It’s pretty easy to forget how weird this boat life thing can be to people who aren’t used to it. Take, for instance, this idea of living “on the hard.” Aren’t you worried about the boat falling over? You mean you have to climb a ladder all the time? What do you do about the bathroom in the middle of the night? And what’s a thru hull anyway?

All of these are questions my dad, in particular, had. He’s a practical guy, able to fix a lot of things (just don’t ask him to do anything on a computer) and also relatively adaptable. If he has these questions, maybe other people do too.

Aren’t you worried about the boat falling over?

No. The boat is supported by 4 stands on each side, plus one at the bow, plus some blocks under the keel. Each stand is positioned in place and the wooden pad (sometimes with carpet as extra padding) is screwed tightly to the hull. The stands on either side of the hull are connected by chains, meaning it’s highly unlikely a stand would slip out away from the hull.

We were on the hard in Trinidad many years ago when an earthquake rumbled through. It was a bit disconcerting, but the stands did their job.

You mean you have to climb a ladder all the time?

Yes. We live in the boat, including things like cooking, cleaning up, and sleeping. We do use the yard bathroom for toilet and shower facilities. This means anytime we need to make food, or sleep, or grab a tool we forgot on board, or one of any number of reasons, we need to climb that ladder. Similarly, when we want to work on the ground (or use that yard bathroom), we have to climb down the ladder. As you might imagine, this makes transporting items up and down a bit tricky. That’s one reason it took me five hours on Saturday to fill water tanks - moving a 6 gallons jerry jug full of water up the ladder requires careful concentration. Falling off is not in our plans!

What do you do about the bathroom in the middle of the night?

A bucket. Right now, our boat toilet (the head) is not hooked up (in fact the toilet itself is in the storage unit!), but even if it were installed we wouldn’t be able to use it. It requires water to flush, and on Calypso that water comes from the water we find ourselves floating in. There’s no water surrounding us when we’re living 10 feet in the air. The yard does have bathroom facilities, which we are happy to use during the day. Realities of older bladders (sorry if TMI) is that middle of the night, er, excursions are needed. Going down a ladder to trek the 100 yards to the bathroom is not my idea of fun. So, we plop a bucket in the cockpit and use that as needed. Of course, this does mean it needs to be emptied every morning. Which means carefully carrying it, now with some added liquid, down that ladder, to march to the bathroom and (carefully) pour it into the land toilet there. Aren’t you sorry you asked?

(There are ways to be able to use a boat toilet when you’re on the hard. People love their composting toilets. Others use their pressurized fresh water systems to flush, even when they’re in the water. Neither of these scenarios is one we’re planning on for Calypso’s refit. So it’s the bucket method on the hard for us!)

What’s this about thru-holes?

(Okay, this isn’t about living on the hard - except tangentially.) They’re thru-HULLS, not thru-holes, though they are indeed holes through the hull. They are valves, really, that allow you to pull water from the ocean or allow you to disperse stuff into the ocean. The one we’re concerned with while living 10 feet in the air is the one that generally allows the sink to drain. (Yes, it drains straight into the ocean when we’re floating. This is why using bio-friendly soap is so critical.) Having the sink just splash contents right onto the ground next to the boat isn’t great for all kinds of reasons. We hooked up a hose to the thru-hull and direct the hose into a bucket, which has to be emptied into the woods somewhere each day or two.

The other big thing that is different for us on the hard is that right now we still have our winter tarps set up. We pull them closed if it’s raining, open them up when it’s nice. They help keep rain out: between having portlights open for running electrical cords and propane, and the fact that the mast isn’t in yet (so there’s a big hole in the deck), it’s great to have a cover over it all. The tarps have been in use for a few years now and are definitely coming to the end of their lifespan - perfect timing. When they come off this time, they’re headed straight for the dumpster.

Other than that? We live the same way. Cooking, cleaning, sleeping. Digging out needed clothing or tools or whatever. We sip sundowners while walking the yard, converse (at a distance) with the other people who are here working on their boats, drink coffee in the cockpit while listening to the birds.

We’re looking forward to being afloat once again. I’ll keep you posted as to our progress.