Retirement Houseboat or Floating Home

For some reason, evading taxation is not a primary purpose in my life.

Enjoying the home I live in is much higher on my primary list of priorities.

Some of these 'homes' look like boxes, others like rotting rafts .... I think I would enjoy a small catamaran, or monohull over most of these designs.

wayne

 

Portable moorings are allowed on lakes. rivers and beach locations in NZ if they can be removed when not used.

 

Richard Branson used to run his Virgin empire from a house boat on the Thames in London

I quote

"Immediately adjacent to the footbridge is the barge that was Richard Branson's home for many years when he had just begun his Virgin business. Many interviews of the man were conducted on the top deck of the barge. In the 1980's locals often claimed that Bransons' boat was an eyesore. "

Guess they thought he was also a "down and out" and a troublemaker

Richard Woods of Woods Designs

www.sailingcatamarans.com

 

how right they were.

Here's another penniless bum taking advantage of the environment and messing up the scenery

"Astoria is a grand houseboat, adapted as a recording studio by its owner, Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. It is moored on the River Thames near Hampton. Gilmour purchased the boat in 1986, because he "spent half of [his] life in recording studios with no windows, no light, but on the boat there are many windows, with beautiful scenery on the outside".[1]"

 

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.

 

Personally I'd want a little more to stand on- while holding onto window and body trim for support,while steering with my feet...hopefully it beaches fairly close by.

 

Yes indeed ! I guess thats why he wants to incorporate the vehicles steering as part of the control system. That would be ideal.

 

The pontoon model was made 20 years ago with what little resources I had as the old camper and caravan tells as well the tent so naturally as a prototype and limited budget and needed a place to sleep, I invented the folding Myark pontoon to get away from the rat race and live in peace but instead ended up developing further as time went as shown with two other models picture attached.
However I have designed a 2.8 X 6. Pontoon that is for the average car that drives on to the pontoon and steers also powers the craft as rwatson kindly suggest my intensions.
This model has most the center cut out where the car sits keeping the trailer and pontoon weight at 400 kg making this factory legal for the smallest car to tow.
The only way this has a hope to make it to the market is to retail for under $10.000 usd that’s the propulsion drives and steering included that is possible I make parts China and the pontoon structure in Thailand.
Camping equipment is stored in the pontoons including tent to cover pontoon and then folds up secured,
The size when folded is 1.200 wide and 1. high with the built in ramps unfolded that become the draw bar and shapes it like a missile for aerodynamics while towing.

 

Thanks for posting that link, I hadn't opened up till this afternoon.....good one.

I had to send that off to some friends who often accussed me of dreaming of same.

I discovered a little bit more history on those Island(s) he has built
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_Island

 

I do remember that story. I think I even found a photo of it at one time...perhaps I put it or something about it over on the 'canal boat thread'.

Sterling Hayden also had a temp residence on a houseboat in Paris, if I remember properly
YES just found a reference
The barge was laid up in the center of Paris for 17 years, where she was owned and lived on by the famous American actor/writer Sterling Hayden.
http://www.barginginfrance.com/EN/hotel/whoknows/

 

Sustainable Living at Freedom Cove Float House

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDqbfiejLdM

 

has anyone mentioned shantyboatliving - has a heap of information on it. It is an excellent site.

www.shantyboatliving.com

aside here is a very nice garvey houseboat I saw yesterday, Looks boatish, looks capable in rough weather, yet still has a lot of internal space. Would be very very easy to increase the cabin space and decrease cockpit space. It really looks good in my opinion



kinda looks like a modification of a Tad Roberts sailing scow, but that is just a guess

 

That boat is nice .

It looks a little like a stretched Sam Devlin Lichen hull to me.

 

my money goes on a modified Harry Sailing Scow by Tad Roberts, with different topsides and of course no rig. Or of course it could just be a home designed boat, very very nice boat though

 

Merco Marine

I just received a print catalog in the mail a few days ago from Merco Marine in West Virginia which makes floating docks and platforms for marinas. Paging through the catalog I thought, Hmmm, these would make sense for floating homes. Sure enough, the catalog showed some floating homes using their dock and platform hardware. You can see their catalog on line here:

http://www.mercoboatdocks.com/catalog/online-catalog

Go to page 61 and there are half a dozen photos of floating homes using Merco Marine's dock and platform hardware.

So, this company makes all the hardware that you would need for a floating home platform--one-stop shopping.

When you get right down to it, the hardest part of building a floating home for most people--aside from paying for it--is how to configure the platform. What type of hull do you need? Is it going to be a boat or a floating home? Almost all the discussion on this thread is about hull design, which can take myriad forms. For simply a platform, this company makes the parts that can be assembled from stock hardware into whatever platform you want.

Eric