[erickonphoenix]

My live-a-board home for 25 years. I bought her when I was working at a shipyard and she was towed in after a fire. Over the course of five years I rebuilt her from the keel up and later sailed her at least once a month for decades. As Houston's population grew through the 90s and 2000's the once easy 30 minute commute to downtown because an hour then 90 minutes each way. Finally had to sell her when my commute to work got unsustainable and my salary couldn't support a home and a 42 foot sailboat.

I never had the "bad" day when I lived aboard. Like most of all the live-a-boards I knew, we self maintained so it was an affordable and sustainable lifestyle. It never turned into the money pit people expect when all the task have to be farmed out.

But not all is lost. One of my former crew members went on to buy a boat himself so I still get time on the water every month.