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Houseboat Extensions - Rebuilding Floors and Extending Decks.

An example of an extended houseboat rear deck.

An example of an extended houseboat rear deck.

Thinking of houseboat extensions, rebuilding the floors, and extending the exterior decks. Looking for some ideas and information.


We have a 35 ft, 1982 Crest houseboat (pontoon). The floor has rotted and I am tearing it off now. I want to add 4 feet to the front, and 4 feet to the rear of the house boat. How can I add beyond the pontoons?



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Reply - Answer
Well, very sorry to hear about your rotten floors, but glad to hear about your plans on extending the front and rear decks. I did it on one of our houseboats, and it added a totally new perspective and valuable space to the boat.

Now since I am not overly familiar with the construction, bracing, and materials of the Crest houseboats, I would presume the pontoons were made of aluminum or steel.

If you are in the middle of rebuilding the floors, try and put marine grade plywood for the exterior portions, it will last much longer. If the interior floor has rotted, try to find where the leaks were coming from and seal them first, before laying the new plywood floor.

As to extending the front and rear decks, you
can see by the photo above, that it can be done, since in the photo, they have extended an aluminum houseboats rear deck by @ 3 feet.

It's hard for me to tell you from here how to do it since each case is unique. You will most likely have to speak to your local service marina manager or a local welder. They will be better inclined to figure out how to build a "swim platform" style of extension.

They will be able to properly design it, and solidly brace it, so that it can handle the weight that it will hold. You may find that it is easier to extend the rear deck instead of the front deck.

I am sure that there are some Crest houseboat owners out there that will have possibly already extended their decks, which would be invaluable information to get first hand.


Lastly, hopefully some of our readers will share and post comments about their houseboat deck rebuilding and extending 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 all-about-houseboats


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Comments for Houseboat Extensions - Rebuilding Floors and Extending Decks.

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Any updates with the rebuild?
by: Grant

Wondered if I could get some pictures and info regarding the Crest Pontoon rebuild that started this forum? I'd love to hear/see how it went. Thanks for any help!

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Adding to the side of the houseboat
by: Grant

I recently bought a 1973 Crest houseboat that has mostly the original material throughout the whole boat. Amazing that after 40 years that it is still in usable condition.

There are many leaks in the roof and that has caused many of the walls to deteriorate and the floors are a little soft in some areas.

I plan on completely redoing the boat in the near future from the pontoon braces and up. I would like to add an additional foot on each side of the pontoons (2 total feet wider)as well as what you have done by adding some length as well.

Does anyone know if this is legal or safe? Taking into consideration weight and balance, I hope to add valuable space to the entire boat.

Anyone ever heard of someone doing this?

I plan on documenting the entire job BUT this is probably at least a year or two away.

Thanks!

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Houseboat deck extension
by: Tim Conley

I added about 3' on the stern of our Crest houseboat and 2' on the bow. I extended past the pontoons using 1 5/8" uni-strut and then built a deck on that. It acts more as a swim platform and gas grill bay.

I have some detailed photos of attach points and the configuration I used. I know we have had 500 plus pounds on them and they are plenty stout.

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