The "Jolly Tolly"

I think it's about time for a personal post. As much as I like ranting on and on about books and poetry my family and some of my friends have been interested in what sort of stuff I've been doing in Alaska. In particular, I've been getting a lot of questions about living on a boat.Usually,they're just some general questions about my living arrangement.--- How much does it cost? Is it hard to keep the boat at a comfortable temperature in the winter? How big is it? Though I've done my best to explain my new living quarters there was still somewhat of a demand for photos.

Well, I finally got my act together and took some pictures of my boat, the harbor, and downtown Juneau to give everyone a little taste of what my life is like in this little city nestled in the mountains along Southeast Alaska.

Here she is, in all her glory: The "Jolly Tolly", a mid/late 70s Tolly Cabin cruiser nearing 30 ft in length. I'm renting her from a nice fellow named Justin who responded to an ad that I posted.

This is the float I live on. I only have a few "harbor neighbors" who live there year round, so it's a peaceful place to live and the view of the mountains on Douglas Island is wonderful.

In case you were wondering, floats do tend to look the same when you're on the docks. Thankfully, the harbor has them labeled. For any of you who want to visit me just look for this sign.

This is the other side of the old gal'. I sort of had to jerry-rig a tarp awning on that side of the boat because there was a leak by my bed from where the snow gathered on the ledge and started to melt during our current warm spell. I used a milk jug filled with water to weigh down the overhanging side. From now on you may refer to me as MacGyver.


Here's the view from the inside. This is taken from the door leading down into the main living quarters.


The kitchen is pretty much a "what you see, is what you get" sort of set up. Only, that's not entirely true either. There is a sink with running water, but since the temperature tends to fluctuate so severely during the winter it is impossible to tell which days the water line will be frozen. So, instead of relying on the kitchen faucet, I've gotten into the habit of always filling the blue container (far right) at the tap outside.
On days when the temp. dips below zero, the outside taps freeze proposing a separate issue; one that includes wandering down float after float until you find one that works.

Here we have my bed. The lower bunk is where I sleep. The upper bunk acts as a shelf for my books, photography, and the like.

Here is the "dining room". The lay out provides ample seating for whenever I invite a few of my fellow harbor folk over. Most of the time though, it's just Gat and myself, so it doubles as "the office", hence the pile of papers on the seat.

Yes, there is a toilet on board. Unfortunately, like the kitchen sink, it's not really useful in the winter. It's hand pump operated so when the water in the lines freeze it's a pretty useless instrument. For now the bathroom serves as garbage, Gat food , and "dishwasher" storage.

These next two pictures are of the upper, interior of the boat. Since the lower part of the boat is separate from this section, the area tends to stay cool. This enables me to use this part of the boat as the "fridge" area.

The right side of this area has all of the electrical hook ups. The radio and lights on the boat run on the battery so there's a main extension cord running from the meter outside into the boat. The battery charger gets juice from the main cord and provides electricity to everything else on the boat that doesn't run off of the boat's battery.

This area is dubbed "the porch". The tarp offers a good bit of shelter so it's a nice place to just relax and hangout. I have a couple of camp chairs inside that I bring out here. It's down right comfy and Gat and I sometimes spend our mornings here--Gat with his ball and me with my coffee.

Moving on to some pictures of downtown... This picture is probably the epitome of Juneau. A small city nestled along mountains on the coast,

Here's one of the rivers that wind down the mountain, and back from that there's an avalanche chute. There has been quite a few avalanche warnings this past week since the weather has been abnormally warm and rainy.

...and a happy Gatsby roaming the paths toward downtown Juneau.

One of the docks leading out to the ocean. To the right you can see some of the houses on Douglas Island.

The Tram-- I can see why it's so popular amongst the tourists in the summer, the scenery is wonderful. Though I have to admit the photos in this post don't really do the little city justice. In the winter it seems that Juneau is a city resembling a black and white photo-- the Mountains and sea are varying shades of gray with buildings adding a bit of dull, selective coloring. The city almost seems sleepy in a way. In the summer it's full of energy and color.




Over all, I really like it here. I hear a lot of the locals complain about how they feel trapped. Granted you either have to fly or take the ferry to leave, I really don't mind it. Cities have never really been my thing, but there are plenty of trails to hike and boats to take that will get you out of the city in no time.

Living on a boat is a lot of fun too. I would take it over a over-priced apartment or campus housing any day.

...Plus, it helps that Gat is a really easy roommate to get along with.