Retiement Houseboat or Floating Home

This is Belle a 50' x 16' houseboat that can actually travel without the usual issues associated with house boats.

 

I lived aboard for 30 years and the above is totally true. There were times when I was broke and unemployed, could not afford marina fees, and lived aboard at anchor for months at a time, this is challenging. My boat is worth less and less every year, marina fees rise all the time as does insurance. I still own her, or does she own me?

 

"Most of the "safe" empty slips inland or up a river will be spoken for long before you start asking."

In our area of central FL ,Ortona, the area is a great hurricane hole.

Many of the boats used in the Keys or on the coast pay for 12 months of dockage ($2500 a year) just to have a storm spot when the hurricanes head to FL.

Most are commercial or private sport fish , that can make the trek up the Caloosahatchie in a day or so.

Might be hard to escape storms with a houseboat with outboards that might go 5K , no headwind.

Insurance is NOT AVALIBLE , at any price in S. Flordia during the hurricane season, so the $2500 is cheap insurance.

FF

 

How about not being misleading with statements like "Imagine having water front property that costs your family nothing! "

 

As one who has been there, I'd say living aboard/houseboat is a viable alternative. It is not necessarily a less expensive choice. In the same way you have to meet the zoning requirements, existing covenants, and building code requirements, condo or neighbourhood regulations, you have to make concessions to the legal issues of being on the water. Sewage and grey water treatment may be an issue. Some floating communities are hooked into the municipal sewage systems. Other people may have a composting toilet of an incinerating toilet. Exposure to major storms, moorage is an issue. You had better be ready for whatever comes your way. Last spring we had a 50-60 knot blow go through which caused 4 foot waves, steep nasty ones, rolling through my marina,in a pretty sheltered patch of water. My 20 ton 45 foot power boat was dancing like a toy, or was it like a very large scary animal rearing. We weathered it ok but many did not.
I like the life on the water, and see the few inconveniences well compensated by the benefits.

 

By the way I'd generally prefer a boat to a floating house. The house will be more comfortable normally, but I like to take a weekend away as often as possible.