Pamela and her husband Ulrich have been living on a boat since the day before their wedding — 30-plus years ago. When expecting their first child, they debated buying a home on land but ultimately ended up with a 100-year-old tugboat that they renovated and made into a floating home.
The tugboat had had a number of owners over the years who had used it for different things, but with Ulrich’s amazing metalwork skills and sculpture experience, they were able to re-design the boat to meet their family’s needs. Now that their daughters are grown, and it’s getting harder to do boat maintenance, the couple are considering life on land once again.
Here’s a really neat floating home that’s moored in Sarasota Bay in Florida, where you can stay for a couple of nights. It’s an off-grid adventure, but they have some solar power and plumbing to make your stay as comfortable as possible.
The one-room houseboat has a couch that turns into a bed, a little kitchenette, and a bathroom that allows for a 5-minute shower. The coolest feature of this vacation home, however, is the rooftop patio where two lounge chairs sit basking in the sun!
This is a beautiful little houseboat docked near the Gulf of Mexico in Clearwater, Florida. It has one bedroom in the back, a 3/4 bathroom with a lovely tiled shower stall, and a nearly-full kitchen that has a large fridge and a little cooktop.
There’s also a little porch off the front of the houseboat with gorgeous views and a couple of chairs where you can drink a nice cup of coffee. Both sides of the home have big porthole windows that let in lots of light. What’s your favorite feature of this floating house?
This fantastic couple came across a shed-on-the-water and purchased it sight-unseen! It ended up needing a total overhaul inside to make it into the adorable living space they now have.
Their marina payment is under $300/month, making it an affordable place to live. Plus, they’ve noticed that their resting heart rate has lowered since they moved in — something about the peace offered by the water. Enjoy their tour below!
Meet the Joneses! Brandon and Sarah were living in a normal house when the opportunity arose for them to purchase what would become a gorgeous houseboat. But at the beginning, it was really just a floating shed without any amenities!
Eventually, the couple and their dog would love to sail the globe together, but this gives them a life on the water while they save up for a new adventure. We got to interview the couple, so enjoy learning more about their life after the photo tour!
Houseboats aren’t exactly popular in Sweden, but when done, they are done well! This one sits on a special ice-resistant float so it can stay in the frozen water all year long.
It’s set up as a vacation spot and includes a huge sauna, comfortable bedroom, and a full kitchen and office space. Double-glazed windows provide beautiful views of the surrounding ocean area.
All it took was a serendipitous six-hour bus ride to change Molli’s life forever. But I won’t spoil the awesome story of how she came to possess this former 70s party boat she has called home for the past six years.
The boat doesn’t sail, but it sits happily in the marina where Molli has a wonderful community of fellow boat-dwellers. She has done a huge overhaul of the interior, which includes a lovely bedroom, kitchen with a super retro 1950s oven, and even a giant bookcase for her library.
Personally I adore her boat garden, complete with tomatoes, herbs, cucumbers, eggplant and more!
Here is a handmade pontoon that has potential to become an off-grid houseboat. While at this point it’s just a living room box without a kitchen or bathroom, I’m sure a handy person could fix that!
I’m a huge fan of that roof deck. Would you like to live on the water? It’s for sale for $20k on Facebook Marketplace here.
Remember the Silver Pearl houseboat on Airbnb that Alex showed off last week? Genevieve and her husband own that boat, but also live off-grid in their very own floating home called the “Island Gypsy.”
Before they invested in a vacation property, they moved into the Island Gypsy — she felt like were “cheating” being hooked up to shore power, so they figured out how to create an off-grid home and have been living that way for a few years!
She sent us a beautiful description of their life on the water, which you can read after the photo tour of their houseboat. Enjoy!
