House Boat Vacation

[rdlangston13]

I am looking at possibly taking a house boat rental vacation on a lake somewhere in Arkansas for next summer. I was wondering if anyone else has done this before and what are some thing I need to know in advance. Also what lakes are best for this. The plan is to tie the LSV off to the side of the house boat and cruise the lake for a week or so. When we want to go boarding just pile in the LSV and away we go...

[maxpower220]

My aunt and uncle have a time-share in which they used to have access to a houseboat. They got a week on Lake Eufaula in OK, which was close to me and my wife when I was stationed in OK.
The big draw back in this rental was: 1. You had to pay to take a course in order to operate the houseboat not at the dock. 2. There was a fee (daily) in order to use the houseboat, not tied up to the pier.

My aunt and uncle had little interest in paying out of their pockets on top of the "points" or whatever system they used on timeshares. Plus they are older and don't have any boating experience.

Make sure that your fees INCLUDE everything, check out the gas situation also.

[rdlangston13]

it states that you will be given a check out cruise to get you aquainted with the boat but nothing else is required. and gasoline is not included. i figure it has 4 rooms, 2 people per room, split this 8 ways and it should be fairly reasonable

[gonracn]

Every Summer!!! Best trips ever!!! Check out Bull Shoals. it is the cheapest in Ark and that lake is nice and not used !!

[dusty2221]

I'm sure kg will chime in when he sees this. I know he researched it extensively, and can shed some light on what he found as the best deals.

[moombadaze]

Only advise I have is dont tie the LSV off to the side while the houseboat is underway. My parents did that way back when and for some reason the bow rope came undeone and the boat was at a 90 angle with the stern hitting the houseboat as we motored along. You want to tow the LSV behind by about 50-75 feet back. If its rough out have someone drive the LSV to prevent it from swamping-couple waves over the bow and then it happens fast.

Best summer vacation I remember growing up was the 2 housboating trips. Hopefully I can get to do one soon with some friends

[rdlangston13]

Every Summer!!! Best trips ever!!! Check out Bull Shoals. it is the cheapest in Ark and that lake is nice and not used !!

Yeah Bull Shoals is where I was looking at.

here is the website i was checking into

http://www.bullshoalslakeboatdock.com/

Thanks to moombadaze for the input on NOT tying the boat off to the side, i reckon my tubing rope rated for 4 people could pull the boat at slow speeds with no problem huh?

[bhowell]

Check out Lake Powell on the Arizona/Utah border. It's sic.

Here are some pics.

[bhowell]

More pics.

The lake is huge and really deep (like 200 feet). You can be floating 10 feet from a cliff and it be over 100 ft deep. You find a cove and beach your houseboat and you're set. This trip was a blast even though we were with my friends parents.

[rdlangston13]

ok so lake powell would be totally awesome buuuuut its like over twice as far and the boats rentals are over twice as expensive. im not rich lol. its hard enough to get 500 a person before food a fuel for an arkansas trip, much less 1500 a person...