The Great Wander

It’s hard to say right now if it’s worth the sacrifices living on a sailboat.  But the truth is, we really haven’t experienced boatlife yet.  We’ve experienced dock life.  And there is a difference.  Boatlife and docklife are always going to encompass work.  Your engines will break down.  Hoses need to be replaced.  Decks need cleaning.  Dishes need washing.  Sails need mending.  Take your pick, there’s always something to do.  As I write this I can think of at least 5 other jobs I could be doing right now, which sometimes makes it hard to write, because I start to think about everything else that needs to be done.

Having said that, I thought I’d share with you a little more about docklife.  It’s different than boatlife, I believe.  I did read one blog post that gave ten reasons why it wasn’t worth it to live on a sailboat, and one reason the author gave was living at a dock was like living in a tent city.  That author wasn’t wrong about it being like living in a tent city, but I don’t think it means that it’s not worth living on a sailboat.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m ready to put the sails out and head out of here to see something else.

Living on a dock, at least this dock, there’s a different kind of a community here.  People are always willing to lend a hand on a project, even when they have their own projects going on.  The neighbor across the dock from us has an old PT boat that he’s restoring.  His projects make mine seem like peanuts.  But, the first set of motor mounts, he took two hours out of his day to help us get the ratchet straps secured to engines and even changed one of the mounts for us.

Another neighbor who just left, was always willing to lend us a set of tools if we didn’t have what we needed.  Occasionally he’d ask for some help with a project, but nothing here is ever done with the expectation of getting something in return.  It’s always done to see you be successful.  People here genuinely want those that they share the dock with be successful in pursuing their dreams.  Sometimes though, that’s on their terms and you must decide if you want to accept that help or not.  We have had some people not speak to us for a couple of days because we aren’t proceeding the way they think we should proceed.

It is hard though living at the dock.  For us, the only way to see any other scenery is to take a car, and renting cars is truly eating into the budget.  Another consideration is that you can’t move to a calmer anchorage if things are a little rockier than you like. For example today, we are bobbing quite a bit in the chop, we can’t move to find a calmer anchorage. 

The other truly difficult thing has been the living space.  Our boat is only about 850 square feet, and probably 600 square feet is livable space.  However, one cabin is out of commission because it’s where the battery compartment is going to be located, so that’s where work is going to be done.  Since the battery compartment is under the bed, we just leave the bed unmade, mattresses in another cabin, and so that leaves the salon as a bedroom for Matthew and we have the other cabin that is meant for sleeping.  We are really down to maybe 300 square feet of living space.

It’s a nice community here. People are helpful. The dock office has been good to work with and supportive through the setbacks.  But the reality is, it’s also hard.  When I’ve had people ask me if it’s worth it to live on a sailboat, I genuinely still say, “I don’t know, I haven’t really experienced it yet.”