40ft resident mooring (London)- need to build a new boat on it.

The wide barge concept will give the most sq ft of interior , a,though you will have to locate or build one. 40 x 12 or 14 is HUGE!!!

An old trawler like a marine trader looks more like a boat , and with a GRP hull, the only work may be repairing the decks and deck house.

A rotten engine would simply be scrapped.

An outboard of 10-15 HP could demonstrate that the boat is operational , and could be preserved and kept inside most of the year.

 

For a one-off hull I think that if you have the skills to build yourself plywood/epoxy and glass may be the answer. If you are hiring the work steel will be cheaper for a big box. A production glass hull should be cheaper than either of these because man hours are lower. With a proper paint system inside and out steel will be low maintenance for many years.

The really import issue is budget, if it's $10k that's one answer, if it's unlimited (unlikely) that's another answer. Don't think building something will be inexpensive, it's not, far cheaper to buy an existing vessel and modify to suit.

 

40' berth on river in London

G on a Boat, How are the floods affecting you and the berth you own?

 

Ah, so news of the UK, great Thames floods has been reported in the US!. We hear about your extreme cold, especially down the east coast. On Dec 23rd 2013 we had 60+Kn sustained for about 6-7 hours dead S direction and a lot of rain. Feb 14th it hit 67+ kn sustained 50+ for a few hours on the south coast. That is without the rest of the tree felling storms and rain too...

I live about 20 miles north of the south coast a bit east of Portsmouth and it was genuinely windy. We did not sail on our local pond the week before, 45+ kn gusts....stuff starts to break in that especially as it is more vicous than open water.

London has not really been hit by the flood water, but just upstream about 1 or 2 locks above the tidal part have been badly flooded. Worst I have seen and I used to live about 1/4 mile from the river in Walton on Thames. Thames barrier in at least 14 successive uses to help clear out floodwater. Some sailing clubs inaccesible for 5 weeks. Gravel pits joined to others and the river. Who knows what the eco damage will be too, fish all over the place. We have mitten crabs, American crayfish, catfish and other unwanted immigrant species now spread wherever may be. One hell of a mess, I can remember canoeing up roads in '68 and the wretched sewage popping out of lifting manhole covers - ugh!.

Maybe G on a boat can update, from his perspective?

 

It makes great news story in Australia too - all these old villages up to their oaken beams in water.

Some people think the weather is changing around the world ... some dont.

We have a lot of farmers in what were once monsoon areas, in dire straits due to lack of water ( its all snow and rain in the northern hemisphere). One poor soul had his herd of cattle rejected by the transporter that came to take them all to market, as they were in too poor a condition to make the journey. So he had to shoot them all in his cattleyard, and then for good measure, he shot himself.

What has this got to do with live-aboard barges ? - Maybe in these dire times, we should consider floating accommodation that can make the occasional ocean crossing to better climes, in case the weather changes too much.

At least flooding shouldnt be a problem in a barge.

 

I doubt they would accept a 40 ft wide and 12 ft long boat, the object of the authorities is to collect money. however, you might ask if there is a width limit; you could make something like a 25 ft long by 20 ft wide boxy barge type hull and have more room than a 35 x 12 ft hull at far less cost. I like Richard Woods idea of a junk outboard (I once got one of those for free from a scrap pile, thought I could fix it, still sitting in a friends storage unit). Since weight is not a big issue, you can use low cost lumber yard materials and make it strong and heavy, fiberglass skin and 6-7 coats of high quality exteiror paint also from a hardware store will give a fairly inexpensive and druable hull. If you can salvage building materials from construction sites it would save you even more (but do not be fooled into thinking this is an easy thing to do, it could take years to get together enough left over materials to build it).

much of the hardware would not necessarily have to be "marine" type, it could use vinyl framed windows used on homes, regular household plastic piping and wiring, and a composting crapper and a refrigerator from an RV camping trailer or motor home.

That said, it is always faster and easier to just find something close to what you want and buy it and fix it up. many neglected boats, including house boats, can often be found for nothing, or near nothing. borrow a good motor to get in in place. Selcet carefully however, you want something that just needs a good cleaning, not something that needs extensive repairs, that could cost much more (and many hours) than just buying a good used houseboat.

Good luck.

 

there are boats and boats. Assume you want a barge, the shape is well, barge shape, leave it at that. The interior can be nice, it can be bad, depends on your budget. Might be cheaper to renovate an old barge than start anew. Either way you are going to need money.

Seems there might be some money to be made by buying old barges, dividing the interior into small rooms, and renting them out to desperate people. I just read this article on the guardian. Does not really looks all that nice, but I guess if your desperate you have to do what you have to do.

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/feb/23/london-houseboat-slum-rents-barge