This is a follow-up to the Floating Retreat post of a few days ago. I had mentioned One Ugly Boat in that post and Harold the owner and designer of One Ugly Boat wrote and told me about his new design, the 32 foot shanty. I thought you floating home enthusiasts might be interested in it. The boat design is pictured above and following are the homes features.
The 32 ft Shanty Features:
- All aluminum construction for light weight and resistance to the elements. All the components for the shanty can be fabricated by our vendor and shipped by normal freight to your location.
- The shanty can be constructed in your back yard on an 8 ft wide by 12 ft long transport trailer. The sections can then be launched at your local boat ramp and attached together in the water.
- The windows and doors are standard home items that can be purchased from your home store. Quality of these items can vary depending on your pocket book.
- The shanty can be parked either in the water or on the shore. Because the unit is licensed as a boat, it should not be restricted by zoning laws that prohibit homes or parking trailers in the flood plain.
- Estimated cost of materials to construct the shanty should be less than $25K. Cost of the floats and floor will be about $10K. At $25K cost per sq ft of living space is $75.
My favorite is still the 20 foot Paycheck Shanty which is designed for the builder who wants a boat that can be built and assembled over a period of time on a pay as you go basis. The end result is a very livable 20 ft shanty that can be towed easily with a small van or car. The boat can also be used as a camper for long distance travel to far off places, and then parked in your yard or carport instead of a marina or storage yard. Check it out below.
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Now take this a step further…
Use an ISBU Shipping Container as the “core structure.” I’ve often thought of doing exactly this, using a pair of Shipping Containers as the “body” of the boat.
A trio of high-flotation pontoons under (perhaps constructed by salvaging fuel tanks from aircraft and filling them up with foam), shooting some fiberglass over the bottom of the “boxes” (bolted, filled, and welded together) would even form the hull.
I’m not sure about doing this as an Ocean vessel, but for a lake or river, tucked away miles from everyone? It’d be wonderful! Talk about a heavy-duty houseboat! And you could do it… cheap, cheap, cheap.
you could just plug some hdpe black pipes for pontoons.
I was reading your post on “One Ugly Goat” and you mentioned that the 20 ft Paycheck Shanty was your favorate. It is mine also. I’ve been trying to find where I may purchase the plans and when I click on your link (or enter the URL “oneuglyboat.com” I get an error “Cannot display this page”. Any help on a good link would be much appriciated.
Thanks
John
I just found this link. Hopefully, that will help: https://duckworksmagazine.com/09/designs/deckboat/index.htm