Can we build a floating cabin home style houseboat?
by Candace
(South Louisiana)
A sampling of a floating cabin style houseboat.
We're interested to build a small floating home, cabin style houseboat? Can we take a small wooden building and transform it into a houseboat?
We have a 12' x 24' wood frame building that is built about 4' off the ground on cement blocks.. (it floods here periodically). It was built here on our property about 5 years ago.
The exterior walls are exterior grade plywood panelling, a tin roof, sheet rock inner walls, wired for electricity and well insulated. The building is in excellent condition, as we've kept up with maintenance and it was used as a small studio for a few years.
My husband and I are interested in knowing how difficult it would be to turn it into a small houseboat. Since the foundation is raised off the ground, it seems it would be easy enough to get under it to construct some type of floatation. I don't recall the sizes of the floor and underjoists, but the construction is subtantially better than just a storage shed.
Where would we start in finding info for this venture? Would it be cheaper, less hassle to start from scratch or is the pre-existing building a good start?
Thanks in advance, Candace and Bo
Reply - Answer
Well Candace & Bo, the possibilities are endless, and you may find the that Priscilla over at www.horsebarnauction.com/floating.htm may have some ideas for you. You can always call her since see can possibly make you an appropriate floating hull for you.
As to whether you're building is suitable, or if it is better to start from scratch, that is impossible for me to say from here. You may also want to contact the US Coast Guard in your jurisdiction to find out about approvals, licenses, or regulations.
If you do get it all together and out on the water, do take a picture and share a short story with us all, as I am sure all our readers would love to read about the details.
Lastly, hopefully some of our readers will share and post comments about their floating cabin houseboat style building experiences. Feel free to use the "Click here to post comments." link found near the bottom of this page.
Thanks again for sharing, IAN - from www.all-about-houseboats.com
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