Buying a liveaboard boat

Living on a boat full time is both an incredibly rewarding and challenging experience. Complicated boat systems need specialized maintenance, the space is much smaller than your typical apartment, and you have to get very creative with storage. But the ability to take your home anywhere, get up close and personal to nature and wildlife, and live an alternative lifestyle with a waterfront view make up for any inconveniences. If you’re exploring buying a liveaboard boat, this guide will help you start to narrow in on the characteristics that will work best for you, how much you might expect to spend, and where to look for a boat.

What makes a good liveaboard boat?

This article isn’t about the merits of sailboats vs. powerboats or monohulls vs. catamarans. Technically any boat could be a liveaboard boat, and the key considerations are more about you and your desired lifestyle than anything else. To narrow in on your search for buying a liveaboard boat, answer these questions for yourself:

• Where do you plan to live on your boat? A good liveaboard boat for Florida might not cut with the hull and deck insulation you would need in Alaska.
• How much space do you need? Consider headroom, people on board, storage space, if you want to have guests, your comfort level maneuvering, moorage costs by slip size, etc.
• How do you plan to use the boat? Do you want a place to live at the dock, or do you also want to explore? Do you plan on staying local or taking your boat across oceans?
• What resources can you contribute? Money, time, and knowledge are all important here. For example, a sailboat has lower costs, but it also takes longer to get places. A project boat means upgrades, which always requires varying combinations of money, time, and know-how.
• What can’t you live without from your land lifestyle? Fridge/freezer/ice maker? Dedicated shower stall? A place to watch TV? Counter space in the kitchen? Lots of natural light?

How much money do you need?

Buying a liveaboard boat ain’t cheap, but it isn’t unattainable either. It’s impossible to say exactly how much it costs to buy a liveaboard boat, since the price range really comes back to the location, size, and how you plan to use your boat. Start by answering these questions for yourself and narrow in on your criteria. If you would be comfortable in a small boat or plan to never leave the dock, you will have far more affordable options.

OUR EXPERIENCE In our case, we wanted a boat in Seattle (a pricier place to buy boats), 40-50 feet, built for offshore, used but not a major project boat, and comfortable. After looking at many local boats, we realized our $40K budget wasn’t going to cut it. We ultimately raised our budget to $100K and expanded our search radius into British Columbia, Canada and down the U.S. coast.

Financing

If you’re interested in financing your boat like we did, our biggest advice is to start talking to banks early to determine how much you can get a loan for. This might very well determine your budget for you or force you to hold off a while longer. Use your best judgement if you want to reveal you plan to live on board or not – many banks won’t offer a loan for a liveaboard boat. Also plan on footing a 10% down payment of the purchase price (pre-tax).

OUR EXPERIENCE We chose to approach buying our boat like we would if we were planning to buy a condo and opted to apply for a loan to finance nearly the entire cost. It turns out this was one of the biggest obstacles for us. Many banks turned us away because we had never taken a loan of a comparable size before (apparently our student loans didn’t count) which was a chicken and egg situation for sure. In the end, we found a bank that would loan to us up to $100K.

Sales tax

When you purchase a boat, you also have to pay sales tax. It’s important to know that the sales tax will be applied based on where you will register the boat, not the city or state where you purchase the boat.

Delivery costs

If you’re looking at boats outside of your immediate area, you have options to 1) have the boat put on a truck and driven to you, 2) put on a cargo ship and delivered to you, 3) hire a professional captain and crew to bring the boat to you, or 4) move the boat yourself. Three out of four of these options are expensive as hell if there’s any significant distance – plan accordingly.

Other expenses

How much it costs on the day-to-day to live aboard is a whole other topic, one that we’ll write about more in depth in another post. That said, when planning for your initial budget to buy a liveaboard boat, consider your expected monthly costs such as the cost of moorage in your area, insurance, registration fees, storage unit, and diesel/shore power/propane/etc.

Maintenance and upgrades

Revisit the questions of how you plan to use the boat and what kind of resources you can contribute. These two questions will help guide how much you can expect for maintenance and upgrades for any given boat and will help determine if a boat is within the threshold of resources you can commit to getting it to meet your lifestyle needs. Keep in mind, a project boat can often seem tempting, but the price of making repairs and upgrades yourself can well exceed the amount you could pay for a boat that already has the elements you want.

Where to look when buying a liveaboard boat

Online is a great place to start. Sites like YachtWorld are our favorites, but you can also find many boats worth looking at on Craigslist. To get a sense of what features might be important to you, go to boat shows – walk through the featured boats to better get a feel for size and space.

Recommendations

Could you live on a stark race boat? Yes, totally, but you’ll probably get tired of that pretty quick! Having enough comforts is key to making the liveboard life sustainable for the long haul. Our beyond-the-basics recommendations for amenities to look for when buying a liveaboard boat include:

• Two functional heads
• Fridge and freezer
• Ample storage
• Entertainment area
• Large owner’s cabin
• U-shaped galley
• Large cockpit
• Headroom throughout