homemade pontoon house boat ideas needed

[stephen25]

Hey guys, I'am thinking of converting my 20' pontoon into a weekend house boat, since I recently purchased another boat for fishing/ sking, But I wanted to see what people here have done with there's or any pictures of people you know who have.
Thanks

 

[Grub54891]

Re: homemade pontoon house boat ideas needed

I think the first thing to think about is what is the toon rated for weight wise? Adding a structure to it could make it top heavy,or stern heavy...ect.
Other than that,a light structure in the wind could cause issues too. I'm shure it's been done,hopefully someone responds....

 

[Saltydawg2]

Re: homemade pontoon house boat ideas needed

Ok, I'll bite. How big is the deck area? What diameter pontoons, and size of motor? How much electrical power are you going to need to be able to use before recharging? How much additional weight can you add to the structure before it is overloaded? Are you ever going to tow it? If so, will your trailer/tow vehicle be up to the task? How many people are going to be on it at any given time? Not trying to burst your bubble, but there are lots of serious questions before you can do much dreaming. Give us some ideas of what you plan on doing, and we can go from there,Stephen25.

 

[ElGringo]

Re: homemade pontoon house boat ideas needed

If your tubes are 24" you only rated at 3500 pounds total. What does the boat weigh right now?

 

[5150abf]

Re: homemade pontoon house boat ideas needed

As others have said, weight is your biggest issue, building the structure is easy, making it sea worthy and light are the problems.

Maybe look into a camper enclosure, sort of the same thing but it is easily removable if you want to tow the boat or just pull it off for storage and there is no engineering involved.

If you do this you will almost have to know what it will weight before hand and be very mindful of weight distribution, can't have too much in any one place .

If you search the site I am sure you will find a couple guys that have done something similar.

 

[Sashav]

Re: homemade pontoon house boat ideas needed

Yes figuring your weight is essential here, after that you can build your construction pretty easily.

 

[jeffvan1]

Re: homemade pontoon house boat ideas needed

is that 3500 lbs including pontoons, frame, and deck ???

 

[HarborRat]

Re: homemade pontoon house boat ideas needed

Here are plenty of pictures : https://www.google.com/search?q=hom...nzoG4Aw&ved=0CCkQsAQ&biw=1517&bih=752&dpr=0.9

Notice how many are sitting very low in the water (or under the water)....please try and avoid that.

 

[ElGringo]

Re: homemade pontoon house boat ideas needed

is that 3500 lbs including pontoons, frame, and deck ???

That is the total amount of weight that the pontoons will support

 

[stephen25]

Re: homemade pontoon house boat ideas needed

Thanks guys they are 24" toons, the size of the deck curently is 22' long X 8.5 ' wide, with a 60 HP merc pushing it around. I have taken all of the furniture off of it for now due to them needing to be restored, but I planned on using aluminum siding materiall that comes in a 4'X48" sheets and all of the studs would be aluminium as well. I plan on having just me, the wife and my 5 yr old daughter on it.

 

[river rat 26]

Re: homemade pontoon house boat ideas needed

I did this about 20 yrs ago, I still have and use this boat. Keep the bow as lite as possible, I ended up adding a third pontoon to mine. I put it forward of the mtr. pod and let it stick out about 2 feet more then the outside pontoons in the front then added an aluminum diamond plate deck past the original. Yes it is too heavy but I got used to it. It is perfect for camping, fishing and the kids loved jumping off the top. Now the grandkids are enjoying it when in town. I repowered it in 09 with a 90 etec and it screams down the river at about 20mph. Anyway go for it, keep materials as lite as possible and have fun.

 

[Bamby]

Re: homemade pontoon house boat ideas needed

Everything posted so far is both relevant and sound advice. I have my own pontoon houseboat that is for the most part homemade but in my case I completely rebuilt a preexisting one in bad shape from the pontoons up. Weight was a big consideration on every choice of features and materials. Even so after all the $$$ and sweat equity we put into the boat it was a very apprehensive moment when I backed her down the boat ramp and floated her for the first time. Thankfully she stabilized out well and we've utilized her every weekend throughout the boating season for several years now without issues. Better than most can say if they buy something new built in a factory. So I'm saying yes it can be done and done successfully you just haft to choose your materials wisely.

Some photo's I took of mostly homemade Pontoon Houseboats

And here's a blog posting I wrote on my rebuild you may also find helpful.

 

[jeffvan1]

Re: homemade pontoon house boat ideas needed

I'm also in the design phase of converting a houseboat to a pontoon boat 24 footer w/24" diameter pontoons. Aluminum for the framing will work but have you considered metal studs? They weigh in at 2.88 lbs for an 8 ft. length. You'll have to paint them with rustolium or the salt water will corrode them within a year. Have you considered skinning the frame with luan plywood 1/8th thickness or vinyl siding which is somewhat lighter than aluminum siding. You can also cut down on some weight if you fabricate your windows from plexiglass. You also might want to consider using screen doors and replacing the screens with plexiglass. If you don't plan on walking on the roof you can get by with 1/4 ply covered with rubberized roof seal (Kool ????) sold at Home Depot and Lowes. Here's a rough estimate of my weight calculations:

16x 8 cabin on a pontoon deck:

weight cap: (4320 lbs @ 180 lbs x 1 ftx 2 pontoons)
net cap: 3408 lbs (not including pontoons / aluminum frame)
3 adults: 530 lbs
motor: 120 lbs (35 hp)
1/2 ply deck 4x8 (x6)= 300 lbs (3/4 marine ply - 480 lbs)
12 gal gas = 72 lbs
20 gal water=166 lbs
5 gal toilet= 61 lbs (41.5 lbs-water)-porta potty (20 lbs)
refrig 70 lbs
roof 1/4 ply 88 lbs
luan ply 1/8th (x12) 144 lbs (exterior)
50 3 5/8" studs: 144 lbs
boat console 100 lbs (?? guessing**
batteries (x3) 210 lbs
luan ply 1/8th (x16) 192 lbs (interior)
12 3 5/8 roof studs 34 lbs
20 lb propane tank 35 lbs (full

net : 1142 lbs 962 lbs ( 3/4 ply deck).

I'll probably stay with the 3/4 ply deck because if I go with 1/2 " I'll have to put in stringers since most cross-members are 24" apart. So, besides what I have already factored in I still have another 900+ lbs to work with. I figure a dinette, futon sofa / bed, , generator, propane stovetop, cabinets and enclosed head will quickly chew up that 900 Lbs.

You can cut some of the expenses by scavenging. For instance side windows from a truck camper (craigslist / auto salvage), front and rear windows (craigslist/rv or camper salvage).

Thanks guys they are 24" toons, the size of the deck curently is 22' long X 8.5 ' wide, with a 60 HP merc pushing it around. I have taken all of the furniture off of it for now due to them needing to be restored, but I planned on using aluminum siding materiall that comes in a 4'X48" sheets and all of the studs would be aluminium as well. I plan on having just me, the wife and my 5 yr old daughter on it.

 

[stephen25]

Re: homemade pontoon house boat ideas needed

Jeff van 1 can you post pictures of your progress?