Doug
06-11-2002, 05:13 PM
Ok,..first of all I know nothing about house boats. Never have ever even been on one! That being said I like to build stuff.(houses/machines,engines etc) I sometime think about something I read a long time ago in an enginerring publication about you don't need a lot of horsepower to move a water craft slowly. I realize this doesn't apply in heavy wind and that you will need reserve power. But I envision a nice wooden deck,properly built and braced with steel perhaps multiple large stainless steel pontoons to hold it all up. My thought that instead of building a cabin,and electric,plumbing,waste containment,heating,layout problems .. driving an Airstream or similar, onto the deck and well secured for the living space , adding a raised pilot house with controls,.many design thoughts of a small diesel engine house well sound insulated as a power workhorse. A puller outboard in the front on hydralics as both an emergency power source. (can be rotated 360 degrees and pulled totally up out of the water from the pilot house using surplus industrial manufacturing robotics) and for delicate control AND a notched out section in the back big enough to park a boat into. This can also be powered up and be used as a pusher (as like in tugboat/barge)on the cushioned notch if one needed it in high wind or if you really needed to increase speed. You of course can use the boat for fishing other times. The Airstream can be detached and driven off. I think this CAN be done without looking like the Beverly Hillbilly boat with some design thought. OR,..would you just buy a houseboat?