Comments on: Living on the Water

By: Indoor Plumbing with a Twist | Small Kitchen Design

Indoor Plumbing with a Twist | Small Kitchen Design — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 03:17:28 +0000

[...] can read them here on the Tiny House Blog at “Our Little Cabin Up the Lake” and “Living on the Water.” Our float cabin, at the time, was 420 square feet downstairs with a 200 square foot [...]

By: Margy

Margy — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 05:37:56 +0000

Hello Heidi – Here are some answers for your questions. 1) Yes, liability insurance was required, but because we are members of the Powell Lake Cabin Owners Association, they take care of that for us. I would guess you could obtain a policy on your own, but I don’t know what it would cost. 2) We did not have to prove there was road access. Almost every cabin on our lake is water access only. 3) There are gray water rules for BC lakes, but there was no approval process for any type of system as a part of our original lease in 2001. That doesn’t mean there couldn’t be in the future. 4) No sewage can be disposed of in the lake. While you can apply for an outhouse on shore, most cabin owners are trending towards on-float composting toilets. 5) We purchased an existing cabin that was already in a BC approved spot. Our lease is for that spot only. There is a moratorium on additional cabins, so the existing spots are all the only ones for the foreseeable future. You can move a cabin from one existing site to another, but not to a brand new site. Leases are for 20 years and are transferrable.

There are some salt water float cabins along the coast, but most of those are associated with fish farms and logging. I do know there is a cluster of cabins on the west coast below Tofino. Here there are a few float cabins on nearby lakes, but the majority are on Powell Lake. There is a long history so I think BC is sort of “grandfathering” us in. I am not sure if they would accept applications for float cabins on just any lake in the province, maybe just existing locations.

I don’t know if you are Canadian or not. To get a lease you must be a citizen, Canadian Permanent Resident or a Canadian corporation.

Hope that was helpful. If you have more questions you can come over to my blog or send me an e-mail. — Margy

By: heidi wirth

heidi wirth — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 22:57:57 +0000

Hi Margy,

I would like to know if you have to have a liability insurance,meaning: as a request from BC Land & Water. Also, did you have to prove that there is road access to reach your floating home? What about approval for sewer/gray water etc? When you applied for your project, did you have to decide where you would stay, or could you move wherever you want on that lake at any time?
We live in the bush, off the grid, and we are really interested to live on the water too.
Would be nice if you could give us some hints, before we get in contact with the BC-authorities.
thank you kindly
Heidi

By: thunder wolf

thunder wolf — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 00:13:22 +0000

me look some information built cabin or boathouse on wather in one information help me out look books or CD ok? here my address and email
p.o. box 534 cave city ky 42127
wolfthunder68@yhaoo.com
spiritwild09@hotmail.com

By: Margy

Margy — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 17:23:00 +0000

Thanks to Christina, Ben and Kimberly for your comments –

Kimberly, our cabin can get cold, but our wood stove does a great job of warming things up. Fortunately, our climate is pretty moderate. We only get snow a few times each year, and only rarely with enough to make a snowman like the one above. But we love it in any weather.

Yes, Christina, it feels good to simplify our life, but sometimes it feels a bit “complicated” to do so if you know what I mean. Since we were cityfolk it has taken a lot of learning to get things worked out to be somewhat simple.

And for Ben, our propane refrigerator makes life much easier. Ours is a small apartment style, but lets us keep enough fresh food for a week or more. As far as power generation, we are looking into a new wood stove model that seems to have promise. You can see a demo on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SczCj7gilZY or at their website http://www.tegpower.com/products.html.

Margy

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:39:28 +0000

Hi my name is kimberly im 14 and i also live on the water the only thing i think really wrong were we live is it is so cold.I love your snow man to i wish we could get all that snow!!!

By: Float Cabins on Powell Lake

Float Cabins on Powell Lake — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 16:34:40 +0000

[...] Our cabin is a basic 20 X 21 cabin (see my previous posts “Our Little Cabin Up the Lake” and “Living on the Water” for more details). A peaked roof gives us just enough room for a sleeping loft. Most of the [...]

By: Ben C - Propane Refrigerators

Ben C - Propane Refrigerators — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:28:34 +0000

Looks like quite the life! If there is a running stream around that feeds into the lake you could set up a hydro generator. I have those propane refrigerators if anybody needs one. Half my business comes from Canada as they are twice as expensive there.
http://www.bensdiscountsupply.com/

By: Christina

Christina — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:26:11 +0000

Thanks for the info Margy! I appreciate details on how people make a simpler life work for them. I also love the snowman.

By: Margy

Margy — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 07:06:58 +0000

It appears that there are problems with the wind generator link above, but I will go ahead and answer the question because others might be interested. Wayne and I do have a wind generator installed on our float along with a variety of solar panels. Because of the location of our cabin, we don’t get very much wind on a consistent basis. In a way that’s not a bad thing. Wind can really move the cabin around on its tethers. When a storm moves through (mostly in the winter) and there’s a southeast wind, the generator gives us some much needed power. It would be nice to have more wind, especially in the winter when the sun is low and often blocked by clouds. But we take what we can get. — Margy