Slice of Life is the name of Dexter Morgan's fishing boat, which he primarily uses to dump his victims into The Gulf Stream. When Dexter bought the boat in the early 90's, he renamed it from Slice of Heaven to Slice of Life. The name is a pun. "Slice" refers to Dexter's use of blades. Up to this point, Dexter usually dumped his victims’ bodies in the Everglades. Looking for a better way, Dexter purchased the boat from Dr. Greenstein, Gene Marshall's psychiatrist, so that he could dump Gene's remains at sea. Dexter’s original marina, Coral Cove, was the same one where Harry had a slip.
The Boat's Benefits and Risks
Dexter frequently uses his boat to dispose of his victims (which could implicate him in The Bay Harbor Butcher murders), and in Season 2, he eventually gets caught doing so, first by wiping his boat clean in front of recently installed security cameras, which he has to hastily remove the files from (Dex, Lies and Videotape) and a second, much worse time when Sergeant James Doakes attaches a GPS Tracking Device onto his boat and follows him to a kill site, where he confronts Dexter and discovers his secret (Resistance is Futile).
He also tends to use the boat as a means to bond with people, such as getting back on Rita's good terms by taking her and the kids on a fishing trip at the end of Season 2 (Left Turn Ahead).
He also goes fishing with Miguel Prado in the middle of Season 3 and takes Debra, Rita and the kids on a trip in the middle of Season 4.
Dexter dumping Yates's body, while alongside his sister and Evelyn Vogel.
Dexter and Lumen on Slice of Life.
He continues to use the boat throughout Season 4, 5, 6, and even 8, such as when he went out to dispose of A.J. Yates while bonding with his sister and Evelyn Vogel.
In Season 7, Maria LaGuerta discovers a discarded blood slidein the scorched church where Travis Marshallwas killed, and compares it to the slides taken by The Bay Harbor Butcher. She sees the similarities between the two, and so decides to clear James Doakes's name (who was believed be The Butcher but, in reality, was framed by Dexter). LaGuerta works the case independently, only enlisting the help of Thomas Matthews, who thinks that she is nuts and refuses to help her at first. She manages to gather a list of boat-owners in Miami, and through process of elimination, narrows it down to Dexter. LaGuerta, aware of Dexter's forensics expertise and finding out that his brother is the Ice Truck Killer, begins to suspect him. With the intervention of Debra Morgan, LaGuerta and Matthews find Doakes' supposed boat house and his fingerprints. But LaGuerta suspects that this evidence was planted and arrests and interrogates Dexter, who denies all of the above. Because Dexter had already set up evidence to make it look as if she were framing him, he was quickly released. LaGuerta is viewed as a demented person. Nevertheless, LaGuerta continues her quest to bring Dexter to justice. When she goes too far, Dexter sedates her and Debra shoots her in the chest to protect her brother. However, this leaves Debra guilt-ridden for months.
Louis Greene makes an attempt to sink The Slice of Life. Isaak Sirko comes across Louis and shoots him in the head, and the latter dies on Dexter's boat. George takes Louis out to sea and dumps his body
somewhere in the ocean. Later in the season, it seems that Louis's attempt to sink the Slice of Life was unsuccessful, as Dexter is seen with it in the ocean. Furthermore, Dexter discovered Louis' death and proceeded to clean the boat (showing that he cares about the boat's cleanliness).
Fate of the Slice of Life
When Dexter and Hannah McKay are planning to move to Argentina, Dexter no longer feels an urge to kill and so desires to sell his boat to a random person. However, due to some delays (i.e. going after and killing Oliver Saxon), Dexter manages to use the boat one last time for disposing of his sister (who Dexter had to mercy-kill to
Dexter driving his boat into the hurricane, planning to turn over a new leaf, while abandoning his son and Hannah...
prevent her from succumbing to her gunshot wound). The boat is then obliterated in Hurricane Laura, when Dexter drives it into the storm upon realizing that he isn't fit to be a father, and needs to live a distant life where he can do no harm. After the storm clears out, the boat's wreckage is found about a mile off-shore, with no apparent
One of two remaining pieces of the boat.
survivors. In reality, Dexter had used the emergency life raft [1] to escape death from the hurricane, and moved on to become a logger in an undisclosed location.
Technical Specs
Dexter reveals a lot of information about the boat in Monkey In a Box when attempting to sell it off to a potential Boat Buyer:
''She's a 2001 Century 2901 center console. I had this custom rail put in. New paint. Has a radar, GPS, fish-finder, autopilot, emergency life raft. And I had these twin Yamaha 250 four stroke motors put in. They got just over 400 hours, and when you open them up and you're out there...There's nothing like it.[2]
Other appearances
Dexter: The Game
Navigating in the Slice of Life, Dexter appears disposing of Mike Donovan's body into the ocean.