Need help with a Trailerable houseboat

[CajunTinMan]

I have very little experience with boat building, other than a few small boats just to play around with. What I do have experience with is building campers. I build teardrop campers and have learned to be able to work with little available space and to build them lightweight. I want to build a trailerble houseboat. I am getting close to retirement and am looking for something that my wife and I might be able to spend a week or two at a time on either a protected lake or river. I am retiring on a public servant’s pension, so of course money is no object as long as it doesn’t go over a hundred dollars. Just kidding, but I do need to be frugal. What I have in mind might not work. I was thinking a 32’x8’ hull with a 20’ cabin. It would have an 8’ front two story deck and 4’ aft deck. The cabin would have a vaulted ceiling. I am 6’6 and I was thinking that if I went with a vaulted ceiling I could make my wall 6.5 and do the roof with a 4/12 pitch. I want it to have a fold out bed and a convertible bed/dining table, a micro kitchen ie., stove, small icebox, and a microwave. Pulse a shower and toilet. Basically it would kinda look like a short park model mobile home on the water. I don’t know it would be better on pontoons or a barged style hull. I don’t know if all this would make it to top heavy. The hull either way would be built out of wood and epoxy. Dry wieght W/O hull would be around 4100 to 4600. Please any advice.

 

[keysdisease]

Take a look here:

https://www.boatdesigns.com/Houseboats/departments/7/

Steve

 

[FAST FRED]

AN old pontoon boat with aluminum pontoons would be a reasonable base, perhaps found with a trailer.

Outboard power would be fine if a 6K cruise would fit your plans.

FAST will cost big bucks under 1 mile per gallon , 20-40 GPH , depending on how fast you wish to go.

FF

 

[hoytedow]

Welcome, CajunTinMan, fellow teardrop builder.

http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/open-discussion/what-have-you-done-weekend-23233-83.html

 

[kenJ]

a bit bigger and don't thing they are trailerable, but might get some ideas from here.

http://www.catamarancruiser.com/id16.html

 

[Steve W]

I think that a barge type hull would make the most sense as the stability would be the maximum you can get in an 8ft wide package but more importantly,you can build down into the hull and keep the profile a lot lower,i would use the full width for the house and possibly have fold down side decks so you can walk around it and might as well have spuds too. I love this type of boat.
Steve.

 

[CajunTinMan]

Teardrops

Thanks Hoyt. Now I just need floats. Lol
You know I thought about the fold down planks but I was trying to think of a way that I could add floats to them to add stability and still be road legal.

 

[CajunTinMan]

Oh and as far as speed is concerned, I just need to get from here to yonder the slow lazy way.

 

[CajunTinMan]

What would be considered an allowable hight for an 8' wide to keep it stable? I can probably get most of the weight no higher the 4 feet off the deck with the exception of a few cabinets, microwave, portable AC unit, and possible a ceiling fan. The wall will be 2x2 studes, 3/8 OSB with vinyl siding, and 1/8 inch paneling on the inside. The roof would be metal.

 

[CajunTinMan]

I had even thought about going solar and using the battery bank as kind of a ballast.

 

[Bamby]

I rebuilt and restored a trailerable pontoon houseboat to suit our needs which seem to be similar to yours in many ways. We have the shower, sink, and cooking facilities as your seeking but skipped the instillation of a toilet and it's associated black water issues.

You'll haft to be choosy about your choices of materials and the problematic weight problems that can be associated with it, especially if you're intending on towing your finished boat. I'd question a large battery bank as ballast for this very reason. Our finished boat is tow-able and I've have pulled it up and down the interstate quite a few times, but at least for my tow vehicle it is getting close to the envelope of the comfort zone my pickup is capable of handling well and I really wouldn't want it any heaver.

Hopefully your project will turn out well and you get as much enjoyment out of yours as we have so far enjoyed with ours. If you'd like I wrote a blog about our rebuild and you can review it here, who knows you may pick up something useful for your houseboat project.

 

[rwatson]

I bought the plans for a houseboat from Bateau which seem to be close to your specs

http://www.bateau.com/proddetail.php?prod=GT27

I liked it for its room, simple construction and ease of topside remodelling, so us tall guys can make it liveable.

eg
http://schoolroad.weebly.com/project-1.html

 

[CajunTinMan]

Yeah Bamby I would like that blog site. Thanks rwatson.

 

[FAST FRED]

You want to go cruising and have/build a trailer style house on a boat.

Why build a hull, when there are so many setups that can be purchased for 1/10 the cost of building?

If you want to build a boat , that's cool, many have, great hobby.

But if you want to go boating , that's a different hobby.

FF

 

[rwatson]

..... there are so many setups that can be purchased for 1/10 the cost of building?
....

FF

Where ? where ? Where do i get a "setup" for 1/10 price of building.

Name 2 !