What Does BOAT Stand For?

We are FINALLY moving aboard the boat permanently. It is floating, and is approved for liveaboard status in Wrangell harbor. Yeah! This means that we are cleaning out the house...and running across stuff. I ran across this:

What is left of the BOAT shirt.

It used to be a shirt. I wore it out. Literally and figuratively. You see, once upon a time I owned a 58 foot steel boat. The beauty of a steel boat is that you never have to wonder what to do on a warm summer day. Rust never sleeps. Especially in a rainforest-saltwater environment like Southeast Alaska.  Scraping and painting can be endless.

I sold that boat and chased a building-a-waterfront-cabin dream for awhile. I lived it, loved it, and when it was time, let it go, too.

There is something about being without a boat, though. The pain fades. You know, like the pain of childbirth that your mind blocks out...and then having another child seems like a good idea. Sweet boat memories grow stronger with time; sunny days in remote coves, porpoises playing on the bow wake, and the freedom to cast off the lines and go somewhere in comfort.

Only this time we bought an aluminum boat. Yes, aluminum has its own demands, but if you nick it while putting a tool box aboard it doesn't start to bleed rust down the side. So wish us luck, folks. There are lots of projects to do. It wasn't a turn-key boat. More of a project boat. I guess that keeps life interesting.

In the meantime it is liberating to let go of some of the stuff that stuffed the house. The boat just won't hold it all. Thankfully. It is easier to experience freedom when I'm not dragging tons of things along; so many that I cannot keep track of them, so many that I cannot find the one of them that I am looking for at a given moment.

Boats are many things, but they are pretty much all designed to float. Overloading ourselves does just about the same as overloading a boat. This is the second time that I have liberated myself by trimming the household down to a reasonable size. Now I just need to remember to keep an eye on the waterline.

Living dreams again! May you live a dream each day,

Alaska Beachcomber