Lifeboat Conversion to a Houseboat during COVID

Where are the fuel tanks?

Sorry to hear you fell. My primary concern with the vessel was that it looked unsafe to be atop, or to get atop, so it may sound mean, but I am not surprised you fell. I am glad you only broke some ribs. Many falls result in getting impaled or brain or spinal cord injuries. The roof needs to be a rare piece of the effort. At a minimum some lifelines for sure for areas of maintenance.

An anchor locker and chain forward will add weight.

An extra fuel tank adds range and weight.

Not sure if you plan to fish, but livewells also add lots of weight. Walking the catch thru thr living area, not so much. Of course this means you have some access probably to the bow, but might want for tying up and mooring or anchor work anyhow. I'd be cutting in a small fordeck.

And you could also water ballast. I'd move the genset aft for fumes. Then open a small area of fordeck, even a hatch window may allow you to hook a mooring ball or fuss with anchor.

Then the aux tank and a water ballast forward will help. Your water ballast could be say a 100 gallon water tank with two pumps. Methinks 800 pounds water and anchors are heavier than the genset.

...my two cents

 

This

 

Please follow main thread “what can be done with an enclosed lifeboat”

 

Hi all -- found this thread via Google after getting hooked on watching this gentleman's boat adventures and his having found a lifeboat of his own:


I saw a number of folks note that unloaded these boats can be a little unstable even though they always self-right. can't help but wonder if placing plenty of batteries both for power *and* ballast as the things are so freaking heavy into/under the floor would be a good way to address this. also curious if there are any updates! thanks.

 

I can't entirely comment because we haven't done sea trials with her yet, but our lifeboat is 28' and designed for 60 people. Given SOLAS regs would have that weight at 10,000lbs and change, we are definitely adding weight where we can to bring her back down to her more desired waterline. We're an electric conversion so we have 16 x 200ah lead carbon batteries which adds about 2000lbs. I'm also putting in tile floors, we're building with heavier materials, etc. Our design works really well for the batteries because we had a HUGE bilge that's big enough for them all to run down the very middle and very bottom of the boat (we've glassed in a more reasonable sized actual bilge at the aft of the boat).

I'm allowed to promote our youtube channel, we're pretty far behind in the build, but you can see what we've been up to: youtube.com/livingonalifeboat . Here's a picture of the exterior as she stands now

compared to the day we bought her


Fun to see the other projects and how everyone is converting theirs!

 

For Sale

Look familiar?

A lifeboat from BC Ferries is being sold in Metro Vancouver - Victoria Times Colonist https://www.timescolonist.com/bc-news/old-bc-ferries-lifeboat-for-sale-vancouver-6495245?%3Futm_source=facebook&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=snd&fbclid=IwAR3owTMXuaQFFk6xjQ2nshNObl2i6Sbp1V_7mf0QsxQyngx4Np1GanEyBKk

@DogCavalry Indian Arm is mentioned.

 

I love what @daniTS did. Rather than making the boat do something impossible, the top has no fb.

more pics of the aft cockpit and how do you access the bow? If via the side deck; you need handholds for leaving a rough anchorage.

 

@BlueBell that's our sistership...pretty identical to Luja when we bought her... we're the couple in the article they linked to, actually.

@fallguy --not sure if you meant us, but we are putting hand rails all along the side of the walkway; we're just waiting for our next haulout to bed them in properly. We can access from the front if at a dock, through the forepeak hatches that are just aft of the seat and eventually will add some mast steps or something on the side in conjunction with the stainless rails to scramble up that way. I think in a rough anchorage I'd either be tempted to clip a jack line along the side rail or just drop through the hatch onto our bed.

We don't have a back cockpit, but we do have a back door (accessed easily via the walkway we put on) and a BBQ cove (we're putting in a small big green egg, one of the kamado-style smoker BBQs). There's a removable swim grid but when it's on it puts us over our slip limit so we have it off for now.

I had a quick look and couldn't find better/more recent photos so you'll just have to trust the aft looks much better now...the door has been powder coated and corners have rads now and weather stripping and all the fibreglass is faired in (and painted)...

I also only have that in-progress shot of the BBQ area...It looks much better now grouted and feathered in to the paint job, but I did do a bit of a shocking job on the tile (all those compound curves did me dirty). It's soft tile (limestone or something) so it will sand right enough. and be mostly covered with a big bbq bolted into a frame. don't look too carefully Below that are a couple of recent photos of the front seating area and hatches...and a gratuitous battery shot--we're hoping all that weight low and centred does a little bit to help with roll...

I should also maybe mention that while we will putter around in the Gulf Islands for the next few years, its easy to do that in sustained flat water, especially in the summer (we had a sailboat here for a few years and there's often no wind, combined with little fetch) and our eventual plan is to ship Luja to Europe to do the inland canals, so while we are building her for here, to a point, a lot of design choices are looking forward to that .

 

For anyone interested in this project, very sadly Doug was taken away from us in a car accident, and he will no longer be able to complete the project. He was off to a good start. The boat is currently on the hard in Wilmington, NC, and now available for sale. We have an auction house that will take it on, but if anyone is intertested, please give Jim a call or text at 617-620-1524. I can share additional photos, etc.

 

Hoya,

I'm sorry we have lost Doug, tragic.
I trust his project will go to a good home.
And thank you for bringing this hard to deliver news to us.

BB

 

I have uploaded some exterior pics and look forward to following this thread and updates as we all progress.

 

Yes. Yes we do.