New Guy on the Slip building a pontoon house

[Jeeper82]

So I recently bought a place on a bay on the eastern Shore of Maryland and wanted to build a bout house but due to restrictions they no longer allow boat house (as part of the pier) 5o be built so I was thinking bout building a pontoon boat house...

Please correct me if I am wrong in my research, I am here to learn, I rebuilt a jeep using a jeep forum so I hope to something similar here

Primary Objectives: I would like to have a pontoon boat house that I can leave in the slip and watch the games on during the winter and summer, a little escape if you will. Obviously the winter will be cold and I accept that. I was thinking 8ft wide since its easier to find compatible supplies and 14ft long with a small 5ft porch at the end. I was looking at pontoon logs and came across two types, a plastic and standard metal/aluminum. I read mixed reviews on plastic; I like the plastic because it is easier to attach a solid foundation and looks to be a lot easier for building. However, I read that they have problems and are very costly. I would also like to have about 3-4 outlets to power a tv, small stereo and to charge a phone or in the winter plug in a small heater. I will have power on the pier as well to make power readily available. I am not too bad with electrical work. I was thinking about building a solid foundation, and then a small house upon that and run the wires through the walls or if that weight will be too much
use a lighter single layer wall material and run it through the roof and have the outlets in the roof.


Secondary Objectives: Maybe attach a small engine to go into the middle of the bay, nothing more. Just one I can get in the back of the pontoon and steer it itself. Then install marine batteries. Nothing special, not trying to go more than a few hundred feet and just anchor and hangout in the bay.

Conditions: I live in a bay off the Cheaseapke. It rarely ever gets waves, we are pretty well protected. The water does rise however its slow and no waves come. The will not leave the bay, I will either clean it the best I can while in the slip (which i read is fine as long as I don't mind it looking cruddy and don't mind slower speed and RPM) or I can get a trailer and take it to the ramp on the other side of the bay. It doesn't often freeze, but may which I read if I have the metal pontoons I need to worry about internal pressure.

Is this possible or am I just waisting my time. Im very good at building things so I am really excited, but I don't want waist my time, I've read a lot of people who have done this but not how they did it.

[NonHyphenAmerican]

Sounds more like a "Pontoon House Boat" than a Pontoon Boat House.

A "House Boat" is similar to this:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/or ... 5981b4.jpg

It is a "Boat" that serves as shelter.



A "Pontoon Boat House" is similar to this:

http://www.sheelahclarkson.com/waterfro ... r-Home.jpg

It is a "Shelter" to protect/store your Pontoon boat in.


Which is it you're wanting?


If you're wanting a "House Boat", I'd personally suggest using Aluminum Pontoons and would also suggest the possibility of using three instead of just two.

I'd also suggest a toon diameter of at least 25" diameter.

Just

[Bamaman]

I'd suggest you purchase a 24' or longer used pontoon boat and build a lightweight structure on it. It beats starting from scratch.

You could easily run a television and lighting off a generator. You could also heat it with one of many camping style LP heaters.

There are some pontoon houseboats on the used market that'd be nice for your purpose, but they're relatively hard to find. It's always nice to have a trailer for any boat--in case you want to go to other locations relatively close around.

[smltooner]

Welcome to the club.
You have come to a great place for advice.
Sounds like an interesting project.

[Discovery]

I like this thought.

I want a house, that when the weather goes bad, I can move. Thinking wheels would be the best way to accomplish the goal of translocation.

My sarcasm aside, welcome to the club.

[slingshot]

I'm with Bamanan on this. Just get yourself an old used pontoon (there are lots out there), clear the deck and build your structure on it. If its not going into any rough water you could even extend the deck both fore and aft for more sq feet. Go lite as possible on building material ie aluminum studs and such. You could even pull the wheels and axle off a camper/trailer or get a shed and put it on and save yourself more time and money. It's been done many times.

[Jeeper82]

[quote="NonHyphenAmerican"]Sounds more like a "Pontoon House Boat" than a Pontoon Boat House.

A "House Boat" is similar to this:

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/or ... 5981b4.jpg

It is a "Boat" that serves as shelter.



A "Pontoon Boat House" is similar to this:

http://www.sheelahclarkson.com/waterfro ... r-Home.jpg

It is a "Shelter" to protect/store your Pontoon boat in.

Which is it you're wanting?


If you're wanting a "House Boat", I'd personally suggest using Aluminum Pontoons and would also suggest the possibility of using three instead of just two.

I'd also suggest a toon diameter of at least 25" diameter.

Just [/quote]

The first one for sure, the second Im afraid the HOA won't allow, I am new so I am not sure how picky they are, and I was looking at 25 or 26 because I don't know the total weight it will be which I imagine I should know prior to my build.

Slingshot: that is my ideal build right there but with a few more windows and not as long so I can leave room for a porch.

Banana man: Thank you for the response, I have a generator but its huge, loud, and designed to run house appliances, is there a generator thats quieter for boats and if so where would I put it? on the roof?

[TDJ2591]

Honda seems to make the quietest portable generators though they are more expensive.

[Jeeper82]

So I am looking used pontoon boats and you are right, that seems to be the best way to go. What should I be looking for while inspecting them? All I desire is a platform, the rest will be scrapped. Also how does a car compare to a boat in the sense of electricity. So basically the engine powers the alternator which charges the battery which is where I run my accessories from. If the pontoon comes with an engine is there a way to do the same process or am I looking at getting a generator regardless? I really just want to be able to power a TV, TV box, interior lights, a strand or two of Christmas lights, small stereo and like a phone charger. Is this stretching it? I kid you not I have a jeep and I have run so much from that little battery I don't know if I just have high expectations or it is possible. Ive wired a house before (just the basement) and would like to make it as neat as possible. Is there a diagram of how to run electricity through a boat via generator or motor. I was figuring about making a small house like structuring and run the electricity through the walls or roof.

[slingshot]

Go with a generator. A Honda eu2000 should do the job for what you want to run. Ive got one on my boat and use is all the time for overnights and such. I can leave it on for 48 hours and it burned about 3 or 4 gallons. The Honda also has a fuel pump and is not gravity feed for fuel. This is important in that you can modify your generators fuel cap and run a fuel line from your main fuel tank which will allow the generator to run for days if need be. As for electrical wiring, keep it simple. I just ran standard extension cords to the areas I need the power. Works great.

[mpilot]

You would wire it just like a house on the inside. If you want to go the best long term route I would wire a standard 30 amp marine connector in case you ever want to hook up to power at a marina. The wire from that receptacle would go to a beaker box like in your house then it's basically household wiring from there. I would check the marine codes but i dont think there are special requirements fir the interior wiring.

If you run off of a portable generator then you can just run a plug from that to the plug you put on the boat. I would consider looking for a used generator out of a boat if you want to go a more permanent route. I had a friend that had an old houseboat with an outboard that actually just ran a generator out of a rv and it worked fine too. The marine generators are water cooled so that will require a little plumbing but not too bad. If you add a permanent generator it should be wired into a 3 way selector (genset/off/shore) and then the next that wire should go to the breaker box.

Anytime you run a generator you should have a couple of combo co2 and smoke detectors on board.

[mpilot]

Another option for your setup may be selectable power from a 12 volt system with an inverter. You just need to figure the amount of watts your devices would all draw and add some extra for expansion, inefficiency, etc. You could wire that to a bank of deep cycle batteries and have power from that. A small outboard won't recharge as fast as the inverter you are probably going to need to run most likely but since you have power at the dock you could have them hooked up to a charger so they are fully topped off when you leave the dock. Deep cycle batteries give you amp hour ratings which you can use to calculate how long the batteries will last. I would isolate these house batteries from the starting battery through a smart switch so it won't drain that down. I would also run this setup through a three way switch as referenced in the above post (inverter/off/shore) so you can select and there won't be a chance of running both power supplies at the same time.

You'd have to see how much room you have on the roof but you could also go solar with this setup to charge the batteries.

Harbor freight has a Honda generator clone I meant to mention above and they also sell decent inverters and solar panels. Get the warranty if it's cheap so they are covered though.

For what you want I'd look around for an older houseboat. There were some built on pontoons. It would have a lot of the work already done for you and they can be had pretty cheap in my area. I'd stay away from any steel hull without a vessel survey and fiberglass could be prone to blistering and rot without bottom paint. They make some nice aluminium mono hulls too but not many in the size you are looking for.

[ezrollin]

I build this 24 ft with a 2" alum. sq. tube frame, alum. clad foam panels and acrylic windows. It will sleep four people and has propane stove/oven,shower and port pot. You can live aboard and still use it for fishing etc. Sorry couldn't find the picture, i'll attach one later today.

[bansil]

OST for picture of above :

had not seen that emo, so I used it