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.
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.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.
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.My wife and I lived aboard on a couple of sailboats in and around Florida. All I can say is, that phase of my life is over and I certainly don't want to do it again. Cold weather on a boat takes cold to a whole new level. Maintaining a boat is anything but cheap. All boaters know that B.O.A.T. is an acronym for, Break Out Another Thousand. Taxes on my nice warm house are a lot less than the were on my boats. The live-aboard boating community might take a bit of getting used to. They all want to escape the same responsibilities you do. There are some great people living on boats, and there are some not-so-great ones. You don't have much control over who is in the slip next to yours. It sounds like a great adventure when you are sitting in your recliner, but the reality is MUCH less comfortable. I met some really great people and had some really good times, but no thanks to repeating that adventure.
A group of us left from Tulsa and boated to Little Rock. 10 or so boats.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.
Sounds like that may be an option.Ive heard stories of old widow women that just liquidate the estate and spend the last ten or so years of their life living on a cruise ship with all of the amenities you could ever want. I don't know if anyone ever did it but it would be nice if you had a respectable nest egg...
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.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.
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