Water We Thinking

There are many aspects of living on a boat that people are curious about.  We've tried to write about many of them here but in all the time we've lived aboard we have never gotten one question that we think is actually an important one.  "What is it like to live at a marina?" Maybe there is a reason nobody asks, they just don't really care, or maybe they don't know that they should be asking that question.  You don't know what you don't know.  So in this post we want to give you an idea of what it's like to live at a marina. Sunrise at 31st St. Harbor. River City Let's face it, a marina is a floating trailer park.  Some folks may argue with this since you have the freedom to take your boat anywhere, boats are more of a recreational object than a trailer, some boats cost more than the collection of trailers in most parks, and boats are just cooler than a single-wide mobile home.  Maybe the analogy would be better to compare a marina...

The couple looked at each other with the same thing in mind, it was an unspoken bond they'd had for nearly nineteen years that had never faded.  It was something they each knew the other wanted, something palpable and real, that drove them to a higher level of ecstasy.  They were staring at each other, him walking slowly down the dock running his veined hands along the chrome strip that divided the yacht top and bottom, her above, a wry smile slowly produced by her pink lips.  In a moment the idea came, like a swallow chasing a dragonfly through the summer sunset, sudden and with vigorously excited movement.  It wasn't the inside of the big yacht they retreated to, with its soft Queen bed waiting like a smoke alarm to sense the heat.  It was the little one, the new one, the fresh meat they were after. The pair readied the needed supplies; some alcohol, music, a protective sheath to hold the most valuable of the tools for the endeavor.  They laughed and t...

Recently you may have heard about the theft of Chicago RIBber and how we miraculously got it back.  Well, I guess it wasn't an actual miracle, more of a casual sighting and phone call, but whatever!  Shortly after that and not too long into our ownership of this little bundle of fun we started having issues with our 1960 Johnson outboard.  We'd only paid $250 for the motor so we weren't too upset, but it meant we couldn't use the boat other than for rowing across the marina or for a bit of exercise on the river nearby.  After consulting the guy we purchased it from and another mechanic we decided it made more sense to replace than repair.  For people like us who own a computer repair shop we make the repair versus replace recommendations often to customers but not often to ourselves.  We knew we wanted more power to get the little dinghy up on plane easier with two of us and maybe even with three or four people aboard.  We also knew the old Johnson wa...