I attended the Build Small, Live Large summit in Portland, OR last weekend. http://living-future.org/cascadia/buildsmall

I wanted to see if they had anything that we need to know about in our cruising cats. I especially was interested to attend

“Biggie Smalls: The Notorious Tiny House
Micro Houses are structures that are often smaller than 200 square feet and have captured the attention of mainstream media and the hearts of thousands of Americans. They may be portable or fixed-in-place and may stand-alone or may be tethered to a “normal” house for utilities. These wee buildings are used as backyard studios, extra bedrooms, guest suites or full-time residences. Tiny House advocates explain that these small simple structures provide a flexible, affordable, reasonable (albeit small) solution for residential use, urban infill, and pocket communities. Our panelists will present information from their experience designing, building, and living in micro-houses with a focus on the unique benefits and challenges of taking small to the extreme.

Dee Williams, Portland Alternative Dwellings (Portland)
Lina Menard, This is the Little Life (Portland)
Derin Williams, UrbaNest NW (Portland)”

 As far as I can tell, so far, they have nothing to show us boatbuilders. They are still doing stick frame and are way down on the technology continuum. I felt like a smarmy salesman trying to explain why a sandwich panel is better than studs and waferboard.

The one take-away was, in a small house, they have an artful bookshelf.  In a tiny house, its a Kindle.

I did get to meet boatbuilders and sailors David Smith and Mike Lang.