Houseboats?

Pauline, I didn't even come in third. I think I was robbed. They went for designs that were more boat and less house, which would have been much less straightforward to build. The winning design had a single bunk (which is not what the contest calls for) and a 50 gallon steel drum as a bodily waste holding tank.

Lets see, single cot bunk, therefore one person, so how long would it take to fill that tank, what would it do to the trim and stability of the vessel, and does anyone want to save their crap that long and take up that much of the limited space aboard?

Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.

You're right, it said "you may have visitors" so you would think they wanted more than a single bunk. I love your design. It would be nice kept on the farm pond as a guest cabin!

You know I had a thought. If this was on something like a canal or other narrow waterway that isn't much affected by weather you could build a small tow behind "barn" with the same style bow roof/ hay loft. Keep a couple of goats in it. When you stop for the night or a couple of days you set up a quick corral of 4, 16ft cattle panels on shore for them. A little gang plank for them to go in and out of the barn. The panels could easily be hung on the outside wall of the barn in between times.

My cousin lives on one of those lovely long canal boats in England. After his divorce he decided it was all he could afford. Kind of funny because he's classed by the government as homeless or of "no fixed abode". I think he lives pretty good. It would be my choice if I ever moved back to England.

There are a couple of pictures of him and his boat on my blog. (scroll down)

http://theinkyspinnery.blogspot.com/...1_archive.html

He's since sold this particular boat and bought another one.

I really believe you could live like this and practice some limited form of homesteading. Goats and chickens maybe a little add on greenhouse at the back.



P.

One bunk and a 50 gallon tank???? Wow!! As I said, we've got a 42 foot sailboat. We have 6 people living on it full time for 2 weeks and we have 2 heads - one has a 13 gallon tank, the other a 17 gallon tank. It takes us a good 4 days to fill them up!! I can't imagine a 50 gallon tank with one person!! OY!

Ive seen many a boat with a well tended container garden on it. If you bought a good sized barge to begin with and used all the roof surfaces and deck space available I think you could do quite a lot of homesteading on a houseboat. rabbits, chickens turkeys and specially ducks and geese would be easy , and if your brave enough sheep ,goats and hogs are a posability.

I suspect living on a houseboat you would REALLY have to like every other occupant thereof.

Houseboat?

A hole in the water one throws money into.

Take all the maintenance that you normally do on a house...and double it.

Suggestion: Rent a houseboat for a week and see how you would like living on it full time.

This was some interesting reading.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...tor---=5367035

DH posting on DW logon again.
Our 38' sailboat has only one head. It will last about 10-12 days for two people on a 20 gallon holding tank and low volume marine head. This is not enough. The Kemah/Seabrook, TX area is one of two areas in the country in which you can't even use one of the waste treatment type heads. No overboard discharge of any kind is legal. To get the local Marine Sanitation company to come by in their boat costs over $20 per pumpout.

One thing I have noticed about the livaboards vs. the weekenders like us. The livaboards rarely leave the slip. It is too much trouble to get the boat in a traveling condition from a living condition. If it is the nomad lifestyle that lures you, you have to really work at it to be a nomad and a liveaboard at the same time.

Besides, the French boat has another diesel pumping mistress to compete against.......Anna-belle.......the Japanese tractor.

Chuckhole.

That's just ridiculous!! Around here on Long Island Sound and in New England where we've gone, the most a pump-out would be is $5. Most of the time, the pump-out boat will come to you and you just tip the guy - the service is provided by the town or local government.

I've seen this too. Even when we're cruising, if we're at a dock, it takes me about a 1/2 hour to prepare to leave the dock and that's just if we're overnight! Top off the tanks, stow the dinghy, put away anything that can get knocked down, prepare the boat, etc. takes a lot of time. If you're a liveaboard, you have a lot more prep to do than that!

A couple I'm good friends with live on a boat, they have lived there for about 10 years now. they keep it docked mostly (gas costs to much to cruise very often) but they have everything they need, includeing a shower and bathroom (and no, it don't dump in the river). Winters they shrink-wrap it and it's quite cozy and warm (Michigan winters).
My only problem living on it would be lack of space. I need more space than that!!!