Need advice on building a houseboat in Lagos, Nigeria

[brian eiland]

Originally Posted by gonzo

I think that you are exporting American setups to Africa. With thousands of dollars, you can build several local dwellings. What you suggest seems expensive and complicated. Also, you will have a floating structure that will need maintenace and experienced handling. Go native and use local resources. Let them teach you how things are done there.

Here is an interesting idea for third world floation

This temporary floating dining room was designed for a summer fundraiser by The School of Fish Foundation, a non-profit organization committed to promoting sustainable seafood. The semi-enclosed space floats on over 1700 recycled plastic bottles. The project intends to bring attention to the abundance of plastic litter floating in the oceans, but also suggests a possible use for such waste.


http://www.archdaily.com/71382/float...y+(Arch+Daily)

[Missionary Dave]

Thanks to each of you for your advice and help. Looked at several of your recomendations. Not possible to build on land so must be on stilts or floating house boat. Considering several smaller barges connected for the home. Loved the idea of floating on plastic bottles. I would need everyone in Lagos to donate their 2 liter bottles to pull that one off though.

[peterAustralia]

what you want to do it quite straight forward and quite doable

firstly, how much space do 33 children need?
I would go for simple barge or houseboat layout. Rectangular planform.

It maybe that because 33 people is a lot, this ends up as a large craft. It may be that it is cheaper to build 3 smaller craft, lashed together, this way bending stresses will be less.

If you google houseboat, you get lots of images.

I read a book on houseboat construction once, they recommended using 44 gallon drums. Now some very rough calcs, say each drum is hlaf immersed, that gives say 120L bouyancy each. If you have 70 per craft, that gives 8000kg of bouyancy. Maybe you need a few more? In fresh water in Lagos they will last longer than in salt water.

For me, I would go for three craft, each 50ft x approx 25ft. I would talk to local boat builders, how much do wooden barges cost to buy? You may be able to employ some locals to assist the people from america with construction.

Find out how much empty 44 gallon drums cost locally. (used) Compare that with cost to build a wooden barge. Flat bottom is simplest, and would be definate way to go. Plan layout, maybe rectangular. I think wood is cheap in Lagos?

If you have a beam of 25ft, you could have the bottom level enclosed, and then have another level above, but the top of this would be canvas. The top level would be good for running around space. Maybe grow a few vegeatables up there too.

To me, two or three flat bottommed houseboats/barges. Each 50ft x 25 ft. That is my rough guess.

What do locals use to seal the timber of their boats to protect them from rot? Cover the outside of hull with bitumen?

See what the locals do

i googled houseboat somethings that came up

http://nikhilbhide.com/2009/05/keral...of-a-lifetime/

notice the straw topsides. cheap and effective.

if you go to amazon dot com and put in houseboat construction
you come up with

http://www.amazon.com/Staying-Afloat...ref=pd_sim_b_1

seems a good investment for $20

You need to talk to timber yards and ask for prices for timber, ask for prices for straw. Ask for prices for used 44 gallon drums.

when you get this information you should be able to have a better idea of which method is the most cost effective.

What are the biggest waves that are encountered in the Lagos Lagoon, maybe max of 2 or 3ft. Ask the locals

[peterAustralia]

i did some price checking on 200L drums here in australia

seems new plastic ones cost $30 each
new steel ones about $20 each
used drums, from $6 each to free (rinsed with water)

say for arguemnts sake, that each craft needs 200 drums. That is 22tonnes at half load, if you are prepared to have more sinkage, maybe go up to 30 tonnes.

Now say price in Lagos is $5 each. That means $1000 for drums for each craft. Build a wooden frame, lash drums to underside of this frame. Then build a simple single level structure with a flat roof. Have straw for the sides. Use wood for vertical uprights and roof beams.

You might make some of the walls truss like, so as to give overall rigidity to the strucure. Use the roof as running around space. Put a canvas cover 8ft above the roof to protect from sun.

Next step, what is cost of wood where you are. You will need several tonnes per craft, that will cost a bit. If you were hard pressed. maybe $5000 for a completed austere 50ft houseboat in Nigeria.

all this is very rough figures.

[Missionary Dave]

Your research and advice is greatly appreciated. Would it be feasable to consider lengths of large PVC Pipe, capped on the ends? The water is brackish and the salt will be a problem for steel drums.

[peterAustralia]

yes, large lenghts of pvc pipes will work

the issue is cost. I read a book about houseboats once, that combined with me not being a total idiot is the limit of my inspired knowledge.

When I read the book about houseboats, the author was quite keen on steel drums. They are painted afterall, my guess is that they would last quite a few years. I guess is comes down to cost.

You need to work out your budget. I saw a documentary and poor people were living on the water in houses on stilts, in Lagos. You need to talk to timber yards and work out how much timber costs. You will be needing tonnes of the stuff. Ask for a quote for 5 tonnes of timber. It will be a starting point. You may need more.

You need to work out how much space 30 children need. 50ft x 25ft is my best guess. Maybe 2 craft, maybe 60ft x 30ft is better. With these dimensions going double story should be quite safe, especially as you are unlikley to find 4m waves.

My guess is that large diameter PVC pipes will cost a fortune, but you need to get on the phone and ask. Do you have yellow pages there?

5 minustes of research by me. 6m of 150mm diameter pipe costs $190. Now this much pipe has a volume of 100L. That works out at around $400 for the equivalenet of one 220L steel drum. Now I am sure that if you go for larger diameter it will be cheaper. But using these figues PVC pipe is 80 times the cost of steel drums.

I guess there is the psycholgical aspect of using old drums. Perhaps it is not as flash. How long it will last, go to a houseboat forum and ask. Painted steel yachts (3mm plate steel) last years and years. Even if you had to replace 30 or so drums after 10 years, it probably would be easy to do.

Having buoyancy in two large pontoons gives a superior craft in terms of untimate stability and ability to withstand large waves, but if the lagoon never has such conditions, it may not be neccessary. 2 pontoons gives a tremendous ultimate stability, may be a bit more work, but may well give extra piece of mind. You could possibly do this by concentrating steel drums in two areas, perhaps stack them, 4 on top of 3.

If large diameter PVC pipes are cost effective, then they will be fine. Steel pipes may be cheap too, but my guess is that for a large craft they would run into the tens of thousands of dollars.

In some ways, it may be appropiate, if you are building a flashy, high quality houseboat, and you have a strong budget, then large diameter steel pipes may be excellent. Without doing any maths at all, I would be tempted to look at steel pipes of 1.2m diameter and upwards.

If you budget is strong, then steel reinforced concrete pontoons may be excellent choice too. It depends on your budget.

It is also a little hard to know, if this is just a thinking out loud idea, or if this is something you really really want to do.

Before anyone will help out more. my guess is you need to start providing information on your budget, your skills, the space you need, if you are looking for a flash craft, or a basic one. Will it have electricity, will it have running water? will it have air conditioning?

are there any old barges lying around in Lagos for sale, that can be converted into a houseboat?