WOULD YOU MAKE A BOAT YOUR PERMANENT HOME?

Though house prices may be falling, the average price of a boat is many, many times cheaper than the average house. The average terraced house in the last quarter cost £177,633 and the average flat £199,669. Canal narrow boats with every needed amenity on the other hand can be picked up for under £10,000. True, boats may not have the space of the average land bound abode but boaters claim the sheer sense of freedom of the open space around them and the ability to move their home around in it more than makes up for lack of internal space. And just because internal room is limited does not mean boats are unsuited to families, Kevin Jeffrey of Sailnet community explains, “Rowing back from shore one evening, I was struck by the intense personality that emanated from our boat. In addition to all the usual liveaboard paraphernalia, we had a plastic wagon residing on the foredeck, a variety of objects dangling from off the stern (a favorite game with our children), dish towels fluttering from the lifelines, a reading book and cushion abandoned on the cabin top, bananas lashed to the boom, and what looked like an entire playhouse constructed under the bimini. No one, I thought, would ever mistake us for weekend cruisers or charterers. Instead, our sailboat was a true reflection of us as a family. She had become, through no deliberate action on our part, a true family home.”
Despite this warm description of life aboard a sailboat, members of the boating community including Jeffrey warn against complacency when attempting life on the seas. “Too often, people seek the sailing lifestyle to break away from the materialistic, stressful, fast-paced lifestyle that prevails on shore, only to find themselves bringing it all with them.” Even those with a commercial interest in the boating industry warn would-be boaters strongly of the unromantic side of boatlife. Virginia Currer Marine, a premier UK seller of inland boats gives several warnings including:

MAINTENANCE: Despite the fact boats can be much cheaper to buy than houses they generally require more maintenance. This can be made cheaper with DIY skill, however the main maintenance cost occurs in the boat equivalent of MOT. This involves it being removed from the water to be surveyed. A significant expense.

SECURITY OF TENURE: There is little. Even if land is owned freehold, it is unlikely that there will exist an indisputable right to tie a boat to it. Leasehold moorings offer reasonable security, but are not common. The vast majority of residential berths are based on short term mooring agreements that can be terminated at little notice.

LOCATION: Proper residential berths, particularly in and around London, are in high demand and short supply. Because of this it is frequently not possible to locate in the exact area required.

However these warnings could be set to be dated. Bristol’s world famous floating harbour for example has recently made a significant expansion of its marina, and being stationed on inland waterways is not the only way to live afloat. Ocean cruisers are being sold for as little as £7000. But…

IS IT POSSIBLE TO LIVE INDEFINITELY IN INTERNATIONAL WATERS?

Well, technically yes. Though remaining offshore for an entire lifetime is unlikely, the facilities do exist to make it possible for the average person to spend very long periods afloat without needing to go ashore. The three unique things required would be:

A solar powered boat

A hydroponic food system (a system of creating edible plants using no soil, only light, heat and water.)

A desalination machine to make freshwater

These things are expensive and may seem futuristic but once obtained would make it technically possible for an individual or group to live permanently on the sea, but this of course would seem too much of a stretch for most people. There are of course things such as bad weather and boat damage to consider. Completely forsaking the land is very unadvisable but striving for as much independence from the land has great appeal. 

ARE CITIES ON THE SEA THE FUTURE? 

There are no real practical reasons why it would not be possible for quite large communities to live on the sea. As technology such as hydroponic growing systems and desalination machines can be expensive and demanding of space it would make sense to have larger ships dedicated to these tasks. According to David Kreamer, a geoscientist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, hundreds of disused military and private ships could be adapted to be mobile desalination plants. Kreamer is currently supporting the idea that desalination ships should be used to help get freshwater to residents on land. An estimated half of the world’s population lives within 100 miles of a coast. He states that another advantage of a mobile desalination plant is that it could cruise away during a hurricane and then return afterward to supply a city lacking in water and power. But, would it be even better if an entire city was afloat? Then if a hurricane was predicted, the entire city could float away to a safer place. 
A Houston based company called Water Standard, is in the process of making a mobile desalination plant a reality. They have bought a former vegetable oil tanker which they predict will be ready for use in the first quarter of 2010. They claim the tanker will be capable of producing up to 50 million gallons of freshwater a day. Facts vary on how much water the average western individual uses every day from 50 to 200 gallons. Water Standard have not yet determined any buyers for their product, but a floating city would make an excellent market. 
Hydroponic food systems are ideal when space is limited. They are used frequently on space stations. There is no reason why such systems cannot be used on a large scale on large ships. The technology is actually quite old and was used by Aztecs when they grew plants on rafts. Hydroponic systems are capable of many times the number of crops compared to their agricultural counterparts per acre. In Bengal a hydroponic acre can yield 5,000 lb of wheat but an agricultural acre only 600 lb. Potatoes yield 70 and 8 tons, respectively. Tomatoes, 180 and 5-10 tons, but in Florida a hydroponic acre can make up to as much as 300 tons of tomatoes. Hydroponic systems are known for improving the lives of those who live in the desert and other places where soil culture is difficult or even impossible.
It appears that living on the sea has answers to many wide reaching problems. With water getting more scarce, food prices rising and natural disasters always a threat, perhaps one day the majority of the human population could easily be living afloat.

OTHER ADVANTAGES OF A FLOATING HOME:

GOOD FOR THE DISADVANTAGED – Boats are effectively floating bungalows, for those who cannot or prefer not to climb stairs may find a boat appealing. Boats being smaller than houses it is easier to adapt them to an individual’s needs. Boats are also very well insulated and easier to heat than houses. Heating bills can be much cheaper on a boat.

GOOD FOR PET OWNERS AND PET HATERS – If your neighbour complains about your barking dog or your cat using their garden as a toilet this could be a thing of the past. Likewise if you are a victim of these things you can float away from any noise you dislike and a cat is much less likely to leap onto another boat than it is to leap over a garden wall. Also for pet owners neutering may be a thing of the past as your animal cannot very well roam around mating with neighbour’s pets. Although boats may not be ideal for territorial cats.

EASIER TO AVOID CRIME AND ACCIDENTS – Burglars are not too well known for targeting boats. The gap of water is very offputting and boats being smaller will have much less possessions not making it a very tempting target. If your boat is your principal method of traveling then avoiding muggers is quite easy and fatal crashes are unlikely at 6 miles an hour (the average speed of canal boats). And of course if you live on the ocean domestic criminals are miles away. Piracy is not too common these days and they tend to go for oil tankers rather than residential boats. 

EXCELLENT SEWERAGE SYSTEM – The population of London is at 7 and a half million. The majority of its sewage goes into the Thames. This is a great burden for an inland river to carry. Sewage from canal boats ends up in similar places but for a lone boat far out to sea it would be quite acceptable to simply dump the matter overboard. The waste would add to the nutrients of the sea and it is the same toilet that sharks and whales and many other forms of marine life are using anyway. For a floating city it may be more advisable to have a designated ship to collect sewage and dump it in a spread out manner. 

VERY ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY – Aside from the reasons mentioned above boatlife can be much more environmentally responsible for other reasons. Building on the sea could solve the problem of the greenbelt being eaten up. The building of houses always causes great damage to the land they are built on. Along with the damage to the earth building on land evicts many insects and often animals as well. But a single shipyard would only use up one piece of land and can create many, many homes.