Many folks jump to the conclusion that the Cruise-A-Home isn't much more than a typical lake style houseboat due to their similar look and
cabin layout, but they are a capable boat built on a proven
fishing boat
hull design. They were designed for use in in the
Puget Sound and Salish Sea, and are solid when properly maintained.
They are not as described in this thread as essentially a motorhome on floats.
An original sales brochure shows a CAH traveling with a car loaded on it's upper deck- doing that with a pontoon houseboat would make for a very short and hilarious Boat Fail video.

(I wouldn't consider doing it with my CAH either, but it does point out the robust nature of the
cabin build.)
My Cruise-A-Home
Corsair spent most of it's life cruising up into
Canada and all around the San Juans. I motored it down the coast to
Portland about 10 years ago, stopping at Neah Bay, La Push, Grays Harbor and crossed the Columbia River bar. It was berthed at Rocky Point Marina and from there made numerous trips on the Slough, Willamette and Columbia.
I had a
trailer built so I can haul and launch myself and it's currently on my property, ready for me to start in on a major
refit and remodel. The boat is easy to
work on and there isn't anything really tricky.
Based on the description you have provided it's going to be a lot of hours of labor.
The windows, doors and cabin seams are a definite weak point for water intrusion. I'm going to replace my windows and doors with different type.
The above waterline stuff can be taken care of with lots of labor, but I recommend you hire someone knowledgeable to determine the condition of the transom, bulkhead and stringers before starting in on any major work.
Most of the CAHs are
dock queens nowadays but there are a number of helpful enthusiasts around and a lot of info on the web including remodel and
refit.
The Cruise-A-Home owner's site has a lot of helpful info and links.
Cruise·A·Home Owners Page
I contacted the webmaster a few months ago to see if I could add info on my refit and he got right back to me, so it's still active.
You may want to send a PM to user - Newhaul on this site. He posted a couple years ago that he had done a fair amount of work on a CAH for a customer.
Feel free to contact me as well, I'm in Southern
Oregon but I do still get up that way.