Calculate weight, depth, buoyancy, and displacement for pontoon houseboats

by Conrad
(Gold Coast, QLD , Australia)

I want to calculate the weight, depth, buoyancy, and displacement for pontoon houseboats. I have just purchased a small houseboat and it is made from aluminium.

Once I got the boat out of the water the Aluminium Hulls were badly corroded. The top half (cabin) is still good, so I am planning to replace the three aluminum hulls (2x .5m wide and 1 x 1.2m wide) with two fiberglass (1.2m wide) hulls.

The overall length of the houseboat with the slight addition will be 7.5m long and 4.2m wide. The only thing I am not sure of is the height of the hulls? The current hulls are only .5m high and I would like to lift it out of the water a bit more because I will be using the Bay.

Is there a formula that will work out what size Hulls I will require?

Thanks, Conrad, Australia.

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Reply - Answer
Well Conrad, thanks for posting your question in the houseboat forums.

When you look at the height and weight, or I should say the buoyancy and displacement of pontoon boats, you have to consider whether you're using either Pontoon or at Tritoons. (twin or triple logs)

You will find some good articles to calculate the weight capacities when both pontoons are half immersed.

Here is another good article to calculate the weight and displacements of houseboats.

If you get the project started, do take some pictures and share your houseboat building story with us here. We have plenty of folks that would love to see your project take shape.



Lastly, hopefully some of our readers will share and post comments about their tritoon or pontoon houseboat calculations and experiences. Feel free to use the "Click here to post comments." link found near the bottom of this page.


Thanks again for sharing, IAN from all-about-houseboats

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