Tiny House Living Goes Waterfront: Think Houseboats

tiny houseboat photo

Tiny house living goes the way of the water.

In much the same as a portion of the population is disgusted by super sized meals, giant SUVs, and Costco shopping, those yearning to live simply are also turned off by mega-mansions dotting the suburbs of our cities. It’s a social movement that refutes a common stereotype claiming that we all want bigger, faster, and more. Now, in the hopes of waterfront views and inexpensive living, houseboats are the latest in the tiny house trend.

Tiny homes are used as weekend cabins, backyard office space, as well as full time residences. Tiny houseboats have all the advantages of tiny house living including lower utility bills and the reduced need for junk to fill unnecessary space. Not to mention that they’re moveable and if you’ve ever wanted to live on the water, houseboats are the jam.

This guy lives in a cheap, 481 square foot houseboat in San Francisco. Fiver Brown converted a World War II lifeboat into a houseboat. Can you imagine how much he saves for rent every month?

According to MNN:

The boat itself is moored at the historic Galilee Harbor Coop in Sausalito, a once-folksy, now-chichi Marin County, Calif., burg where average prices for the town’s hillside homes hover around $2.2 million but where the cost of living on the water in one of three houseboat communities is far less (and a fun factoid: Otis Redding wrote “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” while living in a Sausalito houseboat).

This couple lives on a houseboat in the canals of London along with an artsy community of creative, politically aware people that love living simply on the water. They do something called “continuous cruising” where every two weeks they change locations on the canal. Boats can stay anywhere on the canal for free in two week intervals because it’s not private property.

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Image: Michael Coghlan