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The total renovation of a Murray River paddleboat gives a Mildura family the perfect moveable getaway
For Victorian family Simone and Tim Anderson and their son Zac, coming across an advert in the paper offering an old, one-bedroom paddleboat for sale represented the first step in fulfilling a long-held dream to own a houseboat. “We always knew we would buy one, we just didn’t know when,” says Simone. “It just kind of accidentally happened!” The boat was run-down, but it was cheap, so the couple, seizing the opportunity to have a craft that could be reworked to their own style and standards, dived in.
Simone and Tim, who run their own building surveying and consultancy business, have tackled a handful of house builds and renovations in their time, but those had all been on dry land and in a fixed location. Undertaking the complete rebuild of the boat threw up a variety of very particular challenges. “In a house you would have 90mm-thick walls, whereas our houseboat only has 50mm – and then you have to put wiring in!” explains Simone. “Every decision you make on a houseboat affects three different areas, not just one. The thought process was very different.”
As well as the thinner-than-average walls, the couple – together with Kate Harry and Emily Rogers of Fabrikate, who helped with the fit-out and interior design – also had to deal with the necessities of choosing materials that could cope with frequent exposure to water, as well as lightweight, attractive products in a building that is never at rest. The vertical boards that clad the interior, for example, are painted MDF, which, explains designer Kate, allows for contraction and expansion of the moving vessel. “We also selected Laminex Aquapanel in the wet areas to meet the weight restrictions and to avoid the possibility of tiles cracking,” she adds.
The project became very much a labour of love, with Tim, who is also a qualified carpenter, doing a lot of the structural work himself at weekends with the assistance of the couple’s friend Gregg, who had built his own houseboat some years before. They also enlisted specialist tradies with experience in working on watercraft. “We met a lot of beautiful people along the way who shared the process with us, which was nice,” says Simone. “A special mention has to go to Denver, an engineer who has built many houseboats and worked closely with us.”
The old boat was gutted and transformed from bow to stern, with the pontoons at the rear extended, the internal walls pushed out to deliver a larger footprint, and solar panels fitted to make it self-sufficient. High on Simone’s wishlist was the desire for a line of sight through the boat from one end to another. “Most houseboats have bedrooms and bathrooms on either side, so you can’t see the river as soon as you walk on,” she says. “We kept everything on the left-hand side, so you’re able to walk on and see right through.” The couple also wanted the living area at the back – a lot of houseboats have it at the front – to connect with the spacious rear deck, destined as a spot to relax and entertain. Having drawn up a basic floor plan, they handed it over to Kate and Emily.
Simone had collaborated with the Fabrikate designers before. “So when we got the houseboat, Kate was one of the first people we emailed,” she says. “I said, ‘How fabulous is this?’ and she said, ‘We’re on board!’” Within the 46-square-metre internal floor area, Kate and Emily managed to squeeze in two queen bedrooms, along with a living, dining and kitchen space stretching the length of the boat, reading nooks and plenty of storage tucked into every conceivable space – another tick on Simone’s list of must-haves.
“It had to look good, but functionality is very important to me as well,” she explains. White-painted ceilings and walls maximise the effect of the natural light streaming in through the boat’s generous windows, with the vertical cladding helping to draw the eye upwards to add to the expansive effect.
For the boat’s gentle colour scheme, Kate and Emily took inspiration from the Murray river and its magnificent surrounds. “Mother Nature is brilliant at forming the perfect palette,” says Kate. “We just borrowed a few ideas. The colours seen in the rich, red cliffs and cool flora on the riverbanks are directly apparent in the interior.” Hence warm tones in furnishings complement shades of eucalypt in the kitchen cabinetry, with natural materials, such as timber and leather, and botanical designs appearing throughout. “They wanted the boat to blend in,” explains Simone. “Most houseboats are white, and kind of stand out, but they wanted it to just sit on the river, and that’s what it does.”
The finished houseboat has become a moveable retreat at weekends and holidays for the family, who love to drift along the river, mooring up in different spots to enjoy dinner at a restaurant, browse the Mildura markets, or simply enjoy being on the water. “It’s lovely to get out on the river,” says Simone. “Friends bring their ski boat, and we park up on a sandbar and have a barbecue on the back. We have kayaks set up now too, and being able to just get on the kayak off the back of the boat is very relaxing.” The couple also love that escaping to the river is such a peaceful antidote to their busy life. “It’s an easy lifestyle,” says Simone. “And it brings our family and friends together. That’s the best thing.” Find out more about Fabrikate at fabrikate.com.au.