# HouseBoat in RCI?



## ptlohmysoul (Aug 9, 2015)

Does anyone know how I can find out if there is a houseboat kind of vacation in the US?  I know there is a boat vacation in the British Virgin Islands, but looking for closer to home (east coast area).  Secondly, if there is such a thing, does anyone know it's availability through RCI?  TIA!


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## medsed (Aug 9, 2015)

We haven't done it but there is Holly Bluff Marina in Florida.  Not sure about availability.


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## Ty1on (Aug 9, 2015)

medsed said:


> We haven't done it but there is Holly Bluff Marina in Florida.  Not sure about availability.


 
$2,600 for a 51 hour weekend


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## BevL (Aug 9, 2015)

Not sure if there are any in central British Columbia anymore.  I owned a houseboat timeshare but they went under - season is too short here and the maintenance costs were prohibitive.

I know that the Fairmont group used to have houseboats but I don't believe they ever made their way into the exchange pool.

Some of our best vacations were houseboating on the Shuswaps, both with our kids and then three adult couples.


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## ace2000 (Aug 9, 2015)

medsed said:


> We haven't done it but there is Holly Bluff Marina in Florida.  Not sure about availability.



There's another one in Oklahoma called Grand Lakefront (RCI #5184).  I'm pretty sure those are the only two in RCI.  I'd love to hear more about these myself - I actually had one booked, but had to cancel.

There are some additional fees, so check into that beforehand.


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## jfbookers (Aug 10, 2015)

*NW Georgia*

I traded for one in Northwest Georgia about 20 years ago but I have not seen it recently. I have seen the boats in OK. I have also taken two canalboat trades in England and will do it again.


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## MichaelColey (Aug 10, 2015)

ace2000 said:


> There's another one in Oklahoma called Grand Lakefront (RCI #5184).  I'm pretty sure those are the only two in RCI.  I'd love to hear more about these myself - I actually had one booked, but had to cancel.
> 
> There are some additional fees, so check into that beforehand.


I've seen that listed, but never realized it was a houseboat.  I always thought "Why would I want to vacation in Oklahoma" so I never looked closer, but on a houseboat...that might be fun.


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## ronparise (Aug 10, 2015)

Ive considered converting my boat to a fractional ownership, Sell 10 monthly shares at $10000 plus $10000 into a reserve fund for new engines one day. (keep 2 for myself, and mf enough to cover dock fees and maintenance.


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## mdurette (Aug 10, 2015)

RCI offers this in Deland Florida:

Grand Lakefront Resort Club USA / Holly Bluff Marina (#4876)


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## Ty1on (Aug 10, 2015)

ronparise said:


> Ive considered converting my boat to a fractional ownership, Sell 10 monthly shares at $10000 plus $10000 into a reserve fund for new engines one day. (keep 2 for myself, and mf enough to cover dock fees and maintenance.



I'll definitely buy in when someone offers to pay the closing costs to give it away! :rofl:


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## harveyhaddixfan (Aug 10, 2015)

mdurette said:


> RCI offers this in Deland Florida:
> 
> Grand Lakefront Resort Club USA / Holly Bluff Marina (#4876)





Other Urgent Information
$900.00 Operation fee for all Boats
Deposit of $1500.00 with full refund or $600.00 with $500.00 refund for Liability insurance
All guests must pay for their own fuel used to power the house boat.

And that's why there is a lot of availability. :rofl:


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## harveyhaddixfan (Aug 10, 2015)

ace2000 said:


> There's another one in Oklahoma called Grand Lakefront (RCI #5184).  I'm pretty sure those are the only two in RCI.  I'd love to hear more about these myself - I actually had one booked, but had to cancel.
> 
> There are some additional fees, so check into that beforehand.



Security deposit is $1500 U.S. dollars. Cash or Credit is accepeted.
Resort Fees
Service Charge fee is $900.00 to $900 U.S. dollars. Cash or Credit is accepeted.
Mandatory; Non refundable
Service Charge fee is $100 local currency. Cash or Credit is accepeted.

Dang. This one too! Good thing is they can both be had for under 40,000 points.


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## MichaelColey (Aug 10, 2015)

That actually doesn't seem unreasonable to us, and we're contemplating exchanging for one of the weeks that coincides with the one week we're available between now and the end of the year.


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## Ty1on (Aug 10, 2015)

MichaelColey said:


> I've seen that listed, but never realized it was a houseboat.  I always thought "Why would I want to vacation in Oklahoma" so I never looked closer, but on a houseboat...that might be fun.



Uness it's on the Red River, you're still stuck in OK :hysterical:

 If guests are paying their own fuel use, where is the $900 going?  Even when you get soaked with AI fees in Mexico, there is at least an iota of some kind of value to the expense.  Why would I pay for a houseboat, via exchange or MF, just for the right to rent it anyway?


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## MichaelColey (Aug 11, 2015)

So after discussing it with my wife (who, it turns out, has always wanted to stay on a houseboat!), I booked it this morning.

We just let the kids know about it, and their reaction was priceless.

Me: We haven't been on vacation since May and weren't planning another one until December, but Mommy has been getting a bit antsy so we've been looking into different vacations.  So this morning, Daddy booked a timeshare in Oklahoma.
Kids: (Nothing but stares, with a "have you lost your mind" look on their faces.
Mommy: On a houseboat!
Kids: (Total change of attitude, with excited cheers and lots of questions!)

I do agree that the $900 appears to be a ripoff, unless owners get charged the same amount, but the total cost is unbeatable.  $900 fee + $209 exchange fee + $50 (5 TPU @ $10/TPU) = $1159 for a week.  If you go directly to them, they rent the boat for over $2000/week, and from my limited experience renting other boats (often hundreds of dollars just for half a day, for a much smaller boat), that's a good deal.

We're certainly excited about it!


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## harveyhaddixfan (Aug 11, 2015)

The $900 fee isn't what got me. It's the $1500 deposit.


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## ace2000 (Aug 11, 2015)

MichaelColey said:


> So after discussing it with my wife (who, it turns out, has always wanted to stay on a houseboat!), I booked it this morning.



Wow, outstanding!  I'm thinking it's going to be pretty exciting just to hear your review afterwards.  

When do you have it booked?  (don't have to tell us exact dates, perhaps what month if you'd like).


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## MichaelColey (Aug 11, 2015)

Less than two months from now.


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## BevL (Aug 11, 2015)

It is a tremendous holiday, especially with kids.  You'll have a great time.


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## ptlohmysoul (Aug 11, 2015)

MichaelColey said:


> Less than two months from now.



Wow!  I'm glad I got to (accidentally) contribute to your vacation knowledge as I've gained lots of dvc info. from you.  Please do link your review to this thread so I can be sure to see it.


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## ace2000 (Aug 11, 2015)

ptlohmysoul said:


> Wow!  I'm glad I got to (accidentally) contribute to your vacation knowledge as I've gained lots of dvc info. from you.  Please do link your review to this thread so I can be sure to see it.



LOL - Actually I think we both deserve "free" t-shirts for helping him!  Seriously though, just returning to the thread with some feedback on the trip would be enough for me!  Maybe next year for us...


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## MichaelColey (Aug 11, 2015)

ace2000 said:


> LOL - Actually I think we both deserve "free" t-shirts for helping him!  Seriously though, just returning to the thread with some feedback on the trip would be enough for me!  Maybe next year for us...


I can't do free, but I just created coupon code "HOUSEBOAT" for $5 off a TUG Keep Calm tee.  It's set up to only work for the first 5 people who use the coupon.

And I'll definitely be doing a review after our stay.


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## CCR (Aug 11, 2015)

Don't think any of these exchange in Interval or RCI but there are tons of Houseboat timeshares at Lake Powell (Southern Utah/Northern Arizona).   

Would be kind of fun to set up a direct exchange with someone though.  I used to go there 2 times a year growing up and loved it!!!  I would never recommend someone going to Lake Powell with just a houseboat reserved as you need another ski boat just for safety reasons alone besides all the recreational opportunities.


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## mdurette (Aug 12, 2015)

I knew about the houseboat via RCI in deland FL because my inlaws booked it last year and my husband went a few nights.   If you have any questions, let me know and I can ask them.


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## JudyH (Aug 12, 2015)

I just did a narrowboat exchange on a UK canal.  I posted a review

http://www.tug2.com/ResortOverview.aspx?Canal boat Club at Blackwater Marina&ID=15136


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## MuranoJo (Aug 13, 2015)

CCR said:


> Don't think any of these exchange in Interval or RCI but there are tons of Houseboat timeshares at Lake Powell (Southern Utah/Northern Arizona).
> 
> Would be kind of fun to set up a direct exchange with someone though.  I used to go there 2 times a year growing up and loved it!!!  I would never recommend someone going to Lake Powell with just a houseboat reserved as you need another ski boat just for safety reasons alone besides all the recreational opportunities.



One of my sisters lives in the SLC area and they did a houseboat trip @ Lake Powell a few years back (though not timeshare and I believe they were in a group who rented the boat as well as the 'captain' to run it).  They loved it.

Re. t/s use of a houseboat, only hesitation I'd have is if we would have the proper experience to navigate/manage the large boat on water.  (And we have quite a bit of experience with fishing boats and white-water rafting.)


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## MichaelColey (Oct 6, 2015)

ace2000 said:


> Wow, outstanding!  I'm thinking it's going to be pretty exciting just to hear your review afterwards.


We just returned a couple days ago.  Not sure when I'll have time to write up a full review, so this might be my only review of it.  There were a number of things that weren't like we expected, but it was fun and we'll probably do it again sometime.

We had a Sunday to Sunday exchange, and I was out of town through our check-in date (getting home close to midnight on Sunday), so we drove to OK on Monday.  We had called in advance to make sure what time we had to be there.  They said they were open 8am to 5pm and it took an hour to check in, so we shot for arriving before 4pm.  We got there a little after 3pm, but they said it was too late in the day to get captain training and that we would have had to have arrived before 3pm.  We could sleep on the boat, but couldn't go out until the next day.

The approximately one hour captain training was good, and we felt comfortable doing everything we were taught.  You have to know how to start the boat, start and stop the generator, use the radio, beach and tie up the boat, etc.

It was fairly easy to drive, but because of the length it's very slow to respond.  When you turn the wheel, it's literally 10-15 seconds before the boat starts turning.  At first, you do a lot of weaving back and forth.  Also, the top speed on the boat is about 5-6 MPH.  A GPS is also helpful, and I regularly used the one on my phone.

You think of a 52 foot boat, and you think it's huge.  Until you get in it.  Part of that 52 feet is the front and back deck.  The living room and kitchen is fairly spacious (similar to a small timeshare), but calling it "3 bedroom" is a bit of a misnomer.  One "bedroom" is two bunks tucked in off of the hall at the back of the boat.  No door or room.  Just two bunks off the hall.  The other two bedrooms are basically about 18" wider than the queen size bed each one contained.  The bed was wedged in, touching the wall on three sides, with about 18" of floor space on the side by the door.  Tiny doesn't describe it.  The bunks looked fairly comfortable (4" memory foam on plywood), but our bed was way firmer than we like.  Both of our backs hurt the whole trip.  The pillows had annoying plastic covers on them, under the pillow cases.

The nearest town (with a Walmart) is about 30 minutes away.  We made one Walmart trip.

The water on the boat (all sinks, shower, etc.) is all filtered (at least I think it was filtered) lake water.  We brought bottled water to use for drinking, cooking, brushing teeth, etc.  11 gallons lasted us the week.

When you want to come or go in the boat, they have to pull the houseboat out of or into the marina, so you have to do it on their schedule.  They're only open from 8am to 5pm, so you're limited to that.  Also, you're not allowed to drive the boat at night, so if you're out you have to tie up somewhere.

When you're in your boat dock at the marina, you're hooked up to electric.  When you go out, you have to run the generator to have electricity.  It uses about 1-2 gallons of gas per hour, and they're pretty proud of their gas ($3.89/gallon when we were there, about double what it was at the gas stations nearby).  They don't recommend running the generators overnight.  My wife and kids all sleep with fans, so they were hesitant to stay out.  We were also concerned about running up a huge gas bill by using the generator.  We finally did stay out overnight about half-way through the trip, and we liked it so much better that we stayed out for the rest of the trip.  We basically only ran the generator for about an hour at breakfast, lunch and dinner time.  We ended up spending about $130 on gas.  We were afraid it was going to be more.

Wi-Fi was available in the marina, but it was spotty and went down several times.  Cell coverage was spotty as well in the marina, but was better out on the lake.

No dishwasher (we're kind of spoiled by that), so it seemed like we spent an inordinate amount of time cooking and washing dishes.

We fished and swam a lot.  Not much luck fishing (5 small fish all week).  The kids loved the slide from the upper deck.

We'll probably go again.  If we do, we'll bring about half as much stuff.  The first time you go, you never really know what to expect, so you bring a lot of stuff you don't need.  We'll go at the right times, and we'll head out and won't return until it's time to check out, probably making a big circle around the nearby portions of the lake (you have to stay within a specified area) staying somewhere different each night.  We'll bring some of our own pillows.  We'll bring some fish with us, so we can still eat fish even if our luck isn't that great.

At checkout, you have to clean all the dishes, empty the trash, strip the beds, and have all of your stuff unloaded before you can check out, and they take about an hour to check out.  Check-out time is 9am.  (We went ahead and checked out Saturday afternoon so we could sleep in our own beds that night and be at our church on Sunday.)  At checkout, they will inspect the boat, checking EVERYTHING and if anything is damaged or missing, they'll charge you for it.  The only thing we were charged for was a $6 plastic bucket (probably $1 at Walmart) which had a couple cracks at the top.


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## TUGBrian (Oct 6, 2015)

what kind of houseboat was it, do you recall the make?


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## ace2000 (Oct 6, 2015)

Michael - thanks for the review... very interesting!  We live close by and last week had a few days with highs in the 60's.  Wasn't that too cold to swim?  I assume there is TV?  And also, what would you estimate the gas to be if you would've stayed out for the entire time?

Thanks for the info!  I really appreciate it.


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## MichaelColey (Oct 6, 2015)

The make was "Twin Anchors Marine Cruisecraft 500".  It looks like a small shipbuilder out of Canada that mainly makes custom houseboats.  I took a picture of the ship information 

The water temperature was fairly warm, so you really only felt the cold when you got out.  Earlier in the week, the air temperature was perfect.  Later in the week, it was chilly in the mornings.

Gas wouldn't have been much different if we had stayed out the whole time.  We burned about as much gas driving out and back as we did just staying out and using the generator a few hours a day.  Using the generator 24 hours a day would have been way higher (probably close to $100/day).

There is a TV.  We watched a few DVDs.


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## TUGBrian (Oct 6, 2015)

ah, not heard of that.  i wasnt sure how many builders made houseboats in the 50+ foot class...and as I get older houseboats intrigue me more and more.

gibson seems to lead the resale market down here in the south in that class, although I have to admit the bluewater boats are pretty darn nice looking for houseboats...vs the squared off look traditional ones have!


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## carl2591 (Oct 7, 2015)

so where is this boat timeshare located,, name etc. 

they do the narrow boats in england you can do that are timeshare.  you can go on the extensive canals system in the UK which is quite large.. 

There was a review done on a narrowboat adventure in timeshare today mag several years ago. several may be 10 or so.. 

sounds like a lot of fun.


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## ace2000 (Oct 7, 2015)

carl2591 said:


> so where is this boat timeshare located,, name etc.



The one Michael did was on Lake Eufala OK.  There is also another one located in Florida.

Grand Lakefront Resort Club USA / Lake Eufaula (#5184)

Grand Lakefront Resort Club USA / Holly Bluff Marina (#4876)

There is a non-refundable fee due at check-in of US $900.00 for orientation, maintenance, propane and services.  But many times, you can find these on Last Call, especially during the non-summer months.  

I really appreciate Michael sharing his experience with us.


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## MichaelColey (Oct 7, 2015)

It was 5 TPU on RCI.

Three things I didn't really touch on in the review above:

1) The boat does show some age.  I'm not positive, but I think it was built in 1977.  (Not sure if that's the manufacture date or the year the company was founded, or both, but it was on a metal sign on the boat.)  That makes it almost 40 years old.  It's been adequately maintained, but definitely does show some age.  Kind of like an older, low-MF timeshare.  You can tell they're pinching pennies.

2) The staff was great.  A little rough (like you might expect working at a marina), but very helpful, quick to respond (from 8am to 5pm), and friendly.  The main captain there even lists his cell phone in the captain's manual.

3) From RCI and the web site, I assumed they only had two boats -- a 2 BR (47 feet?) and a 3 BR (52 feet).  They actually have multiple of each size.  Not sure how many, because there are personal houseboats in the slips there, too, but my guess would be about 6-10 total.  I think some have different check-in dates, and I think they even have some that are rental only.


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## jfbookers (Oct 7, 2015)

*link to both houseboat locations*

http://www.glrcusa.com/


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## jaygould (Oct 11, 2015)

My wife and I have gone out twice on the two-bedroom version of the houseboat available at the Holly Bluff marina in Deland, Florida (RCI #4876). Both times it was in January, obtained through RCI's “Last Call Vacations” listing in December, when the fee charged by RCI (no points or exchange credits used) was less than $209. The boating venue was the St. John river, not a lake, but I have nothing to add to the writeup by Michael as far as the extra fees charged and the experience on the boat is concerned. Central Florida in January gets down to the high 30's at night, so we came back to the marina each night before 5PM and plugged into the dock power at $10 per night to get heat on the boat. Otherwise you have to run the generator all night which is pretty noisy as well as expensive. The boats have electric heat pumps for both heat and air conditioning.

The days were sunny and would warm up to the high 60's by 10AM. The boats have screens, but in January, bugs are not a problem. Our interests were bird-watching and sitting out in the sun to read, plus a little sight-seeing at a nearby warm-water spring where hundreds of manatees collect in the winter. We found we enjoyed the boat experience best when the motor was shut off and we were anchored at one of four backwaters (swamps) off the river where the birding was excellent, and the tourists non-existent. The backwaters were all within an hour's boat ride. Swimming off the boat is not a good idea. In January, the water is too cold, and when it warms up, there are alligators in the water.

There were only a few boats in use in January, so at night the marina was as quiet as if we were anchored out. The boat traffic on the river during the day was almost non-existent. 

One little tip we found useful as far as steering the boat was concerned: when you want to turn, don't turn the steering wheel a little bit like it was a car, because nothing happens for at least a minute. Turn the wheel one full turn. As soon as you see the boat start to turn, straighten out the steering wheel fully. When you want to stop turning, turn the steering wheel one full turn in the opposite direction till you see the boat stop turning, then fully straighten out the steering wheel again. To figure out the neutral position of the steering wheel, have someone stand on the back deck when the boat is not moving and check the position of the out-drive while you turn the wheel. Then put a piece of tape on the top of the wheel when the out-drive is in the straight-ahead position.

Maybe the mattresses are better now, but we had morning backache from the 4” foam mattresses just  like Michael did. If we go again, we'll take the mattresses off the boat and use our permarest camping mattresses.


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## MichaelColey (Oct 12, 2015)

It sounds like there are a few minor differences between the two locations.  At Lake Eufala, there is no $10/night charge to use power at the dock overnight.

FWIW, I was talking about the queen beds in the two main rooms (which had about a 12" mattress on a solid surface with drawers underneath), not the bunks (which had 4" memory foam on plywood).  They had told us that they had recently changed out the mattresses and that others had given them good feedback on them.  To me, they just had no give.  I'm at a hotel this week that has mattresses almost as firm, and it's not bothering me (much).  I'm wondering if part of it is just the cramped space.  I toss and turn a lot, and on a queen bed with a wall right next to the bed, there's not a lot of room to move.

It was considerably warmer than that in Eufala.  The water felt like it was probably close to 80 when we went.  There was no "shock" getting in.

A minute for the boat to respond to turning is a bit of an exaggeration, but it certainly does take a bit.  We just kept a distant point as a reference and mostly just made very small adjustments if we shifted off course.  I might have to try your full turn then back technique next time, although a full turn makes a pretty big turn.

Who's around you at the marina makes a huge difference if you stay at the marina.  There was a party on the boat next to us, and at least one smoker who was up top fairly frequently.  There's only a few feet between boats.  Also, because they're all the same design, all of the windows line up.  We strongly preferred being out in a cove at night, with not a single other boat or house in sight.

I forgot to mention, but one night while we were out, we had hot chocolate on the upper deck.  At Lake Eufala, you're far enough away from civilization that you can see a TON of stars.  Another night, we let the kids build things with glow sticks (box of 50 with connectors for $4 from Five Below).  Fun times that will hopefully be lifelong memories for them.


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## jaygould (Oct 18, 2015)

I agree that the "distant point" technique while on a lake is the best steering strategy, but on a twisty river or entries into backwaters, the steering needs to be quicker.


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## TUGBrian (Oct 18, 2015)

type of steering also plays a huge difference in boats as well.  where as rudder steered boats are far less "reactive" to steering than say outdrive or outboard motors!


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