A sauna is a great place to feel warm and toasty and refreshed, but few of us have one at home. [Linus Strothmann] decided to build his own, using an old boat as the perfect base for his steamy build.
Finding the right boat was the first challenge; the vessel should be big enough to fully house the intended number of occupants, and be able to withstand sitting outside in the weather year-round. If it’s to be used in a place where it gets icy in winter, it’s best to go with a steel-hulled vessel. [Linus] found a steel-hulled boat just under 8 m in length for less than 1000 Euros, and set to work on his project.
The boat was stripped out, and given high-quality glass windows capable of resisting the steam and high temperatures inside. A stove was installed for producing steam, and the boat-sauna was designed with multiple entries and exits for safety reasons. Insulation was also fitted to help keep heat in.
The result is a floating sauna that is an absolute pleasure to use in the winter months. Floating out on the lake, one can take in a steam, have a quick dip in the icy water, and then return to warm back up inside. [Linus] hopes to soon fit a small motor in order to allow the vessel to head out to the middle of the lake for an even better view during a steam session.
It’s not the first mobile sauna we’ve seen; a trailer-based design graced these pages last year. If you’re working on your own hot and steamy build, though, do share your work with us promptly!
Sauna is a pleasure even in the summer, trust me, i’m an engineer.
I’ll continue that, it is the best invention ever.
If you are new to sauna, i’d recommend to start at around 60 deg C, do that for a while (like weeks or months), and then start ramping it up to 80 deg C. Personally, above that it’s not as relaxing. The bigger the sauna, the smoother the löyly, with the appropriate sized stove of course.
Take a drink: beer, long drink, hard lemonade, coke, ginger ale, whatever. Jump into a lake, swim around, go back to sauna, enjoy you cool drink in the smooth löyly, chat with who ever is there with you, relax.
What else? Oh right, it’s the best invention ever.
Good temperature is quite dependent on many aspects, like size of sauna and size of kiuas (stove) for example. 80c can be generally considered as lower limit. Normal sauna temperatures are usually between 80-100c. Most important thing is achieving good moist soft steamy löyly. Not too hard and sharp. Wood burning kiuas and large enough room is the way to go. This project looks good, I especially like the kiuas (stove)!