i lived on my boat last summer. it was fine , it was just me. and occasionally the girlfriend would stay. i have a 30 ft cruiser so it was tight. but i also installed a plasma on the dock(i posted pics before) with dvd, hi-def sat and my wii. i also had my grill and my patio furniture and i had my mountain bike... the marina has a ship store and lots of local restaurants deliver to the marina.... and the marina also has boater facilities laundry, showers and i put the WIFI in the marina so i even had internet

but it was also nice to go hoe and sleep in my select comfort bed and use my washer dryer and my shower......

now if i was truely living on a house boat it would have to be at least 80 ft long and 16 feet wide..... we had a 50 footer growing up and it was ok for a weekend but i could not imagine living there full time.