I have recently been thinking about the possibility of living aboard a boat as my primary residence.  This idea started not too long ago (July, 2009) as just one of those crazy ideas that come into your head.  I have had the question of where and how I want to live when I’m done school in the back of my mind for some time now and there are quite a few places I would like to live and the idea of living aboard so far seems like the ideal solution.  I actually wish I had come up with it earlier.  Anyway, I thought one day that it would be cool to sail the St. Lawrence Seaway for the summer and as winter rolled around I would head South to Panama, through the canal, than back North to British Columbia to take in the absolutely amazing snowboarding conditions that are there.  Of course that would only wet my palet for more ambitious goals.

The more I have been thinking about it the more attractive the idea has become, and some of the downsides aren’t really downsides at all or can be managed effectively.  Mainly, you aren’t going to have much room on a boat but I am not too concerned with this as I have managed just fine living in an apartment with only 2 or 3 rooms including shared space.  Not only that but I have come to enjoy living with fewer material possessions and wouldn’t mind escaping the burden they end up being.

I think there are a few things that make doing this easier and more beneficial than it might have been 5 or 10 years ago.  There is a growing percentage of people who either are given or made the choice to work from a remote office, usually home.  They mostly do this with various Internet tools, and we all know how prevalent and wireless the Internet has become; wi-fi, 3G, Edge, Satellite.  I also hope that with the advancement of renewable sources of energy, that it could be completely green and have an abundant source of energy on it without the need for a generator or fuel.

So about a month ago I was wondering around a recycling yard for a bit of scrap metal for a project and I seen this decrepit looking 50′ trimaran sail boat drydocked there.  I asked the guy in the yard about it and he said it was owned by a guy who was working on it on weekends.  I thought about it a lot so the next week I contacted the place and asked if they could get me his number, they couldn’t but said they could give him mine.  I was asking if he wanted to sell it (I just wanted to look inside at that point so I could see what a boat like that looks like inside, and it might just be affordable for me)  He ended up calling me and saying he was looking for someone to help him out in the repairs and outfitting he’s doing.  I told him I was a little bit of a handyman and I would stop by sometime and see what I could do.  I figure at the very least I can get a little experience in the area of boats, which I don’t have much in.

I finally made it out there about a month ago and helped him out a little.  The inside is pretty much gutted and I would consider it an amazing boat to live aboard.  It has a lot of space inside and has 3 separate sleeping areas.  While I was helping him we talked quite a bit.  He’s a pretty interesting and nice guy who has started up a couple companies in his lifetime.  He talked about how he plans on sailing around the great lakes for a year with his wife and than sailing around to various places including the South Pasific.

At this point at the very least I have some valuable experience and I also have a few leads on a couple boats I could eventually acquire.

I’m still not sure if I’ll do this yet, but I am almost certain that this is something I want to do at some point.