Small Houseboat Plans

[dguidry]

Anyone have plans for a small wooden houseboat...25' or less with a hull approximating the shape of the old flatbottom school boats used in Louisiana in the old days. I'm interested in building one that looks good, traditional, in marine plywood with cypress and mahogany mixed in where I can. Small outboard powered. I'm more interested in form than function at this point, so nice curved gunwale and shear would be nice. Flatbottomed with maybe pretty reverse curve aft, in which case I'd probably want to revert to cypress planks to accommodate the curvature. Just completed my 16' crawfish skiff which I built out of 5/16's planks of cypress encapsulated in fiberglass and epoxy, powered by a 23hp gator tail motor. Now all I need to complete my dream package is the houseboat.

[Uncle Duke]

Lots of stuff around: you might start with some of Atkins stuff:
http://www.atkinboatplans.com/

Under "rowboats and outboards" scroll down to 'River Rat", for example. A 22' "houseboat/cabin cruiser".

Under "Miscellanious", you might check out "Herald of the Morning" or "Retreat" (both 18') or slightly larger: "Rocking Chair"

[Steve Paskey]

Harry Bryan's Shantyboat ... Similar to the Atkin "Retreat," but a bit larger (20') and with more style.

http://www.harrybryan.com/harrybryan...yboatPlan.html

Phil Thiel has a 22-foot design called "Friendship" and a 23-footer called the Joli Boat (as well as an 18-footer called Escargot, which is shown in the last link below):

Phil's Friendship:
http://www.mission-base.com/pedal-po...ip_layout.html

Phil's Joli Boat:
www.shambalariver.com/joli.html

And here's a whole web site on Shantyboats, with links to more resources ... designs, books, discussion groups:
http://shantyboatliving.com/photos.html

[Reardon]

I hate it when someone says, "This design doesn't meet your specifications, but here it is anyways" ,and now I find myself doing the same thing.

I love the aesthetics of this design... couldn't help myself.

http://www.parker-marine.com/sam36page.html

[SScoville]

Do you have a picture of the type of hull you're talking about. I came across a very interesting design the other day. It was published in The Rudder years ago and then republished in the Woodenboat issue that had an article on Pete Culler's sailing scow. Designed by Roger Haddock it is a tunnel hulled houseboat.

The only drawings I know of are here: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=scow&w=43145927%40N00

And it's 28'. And the Wooden Boat article said the only plans were lost in a fire. But it's worth a look.

[Bobcat]

I think I like shanty boats....

Suspect there would be snobbery against them, tho

That would just add spice to having one

[Robmill0605]

I have the plans for Aqua Casa, a 16ft or 20 ft shanty houseboat. more here:
http://www.berkeley-engineering.com/...Houseboat.html

Cape Codder is a floating home, 20 ft or 24 ft. from the same designer.
http://www.berkeley-engineering.com/CapeCodder.html

[dld]

http://www.svensons.com/boat/

under house boats

[JimD]

I have the plans for Aqua Casa, a 16ft or 20 ft shanty houseboat. more here:
http://www.berkeley-engineering.com/...Houseboat.html

Cape Codder is a floating home, 20 ft or 24 ft. from the same designer.
http://www.berkeley-engineering.com/CapeCodder.html

I like the Aqua Casa. If you don't want to go boating in it just go camping:

[MiddleAgesMan]

Rueull Parker's Sampan houseboat is about 34 feet IIRC but could be made smaller. It's got a unique style that really grabs me. Maybe it will grab you, too.

Edit--sorry, it's 36' not 34: http://www.parker-marine.com/sam36page.html

[SScoville]

[tomlarkin]

I like Devlin's Millie Hill.

[SamSam]

Anyone have plans for a small wooden houseboat...25' or less with a hull approximating the shape of the old flatbottom school boats used in Louisiana in the old days. I'm interested in building one that looks good, traditional, in marine plywood with cypress and mahogany mixed in where I can. Small outboard powered. I'm more interested in form than function at this point, so nice curved gunwale and shear would be nice. Flatbottomed with maybe pretty reverse curve aft, in which case I'd probably want to revert to cypress planks to accommodate the curvature. Just completed my 16' crawfish skiff which I built out of 5/16's planks of cypress encapsulated in fiberglass and epoxy, powered by a 23hp gator tail motor. Now all I need to complete my dream package is the houseboat.

So, what does a Louisiana school boat look like? Did they move around? Motorized or towed? Any old pictures?

[Bobcat]

Rueull Parker's Sampan houseboat is about 34 feet IIRC but could be made smaller. It's got a unique style that really grabs me. Maybe it will grab you, too.

Edit--sorry, it's 36' not 34: http://www.parker-marine.com/sam36page.html

I like the outhouse.

[sailboy3]

I've always liked Atkin's Retreat

[Steve Paskey]

So, what does a Louisiana school boat look like? Did they move around? Motorized or towed? Any old pictures?

This isn't exactly what they would have had in the "old days," but the NOAA photo library identifies the boat below as a "Grand Bayou School Boat," pre-Katrina.

[Steve Paskey]

Now I get it ... if you're a kid growing up in Grand Bayou, you don't ride a bus to school, you ride a boat ...

Grand Bayou is, quite simply, an anomaly. Some people don't even believe it exists upon learning about it for the first time.

It's an isolated community in Plaquemines Parish, located along the banks of the Grand Bayou. If one were to travel there, he or she would take Highway 23 to a small road paved with oyster shells, follow that for nearly a mile and then continue by boat a short distance to the community, where they would find a number of homes and shrimp boats, but no streets.

You read correctly. There are no streets, no automobiles, no traffic in Grand Bayou.

In fact, a trip to school means waiting outside for the "school boat" — a bright yellow boat provided by a member of the community — to pick up the children and take them to the shell road to catch the actual school bus.

[seafox]

Just wondering some of the boats are in effect pontoon boats but wouldn't it be easter tohave a flat bottom all the way acrost and therefore less draft? if the bottom reached all the way out to the side more stability because as Mr Bolger wrote " that way no one can step where its not suported by the water." if the bow has a very gentle slope up then waves are contained under the overhang insteed of comming aboard