Last year, my husband, Michael, and I bought a sailboat to live on full-time.
At the time, we were preparing to move from our residence near Louisville, Kentucky, to Santa Barbara, California, anywhere I'd lived for a few years following college.
As enthusiastic as we were to move to a new state, we weren't prepared for the higher disbursal of rent, and paying $2,500 a duration for a location we wouldn't equal own was a difficult pill to swallow for two Midwesterners.
We knew we couldn't oversee to buy a home yet, but motionless wanted a item we could own outright. I figured there had to be an substitute option.
After several thought, I remembered I had earlier met a figure of group in Santa Barbara who lived aboard boats, and wondered if that would be feasible for us.
My hubby and I had all been on a fistful of sailing trips, and as lifelong outdoorspeople, exploring by sea was appealing, equal although we knew nearly nothing concerning the logistics.
Once the idea was planted, we couldn't ideate doing item else.
So far, the cognition has been complete of ups and downs
After deciding to obtain this leap, we saved up and consumed all publish and YouTube conduit concerning sailing. We equal fastened a sailing cleat to the arm of an old chair, and we used that to custom our knots.
In September 2025, we bought a 1975 sailboat outright for $40,000 in San Francisco and sailed it downward the shoreline the dawn the document were signed.
Our 43-foot container is a beautiful activity of craftsmanship, featuring a well-preserved wooden inner alongside two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a desk. But unfortunately, the container came alongside an overwhelming amount of activity from the start.
The former owner had remaining us fairly a disorder to spotless up, leaving all drawer stuffed alongside old kitchenware and junk. Plus, it needed work, akin replacing the rotting chief sheet, updating the navigation systems, and cleaning out a mildewed freshwater container — things we've gradually fixed one at a time.
The archetypal night aboard the boat, we lay in bed and idea to ourselves, "What have we done?" We hung up a horseshoe — a fortunate family heirloom that had watched complete my dad's entrance for 20 years — expecting it motionless had several fortune remaining to contribute us.
Although we've loved living on a container so far, we were amazed it wasn't additional affordable than living on land. Our stumble fee, concerning $1,500 a month, at the marina anywhere we're normally docked, is cheaper than any studio apartment in the area, but we create up the difference in the care that comes alongside owning a container from 1975.
There's a saying among container owners that BOAT stands for "Bust Out Another Thousand" — item we didn't study until we lived aboard. Boat parts aren't cheap, and item tagged "marine" comes alongside a hefty cost tag.
Luckily, we've been capable to preserve a lot of prosperity by doing the labor ourselves — whether that's resealing the windows, installing solar, or replacing motor parts. Michael is a awesome engineer, mechanic, and all-around helpful guy, and I'm fair alongside a wrench.
Despite the financial challenges of living on board, we've developed a regular that has made this location awareness akin home.
Most weekday mornings commencement alongside espresso from the device we squeezed onto our constricted oppose space. We beverage it in the cockpit during the remainder of the marina is woken up by the noisy roars of sea lions.
After work, we akin to bicycle about town and sometimes presenter dinner parties that end alongside observing the sunset rearward the hundreds of sailboat masts.
On the weekends, we've been capable to use the container to examine the California coast. We group up on a Friday, sail out to a quiescent anchor, and expend a few days hiking, swimming, and observing dolphins from the deck.
A twelvemonth living aboard has tested us, but it's additionally brought us closer
After a twelvemonth on the boat, we rely ourselves additional and additional as sailors, and the sweetest part has been observing us blossom as a team.
Even although it can be challenging sharing a area alongside person who is never additional than 10 feet from you, the top adventure has been navigating this new manner and learning curve together.
Sure, we young female having a ample flat area to stretch, a galley big adequate for two, and a toilet that doesn't odor akin rotten seawater.
Some days, our 43 feet feels larger than life, filled alongside possibilities and adventure, but another times it feels akin we're living in a extremely costly closet.
Even on those claustrophobic, leak-dodging, seaweed-scented days, neither one of us would commerce it. Not yet, anyway. We've been capable to examine the Channel Islands, observer amazing coastal wildlife, and study the skills that arrive alongside living on the water: study the weather, trimming sails, and surfing.
Eventually, we desire children, and we can't image raising them aboard. But for now, we're exactly anywhere we desire to be.
There's a narrow opening in existence whenever you can uproot everything for item this impractical, and we're position correct in the center of it.
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Rachel Murphy is a journey and documentary lensman and author whose activity centers on the group and cultures rearward a place. She’s the originator of A Cultural Affair, a slow-travel publish and community on Substack. Originally from Louisville, Kentucky, she has traveled to additional than 30 countries and now lives aboard a sailboat on the California shoreline alongside her husband. You can prosecute her adventures on Instagram at @rvgeveden or her website rachelgeveden.com.
