My wife and I were talking about buying a houseboat so when we took our American Offshore to the lake we would have a comfortable place to hang out.Especially since we have a new baby ,our first.So how many owners of performance boats have a houseboat? do you enjoy them? Are they hard to keep up maintence ect...?

Id look for some lake real estate first.....but houseboats are very cool

We have a large cruizer and its nice to hang out in some A/C in the summer. And you dont have to mow the yard!!

and pay property taxes....

My wife and I have talked about doing the same thing. Friends have property at the river and it seems they spend WAY too much time during the season maintaining their places. Me personally I'd rather pay slip fees and deal with routine crap at the begining and end of the season.

Wow, many factors to consider. First where you boat are house boats the norm?? Like many KY lakes? Do you have enough funds to try for a condo or piece of property. Problem i see with the House boat is you are still paying for a place to park it also resell value will be tough. I would suggest looking at all choices before making this decision.

WILL

My parents sold their house and moved onto the house boat. They love it. Slip fee is $150 a month wich includes water sewer electric and cable! Maintainance is comparable to a sail boat. Periodic haul outs for bottom cleaning and inspections. The only down side is insurance, no one wants to insure a house boat in louisiana after all the recent hurricanes.

We had the same dilemma but decided on a cruiser

I'd maybe look for a mid-size cruiser. There are amazing deals out there on some out there now used.

We have the 26 deckboat/cat for zipping around and 35 carver to stay on and cruise. It has everything a houseboat does(ac,heat,shower/bath,kitchen,sat tv) but is more nimble, and better cruising. We love it.

Plus your neighbors are other boaters which in our book is a HUGE plus. We have great friends from the marina and dock life.

I boat on Lake Cumberland in the Summers. Our veiw changes whenever we want. Highly recommend the Houseboat. We have 4 bedroom w/ 2 baths.

i think house boats are way cool, but i like to go to different lakes, so rv was the way to go. Plus no storage fees, and can easily do maintnances at home. The best thing to do is probably rent one and see if you like. My 2 cents. Jaime