LIFE ON THE WATER - COUPLE LIVES ON HOUSEBOAT YEAR-ROUND

There are hundreds of houseboats docked at marinas on Green River Lake, and when the weather starts to cool down, the vast majority of the crafts winterize their houseboats, close them up and more or less forget about them until spring comes around and its time to get back out on the water.
However, there are some owners that spend time on their boats during the winter months, and there is an even smaller number that never leave them - living on the houseboats year round.
Brian and Lauren Matney are some of the very few that choose to live on a houseboat year round. The couple has been living on their boat docked at Homes Bend Marina and Resort since July of 2008. And while there are a few other hardy souls that also spend the vast majority of their time on their boats at Holmes Bend, the Matneys say they're pretty sure they are the only ones that don't have some type of residence on dry land.
Brian, a deputy sheriff with the Green County Sheriff's Department, and Lauren, a registered nurse who works in the emergency rooms at Westlake Regional Hospital and Jane Todd Crawford Hospital in Greensburg, say they have no regrets whatsoever about being permanent water dwellers despite the frigid temperatures and snow they recently endured.
"We're perfectly happy down here, we wouldn't have it any other way," Lauren noted in a recent interview. "In fact, we enjoy this part of the year the best, because we are practically alone down here."
Brian even saw a bright spot in having the lake freeze solid like it did during the recent cold snap. "When the lake freezes over, it stops the boat from rocking," he noted.
The Matneys said they made the decision to live permanently on the lake primarily due to the fact that they spent so much on it.
"We've had houseboats for the past 10 years or so, but nothing we could live on," Brian explained. "Plus, we also have a cabin cruiser docked here, so we were spending all the time we could here during the spring, summer and fall. So, we finally decided we would move down here full time.
"We had a nice brick house right in Greensburg - it was located only a minute from Jane Todd Hospital and just a couple of minutes from the sheriff's office," he continued. "When we told people that we were going to sell it and move to the lake, they said we were crazy."
But, that didn't deter the Matneys from their goal.
The Matneys began looking around for a houseboat suitable for year-round living, and in April 2008, Brian found just what they wanted at Lake Cumberland.
The boat is a 1994 Lakeview, 14 feet wide and 50 feet long, that had been custom designed for year-round living. The Matneys purchased the craft, moved it to Holmes Bend and took up full-time residence on July 1, 2008.
"The boat has extra insulation, has central heat and air, and full-size appliances, something you don't find on most houseboats," Lauren noted. "Brian also installed our own water system, which allows us to pull water from the lake, purify it and use it, and the boat also has an extra large waste holding tank (which they pump out using a pontoon at the dock designed for that purpose)."
Electricity is supplied through the dock system, and they have satellite TV. They even have high-speed Internet service through AT&T.
"We've got all the conveniences that we'd have in a regular home, with the exception that we don't have a bathtub, just a shower," Lauren stated.
And while the couple said that they occasionally miss having a bathtub, one advantage of living on a boat instead of in a house quickly offsets this minor inconvenience.
"I don't ever have to mow the yard, and that was something I hated having to do," Brian said. "The only grass I have to fool with is when I'm working at the dock and have to pull up a few weeds here and there."
(In addition to his job as a deputy sheriff, Brian Matney also helps our marina owner David Louis Butler around the dock in his spare time.)
While their houseboat is a boat designed to travel on the water, the Matneys said they don't take it out too often.
"We'll take the cabin cruiser out two or three times a week, but usually don't take the houseboat out over four or five times a year," Brian said. "The houseboat is so big it's pretty difficult for just the two of us to handle. But, we'll take it out when we plan to stay gone for four or five days at a time."
The Matneys said that when people find out they live on a houseboat year-round, one of the first questions they get asked is "What about storms? Aren't you scared of them?"
"I tell people we just use common sense," Brian explained. "If you're living in a house and there's a tornado warning, you're going to take shelter. If a bad storm comes up here, we have a storm shelter up by the cabins that we can get to quickly."
The Matneys said that they enjoy living year-round on their houseboat, and actually enjoy the months the marina is closed the best.
"There's not a lot of noise problems in the summer, because we have pretty good neighbors," Lauren said. "But, when the marina is closed in the winter, it's like this end of it is all ours now. We get to enjoy it a couple more months, then it'll be everybody else's."
Living full-time on the water might have a few drawbacks, but Brian Matney they've adapted well.
"It's not a simple as home living, but if you like the water, like the environment like we do, you don't pay an attention to it," he stated.
Photo:HOME ON THE WATER. Brian and Lauren Matney stand beside the 14'x50' houseboat docked at Holmes Bend Marina and Resort on which they have lived full-time since July 2008. (Photo by Paul B. Hayes)