The Boston Globe
It was probably a bad idea, but the journey amassed a large following.
Jake Doggett atop the houseboat he and a buddy built on a rotting pontoon boat. The construction presented one problem after another, but made Doggett and his floating house viral stars. Barry Chin/Globe Staff
updated on July 17, 2026 | 11:18 AM
5 minutes to read
ESSEX — Two years ago, Jake Doggett did the sort of thing some guys in their early 20s think is a good idea. He and his buddy James Little spent $4,000 on an old 24-foot pontoon boat that had sprung a leak and sunk in a river.
But the pontoons had been professionally repaired (the Facebook Marketplace seller promised); it had a new(ish) motor; and the two men, friends since first grade, had an audacious plan. They were going to use the 41-year-old pontoon boat as the foundation for a houseboat that they would build together and share into old age.
They had no idea what they were doing, and the problems, as someone not in their early 20s might have guessed, started immediately. Then something interesting happened, something very modern: Those problems went viral.
Doggett documented the build online, and soon the project amassed a large following of people who watched them spend most of their sanity and all of their savings to ultimately, finally, create something incredible.
“It doesn’t feel real,” Doggett, 25, said on a recent day as he steered a small boat through the Great Marsh and pulled up to their creation. “I get butterflies in my stomach every time I see it on the water. It’s a floating house!”
The small steering wheel at left is original from the scrap pontoon boat that Jake Doggett sourced two years ago. – Barry Chin/Globe Staff
The houseboat has become a bit of a tourist attraction for boaters since it appeared in Essex Bay this summer. – Barry Chin/Globe Staff
The houseboat, which is moored in the channel behind Crane Beach, has become something of a tourist attraction in Essex Bay since it appeared this summer. But online, millions have been following the misadventure that led to its creation — “a combination of poor planning and being overly optimistic,” as Doggett described it.
But the result is nothing short of spectacular: a luxury tiny home, just 100 square feet inside, but fitted with a shower, an oven, a sink, a refrigerator and freezer, and a seating area with a table that lowers to form the base of a bed — all of it powered by solar panels. There’s even a small wood-burning fireplace.
“I still can’t believe we pulled this off,” said Doggett, who grew up in Hamilton and lives in Newburyport, as he gave a reporter a tour of what is perhaps the internet’s most famous houseboat.
Doggett and Little have been building things together since they were children — treehouses, zip lines, go-karts, potato cannons, you name it — and after finishing college, Doggett converted an old truck salvaged from a junk yard into a mobile camper. He documented the build, and his six-month road trip around the United States, on social media under the name “Salvage to Scenic,” and soon had a small following.
Little, who had also graduated from college and was trying to figure out what was next, reached out and said, “Let’s build something together.” Both of them had grown up boating on Essex Bay, and they hatched the idea for a houseboat.
The dining table hydraulically lowers to transform into a bed. – Barry Chin/Globe Staff
Not that they knew anything about building, houseboats, or, apparently, how much things weigh. From the outset, their dream had a serious weight problem, for the pontoons could only safely float 5,000 pounds, while their design would ultimately weigh about 9,000.
They bought more pontoons, then even more, plus a new boat trailer to support it during construction. They spent money they didn’t have on expensive stainless steel parts so the houseboat could survive the salt water for the long haul. Family and friends chipped in time and advice. Doggett sold his truck and his motorcycle to keep money coming in. And the project, which they thought would take, say, three to four months and about $10,000, instead took 14 months and about $40,000. More than once, they thought about walking away.
But for Doggett, it fit in with a lifetime interest in problem-solving — particularly when it came to fixing and saving things that had been tossed off as junk — and documenting it in educational videos. He learned to weld when he was in seventh grade so he could make a grader to attach to an old lawnmower and use it to fix the potholes in his gravel driveway. He started an eBay consignment shop, repaired and sold old iPhones, and had a landscaping business. When a video of him replacing a car radio got 100,000 views, he started an educational channel about fixing cars and posted a new video every Friday for seven straight years.
At Babson College, Doggett read “Into the Wild,” a book about a young man named Chris McCandless who goes off to live — and ultimately die — alone in the Alaskan wilderness. He was particularly moved by a line in McCandless’s journal: “Happiness is only real when shared.”
The view from the front deck of the internet’s favorite houseboat, with the backside of Crane Beach in the distance. – Barry Chin/Globe Staff
A fully functioning wood burning stove is one of Doggett’s favorite features. – Barry Chin/Globe Staff
The stories he shared from his camper truck started that journey for him. The houseboat took it to another level, and the building travails led to more than a million followers across social media. A 45-minute YouTube video where he compiled the complete houseboat saga has 1.7 million views and climbing.
So what’s next? He’s unsure, but “for the story, the lifestyle, to continue, there will always need to be some form of problem-solving.”
Which is where we come to Doggett’s latest problem. Little got a job in Florida and won’t be able to enjoy this houseboat they dreamed of growing old in. So they made the decision to put it up for sale and split the profit. The listing on Facebook Marketplace, where they are asking for $140,000, was so popular that it was removed for suspicious activity. (It’s back up now.)
There have been a few interested buyers, and one possibility where someone would buy out Little’s half and Doggett would share it with them. But for the moment, Doggett’s just enjoying time in the floating house with his girlfriend, as well as the positive responses he’s been getting on the water and from people around the world.
“What everyone seems to be connecting with is how we felt compelled to follow through on a dream,” Doggett said. “And there seems to be a lesson, which is that if you feel that, you should pursue it, because what you’re going to learn along the way is so rewarding.”
“I still can’t believe we pulled this off,” Jake Doggett said of the project that drained his savings and sanity.
