House boat regulations

[pike slayer]

So I started watching this silly new show ice lake rebels where people live on house boats on great slave lake. I thought of the idea before to build a camp like some of their floating shacks. Ive always wanted to have my own camp but never wanted to be restricted to a small land area. If I built a small floating cabin and put it on small in land lakes what would the regulations be? I know camp sites you can only be there 21 days and to build a cabin you need a land lease. So on water, is there a catch? Would the ministry be all over me? I'd build it small enough to still be somewhat mobile transport lake to lake but I wouldnt want to do the move to often.

[FloatnFly]

They make it seem like they are in the middle of no where, reallity is they are on Jolliffe Island, right next to Yellowknife. so they really aren't far from getting any sort of help. so thats something you really need to consider as well. The only ones that are out on their own are the ones that moved to Vee Lake.

 

heres the satellite image.

 

https://www.google.ca/maps/place/Jolliffe+Island,+Yellowknife,+NT+X0E/@62.4631037,-114.3461751,736m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m2!3m1!1s0x53d1f6f1e1365923:0x8a54379ed500f4f1?hl=en

[Freshtrax]

there been one at the severn bridge in orrila for a few years now... there all over the place in bc too. interesting idea if it was remote i would be worried of it gtting trashed and if it wasnt remote id be worried of pissing off the cottage owners. any chance of it working would have to be a lake surronded by crown land so you could get off the thing and strech your legs on occasion.

Edited December 8, 2015 by Freshtrax

[pike slayer]

Ya I looked into the show and it's a bunch of b.s they are in the harbour of town.

I'm thinking of doing it on a remote lake with crown land all around and use it as a camp. Build it on say a ponton boat base or floating dock. If you don't like the area move spots on the lake or even trailer it to a different lake. Even use it as a ice shack in the winter.

This guy here did a restoration on something I sort of in vision buildinghttp://s466.photobucket.com/user/Bamby38/slideshow/?albumview=slideshow

[chris.brock]

Just guessing, but I don't think there is a catch. I think you could live on the thing, anchor wherever you want. Same with a fish hut. It can stay in the same spot all winter and someone could legally stay in there and live there.

 

I have an 18' pontoon, pretty small for what you are planning. It will be difficult to trailer one of those big buggers down logging roads and into semi remote lakes.

 

Cool idea.

Edited December 8, 2015 by chris.brock

[irishfield]

You have to move it at least 100m every 21 days as you are for all intensive purposes on crown "land".

 

I'm going to try and find the case, but we had one here for years that the MNR chased and chased and chased around Severn Sound and they finally decided to seize it and they somehow split it in half towing it in.

[Dara]

You aren't allowed to leave a 12' boat on the lake for next time you go to the lake, I can't see you being able to leave a house.

 

If its gonna be fun, Ontario has a law against it

[AKRISONER]

mu suggestion is that you park it far from anyones cottages, if someone posted up in a boat and started living infront of my cottage I am pretty sure the boat would sink or come unanchored and maybe even sink while they were away

Edited December 9, 2015 by AKRISONER

[Dara]

mu suggestion is that you park it far from anyones cottages, if someone posted up in a boat and started living infront of my cottage I am pretty sure the boat would sink or come unanchored and maybe even sink while they were away

 

 

80% of the lakes in this area have no buildings at all on them...all surrounded by crown land...It is the govt that will stop you from doing that, not a cottage owner

[wkrp]

I would think that sewage may pose a legal issue for you.

[G.mech]

I was looking in the Crown Land Use Act and it does consider a house boat a 'structure' which means you need to have a permit to erect it on crown land (or water in this case). Land use permits are nearly impossible to get anymore so I think you would likely run into problems with the MNR if you left it on the lake. This is an interesting case though....

[irishfield]

Like I said G.mech, just like being on a crown land camp site you have to move your "house boat" at least 100 M every 21 days.

[Dara]

Like I said G.mech, just like being on a crown land camp site you have to move your "house boat" at least 100 M every 21 days.

 

 

Thats really not all that bad...with some proper rigging you could have a pretty good summer at it

[irishfield]

For sure, you just have to move is all.. every three weeks. Easier said than done when winter sets in.

[G.mech]

For sure, you just have to move is all.. every three weeks. Easier said than done when winter sets in.

 

There is a difference between camping on crown land and placing a structure on crown land. You can camp without a permit but you must move every 21 days. You need a permit to place a 'structure' on crown land. Under the crown land use act, a houseboat is considered a 'structure' which means you need a permit to place it there in the first place. Since permits are rarely issued anymore it makes it pretty difficult to do legallly.

Edited December 10, 2015 by G.mech

[Mister G]

You aren't allowed to leave a 12' boat on the lake for next time you go to the lake, I can't see you being able to leave a house.

 

If its gonna be fun, Ontario has a law against it

Ontario has laws against EVERYTHING.......

 

I would seek to purchase a retired houseboat from one of many companies on the Kawarthan Lakes....use it all summer long and have the company where you purchased it, store it for the winter and maybe use it where it's stored if you strike up a good deal with them.

[pike slayer]

Sewage would be a composite toilet and I'm in the sault no going to Kawartha lakes. If I have it as a pontoon boat moving would be simple just pull up anchor and drive away park in the next bay. Also winter probably wouldon't be easy getting frozen in or frozen to the ground then trying to move a structure of that size with a snowmobile. I definitely would not want to drag it in and out every spring and fall. I'd pull into places you didn't think a truck would go haha this guy isn't a fair of branch scratches on my truck and I wouldn't build it pretty enough to worry about scratches on the house boat

[Dara]

You could build a decent enough pontoon boat with trailer that you could take it out for the winter and access a lot of lakes.

 

A friend of mine has a 22' pontoon that he puts in at the trestle at 92. From there its like 30 miles up the lake...lots of decent fishing for the summer and you could tie it lots of places where it would be pretty safe for when you are not there...just gotta watch water levels because of the dams.

 

Lots of other back lakes though..it actually sounds like a good idea.

Let me know if you need a bit of aluminum framing for it

[FloatnFly]

Like I said G.mech, just like being on a crown land camp site you have to move your "house boat" at least 100 M every 21 days.

 

 

technically it does move 100m in 21 days with out having to pull up anchor lines.....if you combine the amount of movement from wave action, it should add up to that over 21 days LOL now try explaining that to the feds

[irishfield]

LOL Floatnfly! I have to apologize to G. Mech though and why I wanted to find the court case on the "house boat" that I referred to. I still haven't found it, but I think it was a "structure licence" case and not a failure to move issue. If I get some more time tomorrow and I'm not cutting firewood I'll see if I can dig it up.

[G.mech]

LOL Floatnfly! I have to apologize to G. Mech though and why I wanted to find the court case on the "house boat" that I referred to. I still haven't found it, but I think it was a "structure licence" case and not a failure to move issue. If I get some more time tomorrow and I'm not cutting firewood I'll see if I can dig it up.

 

No worries Wayne, it would be interesting to see the article though if you do find it. We had lots of discussions with the MNR over the years over what constitutes 'camping' vs 'structure' and eventually we gave up the good fight...resistance was futile.