
Ask HN: Should I buy a boat and live off the grid? - danieka
The situation is as follows:<p>I live in Stockholm but my current lease will run out at the end of August. Now it is entirely possible for me to get a new apartement. But a thought has lodged in my brain that I can not get rid of. I want to buy a boat, find a slip here in Stockholm and live on the boat for the foreseeable future. I&#x27;m sure I could handle the practicalities of it. On the pro side is the fact that I want to try to live on a boat (quite small sailboat in this case) and &quot;off the grid&quot;. Sure it&#x27;s a bit romanticised, but isn&#x27;t your youth the time to make mistakes?<p>On the con side I&#x27;m worried my social life will suffer, I might lose friends. Can&#x27;t invite people home. People don&#x27;t want to date a hobo living on a boat?<p>So my questions is: How severe is the stigma around living on a boat? Does anyone have experience of living in a way that&#x27;s looked down upon by the rest of society?
======
aaronscott
I lived in a van for a year in the bay area. My social life changed for the
better. Being more mobile made it easier to visit friends and family in the
area.

Dating was fine, it was polarizing in a way. Some girls were immediately
turned off - and that was good to know. They are less tolerant of alternative
lifestyles and ideas, and so not someone I would want to be friends with
anyway. Some girls were totally into it.

There was a lot of mental overhead with living in a van. Where to park, how to
work in a shower each day, making sure it's safe and the neighborhood won't be
bothered with me staying in the area, etc. It will be different for a boat,
since it's legal and you have more facilities available.

My productivity and focus went up at work after I moved back into an
apartment. Having a shower and unlimited water & electricity felt incredible.
It certainly gave me a new appreciation for modern conveniences.

One side effect of van life that may apply to boat living - you become more in
tune with the weather, but less bothered by changes. I'd wake up with the
temperature in the mid 40s, and it would be fine. Yes I'd put on a jacket, but
I'd go about my morning routine without turning on the heater and be ok with
it. I would compare it with being on a ketogenic diet - you still experience
hunger, but your response to it is manageable / in your control.

I think experimenting with living off the grid will give you a new
appreciation of life and a healthy perspective of what's important to you. For
me, once I got the bug to try it, it didn't go away until I made it happen. So
if you have a good opportunity to try it out, I'd suggest going for it.

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otterpro
YES, live on a boat (especially if it will save you money, and if you like the
water/sea and don't mind the small living space)

1\. Live on a boat, (low or no rent)

2\. In the meanwhile,

    
    
        a. save lots of money!
    
        b. invite friends/family for excursion/fishing trip/romantic getaway on the sea
    
        c. enjoy the nature to yourself - instead of living inside a cramped tiny apartments
    
        d. have fun learning to sail
    

3\. Finally, after money has been saved up,

    
    
        a. sell the boat
    
        b. buy a house with the money saved up
    
        c. have interesting story to tell your friends/family/kids with your life journey
    
        d. teach sailing 
    
        e. learn to appreciate all things in life

~~~
johnboiles
+1. This is a delightfully concise version of what my wife and I did.

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ohaiwalt
I've been living aboard a sailboat just outside NYC for about two years now,
happy to answer questions.

Addressing a few things:

* buying a boat that is reasonable to live on with less than a month to do so will be difficult. You need to figure out your basic criteria and find a vessel that matches, then get it surveyed by a professional. My boat is 30 years old and was relatively cheap, but it's still a large purchase that you don't want to get screwed on. You may need to sleep on someone's couch for a bit while sorting all this out.

* Boats are depreciating assets, unlike most real estate. Something to consider about buying something that won't impact your quality of life too much.

* Off the grid entirely is difficult, especially from the get go. If you are retired or otherwise able to not worry about being somewhere at a specific time, you may be able to find somewhere to anchor out and take a dinghy in to shore, but I still commute to the office and that sounds like an enormous pain in the ass. I live in a marina, and still connect to shore power to charge my laptop and have WiFi.

* My social life hasn't suffered for the boat, people generally find it an interesting curiosity, even though I gave up a lot of comforts. I don't have a refrigerator, I have an ice box. I don't have air conditioning, I open windows. I can use the head (restroom) aboard the boat, but I usually go to the marina restrooms to avoid having to get the holding tank pumped out. In the middle of winter, having to walk 100ft outside to take a shower before going to work isn't fun.

All that said, it's the cheapest waterfront property I could possibly find in
my area, and I wake up every day to a gently rocking bed and usually a nice
breeze. It's worth it to me for now.

~~~
danieka
Thanks for your reply. Luckily in Sweden it's a buyers market for boats right
now, and if I don't get cold feet I'm going to look at a boat this weekend.
How many feets is your boat?

~~~
ohaiwalt
That's great! Part of the reason I'd say it'll take a bit longer though is if
you find a vessel that you're interested in, a thorough survey requires
hauling it out of the water to inspect the hull, so scheduling with a yard,
the owner, and the surveyor usually takes a bit. In my area the haul out is
about $500-800, and the survey was $600 just to see if the boat was worth
buying.

My boat is 35.5ft / 10.8m

~~~
danieka
I'm thinking of buying a boat that's both smaller and cheaper. That way if I
regret my decision I can quickly reverse without too much economic damage. If
I think it's acceptable to live in really cramped conditions 35ft will seem
like heaven.

------
chrissnell
A boat in saltwater is floating in an evironment that is determined to destroy
it. Everything breaks. Bilge pumps die and flood your boat. The toilet reeks
because bacteria grow in the copper piping and produce sulfurous gas. Wiring
mysteriously shorts when the PVC coating outgasses and cracks and salt air and
moisture creeps into the copper strands. Everything is exposed to the sun all
day, doubly so because of water's reflections, and the UV destroys everything,
too. Be prepared to fix something every week and that the cost of fixing it
will be sky-high because you must use marine-grade parts to fix it. When
you're not fixing expensive broken shit, you're maintaining it. Constant
repainting of surfaces. If your boat has teak, you'll frequently need to strip
it and sand it and re-laquer it. Motors die if not used regularly or overheat
when the diesel gets old and rots head gasket seals. Fuel leaks. The lines
that you use to secure your boat to the dock need constant re-tightening as
the tides and waves and wakes toss your boat around. If you forget to tighten
them or go on vacation, your boat will come loose and beat itself to death
against the dock. If there's a hurricane, the usual course of action is to
move your boat out into the harbor and anchor it securely and then ride the
storm out somewhere safe.

I love boats but there is a good reason for this joke: "The two happiest days
in a man's life: the day he buys a boat and the day he sells it."

------
Lon7
There are a bunch of sailing clubs in Stockholm. Before you purchase a boat
yourself I'd advise you to join one for a summer. Go sailing, talk to people
whos lives revolve around boats. You will get loads of useful advice.

I don't live on a boat myself, but I sail a lot and I know people who do or
did live on a boat. In my experience, it's awesome for a few weeks at most
(longest period I did was 3 weeks).

First off, it's going to cost a whole lot more than you imagine. I'd say
triple your initial cost estimates. Everything on boats break all the time and
cost a tonne to repair.

> I'm worried my social life will suffer, I might lose friends. Can't invite
> people home. People don't want to date a hobo living on a boat?

Your social life will change a lot. Having a friend who lives on a boat is
great when it's still new and novel, but soon they become the guy that who's
always on a slightly different schedule than everyone else.

The vast majority of women will not be interested in going home with someone
who lives on a small sailboat. Some absolutely will, but most really are not
interested. You're seen more as that quirky guy who lives on a boat who they
can tell their friends about, rather than a potential romantic partner.

So socially, it really depends on you and what you make of it. Some people
will think it's really neat that you live on a boat and others will look down
on you for it.

------
anonu
I feel like the twin goals of living off the grid and having a social life,
though not perfectly orthogonal, might be hard to achieve. In other words, one
will probably suffer from the other. That said, if you do decide to buy a boat
- get a cool one - then everyone will want to be your friend.

My association with "living off the grid" has always been finding some house
in the woods at the end of a very long dirt road. If you're docking a boat in
a big city, theres probably tons of people around you - that doesnt really
feel like "living off the grid" IMHO

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greysteil
You should just do it - if it's a mistake, it will be really easy to fix.

Can't speak for Sweden, but in London I'm not aware of any stigma around
living on boats. A friend of mine at McKinsey, a big management consultancy
firm that's as corporate as they come, lived on one and regularly invited
colleagues over.

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moneytide1
I am seeking out a similar lifestyle - living off-grid and becoming self-
sufficient.

You will have to start thinking differently, and the challenges you face will
be unique. This new critical thinking may even improve your mental
effectiveness at work. It will be like running the small business of taking
care of yourself, with many tasks to complete, inventory to monitor, and
expenses to pay attention to (few of which will be paid to large companies
that provide services to aggregated clusters of people).

The stigma and social isolation you are anticipating will be a good thing.
Through your efforts to craft a truly customized lifestyle, you will filter
out those who desire dependency on traditional society. The ones that want to
spend time with you will be those seeking out a similar change and adventure.

I recently visited several large cities across the US, and I have always lived
in a rural setting. This experience made me realize that the founders of
places like Rome and the US all went "off-grid" in the sense that they
retreated from the crowded, complex societies they were born into and crafted
their own life where no one else had ventured.

Personally, I view my off-grid plans as training over the next couple of
decades to become an expert at taking care of myself when my body and mind
deteriorate and I am no longer useful to society. I think of it as the
ultimate retirement plan - gardening, solid health, and home construction as
base stats to comfortably live out my final years without a dime spent on
hospice.

------
bks
A subreddit on the subject -
[https://www.reddit.com/r/liveaboard/](https://www.reddit.com/r/liveaboard/)

------
dugditches
Boats aren't cheap. To buy/refurbish, repair, docking fees, fuel, etc.

I would say living in a vehicle has much more stigma, since that's something
typically done out of desperation. And so people doing it voluntary(Van
Dwelling, etc) typically attract that stigma(parking, dirty, etc).

Versus living on a boat which is more 'romantic' since it's not really an
option or even considered.

~~~
bloaf
You can just build from scratch too:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfVWFe-0UxM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfVWFe-0UxM)

------
johnchristopher
> On the con side I'm worried my social life will suffer, I might lose
> friends. Can't invite people home. People don't want to date a hobo living
> on a boat?

Non sense. You are going to meet people outside of your usual social circles.
Maybe you'll date someone who likes people who lives on boat and that would be
cool because you are someone who wants to live on a boat.

~~~
t1234567890
Alright as someone who grew up in a wierd situation I'm going to argue against
this.

Dating is really hard, anything that makes you weirder and means you'll be
around fewer people is probably a bad thing. Plus living on a boat and being
near all the salt water probably won't be good for your skin, which will make
it all even worse.

~~~
panglott
this isn't really a weird/normal issue. People have all kinds of likes and
ideas and preferences. If you live in an apartment or a tiny house or a
detached suburban house with a long commute, you will be the kind of person
with those preferences and be more likely to attract people with those
preferences, or who are at least open to it.

I'm a transportation cyclist who went car-free while I was single in a car-
centric inland US city, where "not having a car" is generally seen as being
completely irresponsible, not having your shit together, and not being a
serious person. I still dated people with the normal frequency, eventually got
married, we now have a one-car household.

If you love your lifestyle, and think it's worth doing, and aren't a huge
burden on other people, then other people can appreciate what you see in it
too.

------
raintrees
If you determine the slip fees get too high, make sure you have invested in a
really good anchor and chain, according to one person who recently talked
about living on a boat for over 5 years in Hawai'i. He stated that those
typically included with a vessel are not necessarily adequate.

------
taylodl
Maybe you need to do some soul-searching and ask yourself why do you care what
everyone else thinks? Do you want to live life your way and for yourself or do
you want to live it their way and for them? It's all in what you want and how
you set your priorities.

~~~
MrTonyD
It is sensible to thing the care about what other people think. We live in a
society - and there are norms, standards, and values associated with our
community. We shouldn't want to be people who can ignore the genuine values of
our community. In many ways, I'm just arguing for "love your neighbor" as
extending to caring about the values of your community - even when you
disagree with them.

------
twunde
I actually had a coworker in the US that bought a boat and lives on it. I get
the feeling that his social life is mostly unchanged. Most of us thought it
was foolhardy and a little weird, but that was fine. We saw him go through
quite a learning curve, one being that he can't live in it during the winter
so he has to stay in a hotel. It's also quite expensive to buy and maintain
and unlike houses I don't think that the value of boats increase. He's lost
some luxuries like TV and wifi. My general feeling is that he probably
wouldn't do it again if he could do it over, but he's made it work.

~~~
ohaiwalt
o/

I actually only had to evacuate once when it hit subzero temps! Also would
totally do again, maybe with a bit more prep this time

------
billconan
I'd suggest you to try it first, renting someone's boat for a month or so.

I had similar idea and found someone renting boat when interned in San
Francisco. but eventually due to other reasons, I didn't take the boat.

at the time, I knew nothing about sailing. then, one of my friends, who is in
the Berkeley sailing club, took me to sailing for few times. I started to
change my mind.

I can't use a laptop on a boat. it's too shaky even docked. the moisture and
the smell of an old boat is also bad.

I predict I can at best live on a boat for a week. plus, there is no shower on
the boat.

I'd suggest you try it first before making decision.

------
sehugg
There are many people here in Florida that live on boats, some of them go to
school or work on temporary contracts then sell the boat when they leave. Some
anchor out in the river and so are truly off-grid and pay no rent.

Your entertaining style will have to change, true, especially on a small
sailboat. Instead of inviting people over to watch Netflix or whatever, why
not invite them out for a sail? (Oh yeah, and keep your living space tidy, no
one wants to hang out in someone's moldy cluttered bedroom :) )

------
sharemywin
As long as you don't overpay for it you can always sell it. My questions:

Are you allowed? How do you shower? What about a kitchen? I assume it has a
bathroom? In the winter would it get too cold?

~~~
danieka
The marina has good facilities and I already eat out for most meals. Re the
winter. Uhm. I'm gonna isolate the crap out of the boat and hope for the best.
I know of people in Sweden (and event northern Norway) that live on their
boat, so I'm hoping it'll be OK.

~~~
literallycancer
The sea should keep the temperatures around 0, some heat loss from the wind,
but that should be manageable. My experience with the Baltic countries is that
the winters are actually rather warm, compared to inland countries where you
can have -30 or colder on a bad day.

------
adamcharnock
This is something I definitely have experience of, albeit perhaps in a
different way. Through my own conscious effort, my life is significantly
different to that of most others in many ways. Professionally I'm freelance
and work comparatively little. I live in a warehouse with 6 others, I built my
own bedroom. Both my sexuality and relationship style are outside the norm.

At several junctures I've asked myself the same questions you are asking now.

All of the above changes have caused me to become more distant from many of my
older friends. There have been very few (if any) upsets, but certainly paths
have diverged. I think this is perfectly ok and I do not see it as a negative.

The flip side of this, is that I have made multiple times more friends as a
result of doing something different. It has made my life richer and better in
ways I could never have imagined previously.

Also, a friend of mine has a theory wrt dating. It's something like "A lot of
people are not into beards, but people who are into beards and REALLY into
beards". In your case you can substitute 'beards' for 'people who live on
boats'.

Plus, it is perfectly ok to change your mind after trying something for a
while. Obvs.

------
JSeymourATL
Richard Branson famously lived on a houseboat in the early days of Virgin >
[https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/5-places-i-have-
worke...](https://www.virgin.com/richard-branson/5-places-i-have-worked-most-
creatively)

------
nether
I wasn't aware there was a stigma. It's not like living in a car, since many
boats are designed to be long-term habitable. I know someone who does this in
San Francisco and he pays $280/month in slip fees, a bit cheaper than rents in
the area.

~~~
coldcode
I wonder if you can park a car near the dock with that? Or does this person
take Ubers everywhere?

~~~
danieka
The slip I'm looking at is actually walking distance from my job. So I imagine
my day to day life could be quite cosy.

------
sireat
Are you really sure you want to live on a boat?

First of all it might be more expensive than an apartment, mooring(slip?) fees
are quite expensive.

Second, boat maintanance can be expensive too.

I recently spent a week on a reasonable 50 foot sailboat in a nice
Mediterranean location and despite amenities (3 bathrooms for 10 people, nice
kitchen etc etc) I was quite happy to get back to sleeping on the ground.

This was with good sailing weather and walking on ground every day.

The pluses for sailing are the community, every port you feel at home. I
suppose it is somewhat similar to RV community.

So if sailing is in your blood then go for it

If you are a casual sailor I'd say this is idea will show its negatives soon
enough.

~~~
danieka
I've wanted to buy a boat for the past two years and now that I'm out of my
apartement I felt that the moment might be right. I love sailing.

------
pm215
In the UK there's not particularly stigma attached to it, but I would be
careful to research the economics of it -- how much a month will you be paying
to rent whatever mooring you have, how much (time and money) will upkeep and
maintenance of the boat cost you, what's the initial expense of the boat and
how much are you losing on a probably-depreciating asset, do you need to pay
to dispose of sewerage, and so on... Do the cool things in life, but look
carefully before you leap so you know what you're getting into and don't hit a
brick wall of disillusionment.

------
Joeboy
> On the con side I'm worried my social life will suffer

Who doesn't want to hang out on a boat? That seems like a weird concern to me.
I can only speak for London but I don't think there's a stigma attached.
People are curious and in some ways even a bit envious. Also the boating
community (here anyway) is very social (somewhat by necessity).

You should maybe look into some the practicalities before doing anything rash
though (hygiene, maintenance, connectivity etc). I found it a little stressful
at times but definitely don't regret it.

------
jansho
What kind of boat is it? My family rented a long one once, the kind that you
see cruising along (British) canals and honestly, as cute as it is, I felt
super claustrophobic.

It can also be very cold.

~~~
danieka
I've sailed in the past and I'm quite outdoorsy so cold and crampedness really
doesn't bother me.

~~~
zzalpha
Doing it on a vacation vs living it every single day are two very _very_
different things... I mean, I absolutely love camping and multi-day back
country hiking. But I sure wouldn't want to live in the bush 24/7!

------
agentultra
The sea is pretty harsh to equipment. I hope you're handy. :)

> Does anyone have experience of living in a way that's looked down upon by
> the rest of society?

I was homeless once for a time. I used to play in bands. I met some punks I
housed up with for a while. It was cramped but it was good times. You'll meet
people if you make the effort to.

 _update_ : I'd also recommend looking into "off the grid" protocols like
scuttlebut ;)

------
jschulenklopper
This is not directly answering your final question, but we have a saying in
Dutch about owning a boat: "Koop een boot, klus je dood." Translation: it
might be easy to buy a boat, but you'll be repairing things till the end.
Application: it's expensive to own a boat. Advice: think at least twice.

------
mathiasben
I'm doing this in Washington DC right now, it's not always easy but worth it!
willing to field any questions

~~~
danieka
That's nice to hear, guess I'm looking for some kind of social validation to
quit caring about social validation and actually go ahead and move to the boat
:)

How large is your boat? Do you experience problems with heating during winter?

~~~
mathiasben
I'm on a 27 foot cape dory, a classic sailboat. it's jussssssst barely enough
space for myself. I have a Dickinson marine diesel fireplace affixed to a
bulkhead for when it gets cold, it'll run for a whole day on one gallon of
fuel but makes the boat way too hot if left on constantly.

------
ljsocal
You might consider renting a liveaboard vessel. That allows you to move-in
quickly and to have a low-risk "out" if you decide it's not the right
lifestyle for you. Your criteria for what boat to buy, should it come to that,
will be much better informed after you've lived afloat for a while.

------
chrismcb
Living in a boat in a slip isn't exactly "off the grid" Maybe things are
different over there, but there are plenty of people who live in a boat over
here. Never heard of a stigma against it.

------
hacknat
Yes. Next question.

~~~
danieka
Best answer so far :D

------
svmegatron
You should, boats are rad. In my experience it won't be as cheap as you think
- but it is still awesome!

------
MicroBerto
Do you want to live a "what if" life?

You know what you want to do. So do it and stop asking for permission.

------
johnboiles
My wife and I lived on a 33" Hunter 336 in Berkeley, California for 2+ years.
Our first child was born during that time and lived on the boat until he was
18 months old.

It was a great experience; I'm very happy we did it.

Our boat had some nice amenities which made it a great liveaboard boat: two
berths (so our son had his own room), bathroom w/ builtin shower & electric
macerating freshwater toilet (which I installed), stove, oven, microwave,
electric hot water, fridge, large kitchen sink. We typically would shower on
land at the Berkeley Yacht Club which was very close to our slip (the bathroom
on the boat doubled as the shower and it was inconvenient to get the bathroom
floor wet). A dedicated shower is the only major feature I'd add if I were to
live on a boat again.

Social life was different. Our friends seemed less likely to just come over
and hang out. But on the other hand, we got to host our friends on sailing
trips and give them a very unique experience of the SF Bay. I can't speak to
the experience of dating while on a boat, sorry :)

One thing to note: boats do come with a lot of maintenance -- saltwater has a
way of destroying everything it touches over time. It was difficult to find
people I trusted to come work on the boat without taking the boat to a boat
yard (which meant moving out of our home temporarily), so I ended up doing
most of the maintenance myself (shout out to my friend Eskil Olsen for
selflessly spending his time helping on a handful of occasions!). I would only
buy a boat if you are comfortable with learning how to fix it.

Economically we came out solidly ahead. We bought the boat for 39k, put about
13k of work into it (also a ton of my time), then sold the boat for 45k (after
brokerage commission). Our monthly fixed expenses were about $500 (water,
power, internet, slip fees). Considering a 2 bedroom in Berkeley would run at
least ~2k+/month we probably saved ~30-40k over the ~26 months. That said, the
time put into maintaining the boat was significant, and if that's not
something you would enjoy, it could easily skew the value equation.

The social stigma was very manageable. People would be surprised and maybe
slightly weirded-out when I'd first share that I lived on a boat, but as I'd
share more I think people caught the vision. I think doing it with my wife
helped normalize it. And once people were able to go sailing with us, I think
they really got it.

We finally moved on land while pregnant with our second child. My favorite
house-amenity is a dishwasher.

Finally, here's the (sold) listing for Chasseresse, the boat we lived on:
[http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1995/Hunter-336-3037385/Berk...](http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1995/Hunter-336-3037385/Berkeley/CA/United-
States#.WYNTMNPysUE)

~~~
cardiffspaceman
The sold listing is interesting because of the price on it. I worked for a
company that was founded to make electronic nav equipment for sailboat use in
1979, and the 'test bed' cost close to $100K, a 39' Ericson. The listing shows
$54K. I checked out comparable Ericson's and they are in the same range.

~~~
johnboiles
Final sale price was 50k (& our broker took a 5k commission), so money in our
pocket was 45k.

------
gargravarr
I'm entertaining a similar idea - buying a motorhome. I live in the UK and not
only are rents extremely high, but I have no hope in hell of affording even
the deposit on a real house so I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. A
motorhome would offer me some nice options - I would own it outright and be
able to customise it to my needs. I would get nothing back at the end of a
rental contract, whereas should I decide to move out of a motorhome, I could
sell it. I would have to sign long-term contracts for utilities and pay daily
standing charges just for the privilege of having them routed to my house
before I even used them, whereas I could just go buy a gas bottle and not pay
any more once it's hooked up.

I could customise the interior of the van as much as I liked - pictures,
posters, whatever. Electrical customising is particularly appealing - with all
my stuff low-voltage, I could fit some solar panels to the roof, along with
some deep-discharge batteries, and totally eliminate my need for mains
electricity. Modern motorhomes come with the equivalent of central heating and
combi-boilers so they're surprisingly warm and you have on-demand hot water
for a shower. I'm sure boats could be the same. With a decent 4G modem and
antenna, I might even get good enough internet access.

You say you can't invite people 'home', I disagree - some might share the
enjoyment of being on a boat as much as you. Okay, if the boat is far too
small, then yes, you do have a space restriction. You're also unlikely to be
seen as a hobo, so long as you have a job. Over in the UK, I know a few people
who live on houseboats. They're not given a hard time. In conversation, others
express appreciation for the idea of living on a boat.

My main concern with the motorhome is sanitation - you'll likely face a
similar issue on a boat. Chances are, you won't be able to flush your toilet
straight into the river, so you'll end up emptying a chemical toilet on a
regular basis. You'll also need to obtain drinking water from somewhere. Mains
water and drainage are the major things I would miss. To get access to those,
I'd need to look at leasing a pitch on a campsite long-term, although still
easier to get out of than a flat rental. The rest of off-grid living is
practical - solar electricity for low-voltage lighting, gas or diesel for
heating, and the freedom to move away at a moment's notice.

In my mind, living mobile shouldn't be stigmatised. People forget that humans
as a species were once highly nomadic. It's only since we invented the concept
of land ownership that it's now seen as unacceptable to try to strike out on
your own. The others bring up very good points about maintenance on a boat -
be prepared for this. If you're going to stick to a river, you'll have
freshwater, which ought to be less brutal on the boat than saltwater, but
you've still got the other issues to deal with. Water is unstoppable and will
get everywhere it can if you let it. Big concern for me with motorhomes is
whether they're sufficiently weatherproof. Boats will be worse, but at least
with a sailboat you don't have the concern of leaking propeller shafts deep in
the hull that you can't get to.

Your best bet will be to take a short holiday on a boat and see how you like
it. Some of my relatives did this recently as a family - one of my cousins was
indifferent to it, the other fell in love with sailing and now knows what she
wants to do with her life.

