Mooring a houseboat

Daylight

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BX231, Ortolan T10
Feb 25, 2021
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My brother lives on a 100-year old, 130-foot long, 150-ton (metric, empty) barge. After years of moving from one place to another, he finally managed to obtain a permanent mooring (i.e. the mooring place is permanent, not his stay there).

IMG-20230720-WA0002.jpg


However, that mooring came with nothing at all, so we had to:

1) fabricate mooring bitts, install them in 5'-deep holes filled with concrete
IMG-20231007-WA0002.jpg

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2) fabricate outriggers to keep the ship away from the embankment, where the water is too shallow. Each one weighs half a metric ton without the (carefully calculated) floats made with foam recovered from a scrapped dock
IMG-20231122-WA0006.jpg


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3) source (from a ship breaker 150 miles away) and adapt a 27-foot gangway.

IMG-20240127-WA0000.jpg


And this is the end result:

IMG-20240129-WA0013.jpg
 
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fried1765

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Kubota L48 TLB, Ford 1920 FEL, Ford 8N, SCAG Liberty Z, Gravely Pro.
Nov 14, 2019
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Eastham, Ma
My brother lives on a 100-year old, 130-foot long, 150-ton (metric, empty) barge. After years of moving from one place to another, he finally managed to obtain a permanent mooring (i.e. the mooring place is permanent, not his stay there).

View attachment 122067

However, that mooring came with nothing at all, so we had to:

1) fabricate mooring bitts, install them in 5'-deep holes filled with concrete
View attachment 122059
View attachment 122060

2) fabricate outriggers to keep the ship away from the embankment, where the water is too shallow. Each one weighs half a metric ton without the (carefully calculated) floats made with foam recovered from a scrapped dock
View attachment 122061

View attachment 122062

View attachment 122063

3) source (from a ship breaker 150 miles away) and adapt a 27-foot gangway.

View attachment 122064

And this is the end result:

View attachment 122065
Spent a week on a "narrow boat" that we rented (Schropshire canal) some years ago.
A very enjoyable "couple experience".
Our rental was only 70' long though.
 

GrizBota

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Good looking fab work. Quite a bit to mooring a boat long term.
 

skeets

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BX 2360 /B2601
Oct 2, 2009
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SW Pa
OK its a long boat,, man you said barge, I was thinking one of our 1800 ton coal barges still pretty cool !
 

GeoHorn

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Just think…. no opportunities to mow grass…rake leaves… water the plants….. I’ll bet he really misses those. :ROFLMAO:
 
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chim

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L4240HSTC with FEL, Ford 1210
Jan 19, 2013
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That's really neat! Not knowing anything about the setup, how are the utilities handled? Thinking about power, water, heating, wastewater.

My first thought when I saw "100 year-old" was a concern about leaks:)
 
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Daylight

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BX231, Ortolan T10
Feb 25, 2021
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That's really neat! Not knowing anything about the setup, how are the utilities handled? Thinking about power, water, heating, wastewater.

Power: the mooring is getting its own power meter: just plug in and you're good to go. Alternatively, the ship is also equipped with a diesel generator (no Kubota though...) and storage batteries. Solar panels are "under consideration" but would seriously harm the ship's looks.

Water: deck and hatches run-off is collected and stored in a 1,500-gallon tank, then filtered.

Heating: pellet-fired central heating with the furnace (which also produces hot water) in the engine room and a wood burner in the lounge.

Wastewater: the ship has a dry toilet (no flushing - waste is stored in a ventilated bag and dries odorlessly). All other wastewater is 'grey' and just goes overboard. Environmentally-responsible detergents and soaps are used.

Leaks: this thing was built to be run aground for loading/unloading (300 tons) and did so for more than 50 years... It's built like a tank - no, actually better: how many 100-year old tanks are still in daily use?

My first thought when I saw "100 year-old" was a concern about leaks:)
 
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UnEasyRider

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L3302 LA 526 loader, Box Scraper, Grappler, Forks, Rotary mower, Big Tool Rack.
Apr 14, 2023
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Florida
Thats really cool! How many can live on it???