A Tiny House Makes Alum's Big Dream Come True
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slice.mit.edu
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This year, von Roesgen struck on the perfect solution: a tiny house. On a pontoon boat.
After constructing both house and boat this spring, von Roesgen held a christening and launch ceremony last week in Meadowbrook, NH.
The tiny house movement appealed to von Roesgen from the minute he learned of it. These “were structures that were built on trailers to avoid having to meet building codes that would otherwise force one to build a much larger house,” he says. “The fact they were on a trailer made them movable of course.”
To help him construct the house, von Roesgen recruited his neighbor, Bob Wallhagen SM '66, who owns a construction company in Carlisle, MA. Once it was complete, Wallhagen maneuvered the house carefully onto the 28x14-ft. pontoon craft and anchored it into place using a giant forklift.
To power the house and the boat, the two alums installed solar panels capable of producing 2.4 kilowatts and storing it in a lithium-ion battery for up to five days. Von Roesgen will power a microwave oven, refrigerator, and a 4000-watt electric motor on the boat from the stored energy.
Though the motor might not produce waterski-capable speeds, Von Roesgen will use it for what he loves best: traversing New England waters. "I've always been interested in energy conservation as I grew up during the oil shocks of the seventies," he says. "And compared to my pedal kayak, going 2-5 mph without effort will seem luxurious."
Von Roesgen aims to live in the tiny-house-boat this summer and do the same on other northeastern lakes for many summers to come, moving it between waterways on a trailer. “I may try Moosehead Lake, Lake Champlain, Erie Canal, Lake George, Lake Saratoga,'' he says.
Tiny houses have long been a favorite design challenge within the MIT community, from the MAS.863 course “How to Make (Almost) Anything” to the Center for Bits and Atoms’ Fab Lab house.
Comments
charlylp
Thu, 08/01/2013 11:46pm
Great for landscape/nightly sky watching and of course, fishing, but where is the sink and or drinking water tank ? and no mention of toilet/sanitary room "facilitiy" ?
dfoster
Thu, 07/11/2013 10:34am
It looks WONDERFUL!
The story says you put it on a 16'x6' pontoon. The picture shows it on the pontoon and the pontoon looks bigger in the picture. Can you share the floor plan and the solar part of your project? What is the size of the Tiny House? Do you plan on using wind generator as a back up?
Thank again for the chance to see a new idea in motion. I'm starting on my now.
mick
Thu, 07/11/2013 2:30pm
What was the cost of the pontoons and who built them? Thanks
Mary
Wed, 07/10/2013 4:03pm
How much did it cost to make a tiny houseboat?
Claude von Roesgen
Mon, 08/05/2013 12:06pm
You can see several videos that include the interior at:
http://carlapoet.com/carla_schwartz_Videos.html
Claude von Roesgen
Thu, 07/18/2013 8:51am
Pontoons were purchased from the American Pontoon Company usapontoon.com for $10,725. They were made by technikal.ca
Peggy
Fri, 08/02/2013 8:06pm
Could you share more photos of the inside and of the house. My husband and I were discussing placing a tiny home on a pontoon just last week. We would love to see more of your work. I Love this idea. Thank you, The Olsons'
Claude von Roesgen
Fri, 08/02/2013 10:41am
There's a full kitchen with sink, refrigerator/freezer, microwave and toaster oven. The sink faucet is plumbed to the lake with a foot pump located at the toe kick of the kitchen counter cabinet. The sink is located in the corner of the counter just above the 40 gallon grey water tank. On Lake Winnipesaukee and all other New Hampshire lakes you're not allowed to anchor overnight. You have to be tied overnight to a landowner's property with their permission. So I rented a camp on Bear Island and I use the camp's sanitary facilities. I have an Envirolet composting toilet that I will put on the deck if I spend a summer in Maine where one is allowed to anchor overnight without landowner permission.
Frances Scovil
Wed, 07/24/2013 4:47pm
Claude,
Congratulations & great to see you as part of such a wonderful story!
yitb,
Frances Scovil
Claude von Roesgen
Thu, 07/18/2013 10:02am
The kitchen is based on an IKEA 8 foot beech countertop cut on a forty five so as to wrap around from the door to the long wall on the starboard side. Below that are two IKEA three drawer units and the SunDanzer DCRF134 refrigerator/freezer.
Claude von Roesgen
Thu, 07/18/2013 9:12am
The pontoon platform measures 26 feet long by 13 feet 8 inches wide. The house is 8 feet six inches wide and 16 feet long. It's one big room with a kitchen on the left as you enter and bunk beds at the far end. There is one closet that contains the battery and the inverter/charger along with a microwave oven and toaster oven. There is a SunDanzer DCRF134 refrigerator/freezer under the kitchen counter. I have no plans to use wind as a backup. The solar system is based on a 3000 watt FLEXpower ONE System from outbackpower.com. The solar panels number 12 Astronergy 190 watt Mono Module Black MC4 CHSM5612M-190. The battery is from Lithionics Battery http://lithionicsbattery.com/ and is a 48 volt 100 amp hour unit weighing 125 pounds.
Claude von Roesgen
Thu, 07/18/2013 8:47am
$80,000 Total
$10,500 for the pontoons
$52,000 for the house
$13,000 for the solar
$3,500 for the motor
$800 for the kitchen
Jeffrey Hamilton
Thu, 07/11/2013 5:16pm
@dfoster,my story says "Wallhagen maneuvered the house carefully onto the 28×14-ft. pontoon craft and anchored it into place "
HTH
cheers...JeffH