John's PuddleHut 17 Houseboat

In 2011 I got to thinking about a houseboat, but it took another couple of years before I felt the idea was mature enough to build. The PuddleHut 17 evolved from a lot of dreaming and sketching, plus a few models.

The first requirement was easy trailerability. A flat bottom rather than pontoons was used for the benefits of buoyancy, shallow draft, better fore and aft trim, and a lower trailing height for the same interior room. The initial layout was tested by lofting using taped lines on the shed floor. The hull is a shade over 5.3 metres (17'+) long, with a waterline beam of 2.0 metres (6'6") plus the gunwales.

Well, finally! Just wanted to say thanks for all the support over last three years, it is really appreciated... Everything seems to work well, we did a five day stay after the launch and would have happily gone longer. We even won first prize in the Lake Lyell "Boat Float" regatta on Australia Day...

Hang out for the article John has written for Australian Amateur Boat Builder!