After stripping the boat down to the bare hull I started to lay the frame work for the walls and roof.
Ashley and I looked researched on Google images dozen of house boat styles. The style we were most drawn too were the “Shanty” style house boats.
A general form began to shape in our minds. A curved, multi-level roof, with a cozy cottage feel. We had the blueprints from the original design so we scanned in a size profile of just the hull and drew several different options on top.
I cut the curved roof beams out of 2x6s because I didn’t have the space or time to make glue lamented curved beams. These I mounted on top of 2x4s on the top plate of the hull. This made for a very wobbly, and flismy looking frame. My priority was to get the hull protected from the rain so I was hoping to work on the roof first. However there was not way the loose frame would hold the roof.
Walls first it was, then roof. I also realized that my cut 2×6 curved beams were way to weak. I was either going to have to double up on the number of beams or reinforce them somehow. I ended up reinforcing the beams by sandwiching them between two pieces of plywood. I cut the plywood wider than the beams so that the composite beam was a little deeper.
In hind sight the rework ate up a bunch of time and the end result isn’t exactly what I was hoping for. The beams would have turned out better and stronger if I would have gone with the glue lamented beams, and it probably would have take the same amount of time in the end. Oh well, lesson learned for the next project.
With the wood panels up the frame was much stronger and I was ready to put the roof on the rear portion of the boat.
I used 2x2s laid across the curved beams and then put 1/4″ plywood on top of that. With it all screwed down it formed a pretty sturdy roof that I can walk on.
Summer slipped by and that was where I was at when Wayne told me he had an airplane he wanted to park in the spot that was his next project. I had to have the boat out in October. The only problem was I didn’t know where I was going to put it, or how I was going to move it.
