Quidnic shanty tiny house boat

Quidnic is a cosy, comfortable, rugged, affordable, mobile tiny shanty houseboat that is immune to zoning restrictions and floods.

The name comes from the two boat designs that inspired this modular bespoke system. First from the Quidnon houseboat designed by Dmitry Orlov and second from the Gorfnik designed by Andre-Francois where the inspiration for the bow and stern pods came from. So we have the Quidnick best of both worlds.

A shantyboat is a small crude houseboat (also called a flatboat, broadhorn, barge, scow, or ark). There is a long forgotten history of people living in homemade shantyboats, a reasonable and cost-free solution for displaced people in rural areas and workers in urban areas.

This design of shantyboat can be built for next to nothing. Sheets of 8'x4' shuttering ply or chipboard can often be salvaged from building sites which were used for a temporary fence or wall. There is also an endless supply of suitable material for free from premises that were once boarded up to prevent looting or squatting.

All you will need to build this tinyhouse boat is a hand saw, and basic tools it can be glued and screwed together. If you really want to build for almost free from only what you can salvage and reuse this can be done. If you only need it to be a tiny house and never on the water then this is will be much easier. If you want it to be able to float then either some type of tar as Noah used to water proof the original ark or some fiberglass and resign to water proof below the water line will be required

The main section of this design is simply a 12ft long box that is 6ft high and 6.6ft beam. The beam is the maximum amount to be able to navigate the canal system in the UK. There will be a bow and stern section that are removable and can be placed on top as roof beds and extra storage when in tiny house mode. When in tiny houseboat mode the roof sections can be bolted on to the bow and stern making a 24ft tinyhouse shanty boat.

These sections will be useful small boats in their own right. Either as runabouts or working fishing exploring boats. They can also be amphibious trailers like a hand pushed cart or even a roof box on a vehicle and even a bike trailer. Or even sleeping pods in the ilk of Japaneses capsule hotels. You see these sections are 6ft by 3.3ft and can be bolted together to make the 6ft by 6.6ft bow and stern sections.

Individually these 6x3.3ft pods can be used as stand up paddle boards or sit down rowing boats.

To fit out the main section websites like freecycle are going to be your best friends. A wood-burning stove of some kind is going to be essential as is a galley area with gravity fed sink. Rainwater harvesting and water storage tanks. The heads should be as simple as possible which could be the bucket and chuck it method in a small room which could also be made into the shower room with a gravity fed bag which can be filled with warm water from the log stove. A comfortable seating area which could double as sleeping area with the common drop down table design as needed and plenty of storage space. The sleeping pods on the bow and stern sections will always be useful for both sleeping and or extra storage at all times.

As the main section is 12ft long it can be half seating dining area and half galley storage and heads. Shelves midships can double as a ladder which can access the two skylights which can open to walk on the roof or climb into the sleeping pods when they are in place on the roof.

Tiny house boat - YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwq24ai-Jd3vEOOSficoXxeXwW2SvRcaC

 

Based on your post and linked videos tt appears that your design currently consists of some ideas, a few basic drawings, and a small extemely simple paper model.

 

I like the general idea. Put detachable simple custom boats on either end of central "house" unit, that can also be stacked on the central unit, to keep the whole thing easily trailer-able or maneuverable/dock-able when size/length becomes an issue. Since its only for canal use, structure, quality, labor and price can all be low.

If I was doing it, I'd want the End Boats to be nesting with a touch of angle at least on the sides, even if the transom remains 90 deg to help joining to Main Section. I'd want a nice way to lower/raise them from the roof, and a nice way to secure them to the Main Section when the End Boats are unloaded with very shallow draft and massive positive buoyancy, and Main is semi-loaded drawing at least 12". Doing that robustly with low cost materials might take some thinking, but such things have been done in the past.

Be neat if instead of custom End Boat, you could also use at least one "real boat" such as typical small aluminum runabout.

 

You mention chipboard, bracing ply/chip board is cheap and can be made of waterproof glue. I would suggest that putting pieces of the material you are using in a bucket of water for a few days or 2 weeks could help decide whether the material is going to be feasible, Epoxy is expensive and the main way to stop timber from going soggy and disintegrating although there are timbers that don't of course and a house that is being demolished is a likely source, they're heavier mostly. With enamel paint and some acrylic paints if cut edges and end grains are triple coated,and fastenings also, lasting results are possible. If the craft sinks the clean up bill could be substantial. Riveting sheet metal may be the easiest way to get a waterproof skin.

 

Or just use a big plastic sheet, such as normally comes in 20'x100' rolls in black or translucent. Some Good Old Boys have made sunken duck blinds with scrap wafer-wood plywood and used carpet, and plastic sheeting. They used one layer of sheeting, then a layer of carpet, then another layer of sheeting over wood box frame. The idea was that the carpet would help prevent any spike in stress from either side, and if nothing else prevent a hole from happening in the same spot so any leaks would be slowed. Plus some insulation to reduce condensation. Last I heard it was working perfect and had even withstood relocation. As long as the vessel has a good bumper all around (double as walkway) well above waterline, to prevent ANY contact of plastic sheeting with canal walls, and some shade for the plastic, I don't see why it wouldn't last a few years.

 

The bucket and chuck it head is illegal in most places.

 

Considering that the box can only be 6ft wide a walkway would affect living space, discarded pvc pipe may be a useful alternative. The theory of using carpet is clever but if it does get wet the smell would make "house" hard to sleep in, the price of living really cheap?

 

Thanks yes you are quite right

still a few problems to overcome

 

this is a brilliant idea, much cheaper, easier and better than tar

it would also solve the problem of water proofing the bottom half of the stable door on the side

even cling film wrap could work, many layers over and over is surprisingly strong, and can be repaired easily at point if fracture

I remember being very impressed with this cling film kayak



I’m liking the idea of one layer of tough damp proof water proof builders material then one layer of carpet then another layer of water proofing right on the bottom coming upto the waterline then many layers of cling film from just bellow the waterline to just above it.

either don’t have the pods removable when water proofed or think of a way to still have them removable and keep the water proofing? I can’t think of a way to do it

but the waterproof sheeting is so cheap and easy and would do as water proof roof when in tiny house mode with the pods on the roof as bed rooms

 

good point about 6ft. I guess better to angle the sides just (7%?) enough to keep plastic from bumping canal walls, but keep stability. Speaking of PVC pipe, maybe it could be used on the outside over plastic/carpet as bumper, and to also keep plastic/carpet snug against the hull box. .

 

I like he shrink rap kayak

Yes waterproof sheeting with shrink rap around the waterline

 

How long did the shrinkwrap Kayak stay watertight? I'm guessing about 1 hour, and progressively bad after that. Shrinkwrap will seal OK against other clean Wrap, but not to wrap that has been subjected to dirty water. A Shrinkwrap will have unsealed seams every 18".

This is what you want. https://www.amazon.com/Polyethylene...tic sheeting for garden&qid=1587660621&sr=8-8

 

Yes my idea would be good sheeting on the bottom, but then use shrink wrap on the waterline,

How else could you seal the sheeting to the hull?

 

I've seen some boats (on the 'net) built skin-on-frame with a polyester skin that is shrunk to fit. Very tough and light. Watch the little video clips.

Info page http://gentrycustomboats.com/Infopage.html

 

I think the best cheap option for a liveaboard barge would still be outdoor WBP plywood with thin 200gsm fiberglass and epoxy sealed. I think that would be about 6€/m² in plywood. Maybe 600g epoxy for both sides for maybe 5€? Plus fiberglass and a bit of paint. You have something that can last and is reasonably cheap and can be repaired and maintained.

Ideally though you should add rigid insulation foam glued in between two plywood sheets. Insulation would make the space much more comfortable and healthy to live in.

You could also build a large vacuum bagging table using melamine panels. Then you could vacuum press together the fiberglass, plywood, rigid foam for a waterproof SIP / structural insulated panel. Then you would simply glass these big panels together. Although I still don't have have any experience with this yet... spend too much time learning and thinking

After seeing that CLT houseboat thread I wonder if you could also just use "strip planking" instead of plywood to build your SIPs. That could be stronger than plywood and maybe cheaper in raw materials too. But would eat more epoxy.

I love the idea of some sort of cooperative makerspace for this where you could set up a bit of tooling and pool some resource together and help each other. A workshop specialized in fabricating good panels in a really cheapest way to make tiny houses or barges.