" wrote:

Thanks cersk for the intelligent and helpful reply. I am looking at
riverfront property along the N.Dakota section of the Missouri River
also so I plan on getting a houseboat or a larger cruiser that I can
use for fishing with several of my friends aboard. I don't have plans
to head out on any sal****er in the near future unless it is on a large
cruise ship.

I've lost your original post, and I answered it hastily but --

As a general rule, people who live aboard full time don't do much
boating away from the dock unless they are cruising. Cruisers have
stuff stowed safely so that they can get underway. They put up with
just getting stuff out as they need it and putting it away again right
afterwards because they know they will need to put it away before they
leave.

Live-aboards have much more 'stuff' out because that is less trouble
and more comfortable. If you are working in addition, you also have
to have 'work clothes' in addition to boating clothes. This will take
much more room and be even more stuff to have to stow.

For instance the TVs (and computers)- have to be stored to go out, and
if you have cable or phone line it has to be detached. We have sat TV
and an antenna, but the satellite dish has to be stowed to get
underway because it would interfere with the boom and v.v.. It would
be other issues on a houseboat, but I still wouldn't leave a satellite
receiver on deck anywhere.

If you have river-front property it would be more comfortable to have
some kind of house on shore and just have a fishing boat for summer.
It can be cold and damp on the water and if your problem is arthritis
that will make it worse. Also mold is always a problem.

Keep in mind that if you are going to live aboard up there in the
winter not only will you need a good heating system in the boat but
also something to keep the boat from freezing in - bubblers or
heaters.. These will need electricity. If you don't have that, what
will you do?.

You probably won't be able to have dockside water either, because the
pipes will freeze and will have to use dockside bathroom facilities,
and haul water in buckets. This would be a problem for me. Actually
we don't ever leave the boat attached to the dockside water - lots of
boats are sunk at the dock that way. But we do have to run a hose to
fill our water tanks.

Unless you have an electric motor possibly with rechargeable
batteries, you will have to have fuel for the houseboat engine. You
will either have to jerry can the fuel in, or move the boat to a gas
dock. Is there one near where you are planning to have your boat?



grandma Rosalie