Live-a-board

Since my living quarters were destroyed along with my boat shed, I moved into the boat and became a live-a-board for the first time in my life. Hmmm…not a lot of room in here. Is this what I want? I can’t find any place to put stuff and when I do, I can’t find it again. All my tools and equipment had to stay outside under the boat. Rufus didn’t care; he just curled up under the table and went to sleep.

I had a lot to learn about living in a boat. There were also some special problems living in a boat on the land in the winter. Did you know it can get really cold in Canada in the winter? Even on the West Coast. The only difference between outside and inside was a 3/8 piece of plywood. Not much protection when the temperature drops to –8 or –10 Celsius. 

The first cold night I slept in my berth, I woke in the morning to a completely covered cabin top. Covered with frost…on the inside. What happens to the frost when things warm up? Why it rains on the bed of course. First important job…insulate the berth area.

One cold and frosty morning, I got up early for a nature call and climbed out of the cockpit onto the deck. Rufus always likes to keep me company, so he got out with me. The deck was completely covered with frost and we both slipped and started to slide towards the edge of the boat. At this stage of the construction, there were no safety features like stanchions, or a deck edge, or non skid. Over we went.

The boat was up on blocks so the fall was about 8 or 9 feet. I remember thinking, as I was going over the edge, “I wonder what is down there?” I landed on the dresser that I was using to hold sandpaper, small tools, etc. The dresser did not survive, but I did. Rufus got the ground. I continued with my journey to the portable and then thought I should just lay down for a bit. I woke up a couple of hours later and could not move. Man, I hurt so bad I could not raise an arm to pull myself out of bed. Getting out of a Searunner berth is not the easiest job at the best of times, and this was not the best of times.

I stayed in bed for the rest of the day. I could move a bit the next day and I gradually recovered. I put some carpet on the deck and taped it down as soon as I could. That was a painful experience I did not want to repeat.