Some advice please - Moving a houseboat - suitable for sea??

[kalibore]

Okay fellas I have a question please,

Would the pictured kerala houseboat be suitable for a 900kms journey
along the coast of India? Yep it is quite a way. Logistics are a pain there, heavy haulage lorry + trailer is no worries but getting a 32 ton boat with wooden hull onto and off of in one piece could get hairy there.

I'm asking as a friend is curious to move it by sea instead of over land. He got some quotes - but that is without load and unload.

A local tug skipper thinks it would be no worries to just pull it. Sea isn't particularly choppy there by all standards. In fact it's like a mill pond somedays. It's 68 feet, round hull, about 3 ft draft.

It's totally not my forte. I said I'd put it out there to you experienced gentlemen. What do you think? Totally mad or actually more plausible than not in the right conditions?

Basically would you attempt it with confidence? Haha?

Thanks kindly!

 

[kalibore]

Actually here are the specs -
LENGTH 64 FEET,
WIDTH 10.5 FEET,
HEIGHT 13.5FEET
WEIGHT 32 TONNES

 

[gonzo]

Do you have ports or safe anchorages to pull into if the weather turns bad? If the trip can be divided into smaller sections, the safety factor increases.

 

[kalibore]

Yeah he said that wouldn't be a problem. There are rather a lot of river mouths along the route also to pull into.

The boat would only be being pulled if the sea is very calm. Time is not so much a factor as safety so she can be pulled to a safe anchorage as and when necessary. It will be a slow and steady process.

I know it's probably a difficult question with the variables.

The guys down in Kerala say they do not take the boats to sea because they are not fitted with powerful enough engines. But as it is being pulled, it should be fine.

I know 'India theory' though. They just say 'everything is possible' whenever they don't actually know. Often not helpful as enthusiastic as they are when they say this. Especially if someone is about to earn some money! Haha. Basically if it sunk they would be like 'Oh well. Still you pay for skipper!'.

The boat just had a inspection on Monday. The inspection actually showed the hull was an older style version of how they make them often now. It is supposedly twice the width, so a very sturdy hull in comparison to the newer builds of these style of boats. It carries all safety certificates and is currently working.

Also I realise they do not have standard cleats as we are used to with the design and stress testing done for towing. So some kind of rope rig could be made to offset the stress from a single point or so at the front of the boat.

 

[whitepointer23]

I would tow it by sea before i would trust an indian transport co to get it there in 1 piece.

 

[kalibore]

I would tow it by sea before i would trust an indian transport co to get it there in 1 piece.

Hahaha. My thoughts exactly mate

Well to be honest actually the driving I'm not concerned about. It's lifting it onto the trailer in one piece. They advertise the local port as the biggest and only international standard of port in India....with no crane or big forklift.



I haven't the experience to give advice on this type of boat at sea though. I'm sure it would be alright if it was done at a snails pace.