Harbor Cottage Houseboat at the Louiville boat show!

[Amy Roberts]

Lee's Ford Marina and Harbor Cottage have a houseboat at the Louisville boat show this weekend - open now!

Pictures are on the link below:

http://www.courier-journal.com/picture- ... /97046676/

[Captain Bob]

In a word, Unattractive.
(sorry, J.D.)

[re3too]

In a word, Unattractive.
(sorry, J.D.)

I agree. IMHO, that is not something for the water! The first good wake or storm would have them fancy doodads on the floor!

[Captain Bob]

I've been talking lately with some longtime boaters and one of them brought up a very good question: " How long is the Warranty on those "structures" and what does it cover?"

Since the structure appears to be 2x4's (or maybe 2x2's) with *drywall* on the inside and maybe some kind of weatherboard/vinyl on the outside, it seems to us old boaters that there is a strong possibility that the *drywall* and wood will be subject to mildew after a couple of seasons. And, if the exterior walls contain fiberglass insulation (as opposed to the more flammable foam products) how do they prevent the fiberglass from getting wet (floating on the Lake year after year)?

And, to follow-up on re3too's comment, one of my old boater buddies wonders how long it would be before the interior wood trim around the doors and windows starts to warp (Maybe it's plastic?). But more importantly, how does the builder guarantee that the doors and doorframes won't become misaligned?

Perhaps the builder (or someone connected with these cottages on a hull) will step in here and share some of the construction features. It would be nice to see some photos of the "cottage" before they slap on the interior and exterior walls and maybe show the plumbing -i.e. do they require some kind of direct connection to dockside water and sewage or are they self-contained?

I don't mean to be a "Debbie Downer" on these cottages but I sure would hate to see LFM (or any other marina) littered in 4-5-6 years with a bunch of dilapidated floating structures. We spent many, many wonderful years at Lees Ford Marina and it would be a shame if these things don't hold up...

I wonder, will the State tax these as a boat or as a cottage? Will the USCOE and USCG regulations also need to be conformed to (especially as it relates to fire protection)? From the photos that I've seen they look to be more susceptible to a structure fire than a regular houseboat.

[Amy Roberts]

I don't have answers to all of your questions, but I will see if I can find out more. I do know that Lee's Ford has had one in the rental pool since 2011 with no issues. A lot of time and engineering have gone into the design & construction of the Harbor Cottage Houseboats.

[Amy Roberts]

I love the look of the Harbor Cottage Houseboats!

[HarborCottageLLC]

In a word, Unattractive.
(sorry, J.D.)

I agree. IMHO, that is not something for the water! The first good wake or storm would have them fancy doodads on the floor!

Harbor Cottages are built for just about any fresh water application you can imagine. Furthermore, upon request, we could construct a hull made of a slightly different type of aluminum that would be suitable for brackish and salt water environments as well - visit us at harborcottagehouseboats.com and contact us if this an option that interests you!

Regarding standing up to storms or wakes - our Harbor Cottage boats were professionally engineered and designed by an experienced team of naval architects that have decades of experience building boats and commercial vessels as large as oil tankers and cruise liners. In fact, this is something that many traditional houseboats cannot claim as the vast majority of them were not professionally engineered. Our team also conducted "list tests" to determine the precise center of gravity point on our boats and to calculate structural loads, buoyancy, balance and weight capacity - again, something very few (if any) traditional houseboats or houseboat manufacturers can claim. Safety is our first priority!

Our very first Harbor Cottage was constructed 6 years ago in 2011 and has withstood many extreme weather events, including the immense snowfall we experienced at the beginning of last season which caused so much dock damage. Come check it out in person at Lees Ford Marina, or take a virtual tour at harborcottagehouseboats.com

[HarborCottageLLC]

I've been talking lately with some longtime boaters and one of them brought up a very good question: " How long is the Warranty on those "structures" and what does it cover?"

Since the structure appears to be 2x4's (or maybe 2x2's) with *drywall* on the inside and maybe some kind of weatherboard/vinyl on the outside, it seems to us old boaters that there is a strong possibility that the *drywall* and wood will be subject to mildew after a couple of seasons. And, if the exterior walls contain fiberglass insulation (as opposed to the more flammable foam products) how do they prevent the fiberglass from getting wet (floating on the Lake year after year)?

And, to follow-up on re3too's comment, one of my old boater buddies wonders how long it would be before the interior wood trim around the doors and windows starts to warp (Maybe it's plastic?). But more importantly, how does the builder guarantee that the doors and doorframes won't become misaligned?

Perhaps the builder (or someone connected with these cottages on a hull) will step in here and share some of the construction features. It would be nice to see some photos of the "cottage" before they slap on the interior and exterior walls and maybe show the plumbing -i.e. do they require some kind of direct connection to dockside water and sewage or are they self-contained?

I don't mean to be a "Debbie Downer" on these cottages but I sure would hate to see LFM (or any other marina) littered in 4-5-6 years with a bunch of dilapidated floating structures. We spent many, many wonderful years at Lees Ford Marina and it would be a shame if these things don't hold up...

I wonder, will the State tax these as a boat or as a cottage? Will the USCOE and USCG regulations also need to be conformed to (especially as it relates to fire protection)? From the photos that I've seen they look to be more susceptible to a structure fire than a regular houseboat.

Our Harbor Cottages come with a full 1 year warranty which covers every aspect of the boat, materials and labor, from bow to stern! If you are interested in purchasing an extended warranty with your Harbor Cottage simply visit us at harborcottagehouseboats.com and contact us for further info.

We stand by the quality of our construction, which includes 2X4 walls and 2x10 floor joists at 16" on center spacing. We use steel structural framing strap ties and plates which make our boats extremely rigid and strong. We also utilize structural ties called "hurricane ties" or "hurricane clips" which are specified only in coastal building codes in places like Florida so our Harbor Cottages would withstand far stronger storms and winds than a traditional boat (which have walls made of sheeted plywood and no supports/studs whatsoever!). If you are interested in purchasing a Harbor Cottage we would love for you to come down and check out our manufacturing process right here in Somerset, KY - the houseboat capital of the world!

As far as using wood in our construction, perhaps the poster above does not realize that most traditional houseboat walls are indeed made of plywood at the core (that or a cortex type of product). Additionally, the rooftop deck on a traditional houseboat is, again, made of plywood that is then coated in fiberglass. We believe our Harbor Cottages to have a much superior design and construction, with one example being how our aluminum hull has been designed with a channel specifically engineered to have water weep away from the base of the walls. This is an area of real concern as traditional houseboats can begin to rot where the walls sit on the hull because of the water that can accumulate/pool there - something we made sure to address in our design.

Our insulation can be fiberglass batts, blown in cellulose, open-cell or closed-cell spray foam insulation or a combination thereof- it just depends on our customers' preference. This is something that traditional houseboats do not have an option for because they lack any insulation in the walls altogether; the resulting energy savings in a Harbor Cottage can be tremendous! Regarding fire ratings, we are actually in the process of having our Harbor Cottage compared to traditional houseboats by a professional laboratory. We believe strongly that our boats are much safer than traditional houseboats, first and foremost because we have designed and installed our own proprietary isolation transformers which effectively use magnets to create a mechanical separation of the incoming electricity to the boat - this means there's no chance of Electrical Shock Drowning (ESD) and less of a fire hazard than a traditional houseboat.

We have not experienced any issues referenced above, even on the first Harbor Cottages that we built which have been floating at Lake Cumberland now for longer than 4-5-6 years. Come on down to Lees Ford Marina to check them out in person, or rent one for the weekend to get your own first-hand experience of what sets Harbor Cottage apart from the houseboats of the past!

[RELAX]

Those things are floating cottages not boats.

Much rather invest $170,00.00 in bricks and mortar on a lakefront land parcel!

[Lock5]

Capn Bob, I'm your biggest fan but all of your concerns are easily debunked. Every Marina has structures built with conventional building methods and they don't have the issues you mention. It really all comes down to the regulations set up on these things from the beginning. Everyone keeps comparing them to a boat, they are not a boat at all, they would be a cabin built on a floating dock. My dock is galvanized steel with black plastic foam filled floats, if they make that the standard they will never have an issue with them, same materials that State Dock is floating on. These cabins will not move, and shouldn't be thought of in that way. If they are to be relocated from Marina to another Marina that will require the services of someone and it will be a slow process.

We have a lake full of Houseboats that are used as cabins(never leave their slips), I can see how the hardcore ships captain that coves out often could see these things as stupid. But the average Joe that hangs out with his friends on the dock all weekend only using the runabout to go explore the lake for a few hours daily shouldn't be intimidated by these cabins. As far as safety goes they should be much better as they will not have any lake water intakes/drive seals or boots to fail and sink them.

It's all in the rules put in place on the front side.

[Captain Bob]

Lock5, thanks for your valuable input (and I appreciate the kind words). Let me be more specific:
The "floating cottage" in the photos is clearly built on an aluminum houseboat hull -not black plastic foam filled floats. (Does that make it actually a "boat"? - or a "barge"?)
My concern regards how the "cottage" might be built, the materials used and the "type of construction". Many common construction materials (i.e. bought at Lowes, etc) will not hold up very well in a Marine environment. On the other hand, most houseboats built since the mid 80's are built of marine grade materials and built to withstand the harsh environment.

Lock5, I can understand your comments about captains that rarely take their boats away from the dock. I know some that are just not up to the effort involved (I did not say "lazy") and I am sure that many are reluctant due to the cost of fuel, etc.. Bottom line, there is no rule that boats (of any kind) must be moved from the slip.
Maybe (if there was a boat manufacturer interested), there would be a market for a similar sized HOUSEBOAT -built of marine approved materials - but without the expense of engines, generators, radios, lights, antennas, helm (steering) and inverter/battery setup...just sayin' . Why include it if you are not going to use it?

[Lock5]

Agreed, I think the one in the picture has been around for a while and was the first proposal. I'm thinking what they have approved are like the ones like on Green River and not barge based but dock based like I'm talking about. As far as the materials all of the ships stores/bathhouses on lake Cumberland are conventionally(stick) built. Materials are available to build in high moisture areas without concern.

Bottom line is as your last sentence states, there is a demand obviously for a floating "something" that does not require engines, drives, navigational lights, generators, ect. as they are not going to be used. Big front porch for visitors, docking provisions for the runabout/toon and you are all set.

That opens another can of worms as now it is difficult/against the rules to moor your toon/runabout at your HB, requiring most to have a second slip to accommodate it. Every cabin on Green River has easy docking available for your boat. Hmmmmm......

[TheOneAndOnlyROOSTER]

I like the looks of a houseboat, always will. Might not be the best way to do it, but that's how we've done in for 36 years now. As the boats get bigger (now 16'X82') coving out is much harder than it was with a 15'X44'... Just glad I have the option to do either!