1967 Hobo Houseboat rebuild, and mods

I’m building a shanty on a barge hull. The hull is done. Hoping to finish the cabin over the summer.

It’s “the one” for me.

Hope you find(or build) what you’re looking for.

Jbo

 

Thanks.

So I kind of want to duplicate something like the Hobo, but a little bigger. I'm actually taking inspiration from the C-Dory 22. Looking at its hull and cabin I can't see any reason I couldn't do similar on something like an older Mako 20, Aquasport 222, proline....

My original thought was an old hurricane fundeck, but I'd really like something with more freeboard. We will be along the west coast of Fl a lot so we need to deal with a mild chop at times.

 

The Hobo is gone. She sold in less then 24 hours.

I know some of you think I am crazy, but the following these have was front and center. I got over 120 messages in the short time it was posted. Had guys from Ohio, New York, Texas, and Canada willing to drive down, as well as a dozen or so Florida's.

The craziest were guys willing to wire money if I would put it in a container and send it over seas. New Zealand, The Netherlands, and Northern Italy.

Before you ask, I was very honest in my post. And even included a link to my videos showing the issues. It was ultimately sold to someone not far away. He and his father had been looking for a Hobo for several years, and are excited to tackle the project.

 

I'm not familiar with the conditions on the west coast of FL, but I would think the Hobo has too much freeboard and windage for coastal conditions.

It sounds like you're considering designing and building from scratch? Better just to find some plans rather than spend lots of extra time reinventing the wheel to risk ending up with a poorly designed craft that doesn't meet your expectations and cant be sold.

Jim Michalak and Phil Bolger have some really simple designs that will allow you to produce a boat that won't empty your wallet or suck up years of your life. Michalak has some "birdwatcher" type boats from the 16' x 7' scram pram (below) to the Jewelbox to the 24' x 7' Petesboat, while bolger has all sorts of weird but competent houseboat type things, eg watervan or superbrick.

 

The Hobo does have a lot of windage, but so do the designs you suggested, especially the WaterVan. The Westcoast of Florida is a great and varied environment. We have miles of intracoastal water ways, barrier islands, shallow water estuaries, and rivers. Plenty of places to duck out of the wind if you plan right. From the everglades up to about Tarpon Springs you rarely have to see the open waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Being this will be trailerable and lighter weight, I can pick and choose my weather windows within reason too, like I do now for fishing and camping.

I may consider building from scratch, but I'd like to avoid it if possible. 2 reasons. Resale, nearly all homebuilt boats, no matter who designs them, are hard to sell. Worse then that, in Florida they are nearly impossible to insure. I lucked out with my current boat because the agent didn't really know. So I'd rather fix up a manufactured hull and add a cabin. Then it's just "custom".

As far as building my own and designing it. I am familiar with most of the designs, and own plans for several, but I'll circle back to that in a minute. I've build 4 boats already. I designed the first 3 that came great. Displacement calculations, arm weight movement tables.... are not difficult to me, just take time. The last boat I built, just like you are suggesting, I bought plans to speed up the build, and it was a huge mistake. The plans even though they were praised by many and had been built dozens of times, had multiple errors in them that cost me months of frustration and additional work. While the boat functions well enough after I corrected the flaws, I know I could have designed a better one if I started over. I'm also not thrilled with most of the plans out there. I like the watervan, but only the hull, not the cabin. I like the cabin on Diane's Rose, but not the hull..... That's where I'm at. I have some ideas coming up soon though.

 

I’m building just a 7.5’x22’ flat barge with my “house” on top. Hull is complete. Hoping to have the topsides complete by this time next year.

Jbo

 

I don't want a flat bottom, or atleast a flat bow. I've had boats like that before and the pounding even in a very light chop gets to me. I want some kind of shallow V up front to help out.

 

Yes. This is specifically for very protected sloughs and rivers where I would otherwise take a canoe or kayak for the most part.

Jbo

 

Wasn’t a suggestion so much as a chance to say I’m building one. LOL

I probably should say “if I had it to do again, I’d just buy one,” but it’s not true. I just wanted to build one. I may get more out of building it than using it, but either way, it makes me happy.

IMHO, smart money would almost always buy. You should only build if you “have to.” (This is my third build, and likely not my last.)

Jbo