Houseboats

busboy

Cadet
Joined
Apr 2, 2003
Messages
27
Anybody here done anything with building a houseboat? I was thinking of getting a used pontoon and building a lightweight cabin on top. Any thoughts or ideas? Thanks Mike
 

Columbia

Petty Officer 2nd Class
Joined
Aug 29, 2003
Messages
131
Re: Houseboats

There's been a lot of that building on to pontoons done in a variety of ways. There's a 'pro' boat called...I think...a PatioCruiser. Pricey though. The trick is to build lightweight, lightweight materials lightly built but engineered enough to stand up to the movement, etc. Good luck!
 

jim phillips

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
May 11, 2003
Messages
504
Re: Houseboats

contact a aluminum contractor in your area and have him help you with the design, engineering and materials.
 

18rabbit

Captain
Joined
Nov 14, 2003
Messages
3,202
Re: Houseboats

I have thought about this before. I decided stability might be an issue. While the houseboat may be stable “enough” under normal use, if some idiot in a ski boat smacks into it, that may be just the force needed to roll it over. I wanted a negative center of gravity when calculated across the beam. Pontoon boats place everything above the waterline. This restricted the ‘house’ part to a narrowed area down the center of the platform. Probably me being overly cautious, but I would run this by a marine architect before I dumped any $$$ into it. <br /><br />Useless but interesting tidbit: a houseboat that spends its life moored (a house that floats) is built atop of barge structure while floating. This creates logistical problems with making walls ‘square’ since constant motion means plumb lines and levels cannot be used. Instead, measurements are done using the Pythagorean formula ... a(squared) + b(squared) = c(squared) where a is the top of the barge, b is the wall height and c is a known diagonal length from a to b. The results are walls that are typically more ‘true’ than houses built on terra firma.<br /><br />Fwiw, thanks to recent EPA efforts, all new houseboats must be able to navigate under their own power.
 

SeaMasterZ@aol.com

Lieutenant Commander
Joined
May 21, 2003
Messages
1,924
Re: Houseboats

now THIS Would be a complicated piece of equipment:<br /><br />wireless device that bolts to the base barge, computes list and yaw, etc<br /><br />electronic level that compensates for the deflections from baseline, wireless connection to the base unit<br /><br />frustration with unit would result in the measure twice, cut once rule in use<br /><br />lol<br /><br /> :p
 

18rabbit

Captain
Joined
Nov 14, 2003
Messages
3,202
Re: Houseboats

Nah. No need to measure anything ... when you are all done just go around with a saw and cut off the parts that stick out. :)
 
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