Houseboat Trip AND bringing your Tige?

[murphini]

For all of you who do houseboating vacations @ Powell or Mead and bring along your Tige, how do the logistics work?

Specifically:

1. Can the houseboat tow the Tige, or do both boats need drivers to get where you are going?

2. How do you "park" the Tige overnight in a cove? I can't see beaching a vDrive, so do you tie/moor the Tige up to the houseboat or anchor the Tige separately away from the houseboat?

3. Has anyone done this (Houseboat + Tige) either at TableRock or Lake of the Ozarks?

4. Love to hear anyones "day in the life logistics" of Houseboating WHILE bringing along a wakeboard boat.

We did houseboat vacations in the late 80's before we had kids or a boat and it was a blast. Now we'd like to do the Houseboat thing with another family/teenagers AND bring our 24ve along.

[Timmy!]

For all of you who do houseboating vacations @ Powell or Mead and bring along your Tige, how do the logistics work?

Specifically:

1. Can the houseboat tow the Tige, or do both boats need drivers to get where you are going?
Most houseboats can tow the wakeboat or you can have someone else drive it
2. How do you "park" the Tige overnight in a cove? I can't see beaching a vDrive, so do you tie/moor the Tige up to the houseboat or anchor the Tige separately away from the houseboat?
Tie it up to the side of the houseboat
3. Has anyone done this (Houseboat + Tige) either at TableRock or Lake of the Ozarks?
I haven't
4. Love to hear anyones "day in the life logistics" of Houseboating WHILE bringing along a wakeboard boat.
Leave the houseboat anchored to shore just like you slept in it, lock the doors and take the boat out and have a good time
We did houseboat vacations in the late 80's before we had kids or a boat and it was a blast. Now we'd like to do the Houseboat thing with another family/teenagers AND bring our 24ve along.

Just make sure you get a houseboat that has a toy tank on it or it's a big pain in the butt to always have to go and gas up the wakeboat.

Here's how we did it

[gwhite94]

For all of you who do houseboating vacations @ Powell or Mead and bring along your Tige, how do the logistics work?

Specifically:

1. Can the houseboat tow the Tige, or do both boats need drivers to get where you are going?

You should be able to pull the Tige with the houseboat. I have done this with both a sterndrive and a vdrive.

2. How do you "park" the Tige overnight in a cove? I can't see beaching a vDrive, so do you tie/moor the Tige up to the houseboat or anchor the Tige separately away from the houseboat?

This comes down to personal preference. I tie the skiboat to the house boat. I utilize fenders attached to the house boat along 1 side or along the back of the houseboat. I have also anchored the boat to shore, because we tied 5 houseboats together.

3. Has anyone done this (Houseboat + Tige) either at TableRock or Lake of the Ozarks?

I have not, only at Powell.

4. Love to hear anyones "day in the life logistics" of Houseboating WHILE bringing along a wakeboard boat.

We did houseboat vacations in the late 80's before we had kids or a boat and it was a blast. Now we'd like to do the Houseboat thing with another family/teenagers AND bring our 24ve along.

Hope this helps...We have houseboated for about 25 years.

[murphini]

Thanks both. Pic of tying up for overnight makes sense.

[Coop]

Only issues I've had with tying up to the side of the houseboat are (1) sometimes the board racks get in the way of doing that and/or (2) it's hard to get on the Tige depending on the configuration of the railings on the side of the houseboat.

Instead, I have typically thrown out an anchor, tied it to the bow and then tied the stern to the houseboat so the swim step is right off the back of the houseboat. That way, you can step right on to the swim step from the houseboat. Only issue with this is that you need to angle it off to the side away from the waterslide. If we have room and some good shoreline, I've also just anchored off the beach next to the houseboat.

Towing behind the houseboat is no problem (and highly recommended to save gas, particularly at a huge lake like Powell). You just need to watch the water and make sure the waves aren't too big. When being towed through heavy chop, the boat can porpoise and take on water. I have heard of boats sinking this way.

X2 on the toy tank, particularly if brining PWCs. If your houseboat doesn't have one, consider bringing some gas cans to fill up and keep on the houseboat.

Houseboating is a GREAT way to do a family trip. Our kids inevitably talk about those trips more than the others. Enjoy.

[Bakes5]

I am probably the minority here, but I am so over houseboat vacations. I've been doing them off and on for the past 28 yrs. They were a ton of fun when I was a teenager and someone else did all the logistics, stress and paying for it....in fact, my fondest memories growing up were on Lake Powell.

That being said, at this point they have become far too stressful to enjoy for me. First of all they are super expensive...figure about $6K once all is said and done. That same amount rents a very nice lakeside cabin. Next is how crowded Powell is these days. Trying to find a beach to pull the boat into borders on ridiculous during peak season. Then when you do, next thing you know a party boat anchors on the little sliver of beach 40' away. Finally, maneuvering a 60-70' houseboat through tight canyons, hoping you don't run over a sandbar or rock, trying to bring the boat into the slip in a storm, managing the septic system, etc... all get a little tiresome when all I want to do is wake up in the morning and ski.

I think last summer was my last summer on Powell for 5-6 yrs. Way too many nice cabins out there to put up with the hassle. If you haven't gone to Powell, by all means do so....just understand that it can sometimes be less relaxing unless you have someone else there to do all the work.

Good luck

Later

Bakes

[WRKTOSKI]

Buy a motorhome and tow your tige with it and park the rv on the beach at Lone Rock on lake powell, we will be there the week prior to 4th july. We did Table Rock lake last June, the nice lakes are in Arkansas ( Degray and Ouchita ) Houseboats are alot of work. Good luck and have a great time

[Coop]

Houseboats are alot of work.

Agreed they are a lot of work, but it helpa if you have at least 3 families who don't mind sharing in the work. There's also a steep learning curve. After our first trip (where a lot of things went wrong), I wasn't sure we'd be up for it again, but the trips after that were easier because of what we learned on the first one. Best way to do it is to go on your first one with at least one other family who's done it before.

With motorhomes or cabins, you just can't get the experience of camping and sleeping in a place like Timmy shows in the picture above. I don't know how crowded Powell used to be, but we've been there in July/August the last two years and have been able to find spots like that also. It's very cool.

[Dave S]

Our trip was before I owned my Tige'
We drove the boats separately. I heard of them sinking by taking water over the bow in rough conditions.

We tied our boats to the side of the houseboat and used fenders. No problems.

We did it with 6 couples of two-no kids. We all split the bill for the houseboat and to Chaparalls that other friends owned. One fo the cheaper vacations when splitting everything 6 ways. We went to Dale Hollow Lake in Tenn.

We are thinking of planning a Powell trip next year, but with only 4 people we may pass on the house boat. Let us know how it goes.

[TeamAllen]

Both are fine. We drive our Tigé through the narrows at LP. They sink boats like ours frequently in that washing machine of doom.

[TeamAllen]

Houseboats are a lot of work, no doubt. The bulk of the work is done before the trip doing so much preparation. The first and last day are the busiest on the water. The time in between is as good as it gets! The pictures above were from a trip I took last year with just my wife, 15 yr old daughter and myself. If the three of us can do it, anyone can.

[OldeBoy]

We rented a houseboat on Cumberland in 2001 and 2002. We had a great time. You are right, the first and last days were really busy, but the time in between was great.

TeamAllen, I like your Bimini. Did you get that locally or online?

[OldeBoy]

We rented a large house on Watts Barr in Tn. last year with 4 other couples for a week. It was a great vacation. We have our week booked this year. Too bad it is so far down there (9+hours) and August is so fart away.

[Dave S]

Too bad it is so far down there (9+hours) and August is so fart away.

That is not bad, we drove 16 hours from Houston (not towing) to get to Dale Hollow Lake and friends drove 12 hours from Pennsylvania with two boats in tow to meet us somewhat in the middle.

[TeamAllen]

TeamAllen, I like your Bimini. Did you get that locally or online?

It was made locally. I'm sure they could ship you one though? They do all of the Tigés in So Cal.
http://www.adleecoversboats.com/