At what point are you a "Liveaboard?"

When I worked at one of the marinas here that had a section of liveaboards, there were maybe 2 out of 30 that left the dock with any regularity. The others were either unlikely or unable to move. The proportions seem to be about the same at the other marinas in town that I've seen.

The Dashews and many of the people who own boats conceived by the Dashews would seem to be examples of true travelling liveaboards...

If you live on your boat and it moves often, that makes you a Cruiser, no?

When visitors start making Bangladesh jokes...
When not only you don't have a crew but you cannot find one to hire...
When you cannot find any shoes to leave the boat...
When you cannot leave the pier for fear of a environmental disaster...
When you grow roots...
And, when everyone asks you to leave and you cannot.

I think that's right Fish...if you're cruising with any regularity, you're a cruiser regardless of whether you live aboard full time or not.

Most folks (in our area at least) that livaboard are just looking for a cheap waterfront condo. Sadly, this leads to many boat owners that just abuse and cannot afford to keep the boats up. We have a lot of trashy looking marinas for it.

A friend of mine used to manage a marina and his rule was, 'if you can't get it started in 30 minutes, you are evicted'. I think having to keep your boat operational helps weed out some of the livaboards that are just going to let their boat fall to shambles. That's still one of the nicer marinas.

Watch some bloggs from nordhavn owners, seems to be more than needed space for everything.

even if you move the boat it is a lot slower because of all the extra stuff onboard!

In my experience of having sold close to 100 trawlers and long-range cruisers, I think you're watching the wrong videos. Whether "fast trawlers" used full-time for the Great Loop, Bahamas, and coastal cruising or their beefier cousins the trawlers and expedition yachts, several dozens have been used by my clients as full time cruising liveaboard homes.

Btw, I have yet to have a client call me to list their boat for sale because they tried liveaboard and didn't like it. Most of my liveaboards, full time cruisers, (many of whom no longer own a home) have spent years aboard.

Judy

If you're talking about full time live aboard, now the questions are about how much stuff you can shlep around and still have room to function as a yacht while maintaining a normal life. It will be a new normal.

Yacht size: it matters. Storage: Be aware of storage space and how it is used. Priorities: your lifestyle will change, so will your wardrobe, etc. Destinations: being able to re-provision with frequency helps.

When yacht shopping, have an experienced person (broker, liveaboard friend...) go through your selections to point out how well or not the particular yacht functions for daily living at a marina, at anchor, and while underway.

When you start questioning the clutter, watch hoarding shows. It's a great cure.

...You ask them to leave, unless I'm missing something?

Well I suppose it is because of the unimaginable horrible conditions in the ship breaking "yards" of Bangladesh...

"You might be a live aboard if"

1. you also use your car for storage

2. you have any kind of plant growing on the boat or dock

3. you use the cleaners to rotate clothes and double as storage

4. you no longer like the "feel" of land-toilet-paper

5. you have more than one dock box

6. you have walked on snow or ice getting to the boat at night

7. you are on the boat at the dock during bad weather

8. in the winter, you have "red neck" storm windows (Plastic)

9. pet hair works it way into the E/R Air-Seps

10. in the summer, you have "red neck" air conditioner boosters (household fans) on the boat

11. your dock electric bill is more than your fuel bill.....(I wish)

I think the situation you're describing, is best described as a "cruiser" and not a liveaboard. Liveaboards are generally at one marina and cruise seldomly.