Boat Life

"What Is A Boat?"
(Artist Jeff Leedy)

Living on a boat is something I never really considered until I was hanging out with a friend on his 38' Chris-Craft fishing boat after a trip out one day. I exclaimed that his boat was large enough to live on. At the time, my living situation wasn't the greatest, and knowing this, [friend] suggested I should try it. Not having much money at the time (while I was in school and before I got the job at Apple), I bought the small sailboat pictured below and began an adventure I had no idea would teach me so much about myself and life.

I've been out here for more than three years now and I truly love it. It's quiet, clean, inexpensive (contrary to popular belief) and I own the place. There are a few drawbacks to life on a boat (no bathtub, walking to the showers in the morning...) but these inconveniences are nothing compared to the uniqueness of boat life, the tremendously little cost, and the unbelieveable beauty of the surroundings.

Here she is in profile. The 1974 Morgan Out Island 28 displaying the 110% genoa.

My boat during the first haul-out and in her slip.

The floor plan of my home. 28' 5" in length, 9' 3" in width, and with 6'2" headroom throughout, it's not too bad.

The picture above displays the evolution of three years in my floating abode.

This is the forward berth--my bedroom. My aunt made this quilt.

My dinghy and one of the two British Seagull outboard motors I play around with. I take the dinghy to Angel Island and Sam's in Tiburon periodically. It also has proven the best mode of transport for grocery trips. The outboards were manufactured for the British Secret Service in the 1940's, 50's and 60's and some of them were used to cross the English Channel. With an ultra-simple single-piston design, many of them still work quite well.

And here is me working on the motor pictured above. Here, I'm using a turkey baster to blast out the water-cooling channels in the motor. It had been left to sit for a long time and became somewhat rusty. I eventually made a high-pressure nozzle for my hose and that certainly did the trick. Motor runs fine now.

When I first got it, the manual choke didn't work properly (something I fixed with a hacksaw some time later) and the only way to fire up the engine was to pour gasoline straight in to the cylinder. The motor didn't seem to mind.

A postcard of where I live.

Mount Tamalpais (The Sleeping Lady) and a view of the sunrise at 6:00am.

Coming back from a sailing trip and the local sea lion hangout.
 
 
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