By Margy Lutz, Powell River, BC

Christina Nellemann recently wrote an article here on the Tiny House Blog about living on a boat. In it she pointed out some of the challenges and pleasures of life on the water.  My husband Wayne and I live on the water, but in a whole different way.  You may have read a little bit about it in the October 21 article “Our Little Cabin Up the Lake.”  Kent has invited me back to tell you a little more about living in a floating cabin.

What first attracted us to our cabin on Powell Lake in British Columbia was its simplicity.  We live there in all seasons. While we’ve made a few changes over the last seven years, we’ve kept the simple life foremost in our minds. Our cabin has 420 square feet downstairs and a 200 square foot sleeping loft under the peak of the roof.   Our kitchen is compact but functional. It’s plenty of room for one, but two makes a crowd. On one wall you will find my sink and shelves to store my pots and pans. The window has a great view of the entrance into the Hole in the Wall. With a view like that, you almost don’t mind doing dishes.

When John built our cabin he installed a hand pump. It draws water from about six feet below the lake surface. To be safe, we boil it before drinking. Continue around the L-shaped counter and there is my small stove and oven. Open wall shelves hold our dishes and food. Under the counter are two plastic drawer units. To deter mice, we keep foodstuffs in containers, especially when we aren’t there. But we’ve been very lucky so far.

Tucked under the stairs to loft is a small refrigerator. It even has a freezer that really comes in handy during the summer for ice to make ice cream. Both the stove and refrigerator run on propane. Along with propane lights, a 60 lb. tank lasts about six weeks for $54. We have to haul the tanks to town in our boat, but once every six weeks isn’t too bad.

I have to be honest. At the cabin, Wayne is first cook, especially when it comes to the barbecue. But I do have my specialties including cakes, breads and soups. This goes to show you don’t need a big fancy kitchen with lots of electrical appliances to make good food.

Especially this time of year, our wood-burning stove is the heart of our cabin. With occasional stovepipe cleanings, it keeps the fire roaring hot, or low and slow, depending on our need.  I’ve even found a few creative ways to use it to back cakes and bread.

A wood stove must have wood. For us, that’s a fairly simple. Especially during high water, the wood floats right to our front porch. All we have to do is scoop it up, cut it up (sometimes) and let it dry. When we are gathering wood throughout the summer, we are dreaming of the cozy fires it will bring during long winter nights.

Storing wood on our cabin’s float is problematic. We want it close by, but not weighing down the foundation for our cabin. Our floating woodshed and a small covered woodpile on our transition float to shore serve this purpose well. For those really rainy and windy nights, we have our small indoor wood shelf that holds about 5 days worth of really dry wood. It takes up a little space in our “guest room,” but no one seems to complain.

We’ve added electrical power with solar panels and a wind generator, but use it sparingly.  We have a few low powered lights in strategic locations and use it to run and recharge a variety of devices, including a satellite radio and laptop computers.  We have cellular telephone reception with the help of a car antenna, but purposely have no television or Internet access.  The easiest way to make a simple life complicated is with too much TV or web surfing.  We get enough of that when we make weekly trips to town.  Our cabin life on the water may be simple, but is perfect for us.

You can find more information about float cabin and off the grid living at http://PowellRiverBooks.blogspot.com. For information about Wayne’s Coastal BC Stories, come to www.PowellRiverBooks.com.   Up the Lake and Farther Up the Lake have lots of information about our cabin life on Powell Lake.

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Bill Young of Lafayette, Colorado not to far from Boulder has a company he calls Gypsy Coach. He contacted me recently and wanted me to share his work with you. This is another great option for a mobile tiny house. Bill’s gypsy wagon, like the sheepherder wagons of the American west, has been crafted to take you back in time and give you the experience of a bygone era. The wagon can be used as a portable guest house, a special work space or a romantic retreat.

The gypsy wagon has been built on a new trailer chassis that has dual axles with electric brakes and is licensed for the road. The outside dimensions are: 16 feet long (plus a two foot overhang above the door) by 8 feet wide and it has a clearance of 13 feet. The empty weight is 5900 lbs.

Victorian details are the hallmark of the interior. Wainscoting wraps around the lower level and is capped by chair rail molding The walls are covered in period correct floral wallpaper and the curved ceilings have also been covered with a deeply embossed wallpaper imported from England. The living room is flanked by floor-to-ceiling windows to provide great views and genuine hardwood covers the floor throughout. The sleeping loft also has a curved ceiling and enough room for a king size mattress. Two windows in the loft provide cross ventilation.

There is a kitchen area with a base cabinet and countertop and an antique style water crock provides the water. One thing that sets this gypsy wagon apart from all others is a bathroom: complete with a chemical toilet and a floor drain that makes it shower capable. The interior has been wired for 110 volt service and has five outlets. Other types of plumbing systems can be added like a composting toilet, water tanks, water heater, RV style toilet and holding tank.

To find out more contact Bill Young, at 303-661-0331 or by55555@hotmail.com to arrange a showing. The price for this wagon is $23,600. Or contact Bill to arrange construction of your own custom piece. Visit the Gypsy Coach website.

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If you are looking for ideas for your own tiny house, one of the best ways to play with ideas is to start drawing them. Scott Rose one of our readers as well as a contributor to the Tiny House Forum is using the free Google Sketchup to draw 3D images of houses he thinks up himself or he also takes other peoples plans and makes them into a 3D models so he can visualize them himself.

Scott asked me to share with you a few of his designs.

1. The first one is Uncle Jon’s Cabin, which is an existing cabin he has seen and photographed. He puts the cabin into perspective for us with his nice renderings.
2. The second one is based on circle designs that Scott was intrigued with until he learned about the Tumbleweed Tiny House Company.
3. For the third one he decided to play with Jay Shafer’s WeeBee design and has given us a 3D view of it as well.
4. The fourth design featured in this post is the Little Cabin based on one of Andy Sheldon’s designs. The cool thing is that it is so much easier to visualize in 3D.

If you would like to see more of Scott’s work go to the Tiny House Forum. You can also contact Scott via email at: scottychop@gmail.com

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