Woman quits her job and leaves her old life behind to move onto an old boat and renovate it

This woman decided to quit her job and live full-time on an old boat.

It hasn’t been easy, partly because moving from a house to a boat never is, and also because the old boat is quite small and a little cramped.

It’s also quite old, and she’s been fixing the vessel up by herself, which certainly added a lot of stress.

But there was one detail that made the project a lot tougher than she expected.

There were two reasons why she wanted to restore this old boat

The creator behind the Houseboat Holly YouTube Channel decided to quit her full-time job and move onto an old 1973 vessel named Sonora.

The decision was made for two reasons.

First, like so many other people, Holly was simply fed up with the daily grind.

She didn’t want to play the corporate game anymore.

“I quit my job. I just quit. I didn’t want to work a full-time job anymore,” she explained in the video she posted on YouTube.

Second – and this was definitely a lot more personal – she clarified that she wanted to live on the specific river where she grew up, but couldn’t do it through ‘traditional’ property routes because houses and apartments were too expensive – hence the boat.

“I’m going to own my own home and it’s a house boat. And it’s like a dream to me”, she said.

Sonara was certainly far from perfect, but she was in good shape for a restoration.

Mind you, there were a few caveats.

The journey ahead was long and complicated

One of the main problems was that the vessel was quite cramped.

She was also quite old and needed a lot of work.

Holly said she started with zero experience, which made every little task infinitely more challenging, but also rewarding.

“I don’t actually know how to do any of this stuff, so it’s going to be an adventure,” she said.

[But] the cool thing about this project is I get to learn from those mistakes and learn so many skills I’d have had no confidence in before.”

For example, she had to deal with pervasive white mold, which required a lot of work.

She had to strip out rotten upholstery and remove, clean, and rebuild the windows, too.

She also had to do all of that amid heatwaves reaching up to 37°C, which is equivalent to 98°F.

The biggest challenge she had to navigate

But the biggest challenge was purely logistical.

It would have been a lot easier if she could have treated this like a Sunday boat.

A side hobby she could work on while actually living somewhere else.

But that wasn’t the case.

For Holly, this wasn’t just a project; it was also her home.

It’s a bit like trying to fix up a car while you’re driving it.

She’s just getting started, though.

And she’s clearly making good progress.

So definitely stay tuned for new videos (and more progress) soon.