First Winter Aboard - Pros & Cons

We moved aboard 6 months ago, spent July cruising the San Juans, and the rest of the Summer and Fall enjoying the boat and the weather. Now, in the heart of winter, the rain and closed doors can make us a little stir crazy at times. We've had a few 'family meetings' to clarify everyone's role and to make sure we're honoring everyone's privacy and needs, but there have been some challenges. However, there were challenges living on land in a beautiful house, so we do our best to keep things in perspective. Here are some pros and cons of living aboard in the winter in Washington....



Pros:

~It takes 45 minutes to clean the entire inside of our home.

~We are friends with the guy at the laundry service (less laundry for me!)

~We're ON the water :)

~It's super cozy and warm inside (once Pat got the heater working)

~Best view of the boat parade (but really we just saw a few boats and ended up chatting with friends the whole time.)

~Kids are taking on some boat tasks - more to come hopefully!

~Christmas tree was really easy to carry and set up (it's 2 1/2 feet tall)

~We are meeting really cool people, both boat neighbors and virtual friends who we hope to run into some day in other countries.

~Christmas lights look cooler on a boat than on a house.

~There are NO PINE NEEDLES on our dock, boat or in our home!

~No water, sewer, cable, phone, property tax, trash, or internet bills!

~We are a much closer family unit - for better or worse, we know most everything about each other - but I love this part most of all.





Cons (but I'm a positive person, so I really try to turn these into pros):

~Alexa slipped and fell hard on the algae covered dock (at least I didn't go in the water - just close)

~Gilligan the cat has fallen in 3 times (he's learning to swim - that's good)

~Doug the dog has started peeing on the dock (I guess it's a shorter walk)

~No dishwasher - but this truly has been a benefit - there are actually fewer dishes in the sink for some reason.

~LEAKS - but at least Pat is finding and fixing them all before we hit any tropical storms.

~Short showers are the norm - but boy do I appreciate fresh water and realize how much we have taken it for granted.

~Kids are starting to question our sanity in this whole undertaking (but they've always questioned our sanity :)





Gilligan napping...he’s comfy 😬