happily married, with one boat

[GoodTaste]

Twenty-two years later they are happily married, with one boat, two PhDs and parallel careers as microplastic-pollution researchers at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, and the University of Birmingham, UK, respectively.

Source: Nature

I can't clearly figure out what "with one boat" means here.

By the phrase "in the same boat", I guess "with one boat" probably means "with the same experience". But if so it doesn't sound very natural here. By Bing Translator, it seems to mean "having one boat as their property". If it is the case, why not "having one house or two cars as their property"? Because they didn't have house or cars but boat? I am not sure.
What does it mean?

 

[tedmc]

I think it means a physical boat. Both of them probably like sailing, one of their common interests. Halifax is a seaside town, but then Birmingham in the UK is rather far inland.

 

[Tarheel]

There aren't many couples who own a boat so it was considered noteworthy.

 

[GoodTaste]

There aren't many couples who own a boat so it was considered noteworthy.

So does "with one boat" imply "with one boat (not to mention that they have had their house and cars)"

 

[emsr2d2]

So does "with one boat" imply "with one boat (not to mention that they have had their house and cars)"?

It doesn't really imply anything. It states a fact. They own a boat. They probably have a house and a couple of cars (we don't know for sure) but the remarkable thing is that they have a boat. That isn't something you'd necessarily expect of a standard professional couple.

 

[Skrej]

If you read the paragraph prior, they were each living on individual boats close to each other before they met. Emphasis mine, but from the article:

Steve and Deonie ‘Dee’ Allen’s fates were sealed when their respective dogs, two kelpies, spotted each other from across a marina in Brisbane, Australia and became friends. The pair were living on boats three berths down from one another — and the rest, as they say, is history.

So saying that they now have only one boat simply means they're living together, reinforcing the idea they're happily married.

 

[Amigos4]

If you read the paragraph prior, they were each living on individual boats close to each other before they met.
So saying that they now have only one boat simply means they're living together, reinforcing the idea they're happily married.

Context is everything! Nice catch, Skrej!