reader DIY

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By Amber Bouthot

Every month, we highlight do-it-yourself projects from our readers. Do you want to see your project featured in our magazine? It can be something as simple as a craft project or as large as a home addition. If you did it yourself, it can be featured. Email Amber at ambouthot@the-papers.com.

This month’s Reader DIY project comes from Kathy Boles. She and her husband purchased and completely transformed a houseboat

We have been working up to a larger project from several years ago when we were gifted an older model RV, which we remodeled, sold and used the proceeds to help purchase our first houseboat. We remodeled the interior and replaced the motor, and then we sold the finished project to help finance a larger houseboat. We wanted a low maintenance recreational space large enough for our entire family to enjoy during the summer months. This three-bedroom, 1.5 bath, 16 feet by 64 feet houseboat was the perfect solution! It is only 45 minutes from home and was a cost-effective solution to pricy lake property with less maintenance than that of a traditional land home.

This will certainly be a work in progress to update/upgrade portions of the houseboat, but most of the work to update the interior and the structure to include a new roof was approximately 9 months of weekends from September 2020 to May 2021. We estimated about 70+ days and over 650 hours or more as we did have some help from a friend or two here and there.

The roof was as difficult as I expected. We struggled getting the many sheets of plywood from the trailer to the roof (approx. 18 ft high) by hand with three people. I am not a fan of fiberglass, but by watching some YouTube tutorials in fiberglass application and gel coating, we did a pretty good job. The interior remodel was a bit harder than a typical home improvement project because much of the work was done off site then brought to the houseboat, where it is dry docked during the off season, then lifted over 8 feet into the houseboat to be installed. All power to the boat while it is off the water comes from the campground where it is dry docked, so we had to use several extension cords to get power to it. The removal of the old full-sized kitchen appliances and installation of the new ones was a definite challenge since the boat is dry docked about 9 feet off the ground.

We paid $20,000 for the houseboat “as is, no warranty” knowing we had to replace the entire roof and update the entire 700+ sq.ft. of interior space! We put about $15,000+ into repairs, updates, LED lighting, solar panels and furnishings for a total of about $35,000+. After the completion of the marine survey the value was assessed at $72,000.

We were able to spend weekends together building something for our family and friends to enjoy with us during the summer. We always enjoy a challenge, and this was our biggest ever!

For me it was the cold weather, the almost 2-hour drive round trip each day we were there, and the sheer exhaustion ending the weekend going into the work week. For my husband Rick, it seemed it was the hope that his measurements were exact when making custom items then to get back to the boat to install them in hopes of a perfect fit!

We purchased most of our building materials and flooring at our local Menards.

Interior paint and primer were Dutch Boy. Livingroom and kitchen rugs were www.Ruggable.com. Fiberglass and gel coating was at www.fiberglasssite.com.

Solar panels are LG 340 watt from www.solaris-shop.com. Solar panel mounts and advice locally from Precision Fabrication. Outdoor carpeting was from www.marinevinylfabric.com. Car Wrap vinyl Black Sheep exterior signage locally at Testify Marketing Media. Aluminum welding by Moore’s Welding in Leo, IN.

Electrical wiring by Doug Drewery. Custom laser designs from Simple Glow Fort Wayne.