what vessel is best suited for a life permanently at sea? would a hovercraft be....?

Question

....in the running as you could also go ashore to do your weekly monthly shopping!

what are the best types of seaworthy houseboats that people live in at the moment.

i have this imaginary vessel in mind that is perfectly circular with windows on all sides.....an unsinkable thing - in my imagination...with a lower level space in the centre...protected from the wind by the high sides of the vessel.

who knows of any websites that have futuristic designs along these lines?

Answer 1

A hovercraft only hovers when the engines are running and a "cloud of air" is being forced out through fans or nozzles in the bottom of the vessel. This means that you'd either have REALLY high fuel costs, or you'd be sitting on your inflatable rubber ring most of the time when you aren't moving.
The sea-keeping of a cylindrical vessel is not great. In a rough storm it'll get tossed around pretty bad - there's no bow to point into the waves. Fuel costs will also be higher for a circular vessel - as opposed to a "ship shaped" vessel with the same livable area.
If you primarily want to have a really cool looking place to live and you're going to keep it in sheltered waters (a small bay or a marina) your imaginary vessel might be ok. If you would really like to be at sea you should probably consider modifying the living quarters on a more traditionally shaped hull.
If you would like to spend MOST of your time in the open waters of the sea, you'll need a "sea-going" design. These tend to have larger engines and more redundancy than vessels meant to stay close to land. Sea-going vessels also tend to be designed to handle the rougher seas seen in open water - the larger waves and bigger storms.

As far as materials to construct your vessel from - large commercial vessels are almost exclusively made from steel. There are 40 or 50 year old steel ships still floating. (Though repairs have been made to most, if not all of them.) Smaller vessels - like ferries - can be made of aluminum. I would assume that your house boat design would be small enough that Al would be a feasible material for you. There are also composites that are used in boat building. Fiberglass, carbon fiber and glass reinforced plastics are all used in various areas. If you like the traditional look you can also use wood.
Each material has it's pros & cons... But that's a different issue.


It sounds like you've got some pretty "out of the box" ideas though. That's great. Progress is made because of these kinds of ideas! If you want to try to bring them to life - by building your own vessel - you should get some input from a naval architect. He'll be able to help you make sure the vessel will be stable enough for life at sea. There are certain stability criteria that your boat will have to meet in order to be insured, it'll be a lot easier to make sure you've checked everything on that list if you're working with a ship designer.

Answer 2

Gee... I would have a hard time using "seaworthy" and "houseboat" in the same sentance.

My favorite for a comfortable boat to live in and still seaworthy for trips to the Bahamas, etc, is a Trawler... anything around 40 feet will do quite nicely and older ones are not all that expensive.

Answer 3

The corrosive nature of the saline would adversly affect most vessels eventually. How about living on the sea floor like in the movie from the 70's? You would be far less prone to the vigours of the sea there.

Answer 4

any would suite me as long as there was plenty of good grub a nice cup of tea and loads of gorgeous women who all fancied me.
(bearing in mind I am 75). At least I would die happy and content

Answer 5

I am about to publish a book all about this.
It's called: THE ALTERNATIVE
For more information, please click on my picture, & go to my blog.