Born on the Atlantic Ocean and under a water sign, it is no wonder I am fascinated by the water. It doesn’t hurt that my ancestors were Norsemen who were expert mariners.
While I am not sure about trying to live on a wooden Viking ship with no modern facilities, I have often dreamed of living on the water…not like at the edge of a lake, river, or ocean; but ON the water.
If I could have any home that I wanted, I would love to take a decommissioned Paddlewheel boat or barge and renovate it into a floating home. I have seen a few house boats, and they are nice but a bit small and can be cramped. A Paddlewheel boat is fairly large with a lot of room. A barge can be a pretty good size too with plenty of space for a studio and living space.
While making such renovations could run into quite a bit of money, there is no need to “go overboard” and get extravagant with the fixtures and so forth. As long as the facilities are up to date (modern) and properly functional, that is the important part.
The biggest problem would be where to dock it. Common sense might dictate a warm weather climate; but I am not fond of really hot temperatures and would rather be in a cooler climate. But since I would be living on the boat and more than likely heating would be required in such environs, the warmth of the hull would keep the ice from forming right up against the hull and crushing it. An old Paddlewheel boat might even have a fireplace in the salon; that might be pretty cool as long as it complied with the proper codes and it was safe for use. I might even need to get a small boat to get around and to shore for supplies and so forth.
I wonder what they do with the old Maid of the Mist boats???