Houseboat Living vs Home Living

[Elora Lunasea]

Thought I'd open a new topic for this.

One of my alts is anticipating the pending release of the next round of houseboats. Not sure how I feel about them being so close together though, as I'm used to having large plots of land with my neighbors far from me.

I kind of like the challenge, of decorating the boat and of course the awesome sweeping views, but keep coming back to my concern of how close they are to each other and thinking I may be happier grabbing an abandoned regular home when the rush starts for the houseboats.

Would love to hear your experiences so far living in these communities. Have you found it challenging in any way or has it been a non-issue? 

[anthonytorino]

I prefer aa hme simply because I like making gardens. However I also like boaring, so that means I have to go to a rez spot rather then just rezzing at the boat house. Depends n yr interests.

Boat huses allow under water area, and more open living rooms ect. 

 

So need t weigh in n that. 

[Elora Lunasea]

21 minutes ago, anthonytorino said:

I prefer aa hme simply because I like making gardens. However I also like boaring, so that means I have to go to a rez spot rather then just rezzing at the boat house. Depends n yr interests.

Boat huses allow under water area, and more open living rooms ect. 

 

So need t weigh in n that. 

Yea, the being able to rezz the boat appeals to me. While where my main ava lives now is surrounded by water, it isn't Linden water so I can't just up and sail away. And, I can take care of my landscaping addiction there too.  The change of living conditions is appealing, just not the proximity to my neighbors. But maybe this isn't so bad since it's pretty rare from what I remember living on mainland, that neighbors are in world at exactly the same time as you on any given hour.

[MarzipanJones]

I'd love to see a traditional house overlooking a bay or lagoon or ocean.

[Marianne Little]

It is not much traffic, either on land or on sea. In a boat, you have the boats sailing by, on land, the ones who drive, walk or bike. A few on horseback. Some aircrafts.

The space under the boats is small. In most cases, not suited for a grotto or such.

I would say you can try, and abandon, and try again if you end up in the middle. You may get a boat on an edge, or a boat next to protected land. They don't feel so boxed in. I have seen some marvelous places for the current boats, but most is laying in a long line next to each other.

You are lucky if you get a 32 x 32 mm boat spot, most are 16 x 64. I think the 32 x 32 look easier to work with. Usually they are not side-by-side with the next boat, but more front-to-stern.

Just get a boat and abandon it after a few days or weeks, if you think it's not for you. There are always people refreshing the pages, so you will make one happy..

[Elora Lunasea]

19 minutes ago, Marianne Little said:

Just get a boat and abandon it after a few days or weeks, if you think it's not for you. There are always people refreshing the pages, so you will make one happy..

Yep, this is always possible. Probably will try it out and see how I feel about it. Thanks for this reminder Marianne!

[Sylvia Tamalyn]

I have a house on the beach, and my alt has a houseboat. I got the house the day they were released, and was not at all interested in a houseboat at that time... but later, I was curious and did the refresh thing until my alt got an abandoned houseboat. I find myself spending more time on it than in the house. It's relaxing to sit up on the deck and gaze over the water. I do think location is a huge factor for both houses and houseboats, though. The houseboat I got is on an end, with a lighthouse nearby. I'm not sure I'd be happy sardined in a line of houseboats. 

All that to say, roll the dice and see what location you get. There are some even nicer houseboat locations out there, including some that are on corners with no one on either side!

[SarahKB7 Koskinen]

Bellisseria's "houseboats" don't float and can't be sailed around to other locations. Maybe its just a bad name for them.

I think they are more like beach huts or chalets , rather than actual houseboats.

In Britain (where I'm from), a house boat is literally a boat that's been converted into a house.

Edited May 11, 2019 by SarahKB7 Koskinen

[Kat Shadow]

I love the open  feel of the houseboats- lots of flexibility for decorating and great decks- if interior design is your thing, the houseboats are great! As far as neighbors being so close, well most people will have hear and view clicked off  for privacy so that likely won't be an issue. I originally wanted a houseboat, but I lucked into a house that directly fronts a beach and now that I've started playing with my yard, I wouldn't trade it for anything. The Winchester has a pretty open design with lots of windows and a balcony out back, so it feels like the best of both when it's near waterfront.

[Eowyn Southmoor]

I used up my first 5 goes trying to get a good houseboat, wasn't happy with any of the locations, then by the following day they had all gone so I ended up with a house.

In hindsight I am glad I did... It's up on a hill with a good view, overlooking houseboats and one of the inland water areas. A lighthouse with rez-zone is only a short stroll away.

 

 

[BJoyful]

51 minutes ago, SarahKB7 Koskinen said:

Bellisseria's "houseboats" don't actually float or can be sailed around to other locations.

Yes!  These LL Houseboats are quite like the sort in the movie "Sleepless in Seattle".  They are really houses on water, which can be moved only on water in RL, but not meant to be driven around. 🙂 

[RuffertasAlt]

I had started by looking at houses, but on a whim decided to try for a houseboat and wound up with one in an excellent location so decided not to try my luck any further. Living on a houseboat is challenging in many ways - I've never felt the need to 'decorate' before, but the boat is in a very public location and I don't want passersby to think Bellisserians are slobs. I also miss terraforming and gardening, and trying out different structures to see how they fit with a parcel.

Also, I'm not sure I would be happy in a houseboat location in the middle of a sea of other houseboats.

Please forgive me, Moles (you do so much), but when I first saw the outline of the upcoming extension, my first thought was "parking lot?"

I love Bellisseria - the feeling of community here, and how people have customized their homes .  I plan to stay here, but I might be tempted by one of the new homes when they come out.

[Ginger Cloud]

Definitely try it! If your concern about proximity is visual, your choice of houseboat* model can mitigate that. Window placement for best view, for the most privacy from neighbors or their things. I think if there's one protected view it doesn't feel tight at all. The locations with rows of boats facing land in one direction and more boats in the other maybe not so much. We all want that corner lot but because of staggered placement or other land features, some boats sandwiched between others have great views.  

If it's about living in close quarters with people I don't think it's any more or less than on land. I do love my neighbors. One changed the colours of her place to match mine in a very pleasant way (not that I asked or anything!) and the other would certainly loan me an egg if I needed it. That said, as an introvert I think part of good community is knowing when people want to be left alone, and I expect the same % of people recognize that on land or at sea.

* Yes, if you're in insurance or real estate "floating home" would be more accurate, but around here houseboat is vernacular for exactly the kind of homes you find on Bellisseria wharves. 

Edited May 11, 2019 by cicelydawn

[Claireschen Hesten]

1 hour ago, SarahKB7 Koskinen said:

Bellisseria's "houseboats" don't actually float or can be sailed around to other locations. Maybe its just a bad name for them.

I think they are more like beach huts or chalets , rather than actual houseboats.

The houseboats i've seen/been in, in RL don't float and there's no means of sailing them, they are tethered or weighed down close to land or a jetty and just like a boat you can sail they can sink and capsize  

[LittleMe Jewell]

5 hours ago, Elora Lunasea said:

Thought I'd open a new topic for this.

One of my alts is anticipating the pending release of the next round of houseboats. Not sure how I feel about them being so close together though, as I'm used to having large plots of land with my neighbors far from me.

I kind of like the challenge, of decorating the boat and of course the awesome sweeping views, but keep coming back to my concern of how close they are to each other and thinking I may be happier grabbing an abandoned regular home when the rush starts for the houseboats.

Would love to hear your experiences so far living in these communities. Have you found it challenging in any way or has it been a non-issue? 

I have both a house & a houseboat, and there are advantages & disadvantages to both.  For the houseboat, I am just a couple away from the end, close to one of the outlets to the sail-able waters.  The stern of my houseboat is against a sandy beach-type area with the open sea on the other side of that, and the bow is facing the inner water with another line of houseboats across that water strip.  Given the parcel settings, I pretty much never "see" another person, and with the time frame that I'm typically there, I seldom even see very many green dots near me.  I see far more people out and about in the house areas.

To me, the bigger issue with the closeness, is the associated lag due to all those different "decorating" objects & textures, combined with the sheer number of houseboats in some regions.  If you set your draw distance super low, to avoid that rezzing, then you are also foregoing much of the beauty of the water parcel.  The higher you set it, the more lag you will get and regardless of how much stuff you permanently derender from your view, there will always be the scripts of anyone else in your region.  Another issue of being so close and not having a few trees here and there to help break up and block some of the views is when the 'decorating style' of others nearby might not be to your liking.  If you are used to living in a controlled region environment or far from other home areas, this can be a somewhat difficult adjustment.

As to the decorating/landscape aspect - I find landscaping and interior decorating in SL a challenge in the best of times -- hell, I find landscaping in RL a challenge, though I typically do fairly well with the interior design aspect.  Therefore, I find some difficulties in both the house & houseboats when it comes to the inside and outside decorating. 

I'd suggest giving it a go and seeing how it works for you and your desires/preferences.  There is the option to abandon and retry up to 5 times a day - and if you have another Premium alt, you could use them to get another 5 tries.  I think I used something like 13 tries on the first day to get my house, in its somewhat secluded location.  I think I used another 9-11 tries to get the houseboat location that I have.  I'm actually debating trying for a better location when the new ones become available.  Some of regions on the west and east sides of the new area contain smaller numbers of houseboats per region.

 

Edited May 11, 2019 by LittleMe Jewell

[LittleMe Jewell]

3 minutes ago, Claireschen Hesten said:

The houseboats i've seen/been in, in RL don't float and there's no means of sailing them, they are tethered or weighed down close to land or a jetty and just like a boat you can sail they can sink and capsize  

I've been out on quite a few sail-able houseboats in RL.  They are very popular in the lake regions in the USA Midwest areas.

[BJoyful]

We really love our LL Houseboat!   We keep it unlocked and not orbed (so far) and haven't had any problems with intruders. We have a skybox above for changing clothes, rezzing and building.  It's in a packed Region containing 30 Houseboats but our close neighbours are seldom around when we are. 

My fps has dropped from about 60 when I first arrived down to 25 - 30 fps as more and more Residents add decor but not drastic enough to affect our ability to enjoy the wonderful views and watch the boats going by so we have no intention of currently dropping our place for a less crowded Region, unless fps drops too low to tolerate in the future for some reason.  Even if that happens we'll try to derender or block offensive items before we would leave because it's a great spot to watch sailboats.

We also have a 4096 Mainland seaside plot on South Corsica where I also get about 25 - 30 fps at ground level and well over 100 fps in the skybox above that land and also over 100 fps in the skybox on Bellissaria.  We also have other Estate land and other Mainland parcels and get comparable fps on those, dependant mostly upon the number of complex avatars in the area (in my experience).

I've learned a lot about decorating from the amazing pics and advice ppl have shared in these forums and love the big open space in the Houseboat.  Mostly when I tour around the Traditional areas I use a wearable bicycle so I can go slow enough to enjoy the beautiful surroundings and houses, but I think I'll always prefer to live on a Houseboat on Bellissaria♥ and visit the traditional houses, roads, paths and community areas for sightseeing.

[Beth Macbain]

Copied from my answer on the other thread...

I'm living in one and I'm absolutely loving it. I love the views from the water and love having a spot for a boat so I can hop in and go sailing. One of the main reasons I'm enjoying it, though, is that it is, for the most part, keeping me away from the dingle-berries that are (pa)trolling the residential areas. I only have one actual neighbor and they're pretty chill and are rarely there, though they've decorated nicely. 

I'm not sure what it's like living in one of the rows of houseboats, though. Might be a different experience. 

[Ineffable Mote]

1 hour ago, RuffertasAlt said:

Please forgive me, Moles (you do so much), but when I first saw the outline of the upcoming extension, my first thought was "parking lot?"

Mine was "trailer park on water"..though I think SL could use more trailer park living experiences, and I find far more appeal in that than tropical islands. Overall I like my houseboat where I'm at now, I love that I can step out my door and head out on boat or explore on land..but I think the extension will turn out ok, people shouldn't be expecting a homestead experience out of it.

[Ineffable Mote]

One of the upsides of home living..there are hermit crabs about which are Mole created, but the pathfinding in them won't work in the houseboats..seems to be ground terrain only.

[WillowTenage]

I really like the houseboats, and there were plenty available when I first got my house, but I decided to stay with the traditional house because I really prefer having a yard and a 32x32 plot for skyboxes.  I love my home, it is off of a large river so there are only 14 houses in the region, with very little lag, and my yard is surrounded by trees and on top of a hill.   If I wanted to, I could just rez my boat, and either move it, or just type in the coordinates in edit mode and be in the water, but there is a very convenient rez spot just walking distance from my home so that is not even necessary   

I opted to just use a free houseboat to navigate the waters of Bellisseria' and I love it, I get all of those scenic views when I want them, and I get to keep my yard.  It is, for me, the best of both worlds.  When I want to move around on it or explore off the boat, I usually just bring my alt along so it won't derez, and it is modify so if I wanted to change the furniture around I could do so.

 

 

It is so gorgeous I love this area, the moles really did a fantastic job.  Eventually there will be more houses behind me, but there is a pretty steep incline behind my yard, and I imagine the parcels will be a bit further off.  

Edited May 11, 2019 by WillowTenage

[LittleMe Jewell]

1 hour ago, Evola Courtois said:

Mine was "trailer park on water"..though I think SL could use more trailer park living experiences,

Based on some trailer looking things we saw in this region months back, we speculated that LL was creating a trailer / mobile home park.  Not sure now since the trailer like images are gone, but they may return.

 

(apologies to Elora for the slight derail)

[Aethelwine]

No privacy settings on my houseboat, the only restriction is no damage and autoreturn set to 5 minutes. I have a skybox there if I want privacy. When I am hanging out at ground level I am dealing with messages or just otherwise chilling out and tinkering. I have said hi and spoken with a few of the neighbours when I have seen them online, they are all friendly. My neighbours on one side have done a great job decorating their houseboat, the one on the other side is a bit like mine, minimally and functionally decorated a kitchen some seating inside and out and some pot plants is all I really feel the need for. When I have a party there I can stretch the wooden prim deck out for a dance space. Otherwise the decking and support post prims just give me enough space for some more seating and some more usable outside space at water level. The shape of the parcel is a bit awkward for a skybox, but so long as you are aware you may have to go to a sandbox to rotate the building before it will rezz, then the additional length to the space creates a more spacious feel than a square parcel would.

[SarahKB7 Koskinen]

These are what I would call a houseboat. Most, if not all, are old boats, barges and ships that have been converted into houses.

There isn't one single standard design, as each is unique and is usually scratch built to the builder's or owners personal tastes, skills and bank balance.

 

In Britain, we also have "narrow boats" that move freely around Britain's thousands of miles of inland canals and rivers. 

They are floating homes converted from former barges, that used to move heavy freight and delicate goods around the UK in the 1700's and 1800's before the invention of trains, trucks and multi-laned highways.

 

Edited May 11, 2019 by SarahKB7 Koskinen

[BJoyful]

17 minutes ago, SarahKB7 Koskinen said:

In Britain, we also have "narrow boats" that are free to travel around in Britain's thousands of miles of inland canals and rivers. 

They are floating homes converted from former freight and cargo barges.

I LOVE those narrow boats!  What a sweet life and still can travel those amazing canals, too!  AWESOME!