The Tiny-Houseboat project is moving along nicely! We have lots of bits that have now arrived and will be installed shortly. Here's a few more pics and narrative about the project...
The black boxes in the pic above are floats we are adding to the lower chassis of the houseboat to improve flotation. Each unit will float 1023 lbs! The tiny-houseboat will have a total of over 14,000 pounds of flotation, for a houseboat we expect to come out around 4000 pounds.
The photo above shows some of the parts of the gable ends. This part of the building kit was designed for a width of 10 feet. Since this houseboat is planned to be 8 feet wide, I had to reshape these parts to work with the new dimensions of the houseboat structure.
The photo above shows work underway on the original Lowe pontoons. The had some minor pitting, but we wanted to stop the oxidation and seal / protect them from future issues. We sanded the pontoons and applied a coat of marine epoxy. Then, a top color coat (the brown color) was applied to better match the trim on the house. You can see here the very bottom of the pontoons are still sitting on the trailer "bunks". We plan to lift the pontoon and treat the lower surfaces soon...
The 2 pics above show the front patio installed, and the front trim modified and installed. There are pieces of trim to install on either side of the patio, that will come later. I had to use the carbide saw and remove a lower lip on the trim to allow it to fit over the thicker Trex decking.
The two photos above show scraps of wood tossed up into the houseboat, and onto the flooring cross members. This will provide a walking surface during the installation of the gable ends and the roof beams.
Above is a photo of one of the gable assemblies under construction. The angle was modified in the two outer panels to accommodate the 8 foot width of the building.
You can see where we have lifted one side of the boat in the pic above. We used an engine lift with a beam centered on the balance point, and to help distribute the lifting load across several floor cross members. We also had to remove the trailer bunks from under the pontoon, to allow room for the sander and adequate space to paint.
Above, Debbie started working on the paint on the port side of the houseboat. We'll have to lift this side of the boat to allow for sanding and painting under the bottom, as well.
The above two pics show the patio with the front bumper / trim in place, and taped out to allow for painting without getting paint on the new Trex synthetic decking.
Here's a peep back into the house, showing the assembled gable to be installed at the rear end of the boat.
Above you can see the bunks from the starboard side of the trailer that were removed to help provide clearance for sanding / painting of the pontoons.
Above you can see the finished pontoon on the starboard side, with the color top coat completed. We're only painting the matching color on the pontoons in the are that can be seen when the boat is in the water. The boat is still lifted in this photo, we're allowing adequate curing time for the epoxy finish. We plan to let it down onto wax paper tomorrow, and then move to the other side of the boat and lift it again.
Front deck bumper finished, painted, and untaped. It really turned out nicely. I have to drill and refit tow hooks back through the front bumper.
