The Basics of Living on a Boat: The Practical Course for New Liveaboards

The Basics of Living on a Boat is a self-paced online course that teaches the day-to-day reality of living aboard full time: laundry, mail, trash, provisioning without a car, marina and anchorage etiquette, handling emergencies, and fitting into the cruising community. It is written for new and aspiring liveaboards who can already sail (or are learning) but have never actually lived on a boat. In short, it covers how to live on the boat, not how to drive it.

If you have decided that life afloat is for you, this is the foundation of the practical, hands-on knowledge you will use every single day. Most people prepare hard for the sailing and almost not at all for the rest of life aboard, then get blindsided by the ordinary logistics nobody mentions. This course closes that gap before you cast off, so your first months aboard feel manageable instead of overwhelming.

Why a Course Instead of More YouTube and Blog Posts

The information about daily life aboard is out there, but it is scattered across hundreds of videos, forum threads, and "things I wish I knew" posts, each covering a piece and skipping the rest. Piecing it together takes months and you never know what you are still missing. This course gathers the practical fundamentals into one organized place, in the order a new liveaboard actually needs them, drawn from one cruiser's 17 years of living it. You get clear answers to questions you did not yet know to ask, instead of stumbling onto them the hard way.

What You'll Learn

The course is built around the real routines and decisions of life aboard. A sampling of what it covers:

Daily Life and Logistics

• Provisioning and getting groceries when you do not have a car
• Laundry, trash, and recycling as ongoing logistics rather than chores you can ignore
• Getting mail and packages without a fixed address, plus office services like notarizing documents
• Internet aboard, sleeping well, comfortable boat bedding, and quieting clanking halyards
• Keeping a boat clean and bug-free with products that are safe around the water

Safety and Boat Basics

• Six ways to get help fast in an emergency, and how to build a simple float plan
• What to do when water is coming into the boat, including gear to have on hand and bilge alarms
• Anchoring securely and tying onto a mooring ball
• Using a propane stove safely, daily check routines, and getting back aboard from the water without help
• Dinghy safety for getting to and from shore

Etiquette and the Cruising Community

• How to check into a marina and the unwritten rules of living in close quarters, at the dock and at anchor
• Socializing with other boaters, including what to do if you are shy, do not drink, are on a tight budget, or have dietary restrictions
• Laundry-room etiquette, boat cards, and meeting people in a community that is one of the best parts of cruising

Special Situations

• Cruising with a dog aboard and the rules around drone use
• Doing US taxes while traveling and living in foreign countries
• Considerations for living aboard and cruising over age 75

In total, the course covers 31 practical topics across more than 30 short, focused lessons, including the trickier questions most guides skip.

How It's Different

Sailing schools and certification courses teach you to handle and navigate a boat. This course is the other half: everything that happens once you have learned to sail and actually move aboard. It assumes no prior liveaboard experience, addresses real concerns honestly rather than romanticizing the lifestyle, and focuses entirely on the practical side of daily life on the water. It is the foundational course for the living-aboard knowledge you will rely on, the place to start before going deeper into any single topic.

Format: Text-Based, Searchable, and Yours to Keep

The course is entirely text-based, with clear photos throughout and downloadable checklists you can save and reuse. There are no videos to sit through. Text is faster to skim, easy to search, and simple to refer back to when a specific question comes up, so you can read it through before you go and look things up again later. The downloadable checklists give you ready-to-use reference tools for tasks like outfitting a new boat and daily checks. You go at your own pace, as fast or as slowly as you like, and come back to any topic as often as you need.

About the Instructor: Carolyn Shearlock

Carolyn Shearlock lived aboard full time for 17 years on two very different boats, a Tayana 37 monohull and a Gemini 105 catamaran, giving her firsthand experience with the range of challenges and rewards of boat life. Over 14,000-plus miles of cruising in the Sea of Cortez, Pacific Mexico, Central America, Florida, and the Bahamas, she developed the practical advice she shares in this course. She is an instructor at Cruisers University, a contributor to leading boating publications, and the founder of The Boat Galley.

Who It's For

• You are planning to move aboard and want to understand how day-to-day life actually works
• You feel overwhelmed by everything to figure out: laundry, trash, provisioning, sleep, mail, and more
• You have watched plenty of videos and read blogs but still do not know what really matters for daily life aboard
• You can already sail, or are learning, but have never lived on a boat full time
• You want clear, practical guidance so you feel prepared and confident when you move aboard

Details

• Format: Online, text-based course with photos and downloadable checklists (no video)
• Access: Self-paced, online, with lifetime access and future updates included
• Topics covered: 31 practical topics across more than 30 short lessons
• Level: Beginner; no prior liveaboard experience required
• Focus: The daily life and logistics of living aboard, not sailing or navigation
• Best for: New and aspiring full-time liveaboards and cruisers
• Instructor: Carolyn Shearlock, founder of The Boat Galley, 17 years living aboard and 14,000-plus cruising miles
• Updated: Reviewed and updated February 2026; included updates continue at no extra cost