Cruise-a-Home 31 Crusader - TugBoat?

[mikeygomikey]

To make a long and complicated story short and slightly less complicated here's my situation:

I'm based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I have the opportunity to purchase a 2story floating home with a fiberglass barge size of 42' X 16'. The owner says there is space for an outboard motor but it currently does not have one. The only thing that is stopping me from putting my money down and signing on the dotted line is that I need 2 things:

--A new LA slip to put the home
&
--A way to tow it to the slip.

I've been looking into a slip and have a few ideas. My BIG question here is this:

I'm looking at a Cruise-A-Home 31 Crusader Houseboat (1974) which has TWO inboard 165HP motors. (I'll have more information about this later today). This Houseboat is docked in a beautiful location and comes with a liveaboard slip!

It would be within my budget to purchase BOTH the 2story Floating Home and the smaller Cruse-A-Home Houseboat.

QUESTION TIME: Can the Dual-Inboard 165HP motors on the Crusader act as a TUG Boat and tug the floating home across the bay (40miles)? If so, than I would buy the houseboat and the floating home, tow the floating home from it's current dock, across the bay and to the houseboat slip. Then I would sell the Cruise-A-Home houseboat.

Is there some type of calculations I should do here? Where Barge w/ displacement of xxx needs to be towed by a boat with a minimum torque of xxx and could go as fast as xxx.?

CF, your help, as always, is greatly appreciated.

[Orion Jim]

TowboatUS San Francisco might just be the safe and secure method of making the transfer. They possess the skills and are insured. If you are similarly equipped then you may want to do it yourself. If not, it might be money well spent.

[mikeygomikey]

Originally Posted by Orion Jim

TowboatUS San Francisco might just be the safe and secure method of making the transfer. They possess the skills and are insured. If you are similarly equipped then you may want to do it yourself. If not, it might be money well spent.

Thanks! I’ll look into them.

[evm1024]

I would venture to say the Cruise-a-home would do a fine job.

To call the Crusader a Floating Home is to do it a dis-service. The 31' and 40' Cruise-a-home were based on a fishing boat hull and are very capable ocean going boats.

From the website:

During 1967 and 1968 Warren made the original drawings of the profile and interior plan for the boat using the hull design provided by Roy Kobyashi which had orignially been designed for Westport charter fishing boats.

[SV Bacchus]

Sounds like you spend some time in Vegas! I'm not talking about the towing, I'm speaking of buying a boat, using it a short time, then hoping to get your investment back.

You might come out OK but again you might pay more to move the floating home then you really wanted to pay. Seems like a "roll of the dice".

[Calif.Ted]

If all you want is the floating house why buy a boat you don't want, I'd look around for a pro who has towed one across the bay before. It's a house designed and built to FLOAT, not necessarily to be towed across the bay.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Calif.Ted

... It's a house designed and built to FLOAT, not necessarily to be towed across the bay.

I would venture to guess that most (if not all) floating homes were towed to their permanent berth - rather than built in situ.

[Calif.Ted]

I was thinking more along the lines of one of the "floating homes" in Alameda and Sausalito built by hippies in the 70's as opposed to one built by licensed contractors.
My uncle had a Cruise a Home in Florida when I was young (LONG ago), a tug boat can turn on a dime and is overpowered, cruise a home, not so much.