Anyone want to help?

[ted655]

This idea was put out there by another & didn't get much interest. It (at first) did seem foolish. The more I think on it I see some merit. It's not "yar" nor "bristol" & Loyds certainly won't touch it but there are many who would build it & enjoy using it.
A 'hillbilly houseboat" Cheap to build, safe to float and ugly as sin. Since this a serious design forum, this is not a friolis proposal. I don't expect many will give it credibility as a valid request. IF anyone has a spare moment, I would appreciate their "design" comments, because I already know it's out of the box thinking. I present some ideas I have to get it going BUT they are not set in stone.
I purpose....."The Cargo Container Houseboat" for sheltered waters. (STEEL)
1. 8 X 40 standard shipping container (plentiful & cheap), set on a simple hull form.
2. Concrete ballast keel. Flat. Boxed with 6" I-beams (re-enforcind bars & wire mesh within depth of beams & filled in)
3. 5 or 6' W X 8'L' hull plate set at 45 degree angle, welded to top edge of I-beam. (this angle allows for 45 deg gussets) a thrift of materials issue.
4.2' straight vertical sides. (btm & sides tied together with stringers, cross members, etc..)
5. simple scow bow.
6. simple stern suitable for inboard W. sterntube/rudder propulsion

All ideas should adhere to thrift of material shapes. ie; getting the most out of a sheet, a standard length, or off the rack material, with as little "end" waste as possible. sizes must be managible for simple devices (A-feame on truck bumpers, etc.) and 2-3 person fitting.
The "boat" should (as far as possible) be simple for persons with average skills to build ..Dimentions shoul reflect the use of sizes of steel that a mill considers "standard stock" This keeps cutting/grinding to a minimum. It also avoids special "cut" charges from adding to cost. It also allows for scrounging & salvage of materials.
Primaraly we are interested in the "float away" stage. The end result should allow for "off the shelf" fitting out.
The boat (oh allright...craft) should be safe, simple, shoul draft & easy to drive. It should have ample tankage and living space for extended stays or large family use.

Just thought I'd ask. Thanks, Ted

[SeaPhantom]

Aluminium containers also widely available. Coat with epoxy.

[marshmat]

Why not?
Containers are plentiful and strong. Barges are simple and cheap. Concrete makes great ballast. Not an ocean crosser, but quite feasible I think!

[SeaPhantom]

8250This just happened to be photographed during one of my six huricane knockdowns! But this is where I built the SeaPhantom monster www.seaphantom.com. Knew I couldn't simultaneously afford a big shop, and $6,000 rolls of carbon fiber, so I designed this hanger from shipping containers to set down in a parking lot! Fiberglass arches, layed-up over pvc pipe, w/heat shrink plastic over. After six knockdowns, Latter redesigned the whole thing as a tension structure, Wilma came through, 130mph winds, and didn't do a thing to my plastic hanger- But 25 yards away, PUNCHED out a 'hurricane-proof' steel door , and blew out 20' of welds!! But the plastic hanger made it!!!
8251
photo shows earlier two-passenger prototype plug under construction
Friends Dubbed this: 'Area 52'

[ted655]

I keep rethinking the shape of the hull. The end result needs to have a beam wide enough to allow the 8' width of the container plus suitable side deck widths (18" ?).Add to this requirement 2 more "musts". One is, the shape must remain as flat as possible for shallow draft. The third requirement is the underwater seams shoul be held to as few as possible. A Mississippi riverboat shape, but few seams & no bending. This I could use some help on. The hull needs to be built from ground up, then position the container placed on (in) it. The sides& decks could then be welded into the sides of the container, unifying the craft. Object being to not pay for crane charges untill final load onto a transport truck.
My idea is to weld the I-beams (2' wide X 36' long) for the keel & pour the concrete between I-beams. The keel will set on OSB sheets which set on support blocking. Sheets & blodking are removed later & keel rests on ground for final build. Then start welding the hull plates along the keel shape.
A container weighs 9,000#. I estimate a frame of 6" I-beam & renforceings filled with concrete to be a ballast weight of around 6,200#. Is this enough ballast for a 40 X8 X8 box shape?
,
I would like to know more about the PVC/fiberglass trusses used on the hanger. Good luck with sea trails phantom.

[SeaPhantom]

Just join two boxes together; forget the ballast and 'hull' shaping. Just build a floating hillbilly mansion- by the time you form hulls, side decks, and figure ballast, you might as well just start from scratch and build a purpose-design boat. You could add a quickie barge type 'bow' if you really needed to go places (slowly). Aluminium boxes are lighter, cut easier, and will float higher for cutting-in windows etc.

Hanger arches were formed from a bundle of 1" diameter pvc pipes, pre-cambered into desired arch, then wraped three sides @ time in roving and resin(turned over for other side) as they sat. Finished w/ gelcoat. bases fabricated, then bolted to top edges of containers. Longitudnal 'stringers' added before heat-shrink plastic went over. Later, tensioned wire cables added to stiffen against hurricanes. Gutter panels went up on container edges to keep water from pouring in on shop.

[Redsky]

if it was me and i was building a house, barge....take 3 45' waffle side steel containers , join together fair the sides and bottom with marine plywood form a angle bow with sheet ply and some angle iron and a aft transom with a surface drive ..install 2 bulkheads in each container plus one long one across the doors area so you end up with 13 compartments the bow 9 body and 3 aft/transom thats your hull...a bow thruster would be of exceptional help i think build house on top deck. 20x40... gives you 24" down each side and 30" front and back walk around depending on how mutch bow and tail you give her 25 x50-60...affix ply with lap joins and galvinised carriage bolts epoxy the seams while your hanging then epoxy paint the ply with couple of coats dunno whether you want the expence of a fiberglass layer,,i wouldent bother myself its just a barge after all. before fairing with ply and joining the containers id probably spray them with a basement waterproofing product like they use on outside of basement walls

[lewisboats]

Pick up an old travel trailer (pull type, not 5th wheel), build a scow hull and marry the 2...simple and cheap and already equipped.

Steve

[ted655]

Still thinking/planning this idea. Found this link.
http://www.architectureandhygiene.com/main.html
It shows what is possible, as far as accomodations.

[ted655]

Some of these ideas (while doable), don't meet the critera. A box without ballast is a coffin. Again, the idea is a crusing houseboat. The size has to be able to allow for traveling and manuvering withour tugboats.
I have seen steel barges that were built for teavel trailers. Travel trailers are not really built very well. A life on the water would be a short, leaky existence. However, as they came apart, you could pull them off & roll another cheapie back on.
As far as "purpose" built, you may be right. What I'm interested in is a shortcut of sorts. Something for less skilled, equipted, bankrolled builders. Many of "us" don't have a building in which a purpose built boat can be built. Nor the time or skill to weld together enough pieces to end up with anything close to a boat with smooth clean lines. The resulting attemp causes many builders to abandon the project. A simple hull with a minimum of welds below the waterline (maybe hired out to a professional), AND fastened to a existing cabin, will get people floating. A big incentive to finish (to their tastes and abilitys) the project. A shipping container boat well done is far better than a purpose built yacht poorly done.
1 container (affordable steel-used), single width, ballasted hull, economicaly powered, with as few welded seams underwater. Still the criteria.Thanks everyone.

[SeaSpark]

For a design like this i'd go for a catamaran with large diameter steel tubes for hulls.
Easy to build and save on fuel costs later.

[ted655]

Sounds good. A container weighs around 10K. Add another 10K for cargo & equipment. Another 5K for ballast. At 25K for 1/2 pontoon submergen, each 'toon has to support 25K.
Can you link me with a sourse of 'toon this size?
The builder this design is for can't build them. They will need to be purched & shipped at a price comprible to materials found in their area. The pontoons I've researched, either don't have the bouyancy required OR they are too costly.
I have seen pictures of such a project being built by a couple in Brazil (less the Container box). I was unable to find that size lightweight pipe here in the USA.
It will be great if you've found it! Send me the link. Thanks
As this "box" is SO high profile, do you have an idea of how to ballast a catamaran hull?

[gonzo]

Is there any reason you want to make this boat "ugly as sin"? One of the things I learned as a shipwright's apprentice is that ugly boats are harder to build. Materials bend in harmonious shapes unless you fight them.

[ted655]

No, not at all. I was just getting ahead of the purists that want clean lines. Obviously this boat is not going to look areonodynamic. By the cryteria of being built with off the rack materials, with not much more than a buzz box welding machine & a light duty cutting totch, this design won't have rolled plates or laser cut pcs.Skills vary, and some will adapt their own tricks to create truly awesome boats. What I want help with is a safe, simple hull that will give basic satisfying outcome for the less able builsers.
Maybe "plain jane is a better term, OR KISS. Like I said, a well made simple container boat will gender more respect than a bad attempt at a sleek yacht.

[Redsky]

my instincts say that in oorder to ballast a Single! container properly you would just about have to sink it to a draft of 5'-6'..and even then it would be a rolly polly thing i think....minmium 2 containers side by side for stability would be my specification...maby slice 1 container laid on its side and fit a wood deck on top? and build on that? and at that you could orgami it and slice 3 sides and lay it open

[ted655]

Hmmmm? 2 side by side? A16' wide boat. Most houseboats are that wide, these days. So thats doable but it adds expence & complexity.. What about the idea of a I-beam frame, filled with concrete? That ballast added to the bottom of the container would form the major area of the hull & give it stability. Pulling the profile down, deeper than sitting on top of the waterline..
Of course, this type of basic stuff is where I need help. Adding 6,000 lbs to the bottom of the box & adding a 24" side deck just above waterline on both sides (making a 12' width) would still be topsy-turvey?

[Redsky]

i suggest you price a second container angainst structural steel and concrete costs......personally i think cutting a container and laying it open folding a long side over and then welding a top plate around the edges on tops of the structural container corners cut before unfolding..and welding or bolting the bottom corners together where they meet..weld the doors in
gives 17'x41'x4.5' deep in 2 compartments for a lot less draft and tons more stabilty build houseboat on that..couple of i/o drives easy enough to fit
and id also say how many moorages are going to be 6+ feet of draft..along with stumps and mudbars and rocks ...cars...pileings...oh yea boats...railroad locomoives...the list is endless..

[SamSam]

Ted,
I enjoyed the link. The e-book "architecture and the velvet fist of happiness" was inspirational, the 'facial prosthesis' was disturbing and funny both. That is truly thinking 'outside the box', so to speak. As far as containers on water goes, I believe that there may be no bottom to the containers other than the plywood floor inside and the beams every foot or so underneath that support the plywood. If the container was to be put into the water by itself, you would have to go to the trouble to make the bottom watertight. Sam

[ted655]

Sam Sam; I went to look at "bottoms" at the local supplier (who is NEVER there to question). I didn't find out anything. They are lifted & stacked, so I feel the btms must be strong. That aside, it doesn't matter. I want a design that is a hull. Then the crane sits the container down onto it. The container doesn't touch the water. It is a cabin, sitting down in a hull.
Redsky; I get what your saying (kinda). You want a form of contauner "salvage" to create a hull. Here... a container is $3200 del. I think 80' of I-beam, rebar, wire & 2yds of concrete can be cheaper. All that cutting and folding (the picture I see in my head) is confusing to me & sounds like more welding/bending than necessary, or maybe possible in a backyard.
I'll reread and try to get it. BUT it makes the container the hull & then you have to build a cabin. Bear with me, I'm not the brightist bulb.

[gonzo]

If you make the hull with ferrocement, it is better to give it a slight curve both ways. It will make the panel stiffer and lighter.

[ted655]

I just saw a figure of 7 million containers per year arriving here in USA. We return only 2.5 million in our exports. Now that is a surplus!

[Dave-Fethiye]

Hi
How are you getting on with your container-houseboat project?

I have been reading up all the threads and am keen to see any photos of your project. It looks very doable - especially 2 containers side by side to prevent it from turning over and to give extra space.

Can you give us an update ?

Where are you located ?

Thanks