Old junk into new home

One of my childhood dreams was living on a boat – in the UK it would have to be a narrow boat on one of the rivers or canals – and I discovered to my pleasure and delight that living on the water was possible in this amazing island off the coast of Southern China. Hong Kong is probably one of the most affordable places in the world to rent or own and live on a houseboat, surprisingly, when rents for houses and apartments here are among the most expensive in the world. My wife May and our daughter April have lived together on a houseboat in Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter (see location picture) for the past five years. The typhoon shelter, or one of the five marinas here, are great places to moor a boat.

Turning old junk into something of value is certainly a challenge. In January this year we sold our original boat and bought a second-hand, 20-year old Chinese junk built with Burmese teak. Previously a weekend pleasure boat for company jaunts, complete with karaoke room and beer table, we have converted it to a very comfortable home, by restoring the old teak and rebuilding the interior. Not only did we manage to create a 3-bedroom, 2-bathroom home with large kitchen-diner and living room, we also have a spacious rooftop and front deck to barbeque and entertain friends in the sunny weather. In addition, we can up anchor if we want to, and sail out to some of the most deserted bays and beaches around Hong Kong. Excellent beaches are scattered among the coves, inlets, and many outlying islands, and water activities includes fishing, diving, sailing, motor-boating, and windsurfing.

Hong Kong has a long maritime history. Before the British colonized the ‘barren rock’ in 1842, it was a haven for pirates on fast sailing junks who robbed passing merchant boats and hid in the many coves and inlets around Hong Kong and its 234 outlying islands. Chinese junks were first developed during the Han Dynasty, around 200 BC, and were efficient and sturdy ships with advanced sail plans (they could sail into the wind with their junk rig) and hull designs that were later adopted in Western shipbuilding. The traditional Hong Kong sailing/fishing junk was later modified as a weekend pleasure boat for corporate parties with inboard diesel engines and no sails.

We purchased this old junk for around US$12,000. It had been patched up over the years, but under the paint and varnish it was very rotten, as rainwater had penetrated the hull and infrastructure and left it in poor shape. However, we saw the potential of a 50-foot boat with living space for a small family. We decided to buy it, and spent the past 8-months doing renovation work, restoring the original teak structure and refitting the interior to make it liveable. We have just moved in, and are happy with a home that still feels like a boat, drives really well and gives us a spacious home on the water.

The restoration meant gutting the most of the interior and rebuilding. The main structures were sound, but the hull and decks were rotten. Almost every time we removed paint or varnish we found hidden wet rot. We ended up replacing around 30 percent of the decking and the major cost was the ship's carpenter and wood for the decks and interior. We started by gutting the boat, removing rotten wood and replacing wood on the roof, decks and hull to make it watertight. When this was done, we rebuilt the master cabin, bathroom and fitted a new kitchen (May loves to cook). We then moved in and continued work on the rest of the interior.

Problems living on the boat are minimal in our view. Typhoons can be a bit scary, especially the major ones that hit the island in the monsoon season from June to October. However, the typhoon shelter has been built to protect boats, and apart from strong and noisy wind and rain, we have not had to abandon ship for the shore. We are moored in a row, and rope up to our neighbours to maintain stability in the storm. Maintenance of a wooden boat is one of the major challenges, as the humidity, strong sun and rain do affect the varnish and wood. We take the boat into the shipyard every 6-9 months for cleaning below the waterline, antifouling, and to touch up the woodwork where needed. May is very good at caulking and varnishing, so she does the routine work before it gets in need of major repairs.

Transport to and from the shore can sometimes be a little erratic, depending on the time of day and weather, but we plan to buy a motorized dinghy in case of emergency. Everyday our daughter takes a sampan (water taxi) to the shore and picks up her bus to school. Many sampans ply the harbour, and some of the owners are on call day and night by cell phone! Practical issues include getting connected to shore power, fresh water and telephone line. An ex-fisherman friend supplies ours and other houseboats with these utilities connected by undersea cables from his workshop on the shore. We also have a landline telephone cable with wireless Internet, and of course local TV. We have heard of a couple of people who have also fixed up dishes to receive satellite television!

We have fitted out ‘Watermark’ with modern appliances. The bathrooms both have domestic shower units with fibreglass shower trays to keep the bathroom floors dry, and we installed electric toilets. In addition, we decided to have a normal kitchen designed and made in China. This includes a full domestic oven, hob and dishwasher, and is fitted into an area with non-square corners and sloping floor (originally designed to allow water to run off the decks). There is lots of storage and work space, so it makes cooking a pleasure. When we had the bed made, the carpenter didn’t allow for a 10 percent slope on the floor, so we end up half way down the bed by the morning! We plan to buy some Chinese recycled rustic wood furniture for the living room and study which will fit in well with the antique wooden look of the boat. We can have furniture made to measure in Macau (about one hour away by ferry) at a cheaper price than Hong Kong and includes free delivery.

Watermark is now a unique home. Old wooden Chinese junks are reasonably cheap to buy here, and moorings are sensibly priced by the government. Houseboats are a realistic alternative for those of us who have no desire to live in a small apartment in the crowded and polluted city – and pay crazy rents! Obviously the warm weather here helps, along with boat-friendly government policies, natural harbours, provision for sailors and boat owners – these all make it feasible to live on the water. Very hard to go back to the land after the freedom of the seas – after all, if the neighbours are noisy we can move away in a few hours, and we don't have to put up with traffic, vandals or other land-based problems. All-in-all, a very civilized existence, and one we would recommend, despite the small problems of barnacles, typhoons and the occasional transport problems.