Readjusting

Last weekend I took a last minute trip down to California to visit family (and meet my extremely adorable newborn niece). I returned to the houseboat today and am finding that I have to reacclimate to the boat motion. The up and down rocking of the boat isn't as much fun after a day of plane, bus, and car travel. However, I'm sure I'll be fine tomorrow morning after some sleep.

Another thing that I have to readjust to is marine plumbing.

I shut off the water supply before I left the boat for the weekend. The houseboat owner had specifically told me to do this (twice) before she went on her vacation. Turning off the houseboat water is like shutting off a hose on the outside of a house. In fact, the water supply to the boat looks like a garden hose except it is white in color instead of green or black. Turning it back on was as easy as turning the valve to the 'on' position.

I was also told by the owner that most houseboat water problems aren't from water leaking from the outside to the inside. Rather, houseboats can sink because of water accumulation inside of the boat. Something as simple as a dribbling faucet can cause problems because all of the waste water is stored in a tank on the boat, and a full tank can be very very heavy. Plus, an over-full septic tank is not something to come home to!

Unfortunately the on-boat bathrooms smell regardless of what I do. And as I've learned, it smells more if it hasn't been used in a couple of days. The smell is vaguely like the dirty-diaper corner of my brother's garage.

Probably the most unpleasant part of the marine septic system are the toilets themselves. I was told not to throw toilet paper into the toilet since too much volume can clog it. Let's just say that I made sure to use the toilets in the airport before I returned home to the houseboat. It's one part of houseboat life that I really don't like readjusting to.