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WWW.HOUSEBOATMAGAZINE.COM JANUARY | FEBRUARY 2018 11 About the Author Janet Groene is a professional journalist and a member of Boating Writers International. She and her late husband, Gordon Groene, lived full-time on the go for ten years. "Living Aboard" is a recurring column that focuses on living on your houseboat. Janet's newest book, The Survival Food Handbook (International Marine Books), is a guide to provisioning and cooking with common supermarket ingredients to carry in your pantry. Janet posts new galley recipes weekly at www.BoatCook.blogspot.com. n Galley & Bath Marine toilets have gone high tech, offering all the features of household toilets. Yet upgrading gets complicated for houseboaters when new wiring is required for features such as lighting or automat- ic dispensing of cleaning chemicals. Bluetooth control has long been available for home toilets and now Raritan (www.raritaneng.com), an innovator in marine toilets, has introduced BT for their electronic heads. Yep, you can now fl ush using your Android or Apple smartphone! Accon Marine's (www.acconmarine.com) adjustable, stainless steel drink and bottle holders bring fi ne quality marine materials into the galley and bath. Put one in the shower for shampoo, one at each sink for the soap pump and one in the galley to hold pan spray. Stove Wrap (www.stovewrap.com) is an inexpensive solution to one of the galley's most vexing cleaning chores. Introduced in household and RV markets, it's a non-stick, non-fl ammable, washable, reus- able splatter guard for stove tops. The $25 do-it-yourself kit, which includes the FDA-approved, food safe material plus measuring and circle cutting tools, also includes a 16- by 14-inch oven liner. The coated fi berglass material, heat tolerant to 550 degrees Fahrenheit, protects the entire stove top, leaving gas or electric burners exposed. Flooring Companies like Infi nity Luxury Woven Vinyl (www.infi nitylwv.com) have helped improve houseboats by offering premier fl ooring that is proven to withstand even the most demand- ing environments. The unique, heavy-traffi c rated vinyl backing makes this fl ooring ideal for indoor and outdoor use on all types of surfaces. Infi nity's product line has grown to over 18 collections and over 180 colors, including the very popular Seagrass collection. Climate Control An Innovation Award winner at the 2017 Miami International Boat show, Webasto's new BlueCool air handlers feature its Instant Drain Management Condensate System. Water draining into the wrong place creates problems with growths, bad smells, wood rot, etc. The company's new diversion system doesn't allow condensate to accu- mulate, even in choppy seas. For more information on the company's compact cooling and heating contact www.webasto-marine.com. Financing As lenders become more comfortable with the risks and benefi ts of making loans for second homes, RV's and boats, the goal of living aboard comes closer. An impressive choice of loan products is avail- able to fi nance or re-fi nance new and used houseboats. For example, Suntrust.com offers conventional boat loans as well as its unsecured LightStream Boat Loan of up to $100,000 for buyers with good cred- it. In the event you want U.S. Coast Guard federal documentation for the boat, they can even lead you through the process. n