Airstream on a barge?

[Nellie]

Okay, you will all think I'm crazy but hear me out. For years I have longed for a lakefront lot to put my airstream on as a holiday home. Unfortunately anything lakefront in my neck of the woods is way out of my price range. But I recently stumbled upon a great opportunity. I can build a floathome on a nearby lake and keep it there for next to nothing. Then I thought, rather than building a floathome why not just get a barge and put the airstream on it? I am sure this is not impossible, but wondered if anyone here has any kind of experience with this. Surely someone out there has done it! Any feedback?

Nellie

[ScottW]

Last year sometime, there was a photo of an airstream on a barge. Check the search function. Sounds like a good idea to me.

[JimGolden]

You could build one with a set of rollers in it so that your pickup's back wheels can rest on the rollers, and have the rollers hooked to a paddle wheel.

Forget the Natchetz and the Robert E. Lee. Here comes the StreamWheeler!

Now how cool would that be??!!!!!

[Alumatube]

One thing I have thought was SUPER cool was barge touring in your RV. I saw this in New Orleans years ago. It's a tour line with barges, and you park your RV on a barge just like you would in one of those parking lot RV parks. You can put out all your outdoor stuff and deploy your awning and everything. Then they tour you up and down certain rivers, letting you out at neat spots to sightsee and shop.

I am DYING to do this -- what fun!!!

As for your idea, I think that is pretty darn cool. Have all your hookups at the water's edge and you're good to go!

(If you don't have hookups nearby you might have a bad time when you fill up your black tank...)

Susan

[mswartz]

About 1985 or '86 before I bought one, I saw a smaller Airstream, maybe a 22 to 25 footer without tow vehicle, on a barge going on the Erie Canal just west of lock 7 near Schenectady. This was a twin-outboard powered barge with a drive-on platform and perimeter rails, and had a NY boat registration number. It looked well-used, like it was fabricated from steel specifically for transport of a small truck across a river. It probably had a 14ft beam and was maybe 30ft long with a small cabin at the aft. The barge stayed for the night upstream of the lock in a mooring basin. It could have been used to service a smaller island in the Finger Lakes region, where these are sometimes seen.


A company that has made these barges has a site with photos: myark wrench. What I saw is very much like the unit pictured:

[Lumatic]

Run your black water sewer directly into the hold of the barge. You could dump directly into the barge for an extra special long time before you have to worry the weight of the barge and cargo exceeding the weight of the dispplacement, otherwise known as sinking. Of course you would have to start calling the bathroom the head.

In the hold install a methane collector to power the engine. Make sure to feed the crew a diet with large portions of vegetables and especially legumes.

Stand by for more naughtycall ideas

[cameront120]

Originally Posted by Nellie

Okay, you will all think I'm crazy but hear me out. For years I have longed for a lakefront lot to put my airstream on as a holiday home. Unfortunately anything lakefront in my neck of the woods is way out of my price range. But I recently stumbled upon a great opportunity. I can build a floathome on a nearby lake and keep it there for next to nothing. Then I thought, rather than building a floathome why not just get a barge and put the airstream on it? I am sure this is not impossible, but wondered if anyone here has any kind of experience with this. Surely someone out there has done it! Any feedback?

Nellie

Who needs a barge when we have BC Ferries?

[whitelight]

Back in the mid 80's, there was a chap who had a mid 60's Overlander "parked" on a houseboat platform (aka a barge in some circles). He was moored for the longest time at the marina adjacent to the former Delta hotel, which was near the Vancouver (Richmond BC) airport.
We used to drive by this marina daily, as the bridge served as our route from work in town to our then home in Richmond. He must have had a great life on the river!
Time & tide (& new bridge construction) have changed the area & the Airstream houseboat is long gone.
Until recently, it was "legal" to dump sewage from boats directly into the BC waterways. Not anymore - so, your trailer on a barge would require a composting head, or some sewage treatment.
We've often though about "houseboating" our trailer - yes, it can be done!

[Nellie]

Actually, we would have the barge connected to the shore by a walkway (gangplank), and have an outhouse on shore. The "head" would only be used at night, when necessary. This way I figure we could go all summer without pumping it out. In the fall we would tow the airstream off the barge and store it on land, to minimize the risk from winter storms. Thank you for the link to the barge site Marshall- that is exactly the kind of thing I had in mind.

Nellie

[nilesrob]

I think I have a picture of what you're looking for...

[Lumatic]

Abandon:1. wild state in which a purchaser acquries a boat (or Airstream) 2. wild state in which a sailor relinquishes a boat.

Head: Technically the toilet on the boat, although heads in fact are much closer to the radioactive waste disposal systems they resemble. A head's operation is rather complicated, but once mastered it should present no difficulty to the sailor. Approved methods of working the marine head are contained in the 7 volume work "Principles and Approved Methods; Operation of the Marine Head" Published by the Department of Defense in cooperation with the Department of Justice and the Surgeon General. Although it operates on the principle of the chain saw as the accompanying noise suggests it is highly subject to clogging. Foreign matter must not be introduced into the head under any cuircumstances. Heads that become clogged result in not just considerable inconvenience, but in great expense, requiring the intervention of trained personel in decontaimination gear. The key to operation of the head is the addition at the appropriate moment of a macaroon sized tablet containing potassium cyanide, phosgene, lye, prussic acid, formaldehyde, diatomaceous earth, ground glass, metal filings and explosives. Though not specifically prohibitted by the Geneva Convention these tablets to some degree are regulated by the United Nations. In international waters it is advisable to consult the various protocols that govern their transportation and use.

[Melody Ranch]

I'll bet there is a little Sauslito, CA spirit here. I see it all now..... The artsy free spirit life style of the house boat crowd.

[losvagos]

I believe this might be the tour that Susan (Alumatube) mentioned. I found an article about it and saved it 'cause it looked so cool. See:
Barge RV park lets campers go with the flow

Terry B/La Vaga

[Ganglin]

Notice how aerodynamic the set up is:

[yukionna]

Originally Posted by Nellie

Okay, you will all think I'm crazy but hear me out. For years I have longed for a lakefront lot to put my airstream on as a holiday home. Unfortunately anything lakefront in my neck of the woods is way out of my price range. But I recently stumbled upon a great opportunity. I can build a floathome on a nearby lake and keep it there for next to nothing. Then I thought, rather than building a floathome why not just get a barge and put the airstream on it? I am sure this is not impossible, but wondered if anyone here has any kind of experience with this. Surely someone out there has done it! Any feedback?

Check out this thread I started last year on this topic: http://www.airforums.com/forums/f161...oat-27735.html

[Ganglin]

[GlenCoombe]

Hmmmmmm. I like it. Imagine, a barge with drop in roller slots for drive axle, steering axle. Use the MH drive axle for propultion and the steering axle rudder connection. Would need to have lockups so you could motor off when exploring on land.... but anything is possible with enough $ to throw at engineering.
Let's see 12' x 40' so you have a sun deck...... blue boy for clean out....
I can see Airstream 1 on the waterways of america....

Forget the roaming gnome... how about the roaming Home. AS MOHO that is.

[Alumatube]

Originally Posted by losvagos

I believe this might be the tour that Susan (Alumatube) mentioned. I found an article about it and saved it 'cause it looked so cool. See:
Barge RV park lets campers go with the flow

Terry B/La Vaga

That's them -- good find!

Susan

[cooperhawk]

Maybe some thing like this.

[azflycaster]

I think Wally did it first...