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Submitted by: brent

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I happen to be the guy he sold it too. it is just what you would expect, a small floating house. The wonderful part is that you don't have to worry about the hull leaking, mold, gas or motor problems. It forces you to relax and spend very little money doing it. It is true he could have made a big business out of this concept but he wants to enjoy life and spend as much time on the water and with his family as he can. He will answer any questions or tell you where to go to get the proper materials if you decide to build one. You do have to estimate what your final weight is going to be to make sure you have enough flotation. Building it from the deck up on the water is what he did so you know if your going over the limit based on how much freeboard you have as you progress. The cool thing is that if one float does fail (very unlikely) you can just go in and replace that one and the problem is fixed. good luck!

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Submitted by: mark whitaker

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The reason I didn't include more information on my previous original post, is because I didn't want it to sound like a sales pitch. [remember Sleepless in Seattle-that house was a houseboat permanently moored in a houseboat community in Seattle] I started wondering why we didn't have the same concept here in our area, the Midwest. It turns out there is a little bias about liveaboards, who are people who live on their houseboats. When I started checking it out myself, I generally found that to be true to some extent. So my concept came from the fact that we happened to have started a boatdock supply company in our area selling the floats, hardware for wood dock design, and the trusses for metal dock design plus all the accessories. I wanted a houseboat without all the worries and problems one might encounter in a boat 15-30 years old [my price bracket]. Why couldn't I step out of the box and redesign the basic desgn of a floating house. I have to give credit to the new concept of the microhouse's being designed like those of www.tumbleweedhouses.com That's when the idea of a floating house hit me that if small enough could also be moved from one place to another. The difference is reduced cost, a house much more like what your used to at home with a 2/12 gable roof with a covered porch with a swing and a flat sunbathing section only in the back with a screened in porch beneath it. The biggest cost reduction comes from the fact there is no motor, fuel, etc and the hull is made of encapsulated floats and steel trusses. The front and back of the boat have an aluminum deflector built in so you can still tow your floating house out onto the lake wherever you want and anchor it and use your skiboat or fishing boat for your water activities, thereby drastically decreasing your fuel costs for a weekend or a 6 month stay on the lake. The design of the living quarters are completely those of the owner builder instead of having to accept the standard layout of the typical houseboat or recreational vehicle. Trivia: did you know you can rent a houseboat in northern Michigan and travel via the Michigan inland waterway from Lake Michigan to Lake Huron traveling through only two locks and five lakes. If you haven't done it, it makes for a wonderful family vacation and you can travel there and back in five days easily! Who would have thought that existed, I hope this gives you a little more info on my concept. The problem is that the demand has been so overwhelming that I can't build the whole units but can help you buy the right floats and trusses to support the weight of the boat you plan to build. The one unit I built for myself I sold because he offered enough I couldn't turn it down, and he wants to remain anonymous. Thanks, Mark PS: remember I wanted to do this to simpify my life not start another business with all the time it takes away from your family and yourself. Thanks for understanding.

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