Becoming a liveaboard
The first big step is done. After 6 years of living for rent in Denmark, I decided to quit my apartment and move aboard Serenity. The last few years I lived in a 57sqm place and since my TV broke down years ago, I wasn’t even using the living room anymore and the only reason to keep the flat was to store all the stuff I never needed. So most of the junk I piled up for years went straight to the recycling center on moving day and the only stuff I kept was either already on the boat or in my car when I left the place. How much crap I kept is unbelievable. It’s really only when you’re forced to get rid of a lot of your belongings that you’re able to choose what’s valuable and what’s not.
Three weeks have passed from moving aboard and I could not be happier! The facilities in the marina Bogense are decent, the boat is spacious enough for a single household and with plenty of storage so I don’t even need a storage room on land. But the most important thing is that it get’s me up to speed to follow my dream of cruising the world.
The hard facts are that I spent a lot every month for the rental place compared to 80 € a month for the place in the marina including electricity and water plus around 70 € for Diesel in winter time to heat the boat. This makes me save plenty of money to invest in gear so Serenity becomes a bluewater yacht with all necessary safety features for single handed sailing, like AIS, life boat, radar, EPIRB and co.
There are simply no downsides I can picture. Sure, you have to carry gallons of Diesel every week, your car might be parked further away, the head on the boat might be too limited to allow a proper morning routine but you have the facilities in the marina. It is cold the first minutes you enter the boat. It might be noisy when it’s windy and the galley space requires some improvisation skills, not to forget that you are constantly stowing away stuff cause a small space gets messy instantly. But all this is nothing which bothers me and I do it with a smile.
I am just happy cause this is the life I have chosen.
