Water We Thinking

Above is the view from the Harrison St. Bridge just blocks from our marina.  The rounded building on the right is River City.  Beautiful evenings like this reaffirm our decision to move to the river downtown.  We're enjoying exploring our new neighborhood and all it has to offer.  The changes to our day-to-day living do not just stem from living on a floating vessel.  They also come from the neighborhood we live in, the loss of parking in a garage outside our back door, the lack of a basement to store our bikes in.  We are figuring out solutions as we go.  We found a parking space to rent in a high-rise apartment building right across the street from us, with space for one car, a motorcycle, and maybe two bikes hanging on the installed wall rack.  We're also testing out locking bikes up on our swim platform.  This is a more convenient spot to grab and go, but then we have to move them when we want to take the boat out on the water.  ...

Anyone who lived in the northern half of the country in the winter of 2013-14 probably doesn't understand the mechanics of living aboard in the winter.  A great many of people we've told we were going to live aboard have come up with the same premier question. "What are you going to do in the winter?" It's a valid question and one that doesn't have a simple answer.  In places like California or the Caribbean it's not an issue as the water doesn't freeze.  In Chicago the winters are like a winter in Chicago.  Matthew Broderick once said about Mississippi "It's like Africa hot...Tarzan couldn't take this kind of hot" and that is the exact opposite of a Chicago winter.  If Biloxi Blues was renamed Chicago Blues the quote would be something more like "It's like Antarctic cold....Polar Bears couldn't take this kind of cold."  So what do you do for six months when you can't use half your house and exploit it...

Now that we are in the water and officially living aboard many of you want to know what is actually like.  Well, it's great!  Mostly.  Up until last night Cygnet was not in her regular slip since they've been rebuilding the docks.  Before that we were on the river side of the marina wall.  It wasn't as calm as it will be in the marina and that is the number one complaint we've had.  There was a lot of traffic on the river last weekend and many of the other boats are not as respectful as we are when passing moored vessels.  "No wake" zones are not really enforced so many people don't slow and that rocks our boat. There is barge traffic at night and a steady stream of tour boats during the day.  Cygnet has shown to be very stable despite all the attempts at pushing her around.  We've gotten used to the movement but it's never fun when you are trying to shower, or make breakfast, or use the toilet!  Last night was much more calm inside the ...

It's been five days and four nights and we are so far enjoying it.  Our trip to River City was a challenging and exciting one! On Saturday morning Kevin's mother Beverly and her boyfriend Don joined us at the boatyard to bring Cygnet home.  We had decent weather, mostly cloudy and cool but calm.  We were thankful it wasn't a horrid windy and stormy day.  With a few things we needed to get through the coming week and the four of us on board we started her up and prepared to set off.  Kevin has never piloted a twin engine boat before and was a bit nervous.  He's a good driver and knows how to handle a smaller vessel, but this was much larger than anything he's had on the water.  He's a quick study and watched the previous owner when we went on the sea trial and talked to some experienced captains about handling a big twin like this.  Plus Don was there, a seasoned fisherman who has owned many boats (Including Two Wrights) and fished from many more....

She's in the water and she's ours.  After a seemingly endless spring the weather has broken (kinda) and we got the one we were looking for.   Cygnet as she's named was put in the water on the morning of May 15 for the Sea Trial.  The old owner was there with a pal of his to get her prepped for us.  The Marina got her on the crane and into the water while we checked her over. The big Crane lifts the Swan Slowly into the water The Sea Trial didn't last too long, under two hours.  We checked all the systems throughout, including the plumbing and electrical.  All seemed to work well.  Once in the water the previous owner started the engines and generator, and with just a little hiccup all ran well.  We did find a slightly low idle on the Port (left) engine, but nothing to be concerned about.  Kevin is very familiar with working on marine engines and should have it in tip-top shape soon!  The cold and rainy May day mad...

Taking inspiration from our good friends Matt and Val we figured it was about time to explain why we are committing to an aquatic lifestyle.  Essentially, Water We Thinking?  Many friends and family have asked the same question and it is something that is difficult to answer in a few sentences.  So, if you've wondered why we have this crazy idea please read on. '71 Sea Ray SRV 220 Cuddy Cabin For those of you familiar with the boat in the picture above, you know we love the boating life.  Kevin has struggled to keep Two Wrights running the last few years and in the summer of 2013 we started looking for a replacement.  We were still a couple years away from making the commitment to a larger vessel, and since Kevin finally got Two Wright running pretty well at the end of the summer we were happy to do another year or two.  We also considered putting Two Wrights in the barn for a couple years and saving the money we normally spend on the slip, gas, an...

We'd be willing to bet a lot of you have thought about downsizing.  Some of you however might dream of up-sizing. Whether you want room to sew, work on motorcycles, garden, or just spread out, it's always nice to fantasize about bigger and better.  After living in apartments for what seemed like a very long time we were thrilled to finally buy our house and have the positives that come with it, including s p a c e.  While a reader outside a major city may think that a "postage stamp" lot of 125 feet by 25 feet sounds tiny, in the City of Chicago it's the standard.  We made use of the 1,756 square feet (not including the basement) and two car garage that our house offered as best we could.  When we moved in we inherited a collection of furniture that the previous owner left for us.  None of it was nice, but it was what we needed after our previous purge when we moved back to Chicago from Los Angeles.  At that time we kept only what fit in our beloved S...