Boldt Studio
Sauna bathing is a centuries-old tradition in Scandinavia that’s closely tied to the outdoor lifestyle. Peter Boldt, an architectural designer in Cos Cob, Connecticut, was first introduced to sauna culture when he lived in Sweden. Years later, during the pandemic, Boldt and his wife were looking for a project they could work on at home. She had grown up sailing, and they both enjoyed spending time on the water. Drawing on Boldt’s architectural background, they created the sauna float, a vessel that rides on a reclaimed pontoon boat hull.
“We set out to do this with very few precedents, particularly in the U.S., and a lot of enthusiasm to figure it out on the fly,” says Boldt, who specializes in residential and hospitality design. The sauna float is the first watercraft in his portfolio.
The shed on the boat, which houses the sauna and a small changing room, is a relatively basic structure. Boldt says that it’s similar in scale to an accessory dwelling on a residential property. The challenge was finding a sturdy, stable foundation capable of supporting it. He was fortunate to come across a used 25-foot pontoon boat for sale locally on Candlewood Lake. It was the perfect size for the project.
With the foundation in place, the next challenge was determining where to position the cabin on the deck, especially without a comparable vessel to use as a reference. “A lot of the design hinged on the notion of balance,” he says. “We tried to locate the cabin itself just off-center so that we had a little bit of a sundeck, knowing that we were going to have storage containers on the front which we could use as enclosures for ballast if we had a balance problem.”
Aesthetically, Boldt drew inspiration from the shapes and materials used in other small waterfront structures along the Connecticut coast, including boat sheds and lobster shacks. Sailboat design inspired the color palette and stainless-steel cables that run around the vessel’s perimeter.
Inside the sauna, two bench seats, one higher than the other, face the stove and a large window overlooking the water. “That allows for this really wonderful experience, which is sitting in the sauna and gently rocking and having views out over the water,” Boldt says. Forward of the cabin is a sundeck with sling chairs and aluminum storage containers that double as bench seating, where passengers can spend time outside and jump in the water between sauna sessions.
Powered by a 20-hp Honda outboard, the sauna float easily navigates the coves, inlets and harbors around northwestern Long Island Sound. Boldt and his family use the vessel year-round, storing it at a marina near their home during the winter months and relocating it to a mooring at the town beach during the summer.
Boldt has plans to bring this design to a wider market in the future. He is in discussions with a business and a private individual about designing and building additional sauna floats. “We’ve had so much fun with this project, using it ourselves and sharing it with our friends and family, that we’re eager to bring it to other families and other markets, particularly given the booming wellness industry,” he says. “We feel like this is a great time to be able to get more of these out into the world for people to enjoy them.”
This article was originally published in the April 2026 issue.
