7 Best Things About Living on a Boat

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One of the questions I get asked most is “What’s the best thing about living on a boat?”. I actually think this is a subtle way for a person to ask “Why would I want to live on a boat?” so they can figure out whether a) I’m crazy or b) if it’s something they could do too. Everyone I’ve met who isn’t yet a sailor wants to know what it's like moving from a perfectly comfortable house to living in a tiny home on the water. Maybe you’re curious too? I certainly was in the early days pre-boat purchase!

Now it’s an easy question to answer, I’m certainly not crazy, and there’s lots of reasons I’m glad we made the decision to move aboard five years ago. So I’ve come up with my 7 best reasons, which I hope may inspire you too. And these are based on my own experience of living aboard a small 34ft (10.3m) yacht in New Zealand, with my husband Jeff.

What are the 7 best things about living on a boat? 

New views every day — Jeff explores Torrent River, New Zealand

1. Waking up on our boat to a new view every day.

After five years of living on a boat, the novelty of moving our home and waking up in a new location hasn’t worn off. In fact it’s one of the main reasons we signed up for this wild adventure. Are you looking for that too?

Sometimes after a long sail, we’ll arrive in a new bay under darkness. We’ll anchor, or pull up the mooring ball and collapse exhausted into bed. The next day, we’re like kids on Christmas morning getting up at the crack of dawn to get a glimpse of our new spot. We’ll jump in the water to freshen up, have breakfast, and then paddle ashore to explore our new surroundings. Sometimes we’ll discover a hidden cave or fresh waterfall, or find seals sunbathing or tiny kina shells to collect.

The world is ours to discover, and by bringing our home on the trip we never forget to bring something we needed (bonus!). Of course, the wind and weather dictates how long we can stay in a particular spot, but having a backyard view that’s constantly changing is exciting and makes life interesting.

Jeff with new blades for the wind generator on NØRD

Our wind generator and solar panels keep us supplied with power

2. We live sustainably on wind and solar power.

Buying a yacht has given us the ability to live off-grid by generating our own power from wind and solar. More often than not each day includes sunshine and/or wind, so our battery banks are kept topped up for free! Living on a yacht is our way of trying to live more sustainably.

Provided there’s wind (never usually a problem in New Zealand), our sails harness this energy and move us in the direction we want to go. We have a small diesel engine onboard that uses about 1.5L an hour but we try to avoid using this where possible for less carbon gobbling guilt and a more thrilling (and peaceful) ride!

It’s not always easy or convenient to live-off grid. Power use has to be carefully watched, so we take turns charging our devices, or wait until there’s a big boost of sunshine. Our yacht is small so we don’t have an onboard shower, or a califont (on demand gas heater) for hot-water. While in the Marina we use onshore facilities, but when we’re cruising we boil our billy (jug) or put our solar shower out in the sun to get things heated and have a wash. I love feeling we’re doing what we can to use as few resources as possible, and live sustainably.

One of Tara’s essential plants — a small orchid made it’s way onboard

3. Our boat has everything I need and nothing I don’t.

I have a confession. Even as an advocate for buying less, I love op-shopping and it’s one of my favourite things to do in new towns — head out and explore the local op shop! When I lived in a house, it was a lovely home space filled with my second-hand treasures. I’d sneak past Jeff with my latest cool furniture find, or big basket, antique art frame, ceramic vase or trinket. But I didn’t realise how much stuff we’d accumulated over the years, until it came time to sell it all and buy a boat.

The best way I’ve decluttered my life is buying a yacht! I was forced (I chose) to assess every little thing I wanted to bring aboard, and whether I really needed it. Like how many wooden spoons should a girl own? Now I live in an ultimate Marie Kondo session. Does it spark joy, or save my life? No? Then I either don’t buy it in the first place, or give it away or sell it. Although much to Jeff’s dismay, I’ve decided there’s a number of house plants that are essential to my wellbeing. Now, just having my favourite things that are personal and homely with me, I genuinely feel lighter and happier.

I do miss hanging artworks on our walls (our favourite pieces are now hung at my parents place), but now we’ve got cool brass nautical features and breathtaking scenery.
Really, what I’ve discovered through my minimalism journey onboard, is that I’m a simple soul. If I have a warm, clean, cosy boat, with plenty of good food and wine, and my favourite people then I’m the most content girl on the planet. 

Dolphins play off our bow

A school of fish find breakfast under our boat

4. Sailing gives us front row seats to watch wildlife.

Living on a boat is literally like living in an aquarium. It’s pretty common to be sitting in the cockpit with my bowl of porridge, a spoonful halfway to mouth, only to spot a huge stingray cruising past. Breakfast forgotten, I’ll jump up to watch it for as long as I can, as it gracefully glides by and disappears into deeper water. Seeing big beautiful fish in the ocean is the best experience.

There’s plenty of other sea life hanging around the boat too because our kitchen sink drains straight into the sea. So if I rinse my breakfast bowl and then run out the back, I'll usually spot a school of fish darting after tasty oat morsels! And then there’s baby seals, who come and stay for a while in Mana Marina during winter. Or gannets that dive bomb right beside us for fish. But the ultimate front row seat is watching dolphins dive and play off the bow of the boat. So cool!

Sailing NØRD through French Pass, New Zealand

5. Sailing teaches me life lessons: Patience young grasshopper

If you ask Jeff, he probably wouldn’t list patience as one of my best characteristics. I’m much quicker to feel frustrated because we’re never caught up with our list of things to fix or replace. Sometimes I’m impatient when our sailing trip is slow and it takes ages to get to our next destination. Like the time we crossed French Pass into Tasman Bay — the longest day sail I’d experienced and it seemed to take a lifetime to reach the other side.

But the realities of sailing and maintaining a boat has been teaching me one of life’s greatest lessons: patience. I’m challenged to enjoy the process, accept where I’m at on the journey (and that all the boat jobs will never be done), and respond to life with more grace and peace: Sailing is making me a better person, and I love that.

6. Living on a boat connects me to the outdoors.

The outdoors is an extension of our living space onboard and I feel very connected to it. I spend a lot of time sitting outside on top of the boat watching the water ripples or the clouds on the horizon, or listening to nearby bird chatter. When I spend time outdoors I notice my heart rate is slower, I’m relaxed and it’s easier to take big breaths.

Twice a day I notice the flood and ebb of tides as our boat rises and falls. As the wind shifts our yacht, we heel over slightly in the Marina, or we spin on anchor like a slow motion film. When the gales rage, we rock ‘n’ roll onboard — always affected by the weather. Now we notice wind changes, and rely on forecasting to sail well and to stay safe.

I feel the warmth of the sun through the hatch in the morning or wake to loud rain pounding down on the cabin top — either one, I’ll need to go outside at some point and take a hat or a jacket. On a clear night, I stand at the bow of the boat and watch the stars spread across the sky and the moon reflected in the dark inky water. Tuning in to the weather and the outdoors, feels like a natural thing to do — it’s how we used to live, and how indigenous cultures have always lived — and I’m experiencing more of that now.

7. I love the intimate space on our boat.

There’s nothing I love more than coming home at the end of the day to hunker down. Since we renovated the interior of our yacht, repainting with warm colours and adding natural fabrics and textures, it’s a cosy, private cocoon. The space we’ve created together onboard is an intimate home on the ocean. The entire floor space in our boat is about the size of five and a half yoga mats cut up and rearranged. That’s not a lot of wiggle room if one of us is in the way and the other needs to get past in the galley, or bathroom (which is all the time). This means we’re in each other’s space a lot during the day — sometimes our touch is subconscious as we pass each other by, other times it’s intentional but we love the closeness sailing brings to our relationship, and the comfort of having each other nearby.

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In Summary

Narrowing my best things about living on a boat down was actually difficult — as there’s so much to love about the sailing lifestyle. Did I mention sailing’s actually fun?! Let me know in the comments — What’s your favourite thing about being on a boat?

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