Retirement Houseboat or Floating Home

[brian eiland]

At the start of designing the Myark folding trailer barges I would live on top of folding pontoon with a old camper, caravan and TP tent in remote water ways seen in pictures attached that also show the early design mechanism that unfolds the barge with a 5 to 1 boat winch.

Here is a fashionable tented structure that might be simplified so it could be added onto Myark's foldable base structure?

http://www.tomahouse.com/ProjectArea/Monserrat/monserrat.htm

 

[brian eiland]

Another fellow over on another forum was kind enough to 'photo-shop' this Pilgrim cabin onto a barge arrangement.....ha...ha
View attachment 84084

Didn't turn out looking too bad :idea:. What do you think?

The city officials might have trouble defining whether this is a 'working barge' or a floating home.??

http://www.trawlerforum.com/forums/s3/redesigning-pilgrim-40-trawler-canal-boat-11212-6.html#post176315

Just got back from another trip to Thailand where I visited a couple of interesting places. This one was at the floating market town of Amphawa just southwest of Bangkok. Saw a number of interesting vessels including this unusual one,..... that if enclosed and enlarged just a little bit, sure reminds me of this 'modified' Pilgrim concept


Then a bit more enclosure...

 

[brian eiland]

River Kwai

Another place we visited was up near the 'Bridge on the River Kwai' in Kanchanburi Thailand. I had heard that they had lots of 'floating houses/rafts/cottages/resorts up in that area. I found a LOT, and for now with just post a few preliminary photos.

 

[Pericles]

It's unfortunate, but in the UK, the seashore between high & low tides is the property of the Crown, which means that technically, a pass port is required for traversing this border. There is no freedom without responsibility.

Hence, houseboats are regulated out of the reach of most people & most especially, on rivers & canals. The floods we had on the R. Thames "liberated" the mooring lines of quite a number of vessels, but the occupants of those who did not abandon their craft, then faced difficulties in reaching shore in order to re-provision. OTOH, a flooded house is contaminated with sewage & could be uninhabitable for months & months.

 

[brian eiland]

On the Water Experiences

These guys make the 'on water' experience look easy.

While the story is about football (soccer) , check out the environment and creativity of these guys.

Every little bit of water is used.

 

[brian eiland]

Thai Rice Barge Home

Cruising around on a river near the floating market area of Amphawa, I spotted this house on the land. At least if a BIG flood comes along, as often happens in Thailand, he may survive better than many others.




Looks like it may have been built around an old style Thai Rice Barge (more images)

 

[brian eiland]

Living on a Lake in Chiangmai

Over in Thailand again, and this idea of a floating house / cottage / whatever has resurfaced. So I'm going thru a few forums over here and look at this reference that has just turned up.....WOW










Living on a lake in Chiangmai
Mountain Float

 

[brian eiland]

River Kwai jungle Rafts

OK, got a few more for you.

Floating Bamboo Raft Rooms - River Kwai Jungle Rafts

 

[brian eiland]

A few more 'relaxing' ones

 

[brian eiland]

...oh yeah, we need some coffee,..... after that night at the bar







...and since we are in Thailand, we need another massage

 

[Rurudyne]

Just got back from another trip to Thailand where I visited a couple of interesting places. This one was at the floating market town of Amphawa just southwest of Bangkok. Saw a number of interesting vessels including this unusual one,..... that if enclosed and enlarged just a little bit, sure reminds me of this 'modified' Pilgrim concept
View attachment 89421

Then a bit more enclosure...
View attachment 89422
View attachment 89423

Pretty.

Couldn't you adapt SOF techniques to construct the sides of a lightweight superstructure and help keep the CG low? Use a flame retardant low density filler sewn in place between the outer and inner skin for insulation and some sound reduction?

 

[brian eiland]

What is SOF technics?

 

[Rurudyne]

What is SOF technics?

Sorry, skin on frame.

 

[wannadriveaboat]

Are you talking about something like a tent?

 

[Rurudyne]

Are you talking about something like a tent?

Yes and no.

Rather using the taut waterproofed (doped) fabric, inner and outer layer plus any insulating batten material sewn in between, as the walls stretched over a frame attached to whatever is supporting the roof (which would probably be regular construction). It probably shouldn't look like a tent being the idea. Windows of glass suitable for a boat, for example, could be framed in place rather than use clear fabric if one were keeping to a tent in appearance.

Doing so would probably be more suited to a boat with canvassed decks than lots of brightwork, or so I would suppose (I could just hear the jokes about running out of money after laying the pretty deck...).

The context was those "slow boats" which are, it turns out, shovel bowed scows that kinda remind me of massive punts. When I looked around on the net it seems that the type does come with fully enclosed cabins, but they seem to be rather bare or else lightly built cabins in what I saw. I suspect that this is to keep the CG as low as possible.

Instead of building a superstructure entirely out of wood I just wondered how this other building technique might be used instead since it tends to be light weight. This way more headroom could be achieved without necessarily compromising stability or requiring as much ballast. This approach may well be less expensive to build as well based on what I've read about skin on frame.

Of course, OTHER issues are introduced (some SoF fabrics have shorter life spans than others and no telling how durable they would be compared to plywood) ... as always there is no free lunch.