Course How To

Free Houseboat Plans - where to find build, cheap or free house boat plans?

by Brian
(Lake Ozark, MO)

Houseboat Plans - any cheap or free house boat plans to build.

Houseboat Plans - any cheap or free house boat plans to build.

Where can I find free houseboat plans, or cheap inexpensive house boat plans? As spring is here, we want to start building a boat for some fishing and overnight trips.

We would like to build a small plywood boat, that has some of the basic features such as a small kitchen, bathroom, and maybe a bed for sleeping.

I'm on a limited budget, have the tools and time, but am willing to spend what it takes to start building a houseboat soon...

I hope I can find something, Brian.



Advertise Houseboat Business Advertising
You can advertise here for pennies a day!
Are you a boating related business and want to
increase sales and profits with targeted traffic?
Act now to get our 1/2 price sale, limited offer





Reply - Answer
Well Brian, congratulations on your plans to build your own houseboat. I don't know if you're interested in building a pontoon, catamaran, planing, or a full hull style boat.

You can have a look at some different houseboat designs or styles to get an idea as to what best suits your needs.

When it come to building your own boat, you can find some cheap, inexpensive, or even free houseboat plans on the market.

If you are looking for plans to build a small plywood houseboat like the ones below, these models are easy, and quick to build yourself.

free, or almost free Houseboat Plans
Images of houseboats are from Bateau.com



Lastly, hopefully some of our readers and visitors will share and post comments about their houseboat plans, or building a boat 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


Free Bonus Offer

To show our deep appreciation to all of our readers and visitors, here is the link to our free houseboat magazine, the INSIDER. Go ahead click the book and sign-up, it's free and filled with great articles, tips, information and website updates.

free Houseboat Magazine - The Houseboat Insider


Comments for Free Houseboat Plans - where to find build, cheap or free house boat plans?

Average Rating starstarstarstarstar

Click here to add your own comments

Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Houseboats on Land for Flood Areas
by: Anonymous

Last night I was watching a news report about the flooding in Mississippi, and thinking about all the areas where flooding is a major problem. Then I thought, why don't houses in those areas combine a land house with a houseboat?

Designs would look close to a regular house, two floors, etc., BUT the bottom would be like a houseboat, so when floods come the house is moored to the land at the four corners, to keep the house in place, and just rises up, in place, with the water.

There's no need to evacuate, no need to loose belongings, no need to rescue people. Then, when the water is gone, the house just lowers back into place.

I would think the houseboat industry would welcome this new customer base for sales growth.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Houseboat Plans - what boat plans can you buy?
by: Home made boat building

I bought my plans from Glen-L, and they have some very nice plans. Some are for smaller trailerable houseboats and some are much larger boats.

They have plans for the pontoon type houseboat and the floating cabin type, and they also have up to 45 footer with real nice space usage. I myself am building the Jubilee houseboat with a similar cabin to the Bon Voyage.

The prices are reasonable and this company has been in business for over 50 years. Below is a list of the available houseboat plans:

16'-28' Huck Finn - trailerable pontoons

Huck Finn Cabin Plans

20' Gypsy - trailerable houseboat

20' & 24' Water Lodge - flat bottomed houseboats

23' Quest - trailerable houseboat

24' - 32' - Super Huck - trailerable pontoons

25' Delta Q - trailerable houseboat

28' - 40' Mark Twain pontoons

29' Jubilee

33' Delta King

45' Bon Voyage - steel, plywood, fiberglass
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Houseboat Insurance - companies to insure houseboats
by: Ray

I have used Southern Farm Bureau for years, I am a member of Arkansas Farm Bureau. I have most all my insurance with them. They have insured all my boats, including my 6 houseboats.

One of which was a 36' River Queen houseboat which had a steel hull. I have only had to make one small claim but they always have done an excellent job for me.
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Houseboat Insurance - no wood houseboats please?
by: Old Houseboater

CAUTION, At this point in time, there seems to be NO houseboat insurance available from anybody, for wood homebuilt houseboats.

A builder on another forum has been trying for over a year to get insurance on his high end homemade houseboat with no luck. If you find a source of marine insurance for wood or old steel houseboats please let us all know. Thanks
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Other ideas for houseboat plans.
by: Bill V

Although I have drawn my own plans for an 80 foot pontoon houseboat, my first interest was in the 32 foot live aboard type plans from Glen-L. You can navigate through their site and you will find a simple and inexpensive boat to build.

Hope this helps, Bill from Florida
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		DIY Houseboat Plans - do it yourself, but don't start from scratch
by: Russell

Yeah, what Ian said. Nice simple plans that seem to be fairly inexpensive. I do have one other suggestion that you can use or ignore. I would look around local marinas, if you are dead set on building your own, for a good hull.

Lots of boats that have severe cabin and inside support problems still have a good fiberglass hull that you can get for a lot less than building a plywood hull on your own. Then you are half way ahead of the game.

The hull and engine can be built without having the interior to worry about. Fiberglass hulls are stronger and cheaper than having to start with a line drawn on the ground.

Just a thought, Russ

Click here to add your own comments

Return to Plans for Building a Houseboat..

Continue Reading Our Popular Pages

Manufacturers
Live on a Boat
HB Forums
HB Rentals 		HB Buying Guide
Boat Build Plans
New Houseboats

Parts/Accessories
Trailerable Boats
What's New / Blog 		Pontoon H-Boats
Marine Insurance
Transport/Movers
Loans & Finance

Our collection of houseboat ebooks

Ebook Boats Collection on Houseboat Books

We just love houseboats, do you?
Join our monthly HB Insider for free



Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.