Floating House or Boat?

As my faithful readers know, I have signed a contract to buy a house on Isla Solarte, about a 15 minute boat ride from Bocas Town. It's a beautiful two bedroom, two bath structure with a kitchen, dinette, a small living room and a large wrap around deck. The house is made entirely of Nispero a beautiful dense, very hard wood resistant to fungus and many types of termites. It lies 100 steps up a hill over looking the bay across which lies Red Frog Marina.

I have opted to supplement my income by providing housing over the clear, calm waters.

There are many world famous resorts in Bocas del Toro including Punta Caracol offering huts over the water for rates upwards of $500 a night, Tranquillo Bay at $2,655 a week in the high season for a cabina in the jungle. Au Natural provides huts and three meals a day for $175 per person.

I want to create first class accommodations over the water that anybody could come and enjoy no matter how finicky his or her spouse is. Luxurious accommodations with all the comforts of home in a tropical paradise. But building in Bocas is a proposition that will tax the most enduring of souls. There are over a dozen regulatory agencies that must be dealt with and builders are notoriously difficult to deal with. Work is parceled out for piers and docks, laying concrete, framing, electrical, plumbing, water catchment and solar panels.

My friend Stephen has been working on his house for two years and has nothing to show but a dock, some piers and some I beams that lay atop the piers. He has been trying for over a month to find someone to weld the I beams for him. I have neither the inclination or the patience to see such a project through.

Last night Stephen mentioned that there was somebody new in town that was building floating houses. I had to check this out. It wasn't difficult to locate the company with a quick google search as they have no competition.

I sent off a couple of emails last night and quickly recieved a response. I called this morning and spoke with the owner of the company, Skip. We agreed to meet at Casa Verde at 2:30. I called the little cutie who runs the place, met her there at 1:30, bought her lunch and we chatted until Skip and his partner showed up.

My first question was readily answered. "How do your dwellings bypass all of the construction and impact rules and regulations?" "They are legally classified as boats." Awesome! That makes them subject to a $150/year mooring fee and all of the other red tape no longer applies.

Skip has been building floating condominiums and restaurants for over 15 years in Mexico and Hawaii. We looked through his drawings and I told him that none of them were exactly what I was looking for and described the functionality I wanted for the penultimate over the water vacation home rental property in the province of Bocas del Toro without telling him an exact design. I'd rather he use his imagination to come up with some interesting alternatives that fulfill my requirements. We spoke for about an hour. We talked about a 60 by 20 foot deck with three stories. That's a whole lot of room for a family of four or six. Lot's of deck space, granite counter tops, french doors onto the ocean, air conditioning in the bedrooms. He said it could be ready in 120 days after we agree on the plans.

We walked down to Starfleet Scuba where a big floating restaurant, bar, scuba boat is under construction, rated for 150 passengers. With two sixty horse power motors the beast moves along at 10 mph in the calm waters of the the bay. I'd hate to dock the thing in the wind as it has a lot of sail area. I'd show you pictures, but my replacement cameras have not yet arrived. I'll update this with pictures when I can get some.

The pontoons were corrugated, which on first look would seem to create a lot of drag, but even with what little I know of laminar flow, turbulence actually reduces friction.

Construction

• Welded heavy gauge hot dipped galvanized steel studs and joists

Features

Biorock Waste Treatment System	2-4 persons average use rated. No mechanical parts to break or replace. Biorock uses no electricity, so the carbon footprint is 3 times less than any electrical unit. No carbon dioxide emissions. Effluent is 6 times cleaner than electrical waste treatment units. No need to manually turn and manipulate Biorock systems like you do the messy, stinky composting toilets.
Solar Systems	Two 400 watt solar panels with an average 1,350 amp hours at the 20 hour rate. Some people may opt to have additional solar panels instead of the wind generator. Various voltages of Trojan (golf cart style batteries) depending on usage. Upgrades available
Wind System	600 watt units produced for Coleman. Various voltages of Trojan (golf cart style batteries) depending on needs.
Water Catchment Systems	350-500 gallon holding tanks. Standard paper water filters Upgrades available.
Gray Water Planter Boxes	Use your sink and shower water to grow fruits, vegetables or flowers in your 4 planter boxes
Appliances	Four burner gas stove with oven. Medium sized stand up refrigerators with high energy efficiency ratings. Several models to choose from. Upgrades available
Faucets / Showerheads	Corrosion free materials made to use with low pressure (gravity fed) water systems. Several to choose from.
Tile	12” deck and floor tiles. 4” countertop tiles Showers 12” tiles. Several choices available.
Roofing	Spanish Colonial looking, high density polyethylene for lasting durability.

Stay tuned for developments.