In the 3 years from when we bought the boat until we moved onto boat, the general opinion was that we would either love it or hate it (living on board that is). An experienced cruising couple told us we'd love it but that the first year would be the hardest. One friend voiced his opinion that we were making a huge mistake and would be house hunting a week after moving on board.

It's been 6 months now, and we're still loving it. I would even go so far as to say I'm still "in love" with our boat - the honeymoon period ain't over yet. As we find out more and more about how she was built, how things work, and find all the nooks and crannys to store things, every day is exciting and fun living on board. The only dreary parts have been to force myself to tidy up and sort all the stuff that got thrown into a storage locker when we ran out of time moving out of the house - kinda like the remains of the 'living on land' phase of our lives. Stuff that is just not important enough to take with us, but you just can't bring yourself to throw away.

I was a bit anxious about winter, but have been pleasantly surprised. The boat is easy to warm up with heat from either cooking, or a tiny little fan heater we bought. There's been a few condensation issues, but we've learnt how to minimise that and the dehumidifier deals with the rest - and it was nothing worse than what we had in the house.

Some things are harder to do on board (getting things out of the bottom of the storage area they are stored in when you need them), and some things are much easier (cleaning!). The biggest issue I still have is finding enough time in the day to do all the things on my to do list.

It's the end of July now - just 5 weeks til spring. My main concern is getting contractors to turn up so that we can get all the jobs finished and be ready to head out whenever the weather is great and/or the mood takes us.

I just wonder though, if the first year is the hardest, and we're 6 months in and still loving it, what are the following years gonna be like? :)