Finally moved into the boat!
Here we are finally living on Seabird the sailing boat!
Just a quick recap on this boat projects. Joe bought the boat in 2018 with the idea of owning a home with which he could travel the world. The steel boat was built in the 70s and so was the interior. He took on this enormous project of remodelling the back of the boat, renovating the interior, adding an electric motoring system and so much more. I think it would be fair to say he did 85% of the work himself, friends and family lending a hand 5%, Saga helped with the rest and took care of the housework and cooking throughout the project. We’ve faced many difficult moments, felt tired and stressed, doubted ourselves and the project several times. Thanks to Joe’s persistence and our strong belief in our dream, we are here. You probably know from your own experience, the longer you work on a dream or a goal, the better it feels when you achieve it. We think this is an important notion in our fast-pleasure society, and we encourage you to work persistently on your goal or dream even if it takes a while to achieve it.
Okay, so the boat is not really ready, it’s liveable! All the other boat builders tell us it will never be ready “It’s an ongoing project until the end of time”. So, we are lacking a few things and have a lot to work on. Here’s an updated tour of the boat.
Rough sketch of the Seabird
First, we have the deck area, which is where all the sailing happens. Lots of ropes, sails, and steering equipment everywhere. At the back of the boat, we have our terrace, which has proven to be great for swimming and jumping on SUP-boards, despite many people’s doubts. The deck area will get a teak-like cover sometime during the summer, so it won’t be so slippery.
Entering the boat, you are greeted by our hall/kitchen/living room/guest room hybrid area, we still need to come up with a better name for it, but now it’s just called the front room. The kitchen has an induction/gas stove, a fridge, a sink and cupboards for food and cutlery. The Living room has bed-sized sofas on each side and a table hanging in the middle. The diesel heater next to the stairs keeps us warm and we can also use it for cooking. The heater’s chimney has been problematic on windy days and far too many times we’ve had all the smoke inside, we’ll have to switch the chimney soon. Our 8 kW battery pack which runs all our electricity is located under the floorboards in the bilge, it’s powered by two 300 W solar panels outside so we are quite self-sufficient during sunny summers.
What it looks like inside when life is happening..
The hallway to the back of the boat is filled with closet space and some day it will have an oven as well. The old Ford Motor is located in the middle of the boat, and it takes most of the space there. The motor works like a charm.
At the back of the boat, we have our bedroom and toilet. The back of the boat had a total makeover, Joe lifted the roof, added some windows, built a big bed with storage space underneath it and as a result we have amazingly spacious room. Under the bed is our 700 L water tank, and as we typically use 20 L of water a day, therefore we can last a month with it.
The toilet has remained in its original state for the time being. The current toilet mechanism is super simple a hatch opens straight into our septic tank. Saga dreams of a sauna/shower/toilet hybrid let’s see what we’ll make of it next winter.
All in all, we are super happy living onboard Seabird. The interior still resembles a space craft rather than a boat, as we are still missing our wall/ceiling/floor panelling and lights, all in good time. The focus was on making the boat liveable and sea-worthy, and now after two months we can say it has been a success.
We hope you’ve had a great summer so far!
