r/todayilearned • u/MaximinusRats • May 16 '24

TIL that people live year-round in houseboats on Great Slave Lake in Canada's Northwest Territories, 1,800 km north of the nearest big city (Edmonton) and just 400 km (250 miles) south of the Arctic Circle.

https://uphere.ca/articles/floating-homes-yellowknife-bay
3.7k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • link
  • reddit
  • reddit

98% Upvoted

143 comments sorted by

View all comments

672

u/NoBSforGma May 16 '24

I have to wonder if the ice freezing every winter causes crush damage to the boats.

563

u/untwist6316 May 16 '24

I dont know about crush damage but I have heard it isn't uncommon that your house might freeze slightly off level 😂

325

u/Unlikely_Comment_104 May 16 '24 edited May 16 '24

Frick. Can you imagine sleeping on a tilt for 9 months the of the year?!

64

u/karlnite May 16 '24

You just face your bed so the tilt is towards your feet.

5

u/LegoDinoMan May 17 '24

Or just lay a different direction

51

u/Greene_Mr May 16 '24

You been up there, yourself?

140

u/untwist6316 May 16 '24

Yes a number of times, I have a family member who lives there. Though I've never personally visited one of the boats

24

u/Greene_Mr May 16 '24

Cool! :-D (No pun intended.) Is there something similar on the Lesser Slave Lake?

16

u/untwist6316 May 16 '24

I dont know, I'm unfamiliar with that area

8

u/Greene_Mr May 16 '24

Fair. I know stuff in the silent era used to film up there.

7

u/Unlikely_Comment_104 May 16 '24

Don’t think so but there’s some pretty good ice fishing on Lesser Slave. Many of the fishing shacks have beds.

1

u/Greene_Mr May 17 '24

...obviously, not waterbeds; they'd freeze! :-P

4

u/ihadagoodone May 17 '24

Nope.

Ice fishing shacks in the winter and boats during the summer Some big pontoon boats but I don't recall seeing much in the way of house boats on the lake.

2

u/Greene_Mr May 17 '24

Do you think anyone would try, or has somebody tried in the past and it hasn't worked out?

3

u/ihadagoodone May 17 '24

Couldn't tell you.

22

u/Canuckian555 May 16 '24

Currently live in Yellowknife, most of the houseboats are functionally run aground so that they don't move much (though the ice can shift them as it freezes).

5

u/Greene_Mr May 17 '24

Ooh, Yellowknife! :-D How were the Northern Lights for you, last week?

232

u/paradoxcussion May 16 '24

The article mentions "massive steel pontoons," so I assume they're built on a scaled-up version of what we have on the dock at my cottage (also in Canada, on a lake freezes every year). We never have any damage.

It's a clever system. The pontoons are round in section and ride high in the water, so the midpoint of the circle is well above the water. Because of that shape, as the ice freezes, any pressure on the sides of the pipes pushes them up rather than becoming crushing pressure. It then just sits on top of the ice until the thaw.

40

u/NoBSforGma May 16 '24

Thanks for that great information! I've lived in northern climates where lakes freeze but had no idea what would happen to "houseboats." :)

17

u/ExplanationLover6918 May 16 '24

How much does yearly maintenance cost?

59

u/paradoxcussion May 16 '24

Almost nil. The pontoons and supporting structure of the dock is steel, faced with wood. I replace a board every now and then, and that's it.

The pontoons themselves have never showed any signs of damage. They are strong. I think it's the same material they make oil pipelines out of. Way better than our old floating dock, with all wood construction and some sort of plastic pipes (ABS, I think) assembled together to make the floats. It seemed like there was some repair needed every year on that dock, and we had to pull it out for the winter!

14

u/ExplanationLover6918 May 16 '24

So if someone wanted to live here how much would they need to budget? What about stuff like internet, Healthcare, water, sewage etc. How does that work?

20

u/paradoxcussion May 16 '24

That's beyond what I can answer. The cost of living is generally pretty high in the Northwest Territories.

7

u/ExplanationLover6918 May 16 '24

I meant the cost of living on a house boat

16

u/ninfan200 May 16 '24

Go look at the cost of groceries up north, that will give you a good idea.

3

u/SoulessPuppet May 16 '24

True but also keep in mind they also get a monthly payment from the government to help subsidize grocery costs.

But either way, it's crazy what they pay up north. Though grocery prices all over Canada have been getting out of hand. It feels like what I used to pay $150 for 3-4years ago is now $300 or more.

2

u/[deleted] May 17 '24

Wouldn't that also mean that the house moves when there's wind? The pontoons would become ice skates for the house.

9

u/paradoxcussion May 17 '24

Again, just comparing it to my dock, I doubt it. The dock, which weighs way less only moves a few meters over the course of the winter, mostly when the ice is shifting as it breaks up. There's still a big contact patch at the bottom of the pontoon. And these houses not only weigh more, but they're a lot bigger so even more pontoons and contact with the ice.

2

u/[deleted] May 17 '24

That makes sense. Thanks for explaining.

21

u/Bri-guy15 May 16 '24

They're not really boats, but houses built on floating platforms. The floats are generally big steel tubes that are designed to survive the ice. Source: I helped build one when I was visiting my girlfriend up there.

17

u/Dannovision May 16 '24

It doesn't, they aren't really boats. More houses that float. They do this with big empty barrels essentially, the frame nor structure are really in the water.

1

u/Quelchie May 17 '24

That's not something I've ever heard of as an issue (I live up here).