A couple rudimentary houseboat design questions to settle a bet between noobs?

Discussion in 'Boat Design' started by Mike Shnatter, Oct 3, 2024.

  1. Mike Shnatter
    Joined: Oct 2024
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    Mike Shnatter New Member

    Anyone here design houseboats or could comment on these 2 questions?

    1) For a small houseboat - 1 story, 13' x 30', if you were building that and wanted a deck off the back of it - 6' longer and 12 - 13' wide (as wide or a little less than the width of the houseboat itself), would you think the deck and houseboat would be 1 'piece' or would you make the deck separate and attach it to the houseboat by a couple hinges / couplings?

    I think 2 piece would lower the cost? the whole boat is still 30' long vs. 36' long and the deck, seeing less weight on it, doesn't need as much floatation / pontoons.

    And it's removable.

    But as 2 things, connected but independent, would you forsee the house and deck reacting / moving up down / side to side differently to mild waves and potentially 'bump into' each other, even if the hinges / couplings had minimal play / rubber insert? (with the houseboat tied to a dock with bumpers).

    2) Is a houseboat roof usually pretty flat? Seems if it's flat, rain water would accumulate on top and then as the boat rocks from mild waves, you could get a large amount of water coming off the roof all at once making a fair amount of sound like a downpour. Then quiet?

    Or does a flat roof never really accumulate water on a houseboat? The waves (this is in a bay on atlantic) keep the boat rocking slightly enough to keep water coming off the roof / not accumulating?

    THANKS!
     
  2. Milehog
    Joined: Aug 2006
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    Milehog Clever Quip

    Dunno about the roof but a hinge would be a never-ending source of grief.
     
  3. Mike Shnatter
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    Mike Shnatter New Member

    Thanks. And to be clear... me as a noob using the word hinge... likely wrong word.... or so I thought. This is from a Home Depot page. Not what was used but similar idea of 2 1/2 circles on 1 side, 1 on the other. And I think there's a rubber insert then inside that, some sort of pin.

    Is that what you were envisioning? What types of never ending grief are you thinking of?

    I was wondering - are there regulations about a (house) boat at 30 vs. 36' long? Registration fees go up? different regulations? And having an accessory deck that's removable with these 2 hinges keeps the boat under some length for regulations?

    I don't know boats, but 1 long boat 36' long seems there'd be less / no bumping of the 2 parts / uneven rocking of the boat vs. deck (but I don't want to bias your answer : )

    upload_2024-10-3_19-28-2.png

    There's 2 of them. That's a view from the deck and that metal plate is fastened to the boathouse. Some sort of
     

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  4. Milehog
    Joined: Aug 2006
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    Milehog Clever Quip

    The engineering and build will go from simple to more complex, expensive and less reliable. The noise will be a constant battle. I could go on.
    Ask yourself why no one else does this.
     
  5. Will Gilmore
    Joined: Aug 2017
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    Will Gilmore Senior Member

    I have never heard any regulations that restrict the size of a houseboat, but various boat fees and cost are often based of length. Many marinas, for example, have price break points based on lengths. Boats over fifty feet often pay more per foot, boats under 30' may price differently in some marinas depending upon their slip sizes and availability.

    This is an example of a pricing schedule from a random marina search of the Chesapeake Bay area.
    in the lower Chesapeake
    Payment Plans
    Slip Lengths
    30′ 35′ 40′ 45′ 50′
    ‘A’ Prepaid Annual Lease$6.00 per foot! per mo. $2,160 $2,520 $2,880 $3,240 $3,600
    ‘B’ Month-to-Month Lease$7.00 per foot! per mo. $210 $245 $280 $315 $350
    Oversized pricing applied to length over 50ft or beam over 16ft
    Metered Electric: billed quarterly, based on usage
    All rates may be subject to change

    [​IMG]
    Higher initial cost, savings realized with lower marina fees. Certainly it is possible to engineer a strong, lasting, non-rattling, folding transom/swim platform for a houseboat. However, I don't see that as less weight. The additional hardware, plus the reduction in buoyant surface at the stern would mean more concerns over weight aft.

    -Will
     
  6. rwatson
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    rwatson Senior Member

    I think Milehog has a good point. Anything that is low fit tolerances that can move constantly in water and wind, with high point loads, can create problems.
    But. I wouldn't give up the idea of an adaptable hull. I think with a bit of thought and calculation, a rigid dismountable stern could be made to work as you need.
     
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  7. BlueBell
    Joined: May 2017
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    Location: Victoria BC Canada

    BlueBell . . . _ _ _ . . . _ _ _

    Flat roofs are okay but should be slanted. Curved ( cambered ) roofs function much better.
    A cambered roof is stronger and can, therefore, be built lighter.

    Rigid hinging on a floating deck would work too but why. Just tie it to the houseboat and dock.
    These make for excellent maintenance floats as well for working on the exterior of the houseboat.
     
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  8. Mike Shnatter
    Joined: Oct 2024
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    Mike Shnatter New Member

    Thanks. Back story: We stayed on an Airbnb houseboat. It was a rainy day. Every few minutes there'd be a rush of water coming off the roof (so I am guessing what was going on - rain accumulated on what looked like a flat roof. Then the boat tilted a hair more and the water rushed off.

    And every minute or 2 we'd get a bump / thud. Not the rocking of the boat on the water (tied to the dock / 2 bumpers on it). a thud / bump.

    Looking at it in the rain from the outside, what I am thinking is the deck and boat are riding the waves slightly out of sync and at some points, they bump each other through the hinges?

    The host was dismissive of these issues / 'we've never had a problem'.

    Here's a drawing of the houseboat that was in a binder of rules / things to know. My wife feels they are over protective of their 'baby' (there's a 1/2 page description of the 'blood, sweat and tears' they went through to get it built.

    I'm thinking if you are building a house or boat, a complete beam of 30' is cheaper than a 36' long beam? but yeah, likely not a single piece of engineered wood 30 or 36' long?

    Loooking at the pic, the roof does look sloped to the port side. Which IS the side the water came down, but in a deluge every couple minutes. Didn't bother checking / didn't feel like the boat's floor was sloped (the shower / bathroom adds more weight to the starbord side, so the roof gets leveled to collect the water?

    upload_2024-10-4_19-48-25.png
     
  9. fallguy
    Joined: Dec 2016
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    fallguy Boat Builder

    Typically a cantilever of 6/30 or 20% is bad. If 8 or 10 people all go to the end and they are all 200 pounds, the likelihood the thing is designed to suit is low.

    In a marina, they don’t charge by the lwl, but the loa, so economically little true value.

    The thud you heard was likely slop in the hinges.

    I have seen houseboats with a wrapped deck, but typically metal mesh and not too wide; maybe 12-18” side deck and a couple feet on the stern. Those are supported with angles on about 45 to the hull.
     

  10. Mike Shnatter
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    Mike Shnatter New Member

    Thanks for the info! I wasn't thinking cantelever. Just as drawn / pontoons under the deck also. But again, I am a noob about pros / cons 1 way or the other.

    Frustrated from the experience. Was curious if any good reason for the deck to be attached with the hinges... slop - good word for what I was trying to describe! and a flat (pretty horizontal) roof seems goofy - as I saw, it can accumulate water then dump it in a surge. Noisy (and the extra weight of the accumulating water?!). Even on a building on land... flat roof never seemed to make sense to me. Water can sit up there after rain and has more time to work through any spots it can find in the roof. And the weight when the drains get clogged : ) But yeah, on a big building like a warehouse, the pitch could add up to extra stories : ) ?? And they HAVE been building buildings with flat roofs for years. So what do I know.

    THANKS!
     
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