From the outside, Will Nesbitt’s home looks every bit the houseboat. Floating on the Thames at Kensington Wharf, it’s a 23-metre-long Tug with a blue hull and a white deckhouse with a life ring hung up outside.
Inside, though, you’d be forgiven for forgetting this is a boat. There is more than 1,000 sq ft of space, with three light-filled bedrooms, hardwood floors and a generous sitting room. There are reminders in the brass portholes, original wooden helm and, of course, the views of the river.
Building “a modern apartment inside a traditional appearance hull” was Nesbitt’s aim when he bought the boat in 1998 and embarked on a wholesale renovation. But now, after a 25-year labour of love, Nesbitt’s boat is for sale.
Nesbitt, 50, had some idea what he was getting into when he bought the boat. He had taught sailing in his teens, worked on boats in his 20s, and had been working on a charter boat in the Caribbean when he arrived back in London and began admiring the boats in Chelsea.
“I used to occasionally walk past the houseboats in Cheyne Walk and I just thought they looked amazing,” says Nesbitt, who now works in construction.
“It was such an amazing community to see. There are not many places in the world where you have houseboats in the centre of [the city].”
There was a problem, though: fully renovated houseboats for sale in central London weren’t easy to come by.
He found his boat, a 1946 Fossa II, built to replace the original 1927 Tug lost at Dunkirk during the Second World War, in east London.
It had just gone out of service, but was, says Nesbitt, “very heavily built…the Tug is basically a miniature ship”. If he couldn’t buy a houseboat, he’d create one himself.
Nesbitt had rebuilt cars and worked as an engineer on a ship before, but he’d never taken on a project of this scale alone. Inside, the boat still had its captain and crew’s quarters, while the 14-tonne engine had been sold separately, leaving a huge void in its place.
“You could just see the ribs of the structure of the boat. It was a bit like standing inside a 40-ft container, but bigger,” says Nesbitt. “You think you’ll never use all the space, but you soon do.”
The Tug spent the first year in a boatyard for structural work, before Nesbitt moved it to central London and started work on the interior. “I liked the traditional shape of the hull outside. I didn’t want it to look like a floating pontoon with a box on top, which is more the American ideal of a houseboat,” says Nesbitt.
“Inside, I wanted the level of finishes that you get in a high-end property, which is why I went to the trouble of adding 1950s solid oak floors, from a school. The kitchen counter is reclaimed hardwood from a science laboratory.”
The captain’s room, with its small galley kitchen, became the master bedroom at the bow of the boat, while the crew’s quarters were transformed into the current kitchen.
The space where the engine had been, meanwhile, was turned into two double bedrooms and a living room. Nesbitt added secondary glazing, improved insulation, an MVHR ventilation system, central heating, pumps, drainage and connected the boat to the mains.
Overall, he estimates that the amount of time and money he has invested in the boat would equate to “hundreds and thousands [of pounds]”.
To increase the size of the living room, Nesbitt removed the original deckhouse and built a new one. “It’s got the big picture windows overlooking the Thames, which is absolutely magical at night. It’s amazing, sitting there and seeing all the lights and the river going by.”
Nesbitt, who had been renting a room in Fulham, moved onto the boat as soon as there was an operational bedroom, using a local gym for showers while work continued.
The bulk of the renovation took two-and-a-half years, but work on the boat has been ongoing — 15 years ago, Nesbitt completed a long-term aim of adding a roof garden, while this year, he sanded and revarnished the floors.
“On top, you get this incredible view from Putney all the way to Pimlico, because of the bend in the river,” says Nesbitt of his new garden. “As the sun sets, you get the reflection of all the golden panels of Battersea Bridge. At high tide, it’s absolutely spectacular.”
As well as renovating the boat, Nesbitt has put time and effort into securing a 25-year residential lease. “They are incredibly difficult to get,” he says. “The majority of boats in London, even if they’re permanently moored, don’t have residential rights.”
Mooring costs are £9,800 plus VAT per year, which Nesbitt compares to the ground rent of a house. Like a house, the boat no longer moves, and has 23 years remaining on its lease. Although there are maintenance costs for a boat, like the fact that it must be removed from the water every 10 years for insurance purposes, Nesbitt says that costs are in line with those in a house or apartment.
For Nesbitt, 25 years on the boat have provided a unique way of living – and an instant conversation topic. “If you meet another houseboat owner, you always end up chatting about boats. There’s a strong sense of shared lifestyle,” he says. “People are always fascinated by how it works – but actually, it’s not much different to living in an apartment once it’s up and running. It does sound more adventurous.”
That said, living so close to the water is not quite the same as life on land. Nesbitt has been chasing a flock of geese off his boat in recent days, for one. “All the background noise that you hear when you’re in the city tends to go upwards. When you cross the river wall and you get onto the boat there’s an incredible peace because you’re a metre or two lower than the land. It’s very quiet, even though you’re not far from the main road. It’s extraordinary – almost like you’ve gone into a nature reserve.”
Now, however, the time has come for Nesbitt to sell his hand-crafted home. He is planning to spend more time abroad, and no longer needs such a large space in London. His boat, moored at Kensington Wharf, has been listed with River Homes for £700,000.
“You get the full cross-section of society who choose to live on houseboats, so I don’t have a mental picture of who would like to buy it,” says Nesbitt. “But I imagine that if they’ve got kids, their kids would love it. Chances are it would be someone who lives in the country who wants a pied-à-terre in London, or someone who feels the lure of living closer to the water and likes to be near to somewhere like the King’s Road.”
He adds: “It’s been an amazing way of living in London, and a lot of fun over the years, but unfortunately, it’s time for me to move on.”
