by Michael Richard Weekes
WHO
Michael R Weekes wanted to design and build a houseboat / shanty boat in weeks, not months, that cost less than $2,000 and could be made by one person without special tools, space / work center, or equipment.
INSPIRATIONS:
R. Buckminster Fuller, Bigelow Brook Farms, CT
CONCEPT
Fasten the required number of ultra-rugged yet light storage containers to a 10×16 2×4 deck to achieve a 5,000 pound buoyant capability, where containers act like a poor man’s inexpensive floating dock solution.
Use 2x2s fastened together with 8″ 3/4 plywood hubs to achieve a three frequency geodesic elongated dome (split the dome in half and add 6′ stringers to achieve a cocoon type shape) which weighs less than 200 pounds.
The project began as a bootleg/gypsy event by me at a local yacht yard, until I was kicked out at 4 PM by which time I had the pontoons in the water. I spent the next three weeks fabricating and assembling the geodesic cabin to the deck and then was towed to Canalside (ref. Buffalo Waterfront) from the Buffalo ship canal where I built the structure on the water by myself.
ref: shantyboatliving,com, Buffalo Rising Online, The Buffalo News, Buckminster Fuller Institute, other “geodesic houseboat” on Google.
The home has a splendid 7’6″ headroom and a 9′ width and by offsetting the dome on the deck, it added three feet for a propane grill and cooler, along with back porch.
I’d like to submit this solution for any contests to compete for most value for least cost, effort and time.
The boat build led to my writing and self publishing a book, Building a New and useful Buffalo (eBay – $17.95) which recommends a new kind of framework for communities to leverage their cultural capital to accelerate their transformation and economic development.
I am interesting in joining like-minded urban pioneers to make the quality of life in the cosmos more sustainable while receiving the joy that comes with building your own tiny home with your own hands!
I am also looking for a key role in a company who might wish to commercialize / develop a manufacturing capability for tiny living / “deployment” shelters to help victims of hurricanes, tornadoes, or mud slides / earthquakes.
Michael R Weekes
michaellovesbuffalo(at)gmail.com
Would like to see more pics with the canvas on…Did you set up a jig to assemble the triangles…interesting concept. have waterfront in Syracuse area looking to do an additional seasonal temporary living space. Carry on w/ the creativity !
If the parts are made with the precision necessary for geodesics there are no jigs, it just goes together. If it is off even a little, problems arise. This one has a little wiggle room because the disks connecting it give some room to adjust it. I’ve put small ones together, this size, and if it is properly made it goes together relatively easily. Metal ones are trickier.
I understand what he was talking about but would like to see the finished concept. Fully completed to get a better idea of what he was discussing.
I like the concept except for using 2×4’s to build a 10′ x16′ deck. And then putting it on the water. I would have using no less then 2×6’s. I know you are trying to save weight and probably money also, but that is just pushing way past the limit.
A temporary shelter, but not a home.
More than one layer of canvas and storage container “pontoons” are necessary to get thru winters in Buffalo N.Y.
“…a new kind of framework for communities to leverage their cultural capital to accelerate their transformation and economic development. ”
You lost me on the book at leveraging cultural capital.
You have a good project in the dome and a good project in the floating platform, but it just seems they are good pieces in two different puzzles that have been forced together randomnly and unfairly.
Maybe a smaller dome or a larger platform or vice versa could pull the components together and be finished into one really neat water structure.
three frequency geodesic enlongated dome. long time since ive had one of those…
Reality check please!
It is a cute summer idea to pass some time with the kids. on the lake. Nothing more.
It is not a boat.
It is not a house.
It is not the least bit safe.
It is not anywhere near finished to even prove the concept. So there goes the “houseboat” or a “home” for less than $2k.
It is a DIY raft with a fancy unfinished complicated enclosure on top. Finishing the dome already seems a problem, in that you are building a bigger flat roof over it.
You will need a place on the water to park this. Good luck. Nobody will want this contraption in their marina. If you are even allowed to be on the water with it.
It simply contradicts itself from the get-go; it is not a house because it doesn’t have the various functions of one; it can never be a community solution due to build time, complexity, poor material choice, lack of safety, lack of durabilty, …
The more you think it through the more it comes up way short of the lofty ambitions.
” This home … New framework for … make Buffalo beautiful … here’s my book … quality of the cosmos … and I need a “key role” job …”
Very poor self-promotion piece about a raft.
I’d have to agree. I could set up my dome backpacking tent on a raft with my cooler and stove nearby for less. Less top heavy too.
Castle Rock Lake is Wisconsin’s 4th largest lake.
It is located just 3 hours from Chicago and Minneapolis, 2 hours from Milwaukee, 1 hour from Madison,
and 20-25 minutes from the Wisconsin Dells.
http://www.castlerocklake.com/