building a houseboat

i have been kicking around the idea of building my own houseboat for a while and just recently started looking for pontoons. i want a minimum 28" and 30' aluminum toons. i originally thought that i could buy a a junk boat and strip it out or also been looking at ufab boats. i'm cheap and want to keep the price down. during my recent searches i have been finding lots of junk pontoon boats with 24" aluminum toons under them. my question is can i junk two boats and double up on the pontoons. i plan on around 5000 pounds and one set certainly wont work so why cant i just bolt two together on each side and i would essentially have a 48"x30' toon on each side. any thoughts or reasons why this wouldn't work.

 

Daven, you can make that work but I think that is doing it the hard way. I will also speculate that you can build a houseboat for less expensive and more commodious boat by using a simple box structure. But that of course depends on what you want the boat to do, where it will be used, how fast you want it to go, and other requirements that you may have.

Tell us more about the intended use, propulsion method, etc.

 

Welcome to the forum.

You can fool with pontoons if you like, but they're not the best or easiest way to get a hull that can support some weight.

Calculate the volume you need and size the 'toons as required. Typically you'll want the 'toons less then 50% submersed, so after your volume calculations, you can support 1,000 pounds (as an example), they're only good for ~450 pounds.

Purchasing a used hull is the fastest and easiest way to get a boat. The market is glutted with old, unwanted boats, many free for the taking. You strip them out, build decks and cabin structures where you want and maybe an engine or two, with an eye on weight (and it's distribution) for the particular hull type (make, model and year).

 

i understand what your saying. i just thought that bolting 4 pontoons together would be much easier. plus if a fiberglass hull has just been laying around then you will probably have some wood rot as well. speed is not a concern. ufab has a weight chart for their pontoons half submerged. i figure it should be close. i can pick up old pontoons around here for around $1000.

 

An old boat is a hull and wood doesn't have to be in the mix. You'll be fooling around with it anyway, hacking out a rotten transom core is just part of the deal and no big thing, compared to a full up build or remodel. 4K for pontoons is way more then you'll spend for some unloved hulk, taking up space in someone's carport or backyard.

It's all about the math Dave. You do your weight estimates, so you know how much volume you need to support, with a safety margin you can live with.