We weren’t looking to buy a boat, we definitely weren’t looking to buy a tugboat, we were just looking. We have a home in Port Townsend, Washington but the commute into the city for work was too much to do everyday, so at the time we were renting a house in Ballard (a neighborhood of Seattle). It was a nice house in a great neighborhood, but we really weren’t keen on being renters. When we saw the tug on craigslist we were just curious, but once we looked at the boat we realized we could stop being renters and have a place of our own in Seattle. A place on the water with a million dollar view.

The tug needed a lot of work, the decks needed to be replaced, the interior needed to be completely renovated, and the whole boat was in dire need of a coat of paint. But both my husband and I are comfortable with working in wood, so we decided it was a project we could handle. At first, my husband was worried the space would be too small for the two of us. I work at home and he thought I’d go stir crazy in such tight quarters. But when I thought about how much space I actually used in our rental house, I knew we could make it work. I think most people live in just a small part of their house, the rest of the space is taken up with storing stuff. Luckily we didn’t have a great deal of stuff. So two weeks after seeing the ad on craigslist, we bought a vintage wood tugboat, the Iver.

It took about two months of just looking at the boat to figure out where to start. It was a bit overwhelming, we are not experienced boat owners, we bought our first boat a little over year before, a 28 ft. fiberglass sailboat. We named that boat Troublemaker because we were so clueless about boating.

The first thing we tackled was making the boat water tight, it leaked through the decks. We covered the sides and back deck in cheap plywood and then coated that in a rubberized decking material called Gaco. Then we set about converting the interior into a liveable space. We tore out everything the previous owner had built, which wasn’t really much. A poorly designed galley area, a platform bed in the f’o'clse (the area under the bow deck) and a too large vanity in the head.

The galley cabinets were built in place, nothing on a boat is straight, especially an 85 yr old boat. We replaced a small electric marine stove with a household gas stove converted to propane. The shelves in the cabinets all slide out and the space between the stove and small fridge is a can pantry drawer. We later added a dish storage rack between the portholes on the back wall.

The rest of the cabin is our sitting, computer, TV area, guest bunk and dining area. We built a settee from wood we salvaged from my old work desk that my husband had made for me from a nice oak pallet he found on a construction site. The cushion is cut from a thick full sized foam mattress we had in the attic in Port Townsend. The settee is about the size of a twin bed and we made it high enough off the floor so we could put the dogs food and water dishes underneath and out of the way.

On the opposite wall we built an entertainment unit to house our flat screen TV with storage for laptops and other stuff, as well as a small bookcase. This wall hides the exhaust stacks that come up from the engine room, to the right was a bit of dead space that we turned into a wet/dry locker by adding a door from the built-in to the wall. The wood we used is mahogany tongue and groove that was salvaged from a house on Lake Washington.

Our stateroom is in the f’o'scle (boat lingo for the area below the bow deck) we built a queen size bed frame with storage underneath. We had a hard time figuring out how to get a regular mattress down into the space, but found a sleep number bed was the perfect fit. It came apart and we could put it back together in place. Getting big things in and out of the tug is always a challenge, the doors are not normal house door size, they’re a bit on the small size. When we brought in the gas range, it had to come in through a hole in the cabin ceiling that will someday be a nice skylight hatch.

We then built in a hanging locker (boat for closet), a six drawer dresser (using that old desktop that was leftover when we built the settee) and shelves with doors. Plenty of storage for clothes and linens.

One of the most challenging aspects of renovating the tug as a live aboard was what to do about the toilet in the head. The toilet that was in the boat when we bought it was plumbed to flush directly out of the boat. Not only was that really gross, but it was also very illegal. To install a marine black water system would have been difficult, there was no way to get a decent sized black water tank down into the engine room (remember those small doors, the hatch down into the engine room is even smaller) and paying someone to come pump us out every week just didn’t sit well with me. We could have installed a waste water treatment system, but that was really expensive and possibly not totally legal in our no discharge area of the ship canal. After much research I came up with the idea of installing a dry composting toilet. My husband was not thrilled with the idea, but he couldn’t come up with a better plan, so……..

The commercial units available at that time were a bit expensive, but I found a DIY option that turned out to be inexpensive, easy to build and works very well. My husband is now a complete convert and we plan on replacing the marine head on our sailboat with a dry composting toilet.

We also replaced the large vanity with a smaller unit and did some upgrades on the plumbing fixtures.

We bought the boat in September of 2009 and moved on board July 1st, 2010. While renovating our new home we try to be green, using salvaged materials as much as possible. I joke that we should have named the tug “Craigslist” since that’s where we find most of our materials, especially old growth lumber for replacing the decks. We also shop all the re-use and salvage yards in the area. Our carpet tiles in the salon and subway tiles in the kitchen came from the local Habitat for Humanity Re-Store. I made lights in the galley from old coffee cans and just finished painting a floor cloth for the galley from a scrap of vinyl flooring.

During the time we were building in the living spaces, we were also working on the plumbing, replacing old PVC pipe with pex pipe and putting in new freshwater filtration system. Our water comes from a heavy duty garden hose that runs down the dock, the electrical is all household 110v that also comes from the dock. My husband and I work well together, we design everything as a team, he does most of the woodworking (he just likes doing it more than I do) and I do the majority of the painting and varnishing (I hate painting a bit less than he does). We love living on our tug, we find we have plenty of space and being able to live on the water is amazing. Life should be an adventure, right? Sometimes it’s work, but it’s almost never boring.

Juliann Tallino
www.Tallinophotography.com

Their comprehensive and beautiful website profiles their living and working on the boat with a child in tow. They purchased the Spindrift in the San Francisco Bay area, and are living there until they can get the boat ready to sail down to Mexico. They purchased the boat for around $40,000 with money they saved up while working, and are doing much of the boat repairs themselves. For additional income Pat also does some day trading and they have written a book on their around the world sailing adventure.

The Schultes emphasize that they plan on keeping their lives simple by not buying a lot of stuff, TVs, cell phones, insurance or a lot of toys and clothes for their children. They are proud that Ouest will grow up on the water rather than in front of a television.

Photos Courtesy of bumfuzzle.com

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

His little “How-To Guide” focuses on how to live a cheaper, lighter existence while still being independent. He discusses van conversions, boondocking, workamping, financial freedom, traveling with pets and children, safety and cleanliness issues, how to choose a vehicle, overcoming your fears, living on a boat, homesteading and working while on the road. He also shows how living a life on a $500 to $1,000 a month budget is possible.

Some of his fellow nomads discuss how they took the leap:

On a fateful day in 2006, I was struck by an idea so powerful that I stood up from my desk, walked to the personnel department and resigned. I would sell my house, the extra cars, all that important “stuff” and live on a boat with my family, and travel the seas as a free man.

Captain Keith of the Kismet

After 22 years of working at the Post Office, I was tired of not being happy with my job or my life and knew I had to do something. I remembered those happy days traveling in the travel trailer and was sure I could be happy again. I already owned my 1983 VW Westphalia, so it was the obvious choice when I decided to downsize. I wasn’t sure exactly how I would do it, or how long I could stand living in a van, but I knew it had to be better than the life I was living. I am delighted to say it has been 2 years now and I have no desire to go back to a more conventional life.

Barb Cotton

Photos courtesy of Cheap RV Living

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

M Skaffari/Flickr

The famous Sausalito floating homes community has a history that stretches over a century. During the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s improvised floating homes made from scrap wood, old tugboats, elegant ships and even old Pullman cars were built by professional artists, and since the dock areas were so small, most of the floating homes stayed small. Some of these homes are now offered as vacation rentals and there are usually a few for sale. Some of the homes have names including the Taj Mahal, the Train Wreck and the Pirate.

Amy Butcher/Flickr

Michael Layefsky/Flickr

M Skaffari/Flickr

A paid walking tour of the houseboats in the Liberty Ship shipyards area and the yacht harbors of Sausalito is offered on Saturdays and Sundays by a local guide. During the tour you’ll also see a few of the battered survivors from the old era of improvised houseboats. Some docks are lined by beautiful flowers in containers that are tended by the owners as their “front yards”, and many of the homes are decorated with ship’s bells and wheels, barometers, compasses, fishnets, flags, pennants and ensigns, colored buoys, paddles and oars, decoys, and other nautical paraphernalia.

NorCal MLS

By Christina Nellemann for the [Tiny House Blog]

The United Kingdom is a land of canals and waterways, and narrowboats are right at home on these placid waters.

The “narrow boat” refers to the original working boats built in the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries for carrying goods on the narrow canals. The term is extended to modern “narrowboats” used for recreation and occasionally as homes.

The key distinguishing feature of a narrowboat is its width: it must be no more than 7 feet (2.13 m) wide to navigate the narrow canals.  Modern boats are usually 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) wide to guarantee easy passage everywhere. Because of their slenderness, some narrowboats seem very long. The maximum length is about 72 feet (about 22m), the length of the locks on the narrow canals. However, modern narrowboats tend to be shorter than this, so that they can cruise anywhere on the connected network of British canals.

Photo by NarrowCraft, Ltd.

Modern narrowboats are used for annual holidays, weekend breaks or as permanent residences. Usually, they have steel hulls and a steel superstructure, but they can also be made of fiberglass or timber. They are usually powered by modern diesel engines. There will be at least 6 feet (1.8 m) of internal headroom, and similar domestic facilities as a small landward home: central heating, flush toilets, shower or even bath, four burner stove, oven, grill, microwave oven, refrigerator, satellite television and mobile phones. Externally, many narrowboat owners will brighten up the linear shape with bright paint, designs or crests.

Photo by NarrowCraft, Ltd.

They can be owned by individuals or groups, rented out by travelers, or used as cruising hotels. A few boats are lived on permanently, either based in one place (though long-term moorings for residential narrowboats are currently very difficult to find) or continuously moving around the network (perhaps with a fixed location for the coldest months, when many stretches of canal are closed by repair works or “stoppages”).

On most narrowboats steering is by tiller, and the steerer stands at the stern of the boat, aft of where a person emerges from the hatchway and rear doors at the top of the steps up from the cabin. The roof of the narrowboat is usually used for lounging or storage space.

Photo by NarrowCraft, Ltd.

Just like anything that is in or near the water, upkeep is constant. Many narrowboat owners need to be familiar with engine and hull repair. Also, because of the small size and it being a floating home, clutter and excess stuff has no place on a narrowboat. In fact, there is quite a funny video about a very messy narrowboat and how the ladies from How Clean is Your House? make it shipshape.

We would love to hear from our readers in the UK about their experiences with narrowboats, if you live on one, even better!

By Christina Nellemann

Photo from BoatDesign.net

Canal Boat Trader

Canal Junction

Our Day on the Narrowboat Charlie

National Association of Boat Owners-UK

Narrowboats for Sale

Narrowboat Kathlyn

Narrowboat Gemini

Dragonfly Narrowboat Hire

Narrow Boat Television Series

NarrowCraft Boat Builders

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