Living aboard

What got me interested in living aboard was my recent acquisition of Jay Benford's "Small Ships" after having seen the "Friday Harbor Ferry" presented in WoodenBoat. Since then I have spent many happy hours dreaming and a few more pushing pixels and drawing on printouts of study plans. Most of the boats presented in that volume are not suited to local navigation because of the height restrictions on the canal - 3.5 metres (11'6"). And the lowest bridge in town stops tall boats on this part of the river from reaching the Loire, the estuary and the sea.

We do have river boats of our own represented by "Beaulieu" above and "Murmure des flots" below. The first being of course too high now to go anywhere other than the stretch of river between here and the canal you may think. Not so! The top of the pilot house unscrews and is placed on the rear deck to go under the low bridges. I have known the owner of "Murmure des flots" for about 28 years now. All the welding and work on it he did himself and he lives aboard permanently. "Beaulieu" on the other hand is a holiday home, only used during the summer and on long weekends.

These local river boats have provided style queues for the newest large boat to navigate these waters the navibus "Jules Verne". It is an experimental water bus line that connects the centre of the city to the Universities. It gets most use on weekends and during the summer when the price of the bus ticket (0.90 cents) makes it one of the cheapest ways of embarking on a short cruise that I know of.

Push pixels as I might, Benford's wonderful craft could only be landlocked water top homes. Not that it is a bad thing, but being able to migrate between the Loire estuary and the Gironde estuary would be a distinct plus. The way things stand, being locked on the river would mean substantial economy could be made on the motor and fuel tankage required. No current, a 4.3 knot maximum authorised speed limit for the first 5 kilometres (and after that, scenery that doesn't encourage going any faster) and not much more than 60 kilometres to cruise.

Building a 38' Florida Bay Coaster in ply/epoxy (or steel if you can weld) is not a small project but as a family undertaking remains a possibility. And the result would be a very distinctive home set against the wonderful backdrop you can see in these photos. One of the major problems to resolve once built would be how to keep the curious at bay! I thoroughly recommend "Small Ships", it belongs on every amateur builder's bedside table. Browsing through a few pages before sleeping each night induces just the right kind of boat building dreams!

Back to page one

Tony Grant [kiwi]