The Eejut's Guide to Floathomes Part 4
There are several issues to be aware of as you search out floathomes and marinas. Be prepared for the inevitable fact that one will be ideal but not the other. If you have selected a marina and are in the market for a floathome, then you need to know whether the marina is tidal or not, and what the prevailing winds are like.
A tidal marina is in a location that is affected by the daily cycle of the tides. Tides are differences in water level, and result from the gravitational pull of the moon. As the moon orbits the earth, its gravity tugs at the layer of water on the earth’s surface and causes it to bulge towards the moon; a cross-section of the earth would look a bit like an oval pointing at and following the moon. Imagine a clock face, with your location at 12, and the moon directly above you at 12. The water level at 12 would be highest, at 9 would be lowest (all this water has gone towards 12), at 6 would be comparatively high (close to normal because the moon’s influence is weakest here) and at 3 would be low. Thus there are usually four tides every 24 hours (the highest, the lowest, a high and a low) but the times of these tides and their height vary from day to day due to the complexity of the moon’s rotation around a rotating earth. On the east coast of North America, the tides are fairly predictable and a tide clock will be quite accurate. But on the west coast, there is much more variability and variance, and the same tide clock would be almost useless.
The most important aspect of the tide is this … how much water is left in the marina when the tide is at its absolute lowest level? And is that enough water to support your float home, or will you end up high-centred? If there is only 18 inches of water at lowest tide, and your floathome sits three feet in the water (it has a draft of three feet), your home may be out of the water, so to speak, once or twice a day. This is not A Good Thing.
Most building codes extant permit standard wood construction to be used to a maximum of three floors, but even with seven-foot ceilings (the standard nowadays is eight feet), a three storey floathome will still have a high centre of gravity. Compound this with simple slab sides, and the floathome could bounce and roll in a wind to a very off-putting degree. Three storeys may be fine in a well-sheltered marina where every other floathome is three storeys, but it would be considered niekulturnie to plant a three-storey floathome in the midst of a more modest or downsized marina, where your monster will block views, the sun, and the rays that emanate from extraterrestrials in the ether.
Every marina seems to have its own haunted floathome, usually the smallest and most squalid, moored in the most remote, inaccessible and unpopular berth. The doors are locked, the shutters closed, nobody comes or goes, and there is a deathly silence. No plants, no animals, not a living thing. But if you pay attention and watch closely, you may notice one night, after the sun has gone down, that there seems to be a faint light glowing inside, there is an almost imperceptible rocking, and a strange, rhythmic and eerie sound emanating from it. You may also witness a ghostly form approach the door and enter without knocking, bringing with it a 12-pack of beer.
A tidal marina is in a location that is affected by the daily cycle of the tides. Tides are differences in water level, and result from the gravitational pull of the moon. As the moon orbits the earth, its gravity tugs at the layer of water on the earth’s surface and causes it to bulge towards the moon; a cross-section of the earth would look a bit like an oval pointing at and following the moon. Imagine a clock face, with your location at 12, and the moon directly above you at 12. The water level at 12 would be highest, at 9 would be lowest (all this water has gone towards 12), at 6 would be comparatively high (close to normal because the moon’s influence is weakest here) and at 3 would be low. Thus there are usually four tides every 24 hours (the highest, the lowest, a high and a low) but the times of these tides and their height vary from day to day due to the complexity of the moon’s rotation around a rotating earth. On the east coast of North America, the tides are fairly predictable and a tide clock will be quite accurate. But on the west coast, there is much more variability and variance, and the same tide clock would be almost useless.
The most important aspect of the tide is this … how much water is left in the marina when the tide is at its absolute lowest level? And is that enough water to support your float home, or will you end up high-centred? If there is only 18 inches of water at lowest tide, and your floathome sits three feet in the water (it has a draft of three feet), your home may be out of the water, so to speak, once or twice a day. This is not A Good Thing.
Most building codes extant permit standard wood construction to be used to a maximum of three floors, but even with seven-foot ceilings (the standard nowadays is eight feet), a three storey floathome will still have a high centre of gravity. Compound this with simple slab sides, and the floathome could bounce and roll in a wind to a very off-putting degree. Three storeys may be fine in a well-sheltered marina where every other floathome is three storeys, but it would be considered niekulturnie to plant a three-storey floathome in the midst of a more modest or downsized marina, where your monster will block views, the sun, and the rays that emanate from extraterrestrials in the ether.
Every marina seems to have its own haunted floathome, usually the smallest and most squalid, moored in the most remote, inaccessible and unpopular berth. The doors are locked, the shutters closed, nobody comes or goes, and there is a deathly silence. No plants, no animals, not a living thing. But if you pay attention and watch closely, you may notice one night, after the sun has gone down, that there seems to be a faint light glowing inside, there is an almost imperceptible rocking, and a strange, rhythmic and eerie sound emanating from it. You may also witness a ghostly form approach the door and enter without knocking, bringing with it a 12-pack of beer.