Building a houseboat

Started by jak, July 09, 2006, 04:13:19 AM

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jak

My wife and I are planning to build a houseboat. We found some sites that fabricate just pontoons, and have these metal joists already welded to the pontoons. I had trouble finding info on houseboats that weren't already built, or houseboat plans. There were tons of high end houseboats (plasma TV's, satellites, dual mercruiser engines, etc.) but we want a basic design that we can build ourselves. I found this site, and the cabin design seems perfect, except for the fact that houseboat designs are usually longer, and not quite as wide (say, 14ft. X 40 ft.). I'm tempted to use one of these loft cabin designs and build it onto the pontoons/plywood flooring. Does anyone have any advice? Ever built a house boat? I'm looking at something like the 1 1/2 story cottage design, but more like 14' X 40 ft. Is this a good idea? Average cost to build the cottage? Any info is appreciated. Thanks.


benevolance

not sure about the boat part of it...

From spending years as a kid growing up at the lake in the summer we built  floating docks.... and the best thing I ever saw for floatation and stability was styrofoam

You can get it a couple of feet thick...I like it for the simple fact that it is lightweight and it is stable.. so it will not make the boat tippy...And it should attach easy enough.

I would go with the styrofoam and cover it with some kind of protective sealant

I am sure there is a website that can tell you water displacement facts and figures and there has to be a weight chart somewhere also


glenn-k

On of my concerns would be weight -- you may want to check with the local house boat repair shop to see how the framing is done.  I don't know what codes apply to house boats but common sense would dictate that all safety codes would.  

Bracing would be another important issue - a hard bump into a dock could knock things out of whack but I think the basic design of John's plans could be followed.  The taller the house boat the more strain on the bracing during a bump incident.

bil2054

Hi jak, and welcome.
I share the concerns already voiced by Glenn and benevolance about the weight issue.  Most pontoon design houseboats in my experience have been of lighter construction, similiar to what you find in RV's.  John's designs are robust little houses and pretty heavy when stick built, though there has been some discussion of panelizing one or more designs, which would be a step in the right direction for pontoon application.  If you are not familiar with the process you might do a search for panelization, or SIP's.
Most real "housey" house boats I have encountered are built on top of barges or full hull s.  They are usually moored in a well protected anchorage and don't move around much because they are more house than boat, and as such don't navigate worth spit.  A cottage on pontoons wouldn't be much better, IMO.  The "superstructure" would catch every bit of weather, it would be top heavy, and very little visibilty for navigation purposes.  If you do plan to mostly "park" it, then a barge or full hull probably has advantages in gross tonnage and space for your tankage, (potable water, sewage holding tank, etc.)
I don't want to sound negative towards your idea; it's one I have entertained on and off for years, though being a sorta "edificated" red neck, I was thinking about putting a mobile home on pontoons.[smiley=smiley.gif].
My experience with boats began with my parents throwing me over the rail of the "Milly Anne"  before I could walk, (fortunately there was a life jacket and length of line involved), and continued through shipyards, marinas, and a  stint in the King crab fishery.  Although the house boat is about the only kind I haven't built, sold, worked aboard, or repaired, ( from folding kayaks to "boomer" boats), it may be next on the list... especially if Lake Meade stops shrinking.

NELSELGNE

I have 100 megs of houseboat building files that I found on the internet.  Is there a way I can download them to this website?


JRR

One of my colleagues never own a house, at least not one that he himself lived in.  He raised a family on a large houseboat.  The deisel engines were fired up for an occasional sojourn around the lake.   Very rarely it moved up/down the intercoastal waterway.

He claimed that it was not only the joy ... but the extremely low cost of living that kept him on the "flotsam".

benevolance

Lake Mead is going to keep shrinking....

There are a couple of huge problems..

1. Mass exodus of people to The Desert....Yes the river is massive.. but with all the irrigation demans on it in a dozen states it cannot keep up.

2. Global Warming has shifted rainfall patterns and that means less snowfall in winter in the mountains and less rain in the summer... We are in for major water shortages.

...

I read in a suburb of Vegas they are on emergency water rations and are using a quarter of their normal amount of water...This has been going on for some time there and will continue indefinately

We will see more and more communities and towns running out of water...And we will see the water table drop drastically as people try to dig deeper and deeper wells.

Massive Solar powered water desalinization with pumping stations to take water to All major Desert Cities will be needed.

In southern California they have started to buy into desalinization...Many towns are trying to purify enough water to run on...

In Israel they have used up the water they took from the Palestinians when they seized the Golan Heights..And they are dependant upon desalinization for over 1/3rd of their water.

Actually Israel is a perfect model for America to learn from...

75 years ago there were No jews in Israel....And today there are 6+ million....The number of Palestinians has remained about the same.

Like America with the Colorado river...Israel has sucked the Jordan River dry...The dead sea is about dead (no pun intended) and they have sucked the water resources from every freshwater lake (tiberias, Jordan) and they have even tapped the west bank and golan heights water supplies.

Well putting aside the nasty eviction of the non jewish people from that region we see mass exodus of people into a desert...What limited water resources there are for irrigation power generation.. drinking water are limited and cannot sustain growth like Israel, Arizona, California, NM, Tex, Nevada has experienced in the last century.

The 1967 fighting over there broke out over water! When Jordan and Syria started to build massive dams to collect water in what is now occupied by Israel...It would have limited the water available for Israel and they took pre-emptive action and bombed the dams and it started the skirmishes which allowed Israel to control the Golan Heights

Point being that Water was more of a fighting point than Holy land or cultural differences.... As water keeps getting harder to find in western America there will be great unrest...

Already farmers in California have a lot of resentment for the Power companies in the state.... Drive through Northen California and you see signs on the roadsides that state....Water for farmers feeds america.

Rain for rent is a huge company out there and people pay dearly for water to grow crops....

The fighting among states is getting more intense as everyone wants to use rivers like the Colorado for massive irrigation projects

Meanwhile Nevada mainly Las Vegas is still growing fast enough to double it's population base every 25 years....

This problem is going to get much worse before it ever stabilizes or gets any better.

Suppose that the Government decided to undertake a massive project where they built enough desalinization plants/ pumping stations along the coast to solve the water crisis for cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas...It would take years to impliment such a thing and years to build the pipelines.

Getting America to recycle 90% of our waste water will be a large help...They do this in much of europe...We flush it and let it run into the ocean or the nearest stream here....

That needs to change and will greatly ease the water shortage problem...But this would also take at least a generation to build and impliment


In the meantime America is going to get Thirsty

tjm73

This company has plans to build house boats. Their name is Glen-L.com boat designs.

http://www.boatdesigns.com/departments.asp?dept=7

Amanda_931

http://www.jemwatercraft.com/pontoon.php

was mentioned here before (under free stuff, back a good long while ago).  But someplace we had a thread on shantyboats.

But their pontoon boat is really really tiny--picture below--pontoons aren't but 12 ft long.  The company seems to be good at telling you a lot about the design, now much it is going to (was going to when they put up the site?) cost to make, how much it weighs, etc.



Amanda_931

And we had another thread on "shanty boat interiors" last year.  Person who started the forum really liked Phil Bolger's designs, which are close onto little house size.

http://euler.sfasu.edu/Shantyboats/

Including a picture from David Stiles' Rustic Retreats (semi-liveable, if also pretty small, IIRC)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1580170358/qid%3D1112563911/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/104-3912253-9893536

glenn-k

QuoteI have 100 megs of houseboat building files that I found on the internet.  Is there a way I can download them to this website?


I don't know - you could message John and ask as he doesn't get everywhere here anymore.  Glenn


Amanda_931

Looks like an interesting set of links.  They could use a shanty hull as opposed to the pontoon or foam..

NELSELGNE

#13
HULL BUILDING INFO FROM INTERNET:
Epoxy has revolutionized home boat building. With it a builder can turn inexpensive materials into what is literally a one piece structure, without traditional boat building skills. Because epoxy is gap filling, you are assured of structural integrity with less than perfect joints. In fact an epoxy joint that has a quarter-inch gap is stronger than one that is extremely tight fitting. Beginners can now build a boat that is as strong as the designer intended without spending years developing a journeyman's woodworking skills.


It is in coating and protecting that epoxy really comes into its own. The main reason for buying a fiberglass boat is that it requires less maintenance than a wooden boat. With epoxy coating, an amateur can build a boat which is as maintenance-free as a production fiberglass boat while retaining the easy building and inherent strength of a wooden boat.


Of course this boat building revolution is not free. Using epoxy adds to the building cost. It will increase the building time and working it with can be messy. However, the extra time spent building with epoxy will be recouped quickly by your saving on annual boat maintenance and by maintaining value over time. For me the increased pride of ownership and decreased worry about environmental degradation of my creation is more than worth the small initial increase in cost and effort.

Epoxy/plywood boat building has only been around about 20 years, and because most boats so built are still going strong, the ultimate life expectancy of epoxy/plywood boats is unknown.


The basic steps for using epoxy are:
1) Apply epoxy/fiberglass sheathing to the bottom, sides and decks
2) Apply three coats of epoxy to all interior surfaces
3) Fillet or round off all inside & outside corners
4) Epoxy glue the boat together.

Building Materials

Can I build a boat from standard plywood?

Yes, but good quality marine plywood is better. Marine plywood will last a lot longer and be easier to finish.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Another source says:

WHAT TYPE OF PLYWOOD DO YOU SUGGEST ?
AC or BC grade exterior plywood,
ranging from 1/4" to 3/4", depending on the boat and the
application.  Pine is the choice for general use and
economy, while Fir or Birch will finish prettier and
smoother. We often use treated ply for heavy-duty working
boats, but not if a natural finish is desired, as it tends
to have a green tint.  Treated ply is also a bit heavier
than non-treated.

WHY NOT MARINE PLYWOOD ? Marine ply is
beneficial in a number of applications, however, small
boats is not one of them...here's why; the glue used in
marine ply is the same as that used in exterior grade ply
(this was not so years ago), so the only difference in the
two is that marine ply is guaranteed to be void (airpocket)
free and marine ply is available in longer lengths,
however, the price of marine ply is much higher and it is
not nearly as locally available as exterior ply.  If the
presence of voids worries you, you can special order void-
free exterior ply from many lumber yards for a small fee.
So for the reasons of economy, availability and lack of
major benefit, we will recommend exterior ply over marine
ply 99% of the time, the 1% being for the folks who can get
marine at wholesale,  who absolutely cannot tolerate a
joint on their boat, or who want a very nice natural finish
of mahogany, fir, etc...to be sure, good marine ply can be
beautiful and high quality stuff, it's just not necessary
for many styles and uses of boat, just like calf-leather
seats aren't needed in all vehicles.

WHAT FASTENERS DO YOU SUGGEST ? Our all-time favorite is
the galvanized drywall/deck screw...it bites like a wild
dog and is incredibly affordable and available.  A brass
screw is thought by many to be a good choice, but the heads
wring off much too easy and should be avoided, unless you
just want to spend the time and like being frustrated.  For
most saltwater applications and general long-life, silicone
bronze is the top choice...just be ready to pay the
premium. Remember that most of the screws in this project
will be countersunk and filled and finally covered with a
waterproof finish of polyurethane and/or epoxy, so the
fasteners will be well protected, just try not to sand or
cut galvanized fasteners, as the treatment is only surface-
applied.

WHAT TYPE OF GLUE DO YOU USE ? For most boats, any water-
proof exterior wood glue works fine...we haven't found any
particularly good or bad ones...we usually use Elmers or
Tite Bond brands because they are readily available.  We
also use waterproof polyurethane construction adhesive
regularly, the brand we use often is called Premium
Polyurethane and is available in a black and yellow tube at
Lowe's stores, it is essentially the same as 3M 5200 (a
staple of many boat shops), but it is only $2.50/tube where
5200 is over $10...go figure? A premium choice is a
specialty marine adhesive or epoxy glue...but once again,
there is a heftier price tag.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


http://www.nexusmarine.com/about_epoxy.html






Amanda_931

Aha, that's why you have so many links.