Course How To

Plans for building houseboat-steamboats

by Dean
(Spearman, Texas)

Planning to design and build houseboat-steamboats.

Planning to design and build houseboat-steamboats.

I have ideas and plan on building a steamboat-houseboat, and am looking for some information. How can I find out more about the specifications such as draft, center of gravity, weight, etc... of a 1977, 47 foot Botel houseboat.


I am planning on installing a steam engine on this Botel hull. I don't know much about these house boats and I need to marry the boat, motor, and propeller.

I have an engine builder (in England) and the hull located. Any help would be useful.

Thanks, Dean.


Advertise Houseboat Business Advertising
You can advertise here for pennies a day!
Are you a boating related business and want to
increase sales and profits with targeted traffic?
Act now to get our 1/2 price sale, limited offer



Reply - Answer
Well Dean, congratulations on your steamboat houseboat idea. I always admire people who are willing to think "outside the box".

As to some specifications on the Boatel, that a good question, but I would put a guess/estimate that the draft would be @ 1.5 - 2.0 feet, and the weight to be @ 15,000 pounds.

As I have never owned a Boatel houseboat, I can't be exact, but possibly one of our readers will know and be able to tell you exactly the figures.

Be sure to take some pictures, and do post your progress here as I am sure there will be many others who are interested in the Steamboat Houseboat project.



Lastly, hopefully some of our readers will share and post comments about their steam boat - houseboat 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 all-about-houseboats


Free Bonus Offer

To show our deep appreciation to all of our readers and visitors, here is the link to our free houseboat magazine, the INSIDER. Go ahead click the book and sign-up, it's free and filled with great articles, tips, information and website updates.

free Houseboat Magazine - The Houseboat Insider


Click here to post comments

Return to Plans for Building a Houseboat..


Continue Reading Our Popular Pages

Our collection of houseboat ebooks

Ebook Boats Collection on Houseboat Books

We just love houseboats, do you?
Join our monthly HB Insider for free



Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.