[Alberg30] live aboard

Tue Feb 20 06:57:29 PST 2001

My wife and I lived aboard our A30 for 9 months while I was in the military in North Carolina. It started as a six month trial and lasted another 3 months. My wife responded better than I did. This was not a live aboard/cruising experience. The boat was basically our house, although we did travel offshore on one occasion, and took weekend trips.

The A30 is a small thirty footer by modern standards. I kept my uniforms, clothing and gear stored at my office. I kept tools and such in a locker at the marina. My wife worked a professional job and kept her dresses in sealed hanging bags onboard. We kept all our possessions in dry storage which we occasionally visited.

Our boat had not had a major refit in its life when we started to live aboard, so it required new plumbing, AC-DC electrical, and resealed portholes. We did these repairs either immediately before or during our live aboard time. This made the experience very difficult. Of all the repairs, resealing the portholes and eliminating leaks was the most important as it kept the interior of the boat dry. Of course we did this repair last--big mistake.

A simple fact of living aboard is that you will sail less on that boat than you would if you were not living on it. It is a lot of work to "pack up your house" for an afternoon sail. I had a Columbia 26 before the A30 that I sailed every day, 365 days a year, and I quickly began to miss it.

If you do not have confidence in the systems/parts of your boat (say because they are 30 years old and deteriorated) you will fret endlessly about sinking or blowing up. These boats are old, and the parts can be older and dying. I would inspect every thru-hull as well as any gas tank and other "destructive" parts before living aboard.

Some reality notes:

We used a $100 standard window air conditioner bought at Loews which we put in the companionway. Cheap solution, and the AC was great.

We powered electric heaters, TV/VCR combo, hairdryers, etc via AC plugs with extension cords. Be sure to use heavy duty (orange) extension cords instead of cheaper light weight cords. We had one close call where a cheap cord melted from high current and we almost had a fire.

One month into the experience my wife and I awoke in the middle of the night screaming in pain from charlie-horses (cramps in the calves/thighs of the legs). We were dehydrated and because we did not have a refrigerator or a convenient supply of drinking water we had not been consuming enough water. We later used a 12v thermo-electric refrigerator with great success and drank from bottle water. The water tank on an A30 requires modification/upgrades to use for sustained use as good potable water.

We used a 75amp battery charger.

We ate out allot until we got a stand alone BBQ grill to put on the dock. Then the dockside eating/social experience really blossomed. This is the high point of living aboard, sharing food and stories with other live aboards as the sun sets. Best part of experience.

I would strongly recommend getting a professional, custom made mattress for the V-berth. We used the cushions that came with the boat and another 4 inches of foam. Not enough and it hurt like hell after a while. I will not do that again. Mattress costs $1200 from custom makers in CA or east coast area.

We used the bathrooms at the marina and since our marina was the barest military-type facility it was pretty bad. Although I thought about rigging a shower, never did it and don't see how that would work with living aboard--simply too small an area. We have used the sun-shower system in the cockpit or on deck while cruising with great success.

We had many visitors and were a novelty for a while being so young and on such a small boat at our marina. We put guests in the O club and entertained in the cockpit and at the dock. Clearly, every colonel who saw my boat decided they would never consider this-- having stood next to the Island Packet 38 next to us. This is a one person boat. Two, if you really like the second person and get very intimate in space. That is the realistic limit.

My last thought: if your boat is not "finished" you will drive yourself insane trying to fix it while you live on it. If you want to go sailing, you will die of frustration by never being able to leave the dock. Permanent cruising would be the only exception to this rule. But that would be a different live aboard experience--and I would think your A30 must be "completed". 

However if you really want to try the live aboard experience why not do it on a classic boat that is probably paid for and cheap to maintain?

I would never trade my experience.

Please email direct for further questions:

Joe #499
"One Less Traveled"
alberg30 at mindspring.com

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Hijoe5 at aol.com 
  To: public-list at alberg30.org 
  Sent: Sunday, February 18, 2001 11:19 PM
  Subject: [Alberg30] live aboard

  Hi we're new to the thread and were wondering if any of you Alberg 30 owners 
  are living aboard. We hope to retire in Sept. and are considering an Alberg 
  30 to live aboard and cruise the East coast and possibly venture further. 
  Also has anyone rigged a shower onboard and have you ever had friends visit 
  for a week, how did that work out? We appreciate any info at all.              

  Joe & Debi 
  Presently Boatless 
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