Live on a junk?

I'm considering living on a junk and wondering if anyone has any advice they can give me. I want to know the advantages and disadvantages, the does and don'ts and how I would go about finding one to rent.

Go to where the boats are

Aberdeen Marina

Discovery Bay and

Goldcoast.

Ask the boat brokers there, check out the club noticeboards, put up a sign on the club noticeboards or put up a sign in the park'n'shops there.

Check the sampan times for delivering you to your junk. Do they suit your lifestyle?

Do you have a boat license so you can run yourself about in the junk or in your little zodiac/zapcat/tender?

Does the boat have to be moved into a typhoon shelter during typhoons? If so, who pays that cost?

Not all moorings have water and electricity. If you don't have water at your mooring, who will deliver your water? Can you maintain a generator?

If your electricity is in relay with other moorings, who is responsible for flicking the switch or emergency maintenance of it when some other boat trips the power?

Insurance of your personal effects? Where do you dump your rubbish?

Are you going to be environmentally unfriendly and pump your sewage overboard? If not, when can grey water be picked up? Do you need to be there for grey water pick up or can it be done remotely?

Insurance for non-swimming visitors? Max people allowed on board for insurance purposes versus party boat?

Noise from neighbours - lots more outside living in a boat marina.

Personal space - yes fishermen will come alongside and tie up next to you and fish - remember that this is acceptable in the floating community. Might be nice once, but night after night it does get tiresome having someone sitting outside your window/hatch watching your tv while waiting for fish to bite.

Do you have somewhere at work to store dry clothes? Guaranteed to get drenched 4 days out of 5 in the wet season when trying to get to land.

Car parking?

Tried this before and do not recommend it. Its a good way of making a summer worse than it need be - a hot and humid junk surrounded by polluted water (the typhoon shelters are basically open sewers). Tin Hau is a great location if your looking around.

Personally i rent a boat for a while then i bought one. If u plan to rent it for couple of year buying is much more interesting. U need to love boat. coz wooden junk will ask you a lot of works, check and time. so if u r not interesting by that better to rent. the easiest way will be rent a fiberglass one. then check with the landlord if he will do the boat maintenance, if yes will be fine.

I have been almost 1 yr on a boat, never had a big problem but full of good souvenirs... i definitly say bye to the land. ahah


good luck with ur boat

My experience...

Have lived on the boat for 5 years in Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter. Originally rented for about 3 months before another junk came up for sale. Decided we liked the life so made the decision to buy. It was a 30 year old wooden junk that needed abit of TLC. Had all the woodwork varnished once a year and the corking done every second year.

The layout didn't quite work for us so it was gutted and given a new fitout. Replaced the kitchen to get more storage space.

It had a genset and 2 motors. In the first couple of years we did take it out regularly but as we accumulated more stuff, taking it out was a mission (placing furniture and tv's go they didn't move around) Maintenance on the engines was usually 1 oil change a year. Water and power came from the shore so there was no need for the genset. Telephone line I put in a hose and ran out to the boat, no problem.

With toilet problems it is easier to educate people before it becomes a problem. But I always kept spares (rubber gaskets) and a plunger handy.

Rubbish in Aberdeen is picked up by the rubbish boat everyday! just place it on the transom, they will also leave a yellow replacement rubbish bag. They normally will open the bags and take anything out that is recyclable.

Because the Aberdeen Harbour is open both ends it is flushed out with every tide.

It is a small community and everybody knows everything. When there is a party we all tend to join in! Noise is not an issue... only in the spring when the locals are all out in there boats with generators and huge spotlights, scooping fish with nets, till 1 or 2 in the morning!

In August last we brought a newer and bigger fibreglass junk! Maintenance is easier. but bigger boat means more Air Con more power!!

We have a tender and suggest it is the only way to go if you are on a swing mooring. The sampan will always be late the day you are in a hurry. They normally run till 3am. Cost $5 during the day.

Everybody has a local they go to for help. Treat them like your best friend and nothing ever will go wrong!!

What sort of costs are involved in renting or buying?

I lived on one in the early 90-'s when there were only 3-5 liveaboards in HK. Tough then as there was no shore power, no mobile phones etc. From a purely legal standpoint I was told that live aboards in HK are illegal as per MARINE DEPARTMENT guidelines (but nothing is enforced) and only 2 licences were issued for such use. I bet this rule does not apply to the local fishermen in Aberdeen.

Your comfort now depends on where you are. DB is the WORLD's largest live on board Marina. Some people love the community spirit but others do not want 200 families with kids running around in a close environment. Incidentally DB may have just introduced new regulations on holding tanks. In the past the only marina to have this law was Clearwater Bay.

Costs depend on your lifestyle and location. SO in all other areas of live aboarding you are literally floating on Raw Sewage from other boats.


MOORING The options are HK Gold Coast, Discovery Bay, (walk on /walk off) Aberdeen, Saikung (need sampans) . Debentures in DB are V expensive so you may get a rental on a boat owned by someone who already has a debenture. Aberdeen has rentals at about 2500 to 3000/month including an ILLEGAL shoreline power line run to your boat. water is about 200 per month and water sampaans deliver it to you. rentals vary between 7000 to 25000 per month. Clearwater bay, HK Marina prohibit liveaboards now.

BUYING. Junks start at about 100000 HKD and go up to 6 million. The problem is that its a depreciating asset and needs regular maintanence. You can always buy a cheap day junk and get it customised for your specific needs. The challenge is finding a liveaboard mooring.

Buying the boat . The cheapest liveaboard junk I saw was valued at HKD 50000. It had major leaks so the expat owner fibreglassed it everywhere. It had a small bedroom with an aircon and had a microwave and a fridge in the galley. It was a cheap option to stay for a bachelor as his only costs were monthly moorings. UGLY but functional.

The most expensive one I saw was worth 5.5 million with every toy you can possibly imagine on it and more space than you will get in most HK flats. The owners had a maid and a boat boy on a fulltime basis to keep the boat pristine. It was not designed to be taken out in rought weather though as the space had been optimised without an engine room. Hope it gives you an idea. Go to the yacht clubs and look at their notice boards.