"Germany is a county addicited to regulations," says Herrmann, explaining that house boats owners exist in a half-legal limbo. "Anything different, like houseboats, are seen with disapproval. The average Geman with his house and garden and kids and two cars depends on well-regulated surroundings. Everything has to be nice and tidy. They get very suspicious of house boat owners. You always have to convince them you're not a rapist or a murderer"

A few years ago, Herrmann says, he was also an "average, stupid German businessman." Then a brush with death changed his life. While unconscious during a three-month stay in a Paris hospital, his boat construction business crumbled. By the time he returned to Cologne, all he had left was the half-finshed boat he now lives on.

Herrmann says he doesn't have any regrets.

"Somehow, business took me over. It changed me. But I'm still changing. I think that's how life is supposed to be."