Can You Move A Floating Home?

By Courtney Cooper, Realtor, Cooper Jacobs Real Estate, courtney@cooperjacobs.com, 206-850-8841, on July 9th, 2010

The Big Move: Moving A Seattle Dilapidated Houseboat And Bringing In A New One…

The old Houseboat # O on the 2017 Dock

Seattle floating homes are moored “permanently” to the docks they are on, but from time to time, it is necessary to move out dilapidated houseboats and bring in new ones or a recycled one in this case. This is an amazing set of pictures from an event that doesn’t happen very often.

The Tug boat doing all the moving

Jann McFarland wrote a great article in the Floating Homes Association Spring 2010 Newsletter about this particular move and one of the floating homes owner on the dock was kind enough to share her photos and give me permission to publish them here (Thank you Carole!). Both Carole and I thought it was a nice piece of houseboat history and worth sharing.

This particular houseboat move took place on 2017 Fairview Ave E on one of the Log Foundation co-op docks. It was in October of 2009 and according to Jann’s article it took almost two years to get the proper permits in place to make this feat happen.

Houseboat O’s Lake Union moorage slip is not at the end of the dock or even near the end of the dock. In addition, the channel between that dock and the next dock over isn’t wide enough to bring an entire houseboat in or out so how do they do it?

Moving the houseboats out to the lake

Very carefully with lots of planning and cooperation from many involved.

Tugboat pushing in the replacement houseboat

Last one to be moved out before Houseboat O

It is more than just moving the floating homes in or out. There are permits, contracts, utilities, insurance, and more, plus you have to get all of the owners on board on the same day for the move.

One by one, the floating homes on the dock are moved out to make a wide channel to bring the old home out and the new one in. It was an all day event and involved many people coordinating their efforts.

The tug boat moved each of the floating homes on the North side of the 2017 dock out to the lake and rafted them together while the replacement houseboat was brought in. The dock got a recycled Portage Bay floating home and brought it in place of the older houseboat being taken out.

The newer houseboat O was brought in and fixed up and it sold in less than a month for full price at $475,000 – quite a bargain actually for the size, condition, and location. The Log Foundation Co-op is a group of Seattle floating homes owners that cooperatively own the three South most docks on Fairview Ave E in Eastlake. It is a great houseboat community and worth a look if you are interested in living on a Seattle houseboat. Currently there are three Seattle houseboats for sale on the Log Foundation docks – they range in price from $495,000 to $749,000.

*Thanks to Carole Nielson for the photographs and permission to use.