Hawkeye is a musician and songwriter from Dorset and is moored in Hertfordshire

This is a 70ft tug-style boat and I’ve lived on it for the past six years. The furniture is antique, campaign style mainly. Everything is solid oak and I hand-finished the floor. I like my desk area; I can sit there with the side door open and read and write songs.

I’m really into old clothes – I love Victoriana, and I have a really large collection of old pocketwatches. I get a lot of clothes made because I’m a big lad and it’s difficult to source them second hand – everyone was so small back then. We have a thing called towpath chic – it’s like a dystopian rustic mix and the colours are very natural: greens and brown.

Q&A What is the canal revolution series? Show Hide Few things symbolise the way our cities have transformed more than canals. Around the world, cities have woken up to the power of their urban waterways: from Milan to Manchester, the former economic arteries of industry are being turned into corridors for walkers, boaters and wildlife. Cafes and restaurants are proliferating and canalside living is newly chic – and newly costly. As commercial interests muscle in on the last great undeveloped bit of Britain’s cities, Guardian Cities and the Observer wanted to take stock of a crucial moment in history, when we still have a choice: whether to turn canals into sanitised enclaves of wealth, or preserve them as a precious resource for all. Chris Michael, Cities editor

There are certain noises you learn by being on the canal that other people don’t know. You know what kind of birds are outside your boat by the way they tap on the side. At night, you can tell if it’s a swan or a duck or a coot by the tapping.

Living on a boat forces you to be green. I have two solar panels. Our water is in a thousand-litre stainless steel water tank that we fill up from water points. All the wood we use is reconstituted wood and the electricity is run by batteries – we don’t plug in to the short. I think it’s one of the greenest ways to live.

‘What’s in our wardrobes? About 10 pairs of dungarees’

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Jo wears dungarees by carhartt.com, blouse ganni.com; Matt wears shirt by youmustcreate.com, jeans levi.com; their son, Billy Beau, wears dungarees by jojomamanbebe.co.uk, T-shirt hm.com. Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Observer

Jo Bowis, from Cornwall, is a member of the Mediaeval Baebes, an actors’ agent and author of Express Yourself: a Mamoir. Her partner, Matt, from Stoke-on-Trent, is artistic director of the Crystal Maze Live Experience.

We’ve lived on this boat for four years. It’s a 55ft narrowboat and it’s a cruiser stern, which basically means there’s a bit of outside area at the back of it. The best bit is the freedom and the idea that you can just move wherever you want – a nomad lifestyle.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Observer

You’re outside a lot of the time which is really nice. The worst bit is changing the toilet, and the darkness in winter is really hard too. The best bit is when spring arrives and you’re like: “Oh yeah, it’s nice living on a boat.” We basically live outside and Billy Beau, who is two, loves it. Every morning he speaks to the swans and he knows the names of all the wildlife.

What do our wardrobes consist of? About 10 pairs of dungarees. Matt wears a waistcoat with a tiny vest underneath in the summer. Large party dresses with netting underneath are a big no-no on a boat because you’d knock everything over, and if you fell in you’d sink. Usually Matt only wears his very short shorts that he likes to call his ballsy shorts. That’s all he wears because it’s too hot in the winter with the fire on and too hot in summer for clothes. Ballsy shorts suffice all year round.

‘I often dress as a pirate’

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Dave with his dog in Manchester. Dave wears his own clothes. Photograph: Suki Dhanda/Observer

Dave is a retired soldier from Leicester and is moored in Manchester

After I split up with my wife, I went on eBay and bought a boat, just like that. It was a wreck but I did something with it, sold it and bought another one. This is my fifth boat – it’s pirate-themed. All my life people have compared me to a pirate; if I find an object, I’ll use it, like the curtains and the skulls. I’m on an army pension and it does not suffice me to live in a flat or a house. I’ve lived on a boat for seven years. Now my rent is cheap, council tax is cheap, it’s cheap living and I can afford it even if I lose all my benefits.

Since I’ve been on a boat my life has gone from shit to pretty amazing. The community here is very tight-knit and I seem to be the centre of it. You’ll never meet such a diverse range of people as have been brought together by boats and this marina [New Islington, Manchester]. I often dress as a pirate – not every day, but if I go to a gig or a festival. When I first saw this boat it was a right mess and I always said it would look good as a pirate boat. How it looks today is how I always knew it could look.

‘Our favourite boat-term is gongoozler’

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Cressida wears Kowtow at folkclothing.com, Jonah wears shorts by oliverspencer.co.uk, shirt his own. Photograph: Suki Dhanda/Observer

Cressida Kocienski is a filmmaker from Leeds, and Jonah Falco is a musician and engineer from Toronto, Canada

Living on a boat is hard work but a lot of fun. It also has a really strong community, especially of women, which is something that is really appealing. It’s hard to connect with people in London but living on a boat you have a readymade community of people that are always there for you.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Observer

Our boat is manufactured by Harland & Wolff. It’s a star class butty and was built in 1935. During the war women were drafted to keep the freight going when the men went off to war, and the woman who steered our boat was called Frankie C Martin.

Our wardrobes have a lot of stuff we don’t mind getting mud and coal on. Less durable fabrics won’t last you more than 20 minutes. Hard-wearing things are good.

Our favourite boat-term is gongoozler – it’s used to describe a non-boater. It could be someone who likes to sit and watch boats go up and down, or people in Camden staring at you and filming you – that’s gongoozling. We are often seen as a nuisance community, but we are also a stabilising and creative community, living in a way that points towards a better future for sustainability.

‘Sandals are a big no-no because you can trip up’

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Grace Mattimore and her dog, Rolo, at their mooring in Manchester. Grace wears her own clothes. Photograph: Suki Dhanda/Observer

Grace Mattimore is a head chef from Manchester

I’ve lived on a boat for five years now. I’d always wanted to – I used to walk along the canals and love it. The opportunity came one day and I thought: if I don’t do it now I’ll never do it. I’ve got a cruiser stern and it’s about 50ft.

I’ve been up to Hebden Bridge, Marple, Macclesfield and the Peaks on my boat. I’ve been up to Lymm, I’ve done the Leeds and Liverpool canal. I’ve done quite a bit.

When you’re doing work on your boat, you don’t wear your best clothes; it gets very dirty and muddy. Sandals are a big no-no when you’re doing the locks because you can trip up, and I have sometimes (although I do wear them anyway.)

When you’re washing up, liquid goes straight out of your sink and into the canal – I don’t really agree with that so I get the eco [washing-up liquid]. I use a composting toilet, and solar panels. It’s quite hard, especially in the winter. Boat life is best in summer – you can take your boat out cruising and get to enjoy the sunshine on it.

‘You’re so much more aware of what you consume’

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Poppy wears dress by marquesalmeida.com; Toby wears trousers by gap.co.uk, T-shirt americavintage-store.com, sunglasses persol.com. Photograph: Suki Dhanda/Observer

Poppy Okotcha is a model from the UK and South Africa, and Toby Burgess is an architect and jewellery maker from Cornwall

We’ve been living on boats for four years. We love the idea that they are little off-grid homes and it makes you so much more aware of what you consume. We consciously don’t make much rubbish, especially when we’re moving the boat around, because you have to put it somewhere and that’s quite tricky. You never really leave lights on; it’s like a reflex now.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Observer

Even if we do eventually move off the boat, we’re going to be taking that lesson with us. We’re looking forward to what will happen with the policy change around diesel engines because nearly all boats have diesel engines and so it will be interesting to see the switch to electric.

Boating does make you more conscious of the environment when you see how things affect the canal. You notice when there is a really big freeze and you can’t move your boat and the ducks can’t get into the water. When you’re detached in a house, you don’t even necessarily know if it’s raining.

We didn’t know when we got onto the canals that we’d find a community as friendly as it is. Everyone likes coming to parties on boats – it makes it feel special because you’re separate from land. It’s kind of like a secret password when you say: “I live on a boat.”

‘You live a much simpler life’

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Phelan wears shirt and trousers by oliverspencer.co.uk. Photograph: Suki Dhanda/Observer

Phelan is an architect from Berlin and is moored in London

My boat is not a classic narrowboat style – it has a bit of a retro and futuristic charisma. My girlfriend and I had never been to London before – we moved straight on to the boat and it was a great way to see different parts of the city.

When we bought the boat it was like a shell and we built it back up from the ground. We re-did all the electrics and the plumbing, and all the joinery – we were living in a construction [site] for three years. It was pretty terrible at times.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Photograph: Suki Dhanda/The Observer

The logistics of getting a sheet of plywood inside the boat are difficult, so I had to get it delivered to work and then get it here. Then it doesn’t fit through the door so you start cutting it up on the roof, and when you get it in nothing is square. You can’t even use a spirit level because it’s on the water so obviously it moves.

I’d describe the boat’s interior as open, warm and cavernous. We burn firewood and coal for heating so I don’t think living on a boat is very sustainable in itself, but you develop a really good awareness about sustainability. You generate a good sensibility for how much power different appliances use, so we can’t use an electric kettle, for example, because everything that generates heat uses a massive amount of energy. You become aware how much is needed to live and you live a much simpler life. It’s quite liberating.

‘You need good weather gear’

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Mark wears vintage clothes. Photograph: Suki Dhanda/Observer

Mark Kennedy is an artist from Manchester

For me, living on a boat was purely accidental – it just became available and I needed somewhere to live. I use this place to sleep, write, design and then I go to work in my studio. The best bit is being able to have a real fire. It means I can look at the flames and use my imagination to think about what I want to do with the rest of my life, so I don’t need a television. The worst bit is waking up freezing in winter. I miss having a toilet that I can flush that I don’t have to carry for a thousand yards filled with human waste.

I like clothing so I have a lot of bespoke clothes, a lot of vintage tweed and a lot of Rohan weather gear because you need weather gear living on a boat. That’s the only thing I ever really spend my money on – and alcohol – oh, and food, because there are so many good restaurants in Manchester.

Additional reporting by Aminah Khan; hair and makeup by Juliana Sergot

The canal revolution series looks at what our changing waterways reveal about modern British cities. Follow Guardian Cities on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and use the hashtag #canalrevolution to join the discussion or sign up for our weekly newsletter