Liveaboard can mean:

• Someone who makes a boat, typically a small yacht in a marina
  Marina
  A marina is a dock or basin with moorings and supplies for yachts and small boats.A marina differs from a port in that a marina does not handle large passenger ships or cargo from freighters....
  
  , his primary residence. Powerboats
  Motorboat
  A motorboat is a boat which is powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gearbox and the propeller in one portable unit.An inboard/outboard contains a hybrid of a...
  
   and cruising
  Cruising (maritime)
  Cruising by boat is a lifestyle that involves living for extended time on a boat while traveling from place to place for pleasure. Cruising generally refers to trips of a few days or more, and can extend to round-the-world voyages.- History :...
  
   sailboat
  Sailboat
  A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails. The term covers a variety of boats, larger than small vessels such as sailboards and smaller than sailing ships, but distinctions in the size are not strictly defined and what constitutes a sailing ship, sailboat, or a...
  
  s are commonly used for living aboard, as well as houseboat
  Houseboat
  A houseboat is a boat that has been designed or modified to be used primarily as a human dwelling. Some houseboats are not motorized, because they are usually moored, kept stationary at a fixed point and often tethered to land to provide utilities...
  
  s which are designed primarily as a residence.
• A boat designed for people to live aboard it. The liveaboard lifestyle has many attractions and many downsides. Most boats are much smaller than nearly all shoreside residences, they are more exposed to bad weather, and require special maintenance
  Maintenance, Repair and Operations
  Maintenance, repair, and operations or maintenance, repair, and overhaul involves fixing any sort of mechanical or electrical device should it become out of order or broken...
  
   skills. However, they are mobile, provide inexpensive water access, and allow for integrated recreational, transportation, and housing costs. With the high cost of housing, a liveaboard lifestyle is becoming more popular with people around the world. Although it is generally regarded as being a cheaper way to live this is not always the case. Liveaboard boats can be luxury vessels moored in expensive marinas or small vessels in need of restoration. One attraction of the lifestyle is there is something to suit everyone. Because of this you find that liveaboards are very diverse people coming from many different backgrounds.

Scuba diving liveaboards

In the recreational scuba diving

Scuba diving

Scuba diving is a form of underwater diving in which a diver uses a scuba set to breathe underwater....

 industry, a liveaboard service offers its guests to stay on board for one or more nights, unlike a day boat operation. This allows time to travel to more distant divesites. Normally a liveaboard operation charters for ten to thirty passenger

Passenger

A passenger is a term broadly used to describe any person who travels in a vehicle, but bears little or no responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination....

s.

It ensures that the passengers can reach many dive sites and they and their diving gear do not have to be trucked about long distances every day to and from a hotel on hand, often (as in the Red Sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...

 in the summer) in very hot weather: e.g. one afternoon at Sharm el Sheikh on land the shade temperature reached 51°C = 124°F.

The usual style of a Red Sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...

 diving liveaboard can be seen in this image. With variations, their internal layout is something like this:

It is about 100 feet or 33 meters long. The decks are, from bottom up:

• Lower part of the hull: engine room
  Engine room
  On a ship, the engine room, or ER, commonly refers to the machinery spaces of a vessel. To increase the safety and damage survivability of a vessel, the machinery necessary for operations may be segregated into various spaces, the engine room is one of these spaces, and is generally the largest...
  
  
• Upper part of the hull: guests's cabin
  Cabin (ship)
  A cabin or berthing is an enclosed space generally on a ship or an aircraft. A cabin which protrudes above the level of a ship's deck may be referred to as a "deckhouse."-Sailing ships:...
  
  s; stores
• Lowest outside deck, in this order from forwards:
  • Open area for the crew to work.
  • A few cabins; stores; crew
    Crew
    A crew is a body or a class of people who work at a common activity, generally in a structured or hierarchical organization. A location in which a crew works is called a crewyard or a workyard...
    
    's quarters.
  • Lounge
    Living room
    A living room, also known as sitting room, lounge room or lounge , is a room for entertaining adult guests, reading, or other activities...
    
    
  • An open area where the air cylinders
    Gas cylinder
    A gas cylinder is a pressure vessel used to store gases at above atmospheric pressure. High pressure gas cylinders are also called bottles. Although they are sometimes colloquially called "tanks", this is technically incorrect, as a tank is a vessel used to store liquids at ambient pressure and...
    
     are stored and refilled, and wet items such as wetsuit
    Wetsuit
    A wetsuit is a garment, usually made of foamed neoprene, which is worn by surfers, divers, windsurfers, canoeists, and others engaged in water sports, providing thermal insulation, abrasion resistance and buoyancy. The insulation properties depend on bubbles of gas enclosed within the material,...
    
    s are hung to dry, and divers kit and unkit. There is a freshwater bath to wash it, and to put items such as underwater cameras which can tolerate being wet but should not be allowed to get salt dried onto them. There are compartments where each guest can store his wet diving gear separately.
  • The aftmost end is the diving deck, outside the aft anti-spray barrier, lower than the rest, to get it nearer to sea level for divers to get in and out of the sea or RIB
    Rigid-hulled inflatable boat
    A rigid-hulled inflatable boat, or rigid-inflatable boat is a light-weight but high-performance and high-capacity boat constructed with a solid, shaped hull and flexible tubes at the gunwale. The design is stable and seaworthy...
    
    s. There are usually two hinged diving ladders there. There are usually freshwater washing-down hoses there. When the liveaboard is docked stern-to-quay, the diving deck is used for access to land.
• Next deck up, in this order from forwards:
  • bridge.
  • Galley
    Galley (kitchen)
    The galley is the compartment of a ship, train or aircraft where food is cooked and prepared. It can also refer to a land based kitchen on a naval base or a particular formed household kitchen.-Ship's kitchen:...
    
    .
  • Aft: Dining room
    Dining room
    A dining room is a room for consuming food. In modern times it is usually adjacent to the kitchen for convenience in serving, although in medieval times it was often on an entirely different floor level...
    
    .
  • Open access area.
  • A flat area where the boat's RIBs are stored; there is a crane to carry them to and from the sea.
• Open lounge deck, shaded by the next deck up to protect guests from excessive sun exposure
  Sunburn
  A sunburn is a burn to living tissue, such as skin, which is produced by overexposure to ultraviolet radiation, commonly from the sun's rays. Usual mild symptoms in humans and other animals include red or reddish skin that is hot to the touch, general fatigue, and mild dizziness. An excess of UV...
  
  
• A small topmost deck, with no roof.
• An arch to carry radar
  Radar
  Radar is an object-detection system which uses radio waves to determine the range, altitude, direction, or speed of objects. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, weather formations, and terrain. The radar dish or antenna transmits pulses of radio...
  
   and radio antennas etc.

While most liveaboards around the world are usually made from fiber and steel hull boats, in Indonesia, the traditional pinisi

Pinisi

The Pinisi is a traditional Indonesian two masted sailing ship. It was mainly built by the Konjo tribe, a sub-ethnic group of Bugis-Makassar mostly residents at the Bulukumba regency of South Sulawesi but was and currently used widely by the Buginese and Makassarese mostly for transportation and...

 boats made from teak wood is commonly used. An example of a pinisi style liveaboard is based in Komodo National Park

Komodo National Park

The Komodo National Park is a national park in Indonesia located within the Lesser Sunda Islands in the border region between the provinces of East Nusa Tenggara and West Nusa Tenggara. The park includes the three larger islands Komodo, Padar and Rincah, and 26 smaller ones, with a total area of...

.