Thank you for a nice trip down memory lane. Seeing those two videos some years ago is what started me down the path that led to the idea of living/traveling for long periods in an RV and then eventually this website.
For what it's worth, I was/am already an experienced (fishing) boater and it was this experience that finally made me decide not to go there. For one thing, after a few weeks the waterways lose their novelty. Second, you can't easily carry along a land-vehicle that would allow you buy groceries/fuel/whatever at reasonable, non-marina prices or at retailers that offer a greater selection of goods. Third, you can't go fast enough to avoid severe weather, or in some cases even rapidly-changing seasons. Fourth, except for the extra-nasty and treacherous Missouri River (I've boated one of the lower stretches of it, and know) it's practically impossible to get out west. Fifth, going against the current is hard, slow, fuel-guzzling work in anything cheap and low-powered (like I was looking at), and even buzzing about on a lake burns lots of gas since boats tend to be much less efficient than cars and trucks. Sixth, natural events like floods and low-water seasons can strand you for weeks and even months at a time. I'll also add, though only this forum and Bob's videos made me think of it, that in a boat you also can't go to high elevations to avoid the heat. And I bet cellular reception absolutely sucks down in the basins where the water is, as well. Especially in rural areas.
But, hey! You don't have to ever worry about paying for a slot to drop anchor, and once you're there you can stay for a week, a month, or a year if you like. And there's all the free fish you can catch to eat as well. So there are indeed positives as well as negatives.
For a very long time I pondered a shantyboat, to the point that my first exposure to solar power was an investigation of possibly running an air-conditioner aboard such a boat during summer (difficult but I think possible) and, when the AC unit isn't needed, perhaps charging the batteries for a low-powered trolling-motor based electric propulsion system for use on lakes or going downstream when there's no wind. But in the end the negatives outweighed the positives, at least for me. For others, it just might be a pretty wonderful way of life.