When you live in a houseboat, you sometimes lose things in the sea. Or things blow overboard the second you look away. We really try to avoid that happening. But sometimes it does, and yesterday was one of those days.
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How to avoid things blowing away
When you live in a houseboat, you can't just put things on the patio any old way. Everything on the deck is really heavy or properly anchored. We bought the heaviest stone table available, and the chairs are strapped around the table during the winter months. The barbecue is fastened to the railing, as are our bicycles, which we have locked to it with good locks. All so that nothing can blow into the water during a storm!
How to avoid dropping things at sea
Another risk, of course, is simply being careless and dropping something. We try to be extra careful when crossing the gangway and avoid "fiddling" with keys and phones. As for the keys, we have an extra little security measure.
A long time ago we bought key rings that are supposed to unfold, like a little life jacket, when in contact with water. We've never had to test if they work, but hopefully our keys will float if we drop them in the lake.
Things we have (still) lost at sea
What if we have lost something in the lake? Yes, we have. When we were painting, we sometimes used a stepladder. It was exactly where you see it in the picture when one day a wind caught it. Even though we saw it happen, there was no way we could reach it. The ladder disappeared between the jetty and the boat, and then we had no stepladder anymore. Then we lost something yesterday as well. I will come back to that.
This is what our neighbours have lost at sea
I don't really know what our neighbours have lost in the lake, but probably the bottom is full of treasures. At least we know that some bicycles and a ring have disappeared. Sometimes a neighbour tells us in our Facebook group that they have called in divers to retrieve an important item. And they wonder if anyone else wants to take the opportunity to look for something at the same time ...
Yesterday it was time again
Yesterday it was time again. Peter had to fix something and left the screwdriver on the gangway for two minutes while he went to get something inside the boat. What happened? There's a lot of wind on and off right now. Suddenly a strong wind grabbed the door and threw the screwdriver overboard. So now we only have a drawer for a screwdriver, but no screwdriver. A bit of a bummer ...
Can't you pick up the stuff?
Can't you pick up the stuff? you might ask. In fact, it's not that easy, even in summer. Some say it's around 8 metres deep on the inside of the marina and around 12 metres on the outside. The water is dark and there are wires and pipes hanging all over the piers. So when things sink, they sink ...
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Anna / boihusbil.se says:
Oh what a lovely post! And so different from living in the motorhome where everything should be as easy as possible. Too bad about the screwdriver, it is a very useful tool, in all weather ;).
09 January 2020 - 8:43
Helena says:
Yes, it was a bit of a bummer, actually. The screwdriver was good to have ...
09 January 2020 - 17:50
Torrdyk.se says:
No need for divers! We have several compact remote-controlled underwater drones with gripper arms that can pick up dropped objects. Just contact us and we will come quickly as we are stationed in Bromma 🙂 see our website or social media for more info!
02 April 2021 - 14:49
Emma, sun like sun? says:
Look, there was a post I wanted, I wondered about it in a comment a while ago!
It's a shame about the screwdriver. Besides, you don't always want or can buy a new one. They are not cheap, on the contrary Festool is expensive. Fishing it out is also useless for the electronics.
Those key floats, if they unfold, can you pack them up and use them again? I've put a wine cork in the house key, not because I'm afraid of it disappearing in any water but because I'll find it in my handbag. But for fun, I put the key with the wine cork in the pool to see if it floated. Cork should float but that cork did not seem to know about it, luckily I tried at the stairs so it was just to reach down, pick up and let dry in the sun.
What I'm looking for at such length: fat you think it works?
Now you invited all recreational divers to search for treasures at the Pampas Marina!
09 January 2020 - 9:02
Helena says:
Yes, but we do listen to wishes! 🙂 No, those screwdrivers are not cheap unfortunately, so we will probably have to do without for a while ... And no, I do not know for sure that they work, but we bought them in a fairly serious boat shop, so we can hope 😉 (Do not think we should test, because they may only work once.)
09 January 2020 - 17:52
Ama de casa says:
It's hard to get rid of stuff like that... Maybe you should organise some kind of safety net around the boat? It's not going anywhere anyway 😀.
Have a great day!
09 January 2020 - 10:17
Emma, sun like sun? says:
I was also thinking about it, a net around a few decimetres below the water surface so it is not visible? "Just" to hoist up if necessary or fish from.
09 January 2020 - 11:13
Helena says:
Haha, catch nets would be something! 😉 Don't think it's that simple in practice though... 😉.
09 January 2020 - 17:53
BP says:
It is fortunate that it does not affect anyone poor, but Festool is not exactly cheap either. Unfortunate! But it seems that you have to expect "some" waste when you live on a houseboat.
After your post, perhaps some diving enthusiasts will come looking for treasures in the Pampas Marina...
PS. Test your key rings in a bowl of water to make sure they work. DS.
09 January 2020 - 16:30
Helena says:
We're poor enough not to be able to buy a new one anyway ... There's a bit too much in the queue that we'd need ... And I suspect we can't test the key rings, I think they only work once, so we'll have to hope for the best 😉.
09 January 2020 - 17:54
Matts Torebring says:
It is said that a plumber in the village, who had a number of house keys that he forgot to return, after repairs at customers' homes. Now he didn't know whose they were. So one evening he goes down to one of our lakes. There he throws all the keys into the depths of the water. That's another way to hide things.
09 January 2020 - 18:40
zebb mahoun says:
clumsy to lose things.
you anchor everything. Everything
09 January 2020 - 20:41
JoY says:
What a shame it fell in and it's not cheap to get a new one.
To avoid worrying about losing the houseboat key, you can get a code lock. We have one, very good as we occasionally had the keys on the outside of the door!
Goodbye
09 January 2020 - 21:47
Maria's memoirs says:
Fun to read about "everyday life" on a houseboat. But considering everything that might be there, maybe the depth is only about 7 metres now, like bikes, furniture and stuff?
09 January 2020 - 21:59
Lena - good for the soul says:
No, how annoying! I can imagine that you don't think that a screwdriver can blow into the lake, but that it then gets "help"...?
Hug Lena
11 January 2020 - 9:39
Across the board says:
But what bad luck with the screwdriver! Oh well - it could have been worse!
13 January 2020 - 19:52