Houseboats--building and maintaining

>>1052017
Are you going to build a boat house for your house boat?

>>1052017
>I'm curious what kind of maintenance these things need
Check your local building codes where ever you plan to do this.I used to live on a TVA controlled lake around the Tricities area. They didn't regulate houseboats untill the 60's-70's and the whole lake turned out to be really trashy and shit looking. These days they heavily regulate every boathouse, dock, boat, and everything else on the lake. They also stopped giving out permits for houseboats decades ago, so even a 30 year old, moldy, rotten out piece of floating piece of shit houseboat is worth several thousand bucks, just because it's a grandfathered-in houseboat, and you can rebuild/replace the whole thing, a few parts at a time untill it's totally new.

Just buy 5000 55 gallon drums and stick them under a shipping container filled with imitation crab meat.

You aren't curious enough to post location, but of course that doesn't matter because the world is round everywhere.

You aren't curious enough to Google licensing and insurance.

You went here before all the superior resources at your fingertips.

>>1052017
my dad use to work on them as a marina that rented them out, i also helped out with usual maintenance.

not much different then a normal house really, only things your will need to worry about is the clean water, power and of course sewage. The water was usually in the bottled office type while shower, dishes n such were pumped straight from river. if going that way check out if your water quality is ok and nothing too horrifying. sewage was just a weekly pump out at marina but you need to make sure to add chemical treatment to keep smells down and theres some other reasons but cant remember them.

if building yourself the pontoons and the flooring are the big important bits, shitty pontoons you'll sink shitty flexing floor walls will crack

Living on water sucks.

It floods in winter and summer.
Geese are noisy.
Ducks shit everywhere.
Its cold in winter.
Invaded by nats and giant moths every summer evening.
It smells.
Everything is damp.

now, could you make a houseboat out of pallets

Like all boats, marine or freshwater organisms will gradually foul your 'hull'. This needs to be cleaned off from time to time. That means either designing a hull to be conducive to in situ cleaning, using hydraulic scrubbers dragged across the from above using ropes (which I have seen, but never seen in use), or more commonly, periodically dry dock and scraping, patching, and painting.

Special paints are used which are horribly toxic to bottom-fouling creatures, which reduce the frequency of the necessity of this.

Even with submersible hull-scrubbers, the paint will need to be refreshed from time to time.

Check with local marinas, fisherman, and shipping firms to inquire about the specifics as they apply to your situation.

Houseboats are strongly regulated in most civilized locales, due to the formerly common practice of simply dumping raw sewage and garbage into the water.

Getting power, water, other utilities, goods, and services to a boat is significantly more expensive due to the increased difficulty of delivery.

Houses are generally built to be rigid as possible. Boats need to flex. The construction of housing on a platform bobbing on a surface, rather than built on a stable foundation, is also expensive and difficult to do right, and easy to do wrong.

Additionally, the constant wetting of most household construction materials significantly reduces their longevity. In fact, getting wet is probably the largest driving force of the home repair industry, and houseboats are far more at risk of getting wet.

tl;dr It's easy to float a platform on 55 gallon drums. It's not easy, or cheap, to build, maintain, and live on one.

>>1052145

I like how north fags think winter happens everywhere

>>1052156
When it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere, it is winter in the Southern Hemisphere, and vice versa.

>>1052156
I like how equator fags forget about the southern hemisphere.

>>1052156
I like how southfags will be the first to die in the impending ice age

>>1052017
Currently trying to find 3 pontoons to throw under my camper. Will let u know how it goes hoss.

>>1052156
it literally snows in afghanistan

middle america is literally hell but that doesnt mean ice and snow dont exist in the real mortal world

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTQzg1v6sLc

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Hi, here in Amsterdam, Holland, you have a lot of them, all kinds of shapes and materials, you got boats, but the best are these concrete squared ones. see picture.

Sewer pipes, electricity and internet connected to the land.

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>>1052935

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>>1052937

OP here

I apologize for the vague nature of the OP--I've done some reading about construction and insurance, but I've found barely any concrete info on boat maintenance, especially for living in one over the winter.

I live right on the Mississippi and there's a year round river rat culture here, so I know people make a go of it. I was mostly looking for personal anecdotes.

I've reached out IRL to someone who lives on the river and they do make it sound like most year round marina residents get by with a nudge nudge wink wink relationship with the marina, and that the local regulatory environment is increasingly unfriendly.

Thanks for all the responses.

>>1052153
Thanks anon. Mostly it's a cost benefit thing. Housing is expensive where I live and building anything on land is highly restricted and taxed to the point you might as well rent. I have more tools and skills than I do credit and income.

>>1052166

Southfags understand that there is a vast majority of the world that never sees snow.

>>1053048
You can have winter with out snow.

>>1052017
Not to kill your idea but it is is going to cost you a bunch if you do it right. Look up marine paint the cost is insane. Also keep in mind you have to put 5 or 6 layers for the stuff to do its job. If you are on a lake or brackish water maybe, but salt? No pls.

bmup

>>1052017

What is the pontoon made of matey?

If it's made of fiberglass then it'll need it's gel coat protecting from the elements/water ingress. Too much water on the inside of your hull will cause the gel coating to wear faster, which makes the fiberglass underneath porpus and will sink your boat.

If it's made of wood then you need to regularly treat it, keep the paint layer on the outside topped up and the surface deck protected from woodworm. There's also the increased fire hazzard should your engine or generator spring a leak.

If it's a steel hull then you just need to replace the anode periodically to prevent erosion. Inspections of sacrificial anoids is costly tho, replacing them even more so. Though, really, sacrificial anoeds are needed for any boat with exposed metal, down to the nails.

Then you'e got the base mechanical components to sauce/maintain on top of that. How much will your boat weigh upon completion and what is it's water displacement? What will your stability calculations and margins be when it's fully loaded with a few ton of white goods/furniture and the generator to power it, as well as the fuel tanks to keep the generator going? Will you install an engine in each pontoon hull or opt for an outboard Yamaha engine?

You'll also need a fire fighting system and appropriate safety gear. Not to mention the whole thing has to be complient with the I.M.O. regulations set out for vessles of it's size. You'll also need appropriate insurance cover in the event of a maritime accident.