Days are numbered for sinking Yellowknife houseboat Big Blue

Big Blue was never “very structurally sound,” says Darin. For three years, he says he has watched the houseboat’s slow – and literal – decline into Yellowknife Bay.

The houseboats in the bay are a defining feature of Yellowknife. Big Blue is one of the most striking, its name reflected in its blue paint. However, it now mostly catches the eye because of the angle at which it lists. 

The disheveled houseboat began sinking in 2023. A previous owner, Daniel Gillis, attempted to salvage the vessel before ultimately leaving it partially submerged, as Cabin Radio documented at the time.

“I’m leaving it all to you guys,” he wrote to a group of houseboaters three years ago. 

Since then, some community members have tried to step in and fix the houseboat’s issues. Among them, the most notable is former Yellowknife fire chief Nelson Johnson, who is understood to have spent a significant sum of money attempting to restore Big Blue.

“He just fought a battle for two years trying to keep it afloat – but he never was able to get it right again,” said Darin, a fellow houseboater who asked that his full name not be used.

“The guy put a solid effort in. He probably put in 12 to 16-hour days trying to get it cleaned up. I think he recognized that he wasn’t able to do that.”

According to Darin, freeze-up and break-up are key moments each year when houseboaters need to be present and dialled in. Big Blue didn’t fare well in those seasons, he said.

“You need to be present when that takes place, so that you can monitor how your house is going to float and how it’s going to sink and what might happen to it,” said Darin. 

He said this year’s break-up was particularly challenging with the ice being so thick. “It had its way with the house.”

In the past month, the NWT’s Department of Environment and Climate Change had asked Johnson to repair and clean up the vessel. Johnson obliged, making his way back to Yellowknife and again attempting to refloat Big Blue.

Johnson was unable to repair the house, but he did find an exit. 

According to multiple houseboaters familiar with the situation, Johnson sold Big Blue to a man in his 70s for one dollar. Cabin Radio could not reach the new owner but did speak with Johnson to confirm he had sold the vessel. Johnson declined to comment further regarding the ownership transfer and Big Blue’s broader travails.

The surrounding houseboating community has since banded together and decided Big Blue must be taken apart, Darin said.

“It’s an embarrassment to us, you know, as a community,” he said, “when you look over there, and you see it all disheveled and you know it’s falling apart.”

Over the past week, more than 15 houseboaters took it upon themselves to remove smaller, portable items. “We cleaned off the whole deck, all the junk that was on there. It got taken to shore and picked up,” said Darin. 

Larger sections of the vessel are set to be removed when the lake freezes.

Darin said houseboat living in Yellowknife requires the ability to stay on top of regular maintenance. He described replacing the pontoons under his own houseboat and its deck in the past year or two.

“It’s not like living in a town where you can forget to go do the grass for a couple of months – if something needs to be done, it needs to be done,” he said. 

While the cleanup of Big Blue has begun, Darin cautioned people to stay away from the structure, explaining only one portion of the house is dry. He added some houseboaters suspect the only thing holding up the second floor of the house is the stovepipe from the fireplace. 

“It is so unsafe in there,” he said.

“It’ll be nice to see it gone, and who knows what’ll pull in there – there’s always somebody that wants to live out here, and that’ll open up space for somebody.”