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rfmcdonaldTorontoist's Megan Marrelli has a photo essay looking at people who live year-round on their boats docked in Toronto's harbour. Even in winter.
On November 23, 2014, Danica Brown was rounding the corner of the Leslie Street Spit in her 29-foot 1991 Cruisers 2970 Esprit—a boat she took a loan out to buy two years earlier. The waves on Lake Ontario were rough that day, about eight feet high, she says. Her boat smacked against the water after every wave, making it sound like the hull was going to crack in half. “I totally thought I was going down,” says the 27-year-old former latte-art instructor. Inside the boat’s cabin her television was rolling around, her records were falling onto the floor and her cabinets were swinging open from the crashing of the waves. “My body was in total shock.”
Her tumultuous journey was part of the annual migration that she and 87 other Toronto boaters make when the season changes. Winter “liveaboards” bring their boats from summer locations around Toronto Island to winter spots at nearby Marina Quay West and Marina Four, where Brown’s boat will be docked until the spring thaw. There, they live on Toronto’s frozen water through winter—sub-zero temperatures. Biting winds be damned.
There are year-round challenges to living on a boat, such as the logistics of occupying a small, cramped space (picture vacuum-packing most of your clothing) and having to constantly monitor equipment (if a seacock breaks, your boat’s going to start to sink). In summer, plenty of boaters are willing to face these nuisances—perhaps because close quarters are alleviated with outdoor barbecues and the vibrant boater community situated on Centre Island. Brown calls the warmer days “adult summer camp.” But winter is a different story.
