Where are you flatting this year? Otago Uni student Malcolm Jones is living on a boat.
His boat, the Sea Witch, has a tiny kitchen, a fold-out table, two seats and space to sleep in the bow. There’s a 100W solar panel for lighting, a small coal burner for cold nights, a methylated spirits cooker for food and Malcolm’s been using UniPol or the Yacht Club for showers. He’s glad “he’s not a tall person” as the ceiling is a bit low, but otherwise it is cosy.
After two years at a residential college, first as a resident and then as an RA, Malcolm wanted something that was at the “other end of the spectrum”. He initially “laughed off the idea of living on a boat” but after “a ridiculous amount of research” he figured out he could do it. Late last year he bought the Sea Witch on Trademe and after his contract finished in November he made the move.
It’s a big change from two years of communal living. He was a bit “thrown” to begin with by the lack of people. He had a few neighbours over summer, but people tend to come and go at the Otago Yacht Club. He’s the “only person living aboard permanently at the moment.” But, he says all it “requires [is] a change in mindset”. Whereas he experienced a lot of “passive socialisation” living in a hall, he’s now more active about connecting with friends. Plus, he’s met a local duck named Speckles who he has trained to respond to his clicks – “you make friends where you can”.
OUSA Student Support Officer Sage Burke says, “there are usually a handful of students living at the Marina each year, in the past they have formed their own little community – almost like a flat”. In terms of other living arrangements he sees students in, Burke says OUSA worked with a few students living in cars last year. “We haven’t had any students come to us living in cars so far this year but I would encourage any students in that situation to come and see us to work out what support is available.”
For Malcolm, living on a boat is a lifestyle choice rather than an attempt to save money. Alongside the cost of the boat, he pays the Otago Yacht Club to moor and for the amenities that allow him to live on board. But the 1979 Invercargill-built sailing boat is “past the point of plateauing in value” and he reckons he’ll leave it in a nicer state than he found it – so he may get a return on his investment.
Although he sailed a bit as a kid he’s had to brush up his knowledge: “there’s a lot of jargon and so much to learn”. But, it’s been nice to “start from the basics of boating life”. He’s floated the idea of sailing to Christchurch at Easter, but only if he can recruit his friend who is an experienced sailor.
The boat was great over the hot summer but he admits, “winter will be more of an effort to keep dry. But, that’s one of the challenges. There’re equivalent challenges wherever you live. Mine are just different, not insurmountable”. He says the whole exercise “challenges luxury. There are so many things we consider necessary that aren’t. These are things I’m one by one doing away with in this adventure and I am realising I need [things] less and less”.
As a mathematics student, Malcolm “thrives on finding solutions to problems”. He’s already lining up a new problem for next year. He wants to convert an 8 cubic metre shipping container into a motorhome.