Help me build a very small houseboat !

[Madman]

Hi there, I've been planning for a while to build a small houseboat at my camp to use on the lake, nothing fancy. It would be for my 5 year old son and I and 1 or 2 of his buddies to spend the night on and fish a bit. It only needs to sleep 2 or 3 people and maybe room enough for a small table and chairs. Maybe 8' or 10' wide by 12' or 14' long. Nothing fancy, just for on the camp lake, no motor either. How do I go about building this, what do I build it on ? Can I build it on 2 old aluminum 14' boats, or should I build pontoons ?

[KnottyBuoyz]

Somethin' like this?

http://www.bateau.com/prodimages/HB18_350.jpg

http://www.bateau.com/proddetail.php?prod=HB18&cat=17

http://www.bateau.com/images/boatpics/HB18_pr_350.JPG

[Madman]

I've seen that on the web before. What I would like to build is more like a small floating camp,sort of, lol ! I will just tow it and anchor it at different spots on the lake.

[USCGRET/E8]

Find and use an old pontoon boat.

[KnottyBuoyz]

Oh ok, how about something like this?

http://www.makezine.com/blog/redneck_houseboat.jpg

Sorry, couldn't resist.

I've seen plans somewhere for small pontoon boats that you can build yourself. Give me a chance to find the link. I'm sure you want it safe for your kids to use. What kind of ammenities are you thinking it should have? Head? Galley? etc. Even though it's unpowered and on a lake you should make provisions for proper lighting so it doesn't get run over by some drunken boater on a moonless night.

[USCGRET/E8]

This is what can be done with an old pontoon boat:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/2007-Screened-Houseboat-Pontoon-Boat-on-Water_W0QQitemZ330157817814QQihZ014QQcategoryZ63684QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

[Pete Dennison]

Good one Knotty!! Although I think those upper deck guard ropes look very dangerous! Perhaps a more substantial rail of stainless pipe would be better!!:)

[Winingar]

Good one Knotty!! Although I think those upper deck guard ropes look very dangerous! Perhaps a more substantial rail of stainless pipe would be better!!:)

LOL!!!!!:D

[kengrome]

All joking aside, you might actually like Lisa B. Good. The plans are free and it's a
great looking mini-shanty if you ask me. The one feature I might change is to
make the ceiling/roof flat and install a ladder between the picture window and the
front door -- especially for the kids who will want to climb up and jump off - even
if it means shortening the front roof a bit:

http://www.geocities.com/geezerboat/page5.html

http://geezerboatworks.photosite.com/GeezerBoatDesigns/LisaBGood/

http://geezerboatworks.photosite.com/~photos/tn/3_1024.ts315729404000.jpg

[JEM]

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

http://www.jemwatercraft.com/images/prodimages/Pontoon/Pontoon.jpg

[Trevlyns]

Guys, I don’t mean to be a fuddy duddy, but am I the only one who has picked up on the fact that this craft is for a five year old and his buddies for overnight fishing? That would definitely be a point of concern for me. 5 just seems a little young to be placed in a potentially dangerous situation (sudden adverse weather, fish hooks etc) without adult supervision.
Just voicing my point of view. Here I am, shoot me down in flames if you want!

[marshmat]

A five year old, his buddies and his dad, if I read the initial post correctly. (There's an "I" in there too.) Sounds like good family fun to me.
At 14' long by 10' beam, that's more like a floating dock than a boat. It won't move around very well. Might I suggest a bit longer and a bit narrower? Remember that anything over 8'6" wide will put you through bureaucratic hell when you try to trailer it to the lake.
If you were to go, say, 8' beam by 14' or 16' long in a flat-bottom barge shape, you could do it with standard plywood sheets and ordinary lumber, with minimal cutting. Such a boat would give you a lot more useful space- and many more years of use before it's too small- than an 8x10 or 8x12 one, despite costing only a hair more at first. The kid might even help nail and screw it together (probably wouldn't accomplish much but he'd love to work with Dad using his 6-ounce hammer and paintbrush). An 8' wide box barge is amazingly stable. You can start with just railings and a tent on deck (build the railings to the same standards as for a deck on a house, since you've got little kids on board), and add features (roof, walls, etc) as the kids grow.
I've seen some interesting conversions based on the standard 14' aluminum boat (houseboat, pirate ship, etc) but they usually have a "Red Green's Handyman Corner" look to them (Canadians will understand) and the structural issues are killer when you try to glue a pair of them together.
How much do you want to spend on it? (This more than anything will determine what you end up doing.)

[Madman]

Thanks Marshmat, that's good advice. I'll always be on the boat with them, no worries there. Also it will never be trailered because it will be built right at the camp and stay on that lake. It's a small lake with only a few other camps on it. We'll use it as a raft too and Dad (me, lol) would like to climb on the roof too and jump in with the kids. Plywood and lumber would be the way to go but what will make it float ? Remember, it won't be anything fancy just practical.

[marshmat]

Something like this perhaps?
You'll need freeship or delftship-free http://www.delftship.net/ to see and edit the file (btw, this took less than 5 minutes to draw, consider it public domain ;) ).
The one shown here would float almost 700 kg drawing only three inches. Plenty of capacity for ballast low down to stabilize it if you want to, but stability would be pretty darn good to start with (initial metacentre is at 21 feet up at 3" draught).
As long as something of a shape like this is watertight, it will float. As long as the weight isn't too high up, it'll float upright. You could build nearly anything onto a platform like this, dirt cheap if you keep most dimensions as being multiples of standard plywood sheets so there's no wasted wood.

[lewisboats]

... but they usually have a "Red Green's Handyman Corner" look to them (Canadians will understand)


Nothin' wrong with a little (or a lot) of Ducktape;) . RG is a staple of Public Television in this neck of the woods.

Steve

[Dave-Fethiye]

I am also planning on building a camp-out type boat.

The main differenc is that I live by the sea so it will have to cope with waves and winds. I am intending to build raft type design using plastic 500 litre barrels. This is what is used for some of the big platforms down by the dockyard.

If I build it 10m long x 5m wide I think it should be stable enough. Using 20 of the plastic drums - that gives bouyancy of ten tons ! - I will have to add some ballast to make sure it does't get blown away! Probably the ballast can be 3 of the said barrells filled with concrete.

Anyway 10mx5m ( 34ft x 17ft) is big enough for a decent house !
I would put two floors. I will power it with any outboard but will probably tow it to its ancorage site with my boat.

No drawings yet - just ideas ! - but interesting ones :D

[KnottyBuoyz]

Probably the ballast can be 3 of the said barrells filled with concrete.
Hey David

Have you ever seen the ballast bags on a liferaft? They're just the same material as the liferaft, about 2'x'2'x1' and hang below the raft. They've got holes cut in them so that water can get in and provide the ballast. The holes are just the right size to allow water in but restrict it's movement out of the bag. You could do the same thing on a raft with the barrels. Take 4 of them, one on each corner. Install them upright. Drill a dozen 2" holes around the perimeter of the barrel in random places. The barrels will flood when you put the raft in the water and provide your ballast free of charge. The 2" holes will be small enough to restrict the flow of water out of the barrels when it's moving. The benefit is when you drydock the raft the barrels just drain and you don't have to haul a couple tonnes of concrete out of the water.

Same basic principle as a sea anchor or drogue.

FWIW

Rick

[Dave-Fethiye]

Thanks Rick,

Thats great, I was thinking that I would "drop" the ballast in shallow water if I ever needed to haul her out. Then somehow ( ? ) reconnect the ballast after relaunch using a winch - by keeping the ballast under water the loads would not be as great. Anyway seawater makes better ballast !

Also I googled "drogue" and learnt a lot about their use to prevent ocean wave capsizing etc - very interesting.

David.

[Dave-Fethiye]

Hello again,
I thought that you mat be interested in these photos that I took of two floating platforms. One of them uses blue plastic barrels which I intend to use.

The "Blue Barrel" one is about 9m X 4m - I would like to make one that is about 10m x 5m ,

The other platform seems to have a pontoon under it - but I can not tell what its made of.

Maybe this is of some use to Madman's plans - afterall you could put anything on these platforms. but perhaps sailing and sterring them might be difficult!

[Madman]

Thanks Dave, that's just what I'm looking for. Not too expensive or fancy with the barrells. I'd build it about half that size and build the "small camp" on it. Don't really need to steer it because it will never be going very far, thanks.

[boatbuilder.org]

Try this one http://www.devlinboat.com/constructionmilliehill.htm

[thudpucker]

Elswhere in this site is some guys who made a Deck on some large PVC pipes, with some Foam and plywood decking.
The rest would be easy.
You'll have to search for it, as my memory is gone on downriver...

[Dave-Fethiye]

This sounds VERY interesting !
BUT - I have searched but can not find the thread mentioned :(

Can someone please help to find the thread containing the pipe boat.

[Dave-Fethiye]

I just found several threads by searching "PVC pipe"

So Madman - I suggest you have a look as well for some alternative designs :)

BTW - have you started (or finished) your raft yet ?
any pictures ?