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By Katherine Bellows
and Jim Mitchell — Fall
2004
A friend visits, bringing gin. We dim the lights, hoping he won’t notice the pools of water. I see his eyes stray to a falling drop. “Don’t those leaks bother you?” he asks.
We decide that a custom boat cover is better than growing gills and visit marine canvas suppliers. They’re booked solid. We hear a local upholstery shop does boat work. We walk in waving money, and they allow us to order covers, saying, “Don’t hold your breath; our guy is kind of busy.” That’s all right, we’re kind of desperate.
That night the temperature drops and our expensive, German-made diesel heater expires with a gentle sigh and a cloud of blue smoke.
We wake up shivering. I didn’t sign up to freeze. Desperate action is required. While Jimmy swears creatively at the heater, I go shopping.
First stop, the lingerie store to buy a warm robe—a woman keeps her priorities straight. Next, the marine supply house for a heater. They explain you can’t use just any electric heater on your boat. It needs to be a special, expensive, sparkless heater so your propane doesn’t blow up. I buy two.
I also buy the largest tarp the marine store stocks; mercifully, it’s white. By the time Jimmy gets home from the heater repair shop, I’ve got the tarp firmly tied in place, like a dishrag folded over our boat.“Katherine! It’s a great white diaper.”
“Who cares? Come in here, where it’s warm and dry.” What joy it is to use “warm and dry” to describe Nonchalant!
Finally, the boat cover arrives, the diaper disappears, and—after 92 consecutive days of rain—the sun comes out to stay.
I go kayaking on a brilliant blue morning, slipping quietly past a family of geese. Nonchalant basks in the sun, cozy under her smart green cover. We’ve survived our siege of rain. Summer is coming—time for cruising, for dockside barbecues, for lolling in the cockpit gazing at the stars.
Yes, we’ll enjoy liveaboard life, won’t you?
Jim Mitchell and Katherine Bellows live aboard their 50-foot Nonchalant in Seattle. They vacation aboard their 44-foot Santorini in Europe.
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