Homer among the barges

2/18/2014 ~ Homer and a Group of Live Aboard Barges, North Lake Union, Wallingford Neighborhood, Seattle, WA

In Seattle today it started with lots of rain and wind which later in the day turned into strong sunshine with the wind. I put on a 0.6 ND filter to gain a couple of stops with the light being so brilliant.

Seattle has over 600 floating homes on Lake Union, these are houses that are build on rafts which stay afloat on cedar logs and 50 gallon drums filled with air to level the floors. Believe me when you buy new furniture you may just have to hire a diver with compressed air to adjust the level of your home.

The city placed a moratorium on building additional floating homes on the lake years ago so there began a period of people building barges to live aboard. Current regulation require new houses to be mobile, they need to move under their own power and have steerage. The home owners and the city council/mayor have an ongoing battle about what is legal and what is not. The waterways is navigable so the federal government and coast guard also have a word or two on what goes on as well.

Floating homes have a long history in Seattle and were an inexpensive way to live in the early days which is not the case today. Pretty pricy to buy or rent.