So you’ve always had a dream about having a cabin or house on the water at a lake but lakefront properties are scarce and expensive.  How about having a house ON a lake?  Not on land but on the water?  A floating home is a structure built on a floatation system which is used as a residence and is not intended for navigation or use as a navigable craft.  Transport Canada designates floating homes as vessels, which gives them the same rights as houseboats, motorboats or sailboats to anchor overnight in public navigable waters.   In the United States “houses on the water” are apparently gradually becoming an innovative and popular housing option, especially on the West Coast.  Of course, living where temperatures don’t dip below 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius) is different than in Saskatchewan, needless to say.  Living in any house or cabin on land away from city or town water and sewer systems is already a factor to deal with, never mind living out ON the water.   There are electrical and plumbing issues to consider as well as proper anchorage systems.  As is happening in Ontario, I doubt if existing lakefront property owners would be too thrilled about the prospect of having floating houses parked out on the water and in their mind thereby spoiling their natural lake view.   Would the idea of floating houses or cabins ever catch on out here on the prairies where we certainly have an abundance of lakes?  Who knows?  Provincial and municipal governments, property owners’ associations and Mother Nature would all put their two cents worth in on the subject.  I guess time will tell as populations grow. 

That’s Coffeetaalk.  I’m Vic Dubois.