> c) You're willing to take the burden of maintaining the boat and using it enough
> to be familiar with its operation.

That's one among many problems. We have no place to keep a boat - we live in a condo in a planned community which prohibits leaving boats, trailers, even vehicles in the common parking area (the half dozen spaces are reserved for visitors since each unit has two parking spaces). We live on the other side of 101 from the Bay, and there's no guarantee that we could get to a launching point on the Bay, although we're within walking distance if the overpasses are up. Slips at marinas anywhere on the Bay cost an arm and a leg. Having a boat is having a hole in the water into which one pours money. We can justify the van for emergencies since we use it for camping and for volunteer ham radio events around the Bay Area, along with just plain transportation. Justifying owning a boat year-round is tougher, since we never use a boat. Maintenance and slip rentals are a definite burden; using it enough to maintain competence is a problem. Arrangements at the destination are a problem: what do we do after we walk away from our boat? At least at home we've got a month's worth of supplies (assuming we survive without having everything burn up). On the other side of the Bay we're just another couple out of thousands of stranded refugees vying for food and lodging.

The problems of survival in a catastrophe are manifold, and they're particular to each person's situation. Three people died of hypothermia this past weekend in two separate boating accidents where the boats overturned. Water temperatures were in the 50s, and you die fairly quickly. Of four people in the water, only one lived.