An advertising executive who struggled to get on the property ladder is now living in her dream home after building a houseboat.
Karen Boswell, 35, designed the £182,000, 70ft long vessel, called Maybe Tomorrow, which took four months to create from scratch.
The boat, which includes a king sized bed, a bathroom with a double shower, concrete kitchen counter-tops and full height ceilings, is moored in a private marina in the Grand Union Canal, in north west London.
Now she wants to invest in a kayak – so she can get from the boat to the local supermarket or the nearest pub.
Karen Boswell (pictured) who earns a six figure salary as an advertising executive, designed the £182,000, 70ft long vessel, called Maybe Tomorrow
Ms Boswell told The Times that despite earning a six figure salary in her job as an advertising executive, she couldn’t afford her own home even though she saved for years for a deposit.
Her friend then gave her the idea of living in a houseboat, and she realised she could create her very own home for a fraction of the budget.
She pays £8,000 a year to keep it docked in the marina, and her outgoings, including electricity and a three-yearly treatment of the hull in dry dock, work out at about £3,000 a year.
And because she has designed the boat with such a high spec, it is already worth £30,000 more than she paid for her.
The interior of the boat, showing the lounge and part of the kitchen. Ms Boswell has designed her boat with such a high spec that it is already worth £30,000 more than what she paid for it
One of the two bedrooms on the boat, that is fitted with a king sized bed
Ms Boswell’s creation features in More 4 show My Floating Home, on tonight at 9pm.
Ms Boswell told The Times that saving for a deposit was ‘ludicrous’ because everytime she got another £4,000 prices would go up by £10,000.
She said: ‘I could have afforded a two-bed place in a not-great area or a studio or one-bed somewhere I wouldn’t be stabbed walking home, but I wouldn’t have had any wiggle room to put a finish on it.
‘I had been thinking of all sorts of different spaces and places even about buying a shipping container but I had never thought of a boat because my preconception was that they were weird and cramped.’
The houseboat, which was designed with a ‘nautical modern chic’ theme, also has a double shower
Maybe Tomorrow is currently moored at a private marina on the Grand Union Canal in north west London
The deck of the boat, which features a seating area and a retractable canopy that opens to the outside
Ms Boswell’s creation appears in More 4 show My Floating Home, presented by Mark Evans (right) on tonight at 9pm
The Times reports that she had a deposit of just under £50,000.
She took out a marine mortgage, which is repaid at 10 per cent over a typical bank mortgage rate, but it will be paid off within five years.
Ms Boswell said buyers choose the length and width of the boat, and the size of the engine.
For £120,000 she got a 12ft wide empty shell with windows, wiring for electrics and they had to put the walls and doors in.
She took out a £20,000 bank loan to do the interior, and decided the theme would be ‘nautical modern chic.’
My Floating Home, which follows homeowners who live on aquatic homes on water, is on More 4, tonight at 9pm.