Houseboats

Has anyone lived on a houseboat and, if so, what is like? I've always thought it might be nice since I enjoy the water, plus you have just enough living space and the ability to go sailing off in case you want to move. Has anyone ever considered it?

• No! I am ugly old girl!

  Cinzia%20Zaccardi

• I always thought it sounded interesting too OP.

• I would like to live on a boat but I'm afraid of fish.

• I did in Sausalito California. People let their shit tanks overflow into the bay. Very nasty. Also very noisy and much crime. Make sure your community has locking gates.

• Hope you like dank, humid air and mildew, OP. And in winter, cold air seems colder when the humidity is high. These are the winds often described as "cutting right through you." Have fun, boat boy.

• Lake Lanier in north Georgia is the houseboat capital of the world. I've seen some boats moored there that cost well into the millions. Some are literally floating mansions.

  http://www.suncapinc.com/Pictures/Lake%20Lanier/20%20x%20100%20Houseboat/DSC_0030.JPG

• I stayed on a friend's once and humid was the right way to describe it. Humid and musty - and this was a fairly nice one.

• fine in theory but appalling to most in realiy

• I did in Paris, under the Eiffel Tower. I could lie in bed and watch it twinkle above me. Definitely not for everyone. For starters, houseboats require a lot of maintenance. Those things would sink if they weren't being constantly maintained. Most of the peniches along the Seine are converted Dutch coal barges, so it is cold and damp on the river in winter - I get where the idea of "miasma" comes from. Because the Seine is an active waterway, the houseboat does rock from passing traffic. You do have to get your sea legs. I had friends come visit and they spent the next day trying to buy motion sickness medicine. When the gates open at 6am to river traffic, I was often awoken by the police speedboat, which sped the length of the river looking for dead bodies. A model famously fell in the Seine during Fashion Week and drowned, she apparently floated right by me. Went fishing there once, we caught a pair of underwear. Some Vietnamese guys would trap eels from the quai. I lived in the original captain's quarters. The rest of the boat was converted to look like a typical American ranch house, with stunning views. There was a fabulous terrace along the length of the boat, perfect for watching the Bastille Day fireworks. Good times!

  Your%20faithful%20Paris%20correspondent

• Spent a weekend sailing from Long Beach to Catalina. Fun for a weekend; impractical for longer. Very limited space. Lots of maintenance keeping the outside of the boat barnacle free and running. Good luck if the weather is not great.

• I did it, briefly. It ended badly.

  Andrew%20Cunanan

• Pe-ew

• There are lots of house boats in Seattle. Most are more house than boat. While they do float, no one sails off in them.