the morning walk to drop off the kids at the pool.
Onwards.
Hot water… oh, glorious hot water. Sure, we have a solar shower, and we can boil water for the dishes, but what I really miss is having hot water on tap. Such an easy thing to take for granted, but 3 years of no hot water and I miss it. Showers are either a solar shower on the deck or a bucket shower in the toilet/shower in the cabin. Have you ever had an old fishermen watch you shower? ( well in a bikini of course)… this quickly ended any deck showers in the harbor.
Mostly when we are in town we use our membership at the local yacht club and just head over there every couple days for a nice hot shower. But we just have to live with no hot water on the boat.
Personal space is the next one.
Sometimes I just want to read a book in a cozy little chair in the corner of the room, with the sun shining in the window, but most importantly the door would be closed and it would be silent. When I had a house to live in, reading, meditating and journaling all had space. Now I need to ask Base to leave me alone for an hour so I can try to meditate. He does, but his natural tendency is to be in the same part of the boat as I am.
So just having a door to close, or slam if I feel like it, is gone.
What I do have is that (at certain times) I can just jump overboard and go for a big swim and dive under the water and find my personal space there. I love that the Ocean is our backyard and gives us sooo much space. Cruising is the ultimate experience when you have beautiful beaches and anchorages all to yourself. You have so much space it can almost feel intimidating.
Those are the main things I miss about a land house.
Most of the other stuff is minor and one minute I love it, the next it can be annoying. For instance, climbing 4 ladders to get the milk. Picture this… it’s a short ladder out of the cabin and into the cockpit, then another one down into the back cabin – where the Engel fridge is. Then back up the ladder and then back down. Now do that all again once your tea has milk, so you can put it back in the fridge. Annoying, but hey, it keeps you moving.
Another minor one, it takes all of 5 seconds for the boat to get messy. Like so messy you can’t handle it. It also takes all of 5 mins to give it a good clean. I love not having to mop floors and wash windows. I do, however, wash the deck and clean the portholes, but it really doesn’t take too much of my time.
Hopefully, this paints a little picture of the things that get on my nerves when it comes to boat life. But I can write pages about all the things I love about living on a sailboat (coming soon).
I can’t see us settling on to land anytime soon, we have a lot more of the ocean to explore and actions to take to care for it.
So for now, goodbye hot water, and personal space.
Hello ocean views and getting salty every single day!
If you live on a boat I’d love to know what you miss about land?
xx
Jamie
