Sep 26, 2026
A floating camper on a South Surrey river has set the internet ablaze, turning heads and raising plenty of eyebrows after a local tinkerer decided a regular old RV belonged on the water instead of the highway.
Dubbed the “hillbilly house boat” by amused locals on social media, the quirky vessel consists of a travel trailer bolted on top of a makeshift barge built out of wood, steel and empty plastic barrels. It popped up out of nowhere on the Nicomekl River, instantly becoming the talk of the town.
Retired shipbuilder behind the project
The brains behind the floating camper is Emilio Gilpo, a retired shipbuilder who spent about six months building his floating dream home.
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Gilpo credited his decades of shipyard work for giving him the know-how to pull off the unconventional setup.
“I used to work on shipyards at one time, so I understand the mechanics of boats and ships,” Gilpo told CTV News. “You can use it as a recreational boat or as a houseboat, something like that.”
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He sees his project as a bold new frontier in coastal living.
“This is a kind of thing you never see here in Vancouver, right? So it’s something new. It’s an innovation,” Gilpo told Global News.
Getting the beast into the river was no small task. Gilpo had to hire a full-sized crane to drop his creation into the water. The build hit a minor speed bump on land too, as Gilpo picked up a local parking ticket while putting the final touches on the craft in a nearby parking lot before launch.
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Regulators and community react
While plenty of folks online cheered on the backyard engineering, not everyone was thrilled. Paddlers and rowers gearing up for an upcoming regatta worried the bulky houseboat might get in the way of their race course.
Despite rumours circulating that someone had already moved in, Gilpo clarified he is not living on board just yet. That said, he is not ruling out turning it into a permanent floating cottage down the road.
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The craft also caught the eye of federal officials. Transport Canada confirmed to CTV News that it is taking a close look at the floating RV to figure out if it actually meets marine safety standards and environmental rules.
While Canadians are allowed to build their own backyard boats for personal fun, federal law says every vessel still has to follow the Canada Shipping Act. Transport Canada pointed out that a craft does not even need an engine to count as a vessel under official rules.
Gilpo, who happens to be a member of Engineers and Geoscientists BC, said he plans to send his blueprints to the association to study. However, the organization told CTV News that while Gilpo is registered with them, they had zero involvement in building the floating camper.
Gilpo insists he has not broken any rules, but he knows the clock is ticking. To keep the peace after a flood of local complaints, he plans to attach a motor to the rig and cruise it down to a quieter spot on the river.
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Leslie Kennedy served as an editor at Thomson Reuters and for Star Media Group, followed by a number of years as a writer and editor and content manager in marketing communications, before returning to her editorial roots. She is a graduate of Humber College’s post-graduate journalism program and has been a professional writer and editor ever since.
