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My wife and I have discussed the possibility as a retirement option. I wouldn’t do it in a location that is a true 4 seasons but here in Arizona the winters are warm down south. Otherwise we have thought of expatriating to a warm coastal community with a lower cost of living.
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I always thought it would be cool to live on a sailboat, drifting around the Caribbean... but it’s not very realistic at this point in my life. Someday though!
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No, but want toooooooo!!!
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Sounds intriguing. Might like to try it.
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Yes. I lived on a houseboat (the kind like a RV type, primarily flat hull with twin outboard motors) briefly in Key Largo, FL. I have also lived aboard a "regular" boat (different shaped hull). And I even worked someplace where our offices where on a two story flat barge tied up in our (boat) basin in Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale), FL. I have never lived on board any kind of boat north of Florida but I have heard some stories. The "advantage" a houseboat has (I think) over a conventional boat as far as living up north is insulation in the walls (bulkheads I guess). I miss being rocked to sleep living on a boat. The think about a houseboat to me is they aren’t really as mobile (seaworthy) as a regular boat. I wouldn’t take one out in any thing over a light chop. That advantage of the "barge" type houseboats is they’re more "stable" and you can build on the barge very similar to a standard wood from "stick" house. I’ve seen some great "barge" type houseboats both in Florida and in Seattle (remember the Tom Hanks movie "You’ve Got Mail"?). But the barge style of houseboat are not super easy to move since you need to tow them.
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No , but it would have it benefits. I would want an RV house boat also for traveling.
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We had a Sgt at Fort Bragg who had one like a trailer on a hull that he tied up to a farm on the Fear River and paid the farmer an access fee. When the USAF transfered him they paid to move the houseboat as if it was a house trailer. Lucky for him the next duty spot was Florida and not Maine!
I saw a two story one with a spiral staircase that went out the top at a boat show and was thinking of buying it to dock in Ocean City NJ but never followed thru :(
I saw one struggling while I was out sailing, houseboats with their slab sides can’t be moved in a wind!
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I actually grew up in my teenage years on a floating home in Washington state. I loved it.
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No, but have given it some thought
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MDW - 3/17/2014 4:56 PM 
Not yet, but we’re actually considering renting one for a week this summer. Looks like fun. We want to rent the type that moves easily and use it as a livaboard for diving in the St. Lawrence river. I’m still awaiting the operation to reply to my questions about the speed these boats can reach while moving from site to site so I can calculate how far we can go and what wrecks we can dive each day. Wish me luck.
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