Houseboat Extensions - Rebuilding Floors and Extending Decks.

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?



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 www.all-about-houseboats.com

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