Of all the pleasure-boaters who dock in Manhattan once the weather turns nice, Rick Batchelder may be the only one with shreds of tires along the sides of his vessel and a pair of mounted water guns at the stern.

Then again, there do not seem to be too many other recreational mariners who live on a tugboat.

Mr. Batchelder, 58, believes he and his wife, Renee, are the only people in the country who do. He says they spend about half the year living aboard the tug, a workhorse of a boat that is better suited for towing aircraft carriers than sipping mai-tais from hammocks on the deck.

New York Times City Room Blog

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/20...room&seid=auto