This 100-Year-Old Tugboat Has Served as a Floating Home for Half Its Life

MV Zenia Sophia started out as the two-masted gaff rig schooner Edward A Young in 1926. It served as tugboat for the next four decades before moving into private ownership and becoming, for the first time, a full-time live-aboard home called Crusader. Under the new name of Zenia Sofia, it's been the home of the Pakkers for almost three decades, and it's a staple in Seattle, where it spends most of the time it's not out cruising during the summer months.

Zenia Sofia is also one of the most outstanding recent examples of downsizing and living the nomadic lifestyle, standing out from all the rest by the fact that it's the perfect combination of artistic touches with the utmost functionality. It has served as a family home for four for such a long time, after all.

Zenia Sofia was recently featured with a full tour on the Tiny House Giant Journey YouTube channel, which is how we all get the chance to jump onboard and get a taste of this type of lifestyle. Pamela Pakker-Kozicki, one of the owners and architects of the overhaul, conducts the tour, explaining what life on a boat is really like when you've done it for so long and the many benefits – and downsides – it comes with.

Even if you're not considering making such a transition, this story is worth your time. Zenia Sofia is not just a beautiful boat but a wonderful DIY construction that's equally good-looking and functional. Today, it's no longer a masted schooner, but some of that original personality shines through thanks to Pamela and husband Ulrich's artsy touches, an eclectic mix of finishes, and ample room for an entire family.

Now measuring 56 feet (17 meters) in total length and tipping the scales at 60 tons, Zenia Sofia has three decks, including the top deck that doubles as sun deck or, in the winter, the place where Ulrich sets up a giant barbecue. It relies on power and water from the marina, with Pamela admitting that marine insurance and finding docking at the marina are two of the biggest challenges of living on a boat. When the tour was filmed, Zenia Sofia was moored at the Shilshole marina in Seattle.

Pamela and Ulrich bought the boat in 1995 but only renamed it in 2010 after the birth of both their daughters. They did the conversion themselves, and it was a 21-month project that tested their patience, their skill, and their budget in unexpected ways. They built the entire upper deck once the masts were removed, which is when Ulrich's sculptor skills came in handy. They also replaced most of the original wood that had rotted through and used marine aluminum for the upper part.

Inside, Zenia Sofia offers four bedrooms, two heads (bathrooms to us folk who don't live on water), two salons, a complete galley with an attached pantry, and a gorgeous, all-wood wheelhouse. Now that the two daughters whose names were used for the new name of the boat have moved out, no one sleeps below deck anymore. Their old bedrooms with a shared bathroom have been repurposed as storage rooms, while the forepeak bedroom of the parents is undergoing an overhaul.

Paula and Ulrich now sleep in the cabin next to the aft lounge, a most spectacular place built around an oversize brazier sitting on a gorgeous wood table and surrounded by a circular couch decked in natural fur. It has a very ski cabin, rustic vibe to it, and it's a very surprising appearance on a boat – so that probably adds to its charm.

The houseboat uses propane for heating the water and cooking, wood-burning stoves, and a pallet-burning heater during the colder months. With the exception of some rationing for electricity, it has everything for a comfortable family life, from a large kitchen with a pantry you'd be pressed to find in a regular city home to two full baths and enough space to move around and even to entertain considerably-sized parties.

One of the complaints most frequently lodged against any type of mobile home, whether on land or on water, is that they're hardly family-friendly environments due to spatial restrictions. The Zenia Sofia is an exception: its size and the reconstruction it went through mid-life recommend it as a family-perfect permanent home. Paula can vouch for that, having raised two children onboard during her 25 years there.

Paula doesn't mention a price tag for the Zenia Sofia, but considering the amount of time it's been part of the family, whatever figure she'd throw around would no longer be relevant either way. She does say, though, that a houseboat conversion like the one she and Ulrich undertook is very expensive unless you're willing – and able – to do much of the work yourself. Living on a boat is not for everyone, and it's even more exclusive if you take this aspect into account as well.