Friday, September 11, 2009

House Afloat


When your home floats on water, it has to be tethered to something so that it doesn't just drift away. It has to be floating far enough off shore so that the underpinnings don't snag up on the river or lake bottom.

Most floating homes are in communities of like-minded water enthusiasts who often refer to themselves as river rats. I know this because I once was one.

In the Pacific Northwest, a floating home is often colloquially called a houseboat, and its tenants, houseboaters. Although some purists would call the type of homes above floating homes and would reserve the term houseboat for a motorized pontoon boat similar to this:



How are the houses in the first photo kept from drifting downriver? What are they attached to? How do you get down to the river? Where do you park your car? These are some questions that will be answered in the next installment of this "Floating Home Friday" series.

2 comments:

Sunny Haralson said...

Are you saying you live on a houseboat? Words can't say how jealous I am. If I were you, I'd wear a pirate patch EVERY DAY and yell ahoy! even in line for the post office or at the grocery staore. Hooray for houseboats.

Sharon said...

I do not currently live on a houseboat because I live with a landlubber home designer/builder, and he is attached to building on land. But once upon a time I was a river rat and LOVED it!