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Wide Pontoon Houseboats - will they provide stability, or are more stable?
by Dave
(Redding, CA.)
Wide Houseboat Pontoons - are they stable, or have stability?
I have a 31' x 8.5' trailerable houseboat, (pictured above) and I have decided to widen it out to 12 feet. My local welder has decided to add an additional 18" onto the existing pontoons with additonal compartments, and then pressure test the job after it's complete.
He feels this is the best way to go, being that he would have to cut all the cross members in order to remove the pontoons. Is this the best way to go, and will this make my houseboat more stable, as far as rocking back and forth?
Any help would be appreciated, Thanks, Dave.
Reply - Answer
Well Dave, welcome to the houseboat forums, and sorry to hear about your problem with the back and forth rocking.
You are not alone when it comes to lateral stability on narrower houseboats. The wider houseboats suffer less from the back and forth sideways motion, especially when you look at 12, 14, 16 foot wide models.
I would venture to say that in theory it will provide more lateral stability, however at the expense of reducing the trailerable houseboat aspect.
You maybe interested in looking at the Travelwave 360 houseboats, as they have an interesting design concept of making the exterior pontoons pivot up to the roof when traveling.
From a mechanical and engineering point of view for floatation and stability, maybe someone in the houseboat community can post their views and opinions on widening your boat.
Lastly, hopefully some of our readers will share and post comments about their pontoon width, and their houseboat stability 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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