Today marks the end of our fourth week with our boat in the boat yard.  We hauled her out expecting to have to do some fairly serious work, but that work soon turned into a much bigger job, like it always does. This change of plans has had me wondering, is all the trouble worth it?

Papa Rumba is our third boat in as many years. That is also the number of years we have been sailing and living aboard. If that sounds crazy, that’s probably because it kind of is. Our first boat was an easy to handle 32 foot sailboat. She didn’t give us any trouble, but it was also too small for us to live on comfortably. The second one we had big dreams for, but she ended up being a can of worms that wasn’t suitable for our plans, so after spending four months refitting her, pouring our blood sweat and tears into a boat that almost broke us and our dreams, we sold her and bought our current boat.  

When we bought this third boat, we knew some work was going to need to be done.  She is steel, 25 years old, and had some spots of rust showing up. But she was beautiful with all the potential to take us where we want to go, and farther. We knew that even if the scope of work ended up being larger than we initially thought, it would be worth it because she was exactly what we needed for reaching our goals.  

So here we are, into boat projects again. A 2-3 month project in a boat yard just turned into a 4-6 month job, us hauling her to a new location at much more expense that expected, and having to pull apart half of our interior. We have even had to move into a house and off the boat in order to complete these projects. So with so many huge changes, so much unexpected work to be done and so many unexpected bills, I have asked myself many times if it is really worth it. 

The answer, every single time, has been yes.  

Regardless of our struggles, regardless of how hard we have to work, how much money it costs us and how much time we spend in uncomfortable situations because of it, living on a boat is worth it. When we are on the water, the incredible places we visit make the struggle worth it. The peace, tranquility and healing we find when we are in an off- grid anchorage makes it worth it. Knowing that we can move our home somewhere new every day if we want to makes it worth it. Even with all the frustration, I haven’t for a second wanted to give up life on the water. There is nothing like it and nothing more worth suffering for. The good most definitely outweighs the bad.  It’s just a matter of remembering that fact, as we suffer though these projects and work towards getting her back in the water.  

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