A houseboat which can be used as a permanent home will be tested by the Czech waterborne traffic authority in early September. If the craft passes tests for navigability, the authority will give the green light to an unconventional form of housing.
The first model, the work of Czech designer Miro Pištěk, will be anchored at Prague’s Holešovice port. “There is nothing like it in Europe. Our offer is a limited series,” said Jindřich Vodička, deputy CEO at ports operator České přístavy.
The company plans to convert 18 tugboats, which formerly transported coal from Lovosice to Chvaletice, into luxury houseboats. People will be able to live aboard them and sail them to Hamburg or other destinations. The company plans initially to put three water villas on the market a year, Vodička said. Each houseboat will be a unique designer piece, according to Pištěk.
“The company Regor, which is converting the tugboats, can rebuild six vessels a year, but we are planning three units at the beginning,” said Vodička.
In addition to selling the floating homes, České přístavy will train their new owners to sail them; handling a 90-tonne houseboat is not easy. Owners who want to sail from their home port at will need a licence from the waterborne traffic authority.
Císařská louka, opposite to the Žluté lázně leisure centre, will be the home port for the villas, where their owners will rent mooring spaces for their homes and parking spaces for their cars. Other anchorages are being considered in the Holešovice marina and near Rohanský island.