FLOATING HOMES COME OF AGE THEY'RE NOT called houseboats any more. They are “‘floating homes,’’ and according to Mac Mce- Callum, vice-president of International Marine Flota- tion Systems (IMFS) in Delta, there’s a new wave of interest in them. By BARBARA BLACK Who is buying them? Anyone with the imagination to want a dif- ferent lifestyle, says McCallum. Buyers come from a wide spec- trum, from professionals to retired couples. And the designs are as varied as the people buying them. Gone are the cedar-shake hippie huts on barges, bobbing precariously on old tires and empty barrels. Now, potential floating homeowners (it. has a dreamy sound to it, doesn’t it?) can con- sult with an architect and design homes from 900 to 3,000 square feet, from a simple bungalow to a three-level contemporary. The most expensive floating home built by IMFS to date was a $230,000 creation, but others can start as low as $80,000. Once the home is built, a float is designed which will safely balance the weight of the various rooms and appliances for that particular home. ‘*The most important part is the float itself, which is made of rein- forced concrete, It’s insinkable... not the ‘unsinkable’ that the Titanic was,’ McCallum jests, “but virtually unsinkable.”’ A forced pump tank is built into the float so that sewage can be pumped ashore to a sewer or treatment plant. Although harbor regulations state that floating homes must connect to landbased services, many of the older, e Service 14 - Friday, February 9, 1990 - North Shore News New Showroom Now Open “North Shore’s Only Choice For Contemporary Design” e Marble © Granite @ Ceramic Tile ® Sales ® Call Today for a Free Estimate LIFESTYLES} Nev wave rey . a NEWS photo Neil Lucente LYNNWOOD MARINA in North Vancouver is one of the few Lower Mainland sites where floating homes can moor. Today’s floating homes are more solid!) constructed and more daring in design than the old barge-type homes. owner-built floating homes have no such feature. So, while their owners praise the free and easy, seaside lifestyle, they are at the same time degrading the very sea they float upon. Part of the problem, says Mc- Callum, is that ‘the regulations are very sparse in terms of coping with floating homes. A vessel itself does not require a holding tank,”’ and floating homes are essentially classified as vessels under the Ca- nadian Shipping Act. In anticipation of more detailed regulations, his company builds to ® Installation 984-6687 1432 Rupert St., N.Vancouver national building code standards, but there is presently no infra- structure in place to inspect floating homes as homes, rather than as vessels. So, are they boats or homes? To the harbor board and marinas, they are essentially boats. They are charged moorage by the foot, like any other boat. At Lynnwood Marina in North Vancouver, for instance, the only North Shore marina with flouting homes, owners are charged three times a year and billed for services (hydro, water, telephone, sanitation) every two months. “Presently, they get billed and treated as a boat, but want to be considered a home,"’ says marina owner Gerry Blair. To Mildred Tweed and her husband, one-year Lyanwood ‘‘floating’’ residents, the ocean is definitely home. ““We’re both from the east- (of Canada) and when we first arrived out here it (living on a float home) just fascinated us. No one ever had anything bad to say about them.” The Tweeds looked for five years for a floating home until they fi- naliy snagged one from a classified ad in the newspaper. Monthly costs, including moorage, work out to approximately $450, and Tweed cites as advantages the se- curity of the marina and the absence of traffic. But, when it comes to financing a purchase for a floating home, the old boat versus home problem sur- faces. According to Tweed, ‘‘It’s difficult to get financial backing. The government won't (easily) subsidize buying a floating home.” Dan Wittenberg, president of Sse Floating Page 15 BIRDSEED SALE Now Through February 28th “Your Backyard Birdfeeding Specialist” THESE PRICES ARE 15% OFF OUR REGULAR PRICES OIL SUNFLOWER. STRIPED. SUNFLOWER DELUKE BLEND... HIS cetbimees NOR Qastiower 8b white ilies WOODLAND MIX LOL tal antler ESQ cedd aut AL we SAFFLOWER SUNELOWER CHIPS AWHETE MLL THISTLE fany quantity $1 60/Iba 25 Ih. saat 1295 » 158 Bad If U8 TT B23 800 10 tb 16.00 400 FO NY tn pups aeht 25 deposit 50 depos 125 depasit 2 depen Wild Birds Unlimited’ 3879 CAK ST. (at 23rd) 736-2676 BIRD FEEDER SALE! 15% Off all FEEDERS ¢ BAFFLES POLES MON.-FRI. 9:30-6:00 SAT. 9:30-5:00 OPEN SUN. THROUGH FEB. 12:00-5:00