Unlike big banks and corporations "too big to fail" I survived blow-back from The Great Recession (the collapse of the United States real-estate market and the subprime mortgage crisis) by living on a small sailboat in a northern Californian marina on the Oakland/Alameda Estuary.
What a revelation!
Along with a creative and unique community - "live-aboards" - I discovered that only a wonderfully thin membrane separated me from the natural environment.
Ultimately, that 30-ft long, 9-foot wide Ronson was too small for long-term comfort. The experience, however, set me on a search for a houseboat.
Six years later, I found the elderly, cost-effective vessel to train me on this voyage.
A cautious consumer would order a boat survey - "a nondestructive inspection of the boat to check its condition, check its systems for basic operation and adherence to applicable regulations and standards, look for any warning signs that might recommend a follow-on inspection by a specialist, and determine its overall value." Me? I'm big on intuition and small on business sense. I deemed the additional $1000 to hire a surveyor for a 50-year-old boat excessive. I gauged "feel" and this boat "felt" right. The marina felt right, too. I remembered that, in 2014, I'd looked at another, larger, more costly houseboat in the same marina. Back then - and again this time - I'd explored other houseboats in other marinas and each felt "off." Something drew me back to this marina, this boat.
Two other elements informed this purchase. First: the sellers, two women, and their five children, love this boat. "We made many family memories here," they told me. Second: after 7 months in South Africa tending my mother after surgery for cancer, carpe diem was high on my list of life priorities. Cancer focuses one's attention. I planned to re-organize my life, my living arrangements, and my worldview.
If this new Boatel relationship works out, I'll consider graduating to a larger, more spacious tiny house on water. In the meantime, this swabbie will hone a recently learned but fundamental life principle: if you can choose it you can do it!
Follow along as I learn about houseboat mechanics, marine and marina life, water and tides, and the Sacramento Delta.
