Calling All Liveaboard Folk!

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nickellese

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Hi all,
I’m currently a student at Coventry University studying Transport and Product Design. I’m in my final year and for my major project I’ve chosen to design a house boat. My project aims are to design and model a contemporary living space on water. My design will be aesthetically and ergonomically pleasing whilst considering important environmental issues. As well as all this my aim is to make the design relatively cheap to buy and maintain so that potential buyers would consider one an alternative to bricks and mortar living.
I’m seeking friendly water based folk who would be prepared to share some of their experience and expertise with me in any form they are comfortable with whether it be email or a chat on the phone.
I have an email questionnaire ready for anyone without much time to quickly complete and return. On the other hand it would be fantastic if somebody could offer me a guided tour of their craft so I could get to grips with living on water in person.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and if you can help please feel free to contact me.
Nickelleseamrostei@hotmail.com
Thanks in advance
Nicholas Morris
 
Nicholas

Are you designing a houseboat, which would be moored in a permanent location, (perhaps being moved occassionally), with shoreside connections for power, water and communications...... or are you designing a boat which the owners could liveaboard and travel at a whim? Power or sail?

I'm sure many here would be willing to help, but I also think that most of us live on boats that are designed/used in a nomadic way which, I believe, generates a whole different set of restrictions and requirements to a "houseboat".

Cheers

Richard
 
Not wishing to be negative about your project, but.....

If you look at the thread below in which the type of boat being lived upon is posted, you will see that every one is a boat designed to be sailed (well, there may be a few motor boats) and by no means a 'houseboat', for which my understanding would be a building on the water, designed not to move. There may be readers here who live on something approaching your idea but they will be few.

As I understand it there are virtually no berths for liveaboards on inland waters. Narrowboats may be able to stop anywhere along the canal banks but they will not be able to obtain any services. Most marinas will not allow 12 month occupancy and virtually all are full anyway.

Very few unrestricted width berths are available to unpowered houseboats. The river Thames has seen a huge influx of narrowboats since regulations changed a few years ago and it is safe to assume that there are no suitable berths available. There may be non-tidal or tidal berths available in some parts of the country, I could not say for sure, but it may be difficult to move a non-engined boat to them.

I realise that these points do not impact directly upon your project, but if it is to be meaningful the absence of places to put your design could be worth noting.
 
Hi Richard, thanks for the quick reply. Im sorry i should have made the nature of the boat clear. At the moment the boat will be of the static variety i.e. moored in a residential mooring with all the benefits you mentioned.
Like you said i had assumed that most of the forum memebers had nomadic boats but this is the best boating forum i've found. Its not ideal but im hoping i can get everyones opinions, ideas, experiences and help as a liveaboard community.
 
as an aid to the design work, the inland waterways chaps have specific regulations which they have to meet in terms of afety and fittings.
 
[ QUOTE ]
My project aims are to design and model a contemporary living space on water.

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My design will be aesthetically and ergonomically pleasing whilst considering important environmental issues

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As well as all this my aim is to make the design relatively cheap to buy and maintain so that potential buyers would consider one an alternative to bricks and mortar living.

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none of these briefs compute Sir., the term "contempory living space on water"

What the FRuck does that mean. to you ?? never mind picking brains, what is YOUR take ? define please..


"My design will be aesthetically and ergonomically pleasing whilst considering important environmental issues"

ok, so you want to produce someting to appeal to the misled masses, kewl. !.. and WHAT important environmental issues do you enthuse ??.. again, please define them... ??? describe them..... This I would LURV to hear...


"As well as all this my aim is to make the design relatively cheap to buy and maintain so that potential buyers would consider one an alternative to bricks and mortar living"

You obviously have NO understanding of the taxation system in the UK my friend... cheap to buy and cheap to maintain is NOT an alternative to bricks n mortar.... it is similar and getting more costly by the day, considered a loophole by the financial director, sorry, pm, of the uk....

From your "brief" you dont understand the first thing about liveaboard cruising,, it is NOT a cheap option to bricks n mortar.. YOU cannot create or even attempt to create aesthetically pleasing....

You cannot move society into a life on water as a means of fullfilling gorden's 3 million homes without upset to the green idiots.

Come back in 20 years. Dont even try to write recommendatons on lifestyle without experience of life.


Jeeeeeeeeeeeeezzzz . again. lol

go ahead, DEFINE what you mean in normal terms, what you are trying to do.. forget the flowery pc terms from uni, lay it down dood... then, you MAY get a response,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
 
Hi vyv_cox
Thanks for your input, its always good to hear peoples points of view.
Through my research i had discovered that there are very few moorings available particularly in the south of the country, however who is to say that if there were huge demand new moorings and marinas could not be created.
In addition i had rather intended that the appeal of the craft be global, obviously this will have an affect on my design as different communities have different demands. For example from what i can understand in Copenhagen the city and port are collaborating on a plan to enliven abandoned wharfs by allowing dwellings for hoseholds of different sizes and incomes. Like wise in America there is countless waterfront so called 'brownfields' that has been abandoned by shipping but now constitutes a new kind of real estate as much of it borders protected waterways slicing through magnicificent cities.

Nicholas
 
[ QUOTE ]
You cannot move society into a life on water as a means of fullfilling gorden's 3 million homes without upset to the green idiots.

Come back in 20 years. Dont even try to write recommendatons on lifestyle without experience of life.

[/ QUOTE ]

Did you get out of bed on the wrong side this morning? Give the kid a break - at least he's trying to get a realistic perspective rather than just making something up!
 
---- however who is to say that if there were huge demand new moorings and marinas could not be created.---

If only that were true. There is enormous demand for marinas throughout Western Europe. The French boating industry produces ten times as many boats in a year than the number of new berths created. The last marina built in UK was many years ago. Two marina projects in Wales, with which I am slightly connected, have been combatting planning permission, fishing interest protests, environmental issues, etc., etc., for almost 10 years now and still don't have the all clear to go ahead.

Best of luck with the project.
 
There was a concept glass floating 'building' actually build and shown at Southampton Boat Show a few years ago. Very interesting with flat sided glass walls. Might be worth looking it up for some ideas.
 
Hi Nicholas

I'm not sure how a static houseboat fits into a course on Transport & Design - surely the point would be to design something that could move???

Anyway, with regard to static houseboats, I very much doubt that you could produce them in the south-east as alternatives to flats or bedsits at a significantly reduced cost. A decent narrowboat can set you back over £60,000 - if you add facilities such as water, sewage, electricity, rubbish collection etc plus permanent mooring fees, I doubt you would save much and you have the added issue that they are unlikely to be near public transport so you would also need a car and a parking space. Since land is always at a premium near water frontage, I doubt any developers would be happy to give over significant amounts of land near marina-type developments for car-parks when they could get so much more money by building a block of flats on the space.

In terms of actually living aboard, think of a cross between camping and a bedsit, perhaps consider mobile home parks as a source of ideas of what it would be like to live on a houseboat as that is essentially what you would be creating. Gas is likely to be in bottles (or perhaps a tank if it's a permanent mooring) so cooking and heating are likely to be all electric, or perhaps diesel heating. You are also sitting on a significant heat-sink (the water!) so insulation will be a significant factor if you're trying to heat the place in winter (not so good for your environmental impact). Damp is also likely to be a major factor - have you ever seen the mist over a damp valley or a river early in the morning? Keeping the inside of a boat dry and warm is not easy in our UK climate.

In terms of aesthetics, I presume you are talking about the inside of the boat. The outside is liable to resemble a shed on a raft ! You might be able to pretty it up a bit with a porch / fancy windows / ornamental roof edging etc but essentially houseboats are boxes to maximise the space inside.
Having lived in a bedsit, a very small flat and spent significant time on various boats including narrow boats, again I think your constraints for aesthetics inside will be severely limited by considerations of the best use of space.

Who is your target purchaser? Single people? Couples? Families? I doubt very much whether you would have enough space in a house boat, even a double storey one, for a growing family. It is one thing to take a family to sea for a cruising lifestyle, to see new places and have lots of new experiences. It is something else entirely to essentially house them on a floating campsite indefinitely whilst they still go to work/school/Sainsburys etc

Although I love the sea, like sailing and am planning to retire early and go cruising with my husband, there is no way you could persuade me to live on a houseboat, however well designed. We will be buying a catamaran rather than a sailing yacht to maximise our living space and aesthetics are not really our priority when considering how much room we will have to move around in!

Brierley
 
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none of these briefs compute Sir., the term "contempory living space on water"

What the FRuck does that mean. to you ?? never mind picking brains, what is YOUR take ? define please..

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I'm with Brierley on this. Is the weather a bit bad in Coruna? /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

If you are doing a degree, or whatever, you have to do a project/dissertation, (call it what you will), and it is usually something "out of the box", something a bit strange and unusual, of which the student has little experience - but it has to be done at that age, and without experience.

I remember when I did my first degree... we all thought we were at the cutting edge and were going to change the world of shipping. In the end, I drove the ships and, subsequently, sold the space on them - nothing very cutting edge or world changing about that.

Even if he comes up with a radical design in need of a home, the future may prove that he was ahead of the game, and we may all be living on houseboats - some fairly static, and some that travel the world. Given the housing shortage, it might be a partial solution if business and people can be persuaded.

My first dissertation was on paperless shipping ..... which was in its' early days at the time, and people thought it unlikely to catch on..... but there is much less paper these days. My second was on niche marketing/segmentation, which actually saved my business at the time.

I got lots of help from people with the first, even if it was merely to tell me that I was on the wrong tack with certain aspects. I dont think anyone told me to forget it and come back in 20 years - possibly because most recalled having to do something similar?

Chill out man! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif have another /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif

Richard
 
Ok Captainslarty Ill try to answer some of your many questions.
I seem to have hit a raw nerve with you but your right in that I don’t understand much about live aboard cruising, that’s the reason I’ve asked for everyone's help.
The dictionary definition of contemporary is 'of the present time; modern'. So what I want to do is design a modern living space on water. My project is still in its infancy but I’m sure that if you ask any owner of a houseboat then they will have difficulty in giving you its exact description/role.

In terms of environmental issues I would like to use eco-friendly materials in its construction and promote green energy practices in the way that it uses/generates electricity, water and other resources.

In terms of costs, I’ve not calculated a figure yet for how much I expect it to cost but you can bet your bottom dollar its a damn sight less than the cost of the average house here in the uk these days so set aside running costs and it will be FAR cheaper than the equivalent 'bricks and mortar'.

"YOU cannot create or even attempt to create aesthetically pleasing...."

I think it’s rude to assume I cannot create aesthetically pleasing. I also think it’s rude to discriminate against my age, would you tell my colleagues not to design the next Ferrari because they have not owned one for the last '20 years'.

Any constructive crit is very welcome.

Nicholas
 
For a few years I lived in a static house boat on a canal in Amsterdam - along with hundreds of others...... right in the heart of the city and I really enjoyed the experience.
The boat was based on a welded steel hull with a wood floor sides and roof. It was very well insulated and came with mains gas central heating, mains electricity and water with of course a telephone. In summer it was pleasantly cool and in winter when the canal froze over it was warm and cosy. It had is small floating balcony/ garden/patio, bathroom with shower and bath etc, large bedroom and lovely living room and kitchen - windows looking out over the canal -

On Sunday mornings reading the Observer with a glass of wine sitting in my deck chair on the floating patio in my dressing gown, tourist boats would pass by looking at me in envy thinking I had 'cracked it' - and of course they were right!

The Amsterdam authorities provide the 'lict place' berth with all the hookups to mains provided.. In fact people often buy run down clapped out houseboats in order to obtain the berth that goes with them then order a purpose built 'houseboat' to their requirements... There are some wonderful designs.

The system works because the Amsterdam authorities want it to work and provide the infrastructure... I think you should travel to Amsterdam for a few days and investigate a city that is actually doing, building, providing very successfully the sort of thing you are posting about...

Aaaa - very happy days

Michael
 
Nicholas...
i did some research into houseboats last year.. post divorce and thinking about other options than bricks and mortar!

My understanding is that you can have quite a nice "designer" houseboat- but at a cost. Seems to be that the best are built on dutch barges (or equivalent), with far more space then those built on narrow boats but they do come in rather expensive if designer-planned- Take a look at some of those listed on yachtworld.com (do advanced search and under "type" find houseboat).

Not quite sure this counts as "camping" or "bedsit" :-)
(pics from £195,000 houseboat on the medway!)
lounge.jpg


swimmingpool.jpg
 
OK Nicholas - my youngest son was at Cov reading Transport Design, so I'm sympathetic. It's a great place, and a European leader, so well done. Many years ago, studying architecture, I also had to concoct, or was given, briefs for design exercises - including my own thesis, I might add, self generated - that in the real world were frankly laughable however much me or my tutors might try to root 'em there.

I think you'd get a closer potential 'owner' / 'user' audience match if you posted the question on the Thames Forum -as well maybe. Those guys over there are much closer to 'home' and your project than the rufty tufty roving Salty Sams on this one. I don't mean to imply that they're all houseboat residents there, or perish the thought, narrow-boaters (far from it - don't get upset Byron!) or that the majority of us lot aren't holed up somewhere, aboard, for longish periods.

But we've all chosen craft that are inherently capable of moving along, through the water, powered by sail and engine. That's the number one, most important, common factor in our boats and their raison d'etre, even if the realities of living aboard come a close second. But we judge 'the boat' first, then how fitted the boat is for 'residing'. Another thread current, growing by the minute, is giving us here the opportunity to tell the world how great our boats are, as boats. Not as containers for washing machines, a subject that drew a lot of very unfair and unwarranted derision recently.

You're welcome to take a look at our own cruising website (link below) which might give you a flavour of what I trying to say. Plenty of other people here also also have great 'what it's like' websites.

You'd probably be amazed by the tightness of the space on our boats - a really important thing for us all here is learning to live without much space - very little, indeed, by landlubber standards. Learning to get on with our partners, children even, when we're constantly waiting for them to get out the way, or them, us. But this is something we accept - we (generally) don't dream of more space, volume or nifty 'land' equipment. Most of the time.

Perhaps you should go along to the Boat Show - if that's what it's still called! - if it's still going! - wherever it currently might be held! - and go aboard as many 30-40 foot boats (yachts) as you can. Also go aboard some 25-30 footers - people live on them, too. You'll see how intricately space has to be arranged, and that sailing function/performance/safety is paramount in the design, however well balanced by necessary interior design, arrangement and 'polish'.

So, all in all, this is not, as I would understand it, what your House-Boat would be about. But keep at it! I'm sure you've endured enough cringe-making design crits at college already to have developed the necessary thick skin.

Trust Me, I'm a Designer!!! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif

(edit)
ok I've just seen Michael's post about living on a Dutch Barge, in Holland, and some very relevant points he makes, similarly Carol's. Mind you, you'd expect 'Something Else' for £195,000!!. Not sure there are many bargee type people here, but there may be, so Good. You might try seeing if the DBA have a similar forum on their website http://www.barges.org/, to trawl in more barge liveaboards maybe.
 
Here in BC there are quite a few floathomes.They tend to be built on floats ...hence the name.
jafda2.jpg


here is an example although hardly a closeup.The white cruiser is my Uniflite and just in front of that is a floathome . It is heated by wood and is lit by solar and oil lamps.The fridge is propane.Water comes from a creek just behind the buildings.An outhouse is also behind the buildings and out of view.Larger communities are tied into municipal sewage lines.This one is lashed to pilings that are about 15 -20 ft. from shore.
The float is made from 45 gallon drums filled with foam a 4x 8 x 16 planks of Fir with the two story building on top of that.
It takes a good pounding every year in this location from the winter storms.At some point the owner here will have to move it or put in a real breakwater.Its been in this location for a few years but each year takes its toll
Years ago you could put one pretty much anywhere now you have to go through all the permits to do it.

anyway my 2 cents
for what its worth
 
this, I perceive as going to be difficult........

[ QUOTE ]
Ok Captainslarty Ill try to answer some of your many questions.
I seem to have hit a raw nerve with you but your right in that I don’t understand much about live aboard cruising, that’s the reason I’ve asked for everyone's help.

[/ QUOTE ]

so you ARE interested in live aboard cruising, or are you not ?


[ QUOTE ]
The dictionary definition of contemporary is 'of the present time; modern'. So what I want to do is design a modern living space on water. My project is still in its infancy but I’m sure that if you ask any owner of a houseboat then they will have difficulty in giving you its exact description/role.

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what has that to do with liveaboard crusing ? WHAT do you even, in your wildes dreams, think that anyone would want contempory... it means SHEEP.. following the flock, stuff your dictionary definitions lol... be realistic... you want to create a box for sheep with a bit of water to calm their whims .....
sheeeesh.. another frigging pc politician...

I[ QUOTE ]
n terms of environmental issues I would like to use eco-friendly materials in its construction and promote green energy practices in the way that it uses/generates electricity, water and other resources.

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you tell me ? WHAT are these eco friendly sound byte green environmental issues you talk about .. detail them ??? rubish is rubish, ruining the planet by releasing a tad of CO2 is rubiish too.. you seem to be a subject of the phylosophy of filth lol.. a convert to a subject that isnt factual... clean up the shite yes, but ....

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In terms of costs, I’ve not calculated a figure yet for how much I expect it to cost but you can bet your bottom dollar its a damn sight less than the cost of the average house here in the uk these days so set aside running costs and it will be FAR cheaper than the equivalent 'bricks and mortar'.

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not calculated a cost yet huh.. is that NOT the overiding thing to convince the sheep to walk steadily into the holding area ???

you have absolutely no idea of costs of either bricks n mortar or your utopia for the masses on water....

"YOU cannot create or even attempt to create aesthetically pleasing...."

[ QUOTE ]
I think it’s rude to assume I cannot create aesthetically pleasing. I also think it’s rude to discriminate against my age, would you tell my colleagues not to design the next Ferrari because they have not owned one for the last '20 years'.

Any constructive crit is very welcome.

[/ QUOTE ]

I KNOW it is not possible for you to achieve aeasthetically pleasing, due to the definition.. the minute ytou stop trying to apply your misguided desire to compartmentalise anything, you may... begin to learn.. its not the ownership for twenty years dood.. it is your own programming that will take twenty years to undo the damage that the so called education has weighed you down with.... a degree is an excuse for not working in the real world. go get a job in mcdonalds. and please,. stop trying to design boxes that are aesthetically pleasing... what a load of shite. !

/forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
 
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