Onboard Living

Unforeseen challenges?
Depends: Will you be cruising from Marina to Marina, or anchoring out?
Foreign countries, USA mainland, Islands, etc?

Regardless of the above I try to carry enough tools and spares as well as water, food, fuel, oil, coolants etc to self sufficient for 90% of unforeseen problems.
The bigger your boat is, the harder it can be to find dockage unless you have called ahead and booked a slip, for that reason I love smaller boats, less planning, pop in and out of marina and restaurant slips without much fuzz.
Unforeseen can be mechanical breakdowns or un-forecast weather, or both at the same time
I lived aboard for several years and had numerous unforeseen challenges, especially in the beginning ..
Perhaps this thread can be a There I was, then THIS happened totally unexpected..

Items I can think of after living on our 47' for past few years; everything is constantly falling apart, endless todo list, you need to be handy or have $$$ to have someone fix it. Sitting at a slip is not good for the boat or yourself. Alcohol is an ongoing temptation. 50' is a great size.

Living aboard can be great or it can be hell…

I ve been living aboard on my 53 Hatteras MY for just over 20 years. Zero regrets. But I ve been at a nice marina in Miami, in a great neighborhood, right on beautiful Biscayne Bay.

Now if I was somewhere with cold winters, on a mooring or anchored with marginal power, no running water in winter etc…. I would never have tried it

only downside is that boats depreciate… real
Estate doesn’t. But as an avid boater, I don’t care.

Yeah, either take it out weekly to keep the boat and yourself in shape, or have a diver come once a month to clean the running gear and dust of the hull. (Depending on your location of course)
Yeah, dingy is a must for a live-aboard, but add complexity, either by towing it or use a hydraulic swim platform, or a crane. Also dingy and motor maintenance and separate fuel storage, etc.

Don’t shy away from other countries, The Bahamas can be paradise, especially the Exumas and if a hurricane is coming you can scoot back to Florida and hide in a canal or on a boat yard in a day or two. (Usually 6-7 days or more warning as the ‘canes come waltzing across the pond from Africa)
Yes, things will break on a boat and/or require maintenance, it is never ending, even on brand new boats, have tools, be handy or have Marine Mechanic on a retainer and on your speed dial, no kidding.

Something unforeseen happens frequently, you ever heard of an exploding head?
We were on the way to the Bahamas, staged in No-Name Harbor to wait for a weather window, pumped the head after the uh, morning toilet, and poof, all of sudden there was fluids and brown stuff all over…
A valve or a hose had clogged the system and the pressure blew out a rubber anti siphon valve and made a mess.
First clean up with soap and water, then clean with bleach and water, then remove the broken parts, then call my house/dog sitter in Fort Lauderdale to come down to No-Name with my car, then drive to a couple of marine chandeliers looking for parts, then install the new parts, test the head again for leaks, then fill up the water tank as we had used quite a bit of water on the clean-up. Then leave the next day.
Get used to unforeseen stuff..
Good Luck.

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Yeah, there are more modern heads and a bigger boat will have electric automatic heads, just push a button. (Never seen one of those explode, but no guarantees they won’t)
My head (toilet) was a Raritan PH II, a well designed and well maintained unit, but his was just another Unforeseen Challenge, lots of those on boats, and Yachts..

Savannah is very nice and has a number of marinas down by Thunderbolt and isle of hope. Mild weather. Great area.

miami is getting way to busy unfortunately with all the people moving away from high taxes and the craziness of so many states.

in 40 years I ve never had a head “explode” or hear of one till today. Don’t worry about it

Lucky you..
I heard about several times before, but didn’t worry about, until it happened to me.
Here is a brief from a sailboat board:

As a part time sailor I hate saying this but sailors are known to use the cheapest possible hardware

Not in my world, I had a Wilcox Crittenden head on my first boat, the Rolls Royce of Thrones, at least it was 40 years ago. Raritan on the next sailboat, good stuff also.
On my last power boat I spent $6k for a Raritan Elegance electric head, valves, hoses and holding tank: Noting is too good for my behind..

Often, new folks ask this kind of question from upstate Maine or Boston or some such... where winter temps would impact liveaboard things like sanitation (holding tank pump-out) and fresh water and so forth. Savannah should be much easier in that regard.

Ditto new folks often think about living at anchor... which in turn needs lots of emphasis on a dinghy, and dinghy carrying system, some place to park the thing when going to/from work, schlepping supplies in and waste out, someplace to keep a car, etc. All that gets easier in a wets slip... although reading suggests some places may not permit living aboard. Three marinas I know of in the Savannah (Thunderbolt) area are Bahia Bleu, Thunderbolt Marina, and Isle of Hope Marina... and I think there's maybe at least one other (Hinkley?) between BB and TM. You could jump start your exploration process by checking with them to learn whether slips are available, liveaboards permitted, etc.

Another jump start you could begin early is about insurance. Reading suggests it's maybe not so easy to get coverage on older boats (20 years or more?) and if so, that'll probably need to guide your boat shopping. Insurance companies might not be impressed with your sea time, too, depending on what your rate and duty actually was... so you'll want to begin checking that out..

You should revisit that calculation. Consider costs of fuel, marina, marine insurance, service and repairs, maybe interest on a financed purchase, potential catastrophic marine events (those pesky groundings, etc.), all over and above your entry costs. Hired skilled labor, when necessary, will cost you somewhere between $95-150/hour depending on skill field, where you are, and how quickly you need it. And depreciation versus appreciation can still be a deal.

Good. You will service, repair, replace, or clean something on a near daily basis. And you'll be an engine mechanic, electrician, plumber, sanitation engineer, etc etc etc on a rotating basis. OTOH, there are resources over and above YouTube, too. Diesel courses, etc.

All this is not meant to sound negative; just an opportunity to help you approach the idea with eyes wide open.

And then all that said... folks here do enjoy helping new people shop for boats and such... so allowing the peanut gallery to kibitz a little could well help get you squared away faster if you decide to proceeed...

-Chris

Fuel delivery by truck is cheaper but not “couple of bucks” cheaper… more like $1. Problem is finding a marina or dock that allows delivery. Most marinas will not allow large volume of fuel being wheeled down the dock either. Another source of cheaper fuel are commercial docks which cater to fishermen

but even if you use the boat a lot, fuel isn’t going to be your biggest budget item.

I know man who pretty much lives fulltime on his yacht. If the weather is not nice he leaves it when its moving and re-joins when it arrives. He does not know a screwdriver from a spanner but it doesn't matter he employs folks who do. This is at the extreme end of living on a boat that few can envisage unless having seen it first hand oneself.