Celebrating Thirteen Years Online
Celebrating Thirteen Years Online
The 36' Houseboat..!
"Drifter"
Copyright 2005 Michael Kasten
THE CONCEPT
The Drifter 36 design was created for permanent moorage and living aboard in Seattle's Lake Union. The available slip was quite narrow... but the requirement was to create adequate living space for a single person or couple.
THE CHALLENGE
The size of the slip was the most challenging restriction. Here is why...
In order to gain sufficient interior space for the requested accommodations, our only choice was to build vertically, which created weight up high as well as windage. Yet another requirement was that there be a garden area on the roof...!
The windage created by the height of the 'house' combined with the weight of the house combined with the potential weight of the planters on the roof combined with the extreme limitation on beam gave us quite an interesting puzzle to solve.
THE SOLUTION
After experimenting with several monohull shapes, it became readily apparent that no matter how deep we would make the hull it would not add appreciably greater stability. The reason for this is not so intuitively realized: By adding depth we were also adding volume, so yes we could add ballast and yes it could be located lower down thus lowering the center of gravity - both of which are righting forces - but we also were adding buoyancy low down - an upsetting force! With a mono-hull type, we were chasing our tail...!
Once we investigated a 'tunnel hull' or semi-catamaran hull form, we quickly realized that we could add considerable depth without adding much volume. This allowed a deep location for the ballast allowing us to lower the center of gravity without adding too much buoyancy where it was not wanted - i.e. low down.
A further benefit of the 'tunnel hull' form is that yet another requirement of the design could be accommodated: That the house boat be able to move around under its own power. The 'tunnel' thus allowed us to place two outboard motors aft and on center, and still have reasonably good water flow to the propellers.
Of course this is not a vessel that would travel great distances, but the objective was simply to allow the owner to move the vessel without a tow boat when desired - basically in order to have "portable waterfront property" during the mild summer months - a really great concept!
Thus, the houseboat has a steering station on the roof with controls for the outboards, running lights, anchor, and so forth - a perfectly good motor home on the water.
Due to the combination of 'tunnel hull' and deeply located ballast, we were able to design to the IMO international stability requirements - quite an achievement for such a structure!
The images shown here were developed to show the original concept to the owner. Fully detailed plans have also been developed for construction. If they are of interest, please see our Plans List web page, and look in the Power Boats section for a houseboat called the Drifter 36.
THE LAYOUT
The interior is on two levels, and the entry is halfway between the two accommodation levels. A stairway is located at the bow end, which leads from the large stateroom below, to the saloon and galley above. A landing half-way up is located at the same level as the exterior 'fore-deck' entry porch. The entry porch is covered by a balcony above. A ladder leads from the fore deck to the balcony, and a second ladder leads from the balcony to the exterior top deck where the roof-garden is located.
The stateroom on the lower deck has a walk-in closet, plus an ample head with a big combination shower / tub. One of the best features of the stateroom is the fireplace at the bow-end, enclosed by the wrap-around stairway. There are plenty of windows in the stateroom for good sunlight and views.
The saloon is intentionally quite open, and also has plenty of good windows. The galley is large - bigger even than many house kitchens! A breakfast bar is at one end of the galley.
The front entry has a small seat opposite the ladder that leads up to the balcony. The balcony above is large enough for two chairs and a small table. It is a good perch from which to keep an eye on the antics of dockside neighbors...
The garden deck is really the crowning luxury of the whole affair. Wildflowers, green onions and cherry tomatoes if in Seattle... In warmer areas, maybe a Sago Palm or Pygmy Date Palm...
If it were my own little house boat, the top deck would have a dining table and a few comfortable chairs for nice weather, then maybe a small potted tree or two. In all likelihood, that would be my favorite spot aboard.
THE STRUCTURE
The houseboat hull and exterior decks are intended for construction in fiberglass. Why fiberglass...? It offers the lightest overall structure weight, and given that the shape is all flat panels the construction would be very fast and easy. Scantlings are fully compliant with the ABS rules for fiberglass vessels.
In fact the hull structure is robust and very rigid. This is quite intentional, since one further request of the owner was that the houseboat be able to be beached during low tides - mainly just for fun, but also for periodically cleaning the hull.
WHY A HOUSEBOAT...?
We have an excellent story from the 'Cabin Boat Primer' - a guide to shanty boating during the late 1800's and early 1900's. It was written with drifting in mind - primarily drifting down rivers, and especially along the Mississippi River system.
The 'Cabin Boat Primer' describes a way of life in such a way as to put you already on the path to making it your own - a particular gift of the author. In that sense, the book is very much in the vein of Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. It is also the spirit of Laubin, Whitman, Kazantzakis, Fletcher, Slocum, Moitessier.
Certainly prices have changed since the beginning of the 1900's but the spirit of 'cabin boating' remains the same. There is much among the following brief words that can be equally well applied to all of our boating pursuits...
Shall we listen...
- The main thing is patience; the next observation; and last of all, skill.
- There is no reason why life on a cabin-boat should be lived in rags and tatters. They do not lead to comfort.
- The boat will cost from $25 up, and a fit one for two persons $50 or more, in all probability.
- One should look further before paying more than $100 for an ordinary river house boat, unless it is new, in first class condition, of good wood, and far up the stream.
- The true cabin boater is also a philosopher.
- Troubles come to mean something in the way of a cause for congratulation rather than dismay.
- Reasonable care should be taken to ward off trouble.
- Always find a good landing, as regards wind and water.
- Never tie to a wobbly stake.
- Never let the wood pile or oil can get low.
- In one sense of the word, shanty boating is simply finding new lands to travel and a new view-point from which to see the land.
- To no-one does the mockingbird sing so beautifully, or the huge trees seem so majestic, or the geological formations appear so attractive as to the man in a cabin boat.
- Raymond Spears, 1913
For more information about this or any of our other yacht designs please inquire.
Please see the Plans List page to review our available Boat Plans.
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