Posted: 5/6/2026 10:24:06 PM EDT
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I use the term ponderings, instead of questions, because it's just things I started pondering after watching some youtube videos dealing with shanty boats. It's not something that I actually have a pending need to know. First, and it wasn't something I needed to watch shanty boat videos to ponder, as I've pondered this one in the past, Tennessee does not require registration of boats that are propelled by human muscle power alone, but does require registration of all sailboats. That would mean you can buy a canoe or kayak, and then paddle them around all you want without registering them, but the minute you add one of those small canoe sailing rigs, you have to register it. Or looking at it another way, you can build a replica of a viking longboat, and if you neglect to install a mast (just use the oars, if you can round up enough people to join you on your excursion), you don't have to register it, but once the mast is added, you have to register it. Then there's the issue of some states not requiring registration of sailboats up to 12 foot in length (or 8 foot in length?), as long as the boat does not have an engine or electric motor as an auxiliary drive (oars or paddles as auxiliary are allowed). Why can't we have that in Tennessee? And the last pondering on sailboats... What length is the state talking about when they talk about the length of the boat? Is it just the hull length? Are they measuring with the rudder included? What about a bowsprit? What about the aft boom and rigging for a yawl (which tends to extend farther aft than the rudder does)? Moving onto ponderings specifically for shanty boats... Does a towed craft have to be registered? A quick internet search kept coming up with answers stating that a towed craft has to be registered, if the craft being towed "is mechanically propelled", but does that include something that was intended from the start to only be towed or pushed (no provision for mounting an engine, motor, or sail on the craft itself) when it is being towed by a registered motorboat? It's something that would be good to know if planning a shanty boat build, as being able to load the shanty boat on a trailer and haul it home would limit the maximum beam to 8 foot, which tends to result in no side decks after the cabin is added, leaving you with a small deck at the front and a small deck at the rear. Seems like side decks would be handy when going through locks, in addition to making the boat 'feel' much bigger. If you build a simple barge (or a pontoon boat with nothing but an open deck) with a 5 or 6 foot beam, it could be hauled from home to the water (an additional trip after hauling the shanty boat), launched, then tied up alongside the shanty boat (with fenders protecting the barge and shanty boat from constantly banging into each other), providing a 5 or 6 foot wide side deck. But would you then have to register the barge? What if the shanty boat itself was built as a barge, intending to tow or push it with a registered motorboat? Another option would be installing something similar to outriggers when you got to the boat ramp. I did see a video of a shanty boat build where they did that, but it was something of an afterthought, instead of a plan to have useable side decks once the boat was in the water. In their particular case, they were going upscale with the amenities and realized when the boat was getting close to finished, that even with the second set of pontoons they had added under the deck (total of four pontoons), their boat was heavier than their pontoons were rated to carry. Their solution was to buy sections of square tubing that was long enough to run across the tops of the pontoons and stick out two or three feet on either side of the boat, then add some of the rectangular floats that are sold for building floating docks, with a deck added over the floats. Installing or removing the tube outriggers, floats, and side decks at the boat ramp is an involved process, but they seemed to be setting their boat up as something that would be hauled out of the water sometime in the Fall, then put back in the water in the Spring. |
Earthsheltered house - a reinforced bunker that even the treehuggers consider to be socially acceptable.
Earthbag house - like an earthsheltered house, but cheaper and easier to DIY.
Earthbag house - like an earthsheltered house, but cheaper and easier to DIY.
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Another example of what can prompt this sort of pondering... Attached File A stand up paddleboard (or SUP), which seems to be one of the more recent fads in boating. No registration required, since it is propelled solely by human muscle power. Yep, can't get any simpler than that. Attached File Oops. It's not a SUP. It's an Alcort Sailfish (or Super Sailfish?), a type of sailcraft that became popular in the late 1940s to 1950s. There are various similar craft that became available around the same time, including one that could be built from plans that were sold by the Boy Scouts of America. Most of them were under 12 ft in length, so the states that don't require registration of sailboats up to 12 ft in length (as long as they don't have an engine or motor) don't seem to create any confusion over how they are regulated. The Super Sailfish could be a problem, as my fuzzy memory indicates that its length is around 13 ft. The Sailfish eventually evolved into the popular Sunfish line of small sailboats. There's at least one youtube video of a builder of SUPs modifying one of his builds to allow adding a mast, daggerboard, and rudder, so what's old is apparently new again. |
Earthsheltered house - a reinforced bunker that even the treehuggers consider to be socially acceptable.
Earthbag house - like an earthsheltered house, but cheaper and easier to DIY.
Earthbag house - like an earthsheltered house, but cheaper and easier to DIY.
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Originally Posted By JPN: And the last pondering on sailboats... What length is the state talking about when they talk about the length of the boat? Is it just the hull length? Are they measuring with the rudder included? What about a bowsprit? What about the aft boom and rigging for a yawl (which tends to extend farther aft than the rudder does)? For regulatory purposes, it's just the hull length. Rudders, outboard motors, swim platforms (if they are not molded into the hull), and "bow attachments" (which would include bowsprits that are not permanently bonded to the hull) are not included in the length. I must have skimmed over that section of the TWRA Boater's Handbook when I read it in the past. |
Earthsheltered house - a reinforced bunker that even the treehuggers consider to be socially acceptable.
Earthbag house - like an earthsheltered house, but cheaper and easier to DIY.
Earthbag house - like an earthsheltered house, but cheaper and easier to DIY.
Seems I'm not the only person pondering such issues. Driving Tuggy Sandbox Boat Through Downtown St. Paul |
Earthsheltered house - a reinforced bunker that even the treehuggers consider to be socially acceptable.
Earthbag house - like an earthsheltered house, but cheaper and easier to DIY.
Earthbag house - like an earthsheltered house, but cheaper and easier to DIY.
Here's a video from the guy who converted his Stand Up Paddleboard to a sailing vessel. The video shows him paddling it like a kayak, paddling it like a SUP, and sailing it. Can your STAND UP PADDLE BOARD SAIL? First official sail of the SailSUP! His channel has several videos showing the work he did for this conversion, along with videos showing him building SUPs. |
Earthsheltered house - a reinforced bunker that even the treehuggers consider to be socially acceptable.
Earthbag house - like an earthsheltered house, but cheaper and easier to DIY.
Earthbag house - like an earthsheltered house, but cheaper and easier to DIY.
Here's a video where a guy took the motor off of his houseboat, to give him space for a rear deck to sit on (he still has a trolling motor on the bow, to move it in and out of the slip he is renting), and ties a pontoon boat up beside the houseboat to provide propulsion for the houseboat and to expand the available deck area. Inspired by shantyboat youtuber, they built their budget floating homes |
Earthsheltered house - a reinforced bunker that even the treehuggers consider to be socially acceptable.
Earthbag house - like an earthsheltered house, but cheaper and easier to DIY.
Earthbag house - like an earthsheltered house, but cheaper and easier to DIY.
|
Here's a 'thinking outside the box' project, and at about 39 minutes into the video it wanders even farther outside the box. At 49 minutes, the video gets into the registration headaches of what they are doing.  Enclosing the 50ft Shanty Boat… But Where Does the Motor Go? (Ep. 2) |
Earthsheltered house - a reinforced bunker that even the treehuggers consider to be socially acceptable.
Earthbag house - like an earthsheltered house, but cheaper and easier to DIY.
Earthbag house - like an earthsheltered house, but cheaper and easier to DIY.
|
An update on the 'thinking outside the box' shantyboat project from the previous post: It didn't sink.  Maiden Voyage Nightmare: Steering Failure on the Flooded Ohio River! (Part 4) They're learning some lessons on alternatives for steering and alternatives for propulsion. |
Earthsheltered house - a reinforced bunker that even the treehuggers consider to be socially acceptable.
Earthbag house - like an earthsheltered house, but cheaper and easier to DIY.
Earthbag house - like an earthsheltered house, but cheaper and easier to DIY.
A short video on the advantages of having a floating deck tied up alongside a shanty boat. Floating Deck, Garden : No Setup Neeeded #camping on a boat |
Earthsheltered house - a reinforced bunker that even the treehuggers consider to be socially acceptable.
Earthbag house - like an earthsheltered house, but cheaper and easier to DIY.
Earthbag house - like an earthsheltered house, but cheaper and easier to DIY.
|
Yep i quickly found out as soon as you add an electric trolling motor that I had to register even my little 8 ft Baby Bass Hunter. Awesome little boat btw in the right conditions. I had to modify the transom a bit but I added a 3 hp 4 stroke outboard and made an amazing little boat for trolling for crappy and anything else that would bite. Old photo from around 2013 . I look really would hate to have to paddle this thing through since I find it nearly impossible. But yes there are some stupid laws that exist when it comes to boats since this thing tops out around 4mph with either this outboard and around 3 with a 46lb thrust trolling motor. This one has wheels built into the back to make it easier to move around. Attached File |
lol "Hillbilly houseboat" draws attention in Surrey |