Houseboats and Barge Homes

[FPEPro]

This came up in another thread, and I was curious as engineers what you guys thought of houseboats and barge homes. I had planned to buy a medium-sized self-propelled sea-going barge to build a home on soon. The idea was, that I could buy a docking location in various locations and just drive my house up and down the river or lake to the other docking spots. That way I could just take my home with me everywhere I've seen some very nice houseboats before, so it can be very nice if you do it right.


An example of a barge house:




And another:





Here is a great example of a large houseboat, and what can be done inside. This has a pilot house just like a regular boat, with an inboard engine. It's actually fully seaworthy!

topofdesigns.com/luxury-house-boat-in-st-paul-minnesota/

<<< Click it to see inside. It's pretty amazing.



Also this next one is one of my favorites. I was planning to steal allot from the design of it. The price tag they have on this one is just stupid. The build price is allllot lower than what they are asking.

www.luxuryhouseboats.com/boats/Custom-Yacht-47.htm

<<< Click it to see inside. It's pretty amazing.

Might have to skip the helicopter LoL, that's a bit out of my price range at the moment.


What do you all think of this idea?




Chris

[aleedx]

The exterior would be out of wood materials right?

[FPEPro]

May 11, 2013 0:26:52 GMT -5 aleedx said:

The exterior would be out of wood materials right?

Normally, with these type of homes, the structure is supported by steel members. The outer walls that are exposed to the air are then wrapped in fiberglass. Over the fiberglass they will then add a wood facade to make it look nice on the outside. But that wood facade can be made from woods that are resistant to water and insects. Teak has been used for ships for many years and works extremely well for this application, and it is very strong too. For the interior walls you could simply lay water resistant firecode-rated drywall over the steel members. This would insure that the walls would be resistant to the moist air and resistant to fire as well. I've worked with this drywall allot in the States and it works very well. However, on a home that vibrates and moves, it is often installed in panels with expansion joints so you don't get cracking. The other option is to panel the interior walls in wood planks directly over the metal structural members. This option is very strong, albeit expensive, and would last forever if it was done the right way (i.e. tongue and grooved throughout and made from Teak or something of similar properties) See the last link I posted, that is a good example of paneling.

For the utilities, the  barge is usually used as a quasi basement. You would keep your water, sewer, and fuel tanks in the barge to act as ballasting tanks. All of your central air-conditioning and heating equipment would normally also be down here where it would be out of site (unlike normal homes where you can see it all next to the home). And of course the inboard engine that will generate your electricity and propel the home is located below decks as well.

Additionally, it's normal practice to place your pilot house for navigation in the highest point of the home. It often will just look like another third floor room from outside, but from inside it is a fully equiped pilot house.



Chris

[FPEPro]

The idea would be to just buy a piece of land next to water, and build a dock and a garage for the car. Property taxes would essentially be nothing, since the house is a vessel technically and not home. Then if I need to move to a new project for work, all I need to do is find a new place to park the home instead of selling it. The United States is so full of big rivers, lakes, and of course beach near the ocean, that finding work near water would be pretty easy to do. Not to mention, if a hurricane/typhoon was coming, you could just move your house rather than it getting destroyed by the storm. There's so many advantages to this kind of home for me. Taking a trip or a vacation would become really interesting forever, since you could bring your home with you



Chris

[aleedx]

Look. 

[FPEPro]

Very nice. I always liked those see through floors. I use to go on a boat that had this. I liked to sit there with the lights out and just watch the fish. It was kind of like scuba diving without needing to get in the water.



Chris

[Hellfire]

Coming from someone who would love to travel, I think that would be awesome!Best of luck!!