Requiem for a Houseboat
On my latest annual Snowbird return to Florida, I was pleasantly surprised at the marina. For almost a quarter century, walks down the pier to my sailboat home are met by a view of an ugly houseboat at the end of the pier. Not only was the houseboat unattractive, it blocked the beautiful waterfront view dotted with the 1925 Vinoy Hotel (on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places), many newer high-rise buildings whose lights are reflected by the waters in the marina, and hundreds of attractive motorboats and sailboats. The absence of the houseboat was a pleasant shock. I soon learned the fate of the houseboat’s demise from neighbors. Living three slips away from the ex-houseboat, I started recalling previous owners of the houseboat and their redecoration efforts.
The first houseboat owners I met were a young couple with two large Labrador Retrievers. They moved on and shortly afterwords had most of the living spaces redecorated. The houseboat was towed to a shipyard and a crew did a “makeover” that was filmed for a TV show. It reminded me of car re-decorations called “Pimp my ride.” It was mostly painting, wallpapering, a few cabinet modification, etc.
The next owner was an elderly man. I offered him help with the boat aspects of his new home. One of my projects was crawling into the pontoon and tracing wires leading to the bilge pump that had failed. He had a hot tub installed on the roof. He was also the first person to fall off the houseboat. A group of neighbors with the help of a dinghy rescued him.
The third owner, a single woman, stayed on board only a short time. She had a more substantial and decorative railing installed surrounding the entire roof area of the houseboat.
The owner of a local wine-tasting establishment and his college-aged son were the next owners and had a bar installed in the living area. That was the source of many noisy parties held on the houseboat and many complaints by neighboring boats.
The next owner was a Snowbird from up north and used the houseboat in Florida’s mild winter season. He did extensive redecorating starting with the removal of the hot tub. It was hauled off the roof by a passing barge with a crane at a considerable cost. Then a pergola was installed on the roof with a pair of hammocks hung from the pergola’s roof. This owner recognized that his home was a boat on floats that were heavily encrusted by barnacles. A diver was called in and some leaks were discovered and patched. In recognition that the 70-foot-long houseboat was only tied to the pier, he added two pilings for additional security. He also had the entire waterside of the houseboat painted by a street artist. For a couple of years, the owner invited pier tenants to view the annual waterfront New Year’s fireworks from his rooftop. For an annual brief moment, the ugliness was forgotten.
The sixth owner, with a wife and baby, re-paneled the living area. They stayed for only a short time and no further work was done.
The next owner knocked out a lot of walls and installed more windows to get a better view of the waterfront and marina.
Before moving aboard, the eighth and last owner, recognized the poor conditions of the pontoons and decided to haul-out the houseboat on a travel-lift with slings. That was the undoing of the houseboat! The owner and shipyard are now lawyered-up and awaiting a court case.
All the previous owners were into redecorating a piece of waterfront real estate paying little attention to the fact that it was a boat, first and foremost. She was called Classic Dreams. I doubt that any of the previous owners had changed the name.
It was hard at first to absorb our “new” view of the waterfront and to take in the good fortune. On one of our daily walks around the park land surrounding the marina, I spotted a photographer with a 12-member wedding party in tow looking for a photo location with an attractive background. I spoke to the photographer and offered her a rare opportunity on our pier — a memorable wedding picture without the ugly houseboat.
