Making a Houseboat Seaworthy

[42gibson]

absolutely beautiful classic. bomac marine power in Blairsville,ga specializes in ford lehmans if you need engine help or parts.they also rebuild them.

[fekkin]

In terms of A. Ordering the parts and B. Having the engine rebuilt, I live in the UK so not really possible for me. I can always ring them up for support though. I'm not sure if I wrote earlier, but I've found out that the only known problem is the prop shaft has seized. It is possible that there are now new problems due to it's neglect; neglect caused only by the prop shaft, but that's yet to be found out. The steering system works fine, and I know that from personal experience. I know it works but I don't know if it is reliable.
Do you have any experience with the cost or labour of freeing seized prop shafts? It's unlikely due to it's obscureness but I thought I'd ask anyway.
Thanks

[Truckerbill]

Since you are in "Merry Old England", there should be a good source of information on those type boats there. I know there are plenty of YouTube video's about building and maintaining them. The pictures you put on here of this boat are really nice. Good Luck on getting it "sea-worthy" again.

[BananaTom]

Nice, one of the costs of dealing with the seized shaft will be placing the vessel on dry dock, or in other words, having is hauled out. It appears this needs to be done to work on the drive shaft. Either it can be machined to repair it, or it needs to be replaced. More than likely, it has rusted in place.

[fekkin]

That's a bit of a bummer as the crane in our harbour can only lift 20t, where the boat is over 50t. So I presume we need to get it tugged to a bigger marina upstream. As well as that, is a barge quite an awkward to have lifted out? What with it's centre of gravity being so far out. Now I think about it they can just pull it up parallel to the crane rather than directly facing it. Do you know how much something like that would cost?
Thanks

[Stmbtwle]

I agree it may have rusted in place, what with a steel hull, steel shaft, likely a steel stern tube and LOTS of time. Possibly the stern tube needs to be cut out and rebuilt, too. At least it IS steel, which is easily repaired.

Yes you'll have to tow it to a commercial yard that can handle it. See if you can find out who hauled it last.

[fekkin]

There is a bit of good news. The barge was surveyed just before we were sold it, so there is at least a record of where it was lifted out and how much it cost. I haven't had the chance to find it, but I will certainly make the effort soon. The steel situation is good as I know from experience its cost and longevity, and of course the ability to weld (my area).

[Amelia]

Wow, what a beauty! I look forward to hearing of your success in getting her back to rights!

[BananaTom]

There is a bit of good news. The barge was surveyed just before we were sold it, so there is at least a record of where it was lifted out and how much it cost.

That is good news, looking at your pics, it looks like you are moored in an isolated area. I was thinking you may be hundreds of miles from civilization. Based upon how remote it looks.
And yes, a survey is something that I always keep handy to the vessel.

[fekkin]

I was reading the survey, and they really go into detail, I did not realise. I thought they would just generalise parts of the boat, but no. In terms of the area, its about ten minutes away from Portsmouth, which is the only city in the UK with a larger population density than London (if that helps in some way). The Hamble leads straight on through into the Solent and is a really nice area. (https://www.google.co.uk/maps/search...3995769,11.46z)