Floating Homes

What Style of Small or Tiny Home is Right For You?

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The best things come in small packages. When it comes to housing, Henry David Thoreau, a famous early tiny home enthusiast, would likely agree. His outstanding collection of essays, Walden, was a testament to the benefits of minimalist living. The book detailed his life in a 150 square foot cabin in … Read more

A Life Less Ordinary

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Our friends Wes and Elizabeth have been talking about coming to visit for quite some time. Finally our free time aligned and flights were booked. They were a bit hesitant at first to stay in our tiny floating home but once they arrived it didn’t take long for them to … Read more

Tiny Floating Homes: Dos Libras

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Tiny Floating Homes: Dos Libras Last week I shared a personal story about one of my Favorite Things I brought with me when moving onto a sailboat last year. Inspiration for that post came from my friend and fellow cruiser, Tammy. Now I’d like to give you a little perspective … Read more

Lake Union Floating Homes

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My wife and I are on vacation and have spent the day in Seattle, Washington. We took the Duck Tour which is both educational and entertaining and I would highly recommend it if you are spending any time in downtown Seattle. One of the perks of the Duck Tour is … Read more

Narrowboats – Historical Tiny Living

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historical narrow boat

Guest Post by Shelley Davis

In England today, narrowboats are floating homes, or holiday cottages, moored on the nation’s inland waterways.

They can range from a small 20ft long day boat to around 80ft long for some liveaboard craft that will never be taken around the whole country, but must always be under 7ft wide to retain the narrowboat name. Inside the boat, this can give up to a luxurious 420 sq ft of space, once you exclude the engine and other ‘service’ areas.

historical narrowboat

Photo credits – R-P-M

However, historically Narrowboats were working craft, where the majority of the length was dedicated to moving coal to London, chocolate from Birmingham, crockery from the potteries in Staffordshire. This left only up to 10ft of one-room space for living for an entire family with multiple children. Most furnishings were multi functional:

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The Nutmeg of Consolation – Studio on a Lifeboat

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Benjamin Wheeler brought to my attention Tom Dolby’s blog and his restoration of on ships lifeboat that he has converted into a music studio over in England. Though not used as a tiny house there is absolutely no reason that it couldn’t be converted into one.

I’ll let Tom Dolby tell you a little bit about the boat and you can use your imagination to see where you could take a boat like this.

She was built in the 1930’s as one of a pair of ship’s lifeboats aboard the SS Queen Ann, a British merchant vessel serving in the South Seas. If you look at the red stripe down the side, this was her original gunwale: the deck was added in the 1960’s and we built the wheelhouse this year. In the 30?s she would have had a sail, oars and small paraffin engine. It’s carved on her bowpost that she could hold up to 99 souls.

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Bridge Tender Houses

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I recently got back from a trip to Europe to visit family and kept my eye out for tiny houses across the pond. What caught my attention in downtown Copenhagen, Denmark was a steel and copper bridge tender house. My husband and I actually peaked into the windows and contemplated if we could buy one of these things and spend our days watching the traffic and bicyclers speed past. These particular bridge tending homes are now being used as municipal offices, but I think most of these types of buildings would make great tiny houses along the lines of a lighthouse…utilitarian and beautiful.

Copenhagen, Denmark. Photo by Harry Thomas/Silver Monkey.net

In the past, bridge tenders were needed to run the electronics and machinery that raised and lowered bridges on major rivers, waterways and railroad bridges. The machinery was kept in a small house near or on the bridge and the bridge tender would spend most of their time in the house, or even lived there. Their jobs consisted of controlling and monitoring traffic around the bridges, keeping the bridge and the raising/lowering mechanism in good condition and running telegraph machines and other communications. Most bridge tender houses were usually built by government departments of transportation.

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Unique Houseboat on Ebay

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Jared alerted me to this unique find on Ebay at 5:00 A.M. this morning. Tiny houses and floating homes are a passion of mine and this one a real find.

If you are in the Portland, Oregon area I would run down and check this out right away as I am sure it will go fast. I am in the process of duplicating the Ebay ad as I know it will go away in a few days and I want this available for all to see for a long time. At a Buy Now price of $28,900 it can be yours today.

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I am also trying to get in touch with the owner to see if plans are available for those who might want to build one themselves. This is a long post so hit the more link below. Here are the details:

You are bidding on a 28-foot long, steel-hulled, river barge boat. If you are considering a small houseboat or floating home for a retreat on the water, this might be a perfect alternative. It could be the perfect bachelor’s pad, artist’s or writer’s studio, weekend or vacation spot, or whatever you would like it to be! It could be a great liveaboard situation for a single person, who is also handy in finishing up some undone work.

This is NOT a fixer. Just not quite finished yet. Pride of ownership shows!

Unofficially named the “Gypsy Ark”, but the name is nowhere printed on the hull or siding, so you could rename it easily. (It is only painted on one horseshoe lifering)

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Houseboat for Sale

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Chris over at Small Footprint Living is selling his houseboat. Here is what he has to say about it: Here is your chance to own a cute little water getaway and finish it the way you want it. I have $5,000 in it so the price is firm. I was … Read more

Millie Hill Floating Getaway

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Ok, I know this blog should be called the Tiny House Blog and the Tiny Floating House Blog. I am enthralled with both and when ever I see a new or exciting floating home or getaway I want to share it with everyone. This one also comes from Chris from … Read more

Flagler Houseboats

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Chris from Small Footprint Living shared this site with me and I thought all you floating home enthusiasts would appreciate this small floating home.  Flagler Bridge Boatworks and Marina in Flagler Beach, Florida, hired Sponberg Yacht Design in 2005 to develop a series of houseboat designs for their marina. The … Read more

Narrowboats

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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 … Read more