I had a client a few years back that divorced and moved into his 30' boat on Eufaula. He lived there for close to a year before he found a girlfriend with a big home.
I don’t see why not. I considered purchasing a small sailboat with a cabin back in 2010 when I got back from Afghanistan. But then I realized that I would have to drag it back to Oklahoma, and the slip fees where I was we’re almost as much as rent.
I think that it’s completely feasible. The biggest issue with Oklahoma is you’re going to be stuck where you put the boat. If we had a more impressive waterway like the Mississippi you could have a lot more freedom, but I don’t see a boat big enough to live on taking trips down the red river, Canadian, or deep fork. Just think of a house boat or cabin cruiser as a RV on a lake. Some extra batteries, an RV solar setup, maybe a generator, and you have a full blown house on the water. I think it would be pretty cool. You could just drift/anchor out wherever you want for a week or two at a time, come back to the marina, spend the weekend on shore getting groceries, dumping waste, refilling fuel/water, and hanging out in town. When you’re done, back out on the water you go. Your rent would be slip fees, fuel/water/sewage, and annual registration.
I think that it’s completely feasible. The biggest issue with Oklahoma is you’re going to be stuck where you put the boat. If we had a more impressive waterway like the Mississippi you could have a lot more freedom, but I don’t see a boat big enough to live on taking trips down the red river, Canadian, or deep fork. Just think of a house boat or cabin cruiser as a RV on a lake. Some extra batteries, an RV solar setup, maybe a generator, and you have a full blown house on the water. I think it would be pretty cool. You could just drift/anchor out wherever you want for a week or two at a time, come back to the marina, spend the weekend on shore getting groceries, dumping waste, refilling fuel/water, and hanging out in town. When you’re done, back out on the water you go. Your rent would be slip fees, fuel/water/sewage, and annual registration.
You can actually put a boat in at the Port of Catoosa or Port of Muskogee and make it all the way to the Gulf. I don’t necessarily recommend it for the casual boater but it is possible.
My wife and I looked into this as newlyweds pre-children. Living in Tx, water skiing most nights at lake til dark. We asked at marina we used frequently. The marina maanager quickly said, “no, you can’t live on a lake with a dam as it’s a closed system” could only live on a couple lakes that flowed into the gulf. As we walked out, his salesman started showing us houseboats where people, ”vacationed year round” they have a post office box, carry laundry and trash out discretely so Corps of Engineers wouldn’t find out. We said no thanks, returned to tiny apt in DALLAS.
In our travels around the NW in Washington state and further into British Columbia there are thousands that live on house boats. Very nice house boats that have all the amenities of a home on land other than the harbor seals that occasionally want to use the HB for a resting area but they leave when "asked" I've been told. Full hookups with sewer, electric and water. They grow mini gardens on the roofs and so on. I'm guessing 650 sq ft living area? More with the walkways around them. They aren't designed to be self-propelled. Must be towed to a new location if they want.
That being said there are YouTube videos of folks that build some really crude but river-worthy house boats that are self-propelled, moving up and down rivers to marinas at will.
Some of them look pretty cool.
There was a couple from Tulsa/Broken Arrow area that took the tour around the east leaving from Lock and dam 33 I think it is and going around the tip of Florida to the St Lawrence Seaway and finally back to Tulsa. Took a year. They ran out of money once and had to work for a month to get back on the sea.
There are a lot of folks that live full time on cabin cruisers that post on YouTube with tips on how to make it more comfortable and usable for the current wifi and internet connections, places to stay and so on. I follow a couple of them.
As a fisherman, I'd love to live on the water. Wife, not so much, so RV it is.
A group of us left from Tulsa and boated to Little Rock. 10 or so boats.
Guarded marina for the boats with the Holiday inn van taking us to the hotel for a couple nights of partying, then boating back up to the Tulsa area, 20 or so years ago. It was fun locking through the navigation channel.
Sounds like that may be an option.
https://www.mlive.com/news/2022/05/...ships-claims-its-cheaper-than-a-mortgage.html
There was a couple from Broken Arrow about 10 years ago retired and took their boat down the Arkansas navigation system to the Gulf and then went all the way around Florida, up to NY to go into the St Lawrence Seaway, to the Ohio river and finally back to the Arkansas river. Took a year and they had to stop a couple times to take a job to pay for repairs to their cabin cruiser.
I'd love to do that. What an adventure.
Imagine the folks cruising the midwest in covered wagons. Early RV'ers.
There is a plethora of videos on YouTube about full time boat people that are retired or working remotely from their boats while traveling the intercoastal waterways.
I follow a couple because they stay on top of internet connectivity while moving around the country.
That is where I found Starlink roaming is now available to RV folks.
I follow a couple because they stay on top of internet connectivity while moving around the country.
That is where I found Starlink roaming is now available to RV folks.
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