Business Insider India has updated its Privacy and Cookie policy. We use cookies to ensure that we give you the better experience on our website. If you continue without changing your settings, we\'ll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies on the Business Insider India website. However, you can change your cookie setting at any time by clicking on our Cookie Policy at any time. You can also see our Privacy Policy.
A California professor spent $5,000 building an 80-square-foot cabin on a shantyboat. Now he travels through America's river communities on it every summer - here's how he does it.
A California professor spent $5,000 building an 80-square-foot cabin on a shantyboat. Now he travels through America's river communities on it every summer - here's how he does it.
Libertina BrandtOct 22, 2019, 18:33 IST
Workers and supporters of the Secret History shantyboat gather to say goodbye before the expedition.Wes Modes
Advertisement
Wes Modes, a professor and artist from California, spends his summers on 20-foot-long, 8-foot-wide shantyboat.
Modes travels through river communities across the country and records the stories of the people who live in them.
The construction of the boat began in 2012 and was completed in 2014, the year of Modes' first expedition.
In a tell-all interview with Business Insider, Modes explains how he built the boat from scratch and what life is like during these expeditions.
That's what Wes Modes, an artist and a university lecturer, told Business Insider about the lifestyle he's chosen for himself every summer.
During the school year, Modes teaches art and design at the California State University at Monterey Bay and the University of California in Santa Cruz. But during the summers, he lives on a 20-foot-long, 8-foot-wide shantyboat he built, and travels through river communities across the country.
The creation of Modes' shantyboat, which is named Dotty, began in 2012. Modes told Business Insider that prior to the shantyboat, he would partake in what is called punk rafting - the art of building a raft out of scavenged materials. With his rafts, he would set sail for several weeks at a time on various rivers.
Eventually, Modes decided he wanted something more permanent
Modes wanted to be more than just an observer and decided he would use a homemade shantyboat to explore river communities and river cultures around the country.
"Rather than just being a tourist who floats through towns, I wanted to give something back to these communities," he told Business Insider. "I thought I might be able to give back the gift of listening."
So, during the summers, with one or more shipmates, Modes lives on the shantyboat and moves through various river communities recording the stories of the people who live in them.
Since its maiden voyage down the Mississippi River, Dotty has sailed through rivers all over the US: the Tennessee River, the Sacramento River, the Hudson River, and the Ohio River. Over the last six years, Dotty has traveled 1,800 miles on five different rivers and through 16 states, Modes told Business Insider.
Advertisement
"When I'm not teaching, I'm on the river," he said.
Keep reading for a look inside the boat.
Are you living in a tiny home, boat or any alternate means of housing? If you want to share your story, email this reporter at lbrandt@businessinsider.com.
Wes Modes is an artist and a university lecturer. During the summers, he lives on a shantyboat and travels through river communities all over the country.
It was completed in 2014, just days before it set sail on its maiden voyage on the Upper Mississippi River.
Though it's tiny, the cabin includes a small kitchen area, windows, bookshelves, and a couch.
"It doesn't cost much to live on the river," Modes told Business Insider.
However, Modes pointed out that they are always working on the boat.
"We are always wanting to improve this or fix that," Modes said.
"The most important piece of equipment on the entire boat is our mocha pot," Modes jokingly told Business Insider.
Though Dotty is just 20 feet long and 8 feet wide, during voyages, Modes and his shipmates eat, sleep, and bathe on the boat.
Above the living area is the captain's quarters, which is a loft area with a mattress.
When it comes time to sleep, Modes and his shipmates disperse to the loft area, the couch, and the floor.
Here's a closer look at the captain's quarters.
There's even a small bathroom area on the boat.
During the summer voyages, Modes, along with a few shipmates, moves through various river communities and records the stories of the people who live in them.
Modes told Business Insider that the most challenging part of the project is connecting with people whose stories aren't normally told in history books.
"We work hard to make sure that what we do represents that untold, or invisible history," he told Business Insider. "The hardest thing, I think, is to try to connect with communities in which I might not be a part."
Modes chronicles his project, "A Secret History of American River People," online.
He told Business Insider that his favorite days during these voyages are travel days.
"Our favorite days are travel days, days when we are just getting where we are going," he told Business Insider.
On these days, Modes and his shipmates will nap, fish, and spend time with each other.
Modes and his shipmates also exhibit the project. They have at least one major exhibition every year and will do pop-up exhibitions along the rivers they travel through, he explained to Business Insider.
They take care of things like laundry, food shopping, and WiFi when they are exploring towns along the rivers. And, when it comes to charging their phones and heating up the stovetop for coffee and cooking, the crew relies on a couple of batteries aboard the boat.
Over the last six years, Dotty has traveled 1,800 miles on five different rivers and through 16 states, Modes told Business Insider.
On land, in order to get the boat from point A to point B, Dotty is towed by a truck. According to the book "Cabin Porn: Inside," the boat has traveled along 26,000 miles of road.
