About viability

 Is it even possible to live on a boat? Well the short answer is obviously yes since people have been doing it for quite a while now. The other pressing question is of course is it possible here in Finland? To that the answer is "Yes, kindus of". Lets get into that.

The first obvious challenge compared to say the Netherlands is the climate. Even in southern Finland, despite the best efforts of climate change, as I write this in 2020 we do still get temperatures down to -20 degrees celsius or even lower than that. Being as most boats are not very well if at all insulated this of course poses a problem. Luckily we've come a long way from using sawdust and old newspapers as insulation and compact closed cell foam etc can be used. This of course does require pretty much redoing the interior of the boat unless I find one that someone already did the work on.

Another related one is ice. I was surprised when I did research this that actually being frozen in is not the end of a hull, however if water freezes in places like through-hull fittings for engine cooling water or such, this can cause bigger issues. Regardless, constant water flow by pumping is recommended for a vessel that stays on the water during the winter months.

So, as long as there is electricity for the pump and fuel, whatever it may be, for the heater one should be quite fine in that regard. Electricity however might be a bit of an issue - most marinas close in the end of October so one would kind of need a private electric plug in from somewhere. That or have enough renewable energy sources but solar is not going to help much during the winter and wind too is kind of questionable in its reliability. The other option of course is a generator but it would get quite expensive to run that. So shore power is pretty much a necessity from my point of view.

The other major issue is water, both getting fresh water in and sewage out. During summer both are pretty easy but again if temperature goes under 0 celsius water lines are going to freeze and possibly break. This of course is not unique to boats so various methods of keeping lines thawed exist. In this case, running the lines underground/under water then using insulation and heating elements on the exposed parts of the plumbing seem the most viable to me. Also septic tanks can be emptied all year, how would people in rural areas get theirs done otherwise. Might be pricy but by minimizing usage it should be fine. That or swapping to an incinerating or composting toilet.

Okay, so we have considered the basic things like heat and plumbing. So next is something not unique but definitely a major thing in Finland, legislation. One can, for now, not have their address be on a boat. Poste restante works however if one wants to say, make a modification to their credit card or apply for a loan most banks will reject the application outright. So for now a houseboater in Finland needs to have a base of sorts. I'll probably end up renting a room for a couple hundred euros a month from a friend of mine. This additionally gives access to things like a washing machine which saves a bit of money since I'll not need to use laundromats. I called the chairman of the board of a houseboat association (yes there is one in Finland) and she said this may well be changing so if you're reading this later check how things are currently.

Apart from those two, there really aren't any showstoppers for boat living. So if you're thinking about it, go for it! Next I'll be writing about how I will be beginning my project so be sure to follow the blog if you're interested.