Did Houseboat Life BREAK OUR BANK In 2022?

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

Anyone have ideas for fun houseboat projects that we could start budgeting towards in 2023/2024??

[@KeepingAfloatWiththeJoneses]

Agreed - so important to be transparent! No reason that sharing what something costs should be taboo when in reality it just helps others plan/prepare/budget for their own dreams! Way to go guys & major props for being under budget! 🙌

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

We really appreciate you saying that! It's our hope - that by overcoming our awkward feelings and sharing, we can help others change their lives for the better. Now the question comes with being under budget, do we reduce our budget accordingly this year OR do we take on one of our longterm projects for our houseboat 🤔 ?

[@SuperBrookstone]

@@DeepHouseboatLife Thanks also for sharing this..

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

We are happy to do it! Glad you liked it. Thank you so much for watching and for sharing your thoughts with us here 😃

[@liggincrew]

Very helpful! Thanks for sharing and we are currently looking at houseboats on Lanier so hope to meet you on the water soon.

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

So glad you found this helpful! And very cool you are looking at houseboats on Lake Lanier. It's a great place for houseboating, and the season is starting to kick off soon. Is there a specific type of houseboat you're looking at right now? We'll definitely be on the water a lot this spring and summer, so give us a shout, if you're out there 🤙

[@carlton1986]

It makes you guys so happy , so absolutely worth every cent 🙏

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

It's so true! We were looking back at our photos when we first got the houseboat in Aug 2020, and can't believe all the fun we've had because of the houseboat. Clare and Dory both adore it, and we've made so many memories with them. We've also gotten to meet others on our channel, like you, that have made it so awesome for us 😃 . Certainly has opened up our little world to new experiences and people. It's worth it 🙏

[@drlty1]

Thank you for another informative video!!! I've missed you guys because KZbin isn't posting you in my feed! I had to search through my subscriptions to see if you'd posted new vids. I'm working to get our 1984 Chris Craft Aqua Home "tuned up" for spring! We've owned it for just over 2 years but have never taken it out of the slip. It has been our very own lake-front apartment, but I'm excited to see if we can get it "out" on the lake! Wish me luck! Tee Tee!

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

Welcome back! So happy you found your way back to our channel. We weren’t posting as consistently over the holidays to have a little more time for those festivities, and KZbin must have stopped recommending us since we weren’t as consistent. Glad to have you back! We’ll be on to our normal posting schedule now 😀. Looked up pics of a Chris Craft Aqua Home and love the way it looks. Chris Craft has always made a really, really nice boat. What kinds of things are you tackling to get it ready for it’s maiden voyage? It’s worth taking it out of your slip. It’s a whole new world on your boat away from the dock. Wishing you luck, and keep us posted on how it goes!! Exciting!!

[@benrichards9667]

Nice breakdown. For us, we would probably purchase the houseboat in full, or atleast that's our goal. Debt is a xxxxx, so we typically save until we have the ability to cash it out. Hard to hold back, as simple loans and such get you in something like this much quicker. Again Bravo on the dedication to this. Thank you.

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

Hey Ben! Thanks for watching our video. Glad you liked the breakdown. Totally understand where you're coming from on not wanting to hold debt and going the all-cash route instead. Especially with how uncertain things have been the last several years. We're actually kind of glad we held on to our cash because of that, but hope to eventually own our houseboat out-right. We commend you on the dedication it takes to save up and purchase the houseboat in cash.

[@mitchholle9634]

Thank you for posting. 2003’ Sharpe owner here. I found you while looking into the new inverter set up. I’m curious to see how the lithium bats hold up in the heat. I’m not sure you need to spend the xtra money on the starlink RV service unless you plan on taking it with you. I mounted mine on the radar arch and have had no trouble staying connected on our lake, (we’re out west) it even worked in motion. So far we’ve traveled approx 20 miles from the marina and had super fast internet everywhere. My only concern is if I do circles and the dish stays locked on will I end up twisting some internal wiring??? Anyhow I subscribed, looking forward to your adventures! Mitch

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

Hey Mitch! Thanks for watching our video. We really do appreciate it. That's awesome you found us through our lithium battery setup. We tested them out in the intense Georgia July heat last summer, and they worked like a charm. We do have a few tweaks to our setup that we learned from that experience that we're hoping to share more about soon. We haven't tested them in the cooler months yet, and are planning to do that in March. We're planning to do a lot of houseboat camping this summer, so should have some experience to share there. Did you get the residential version of Starlink and mount it? That's great that you've been able to travel far distances and even stay connected in motion. Wasn't sure how that would work on a houseboat. We actually did get the RV version and plan to install it this weekend...we'll see how it works for us. Saw there was a 30 day full refund and return if we don't like it or want to switch to residential. Thank you so much for subscribing and sharing your experience!

[@roberthennel]

Nice breakdown, actually, I am surprised at how relatively affordable houseboating is for the comfort you get.

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

Yeah it's surprisingly quite affordable, especially when you compare houseboat costs to the costs of buying and owning a Lake House, which is waaaaaay out of our budget on Lake Lanier. It's more expensive than a cabin cruiser, but don't think we would have used a cruiser as much as a houseboat because the comfort factor is so different on a houseboat. It's like a mini house right on the water, and the people in the houseboat community are so unique. What's even more crazy...we used to pay more for childcare per year 😮 than the houseboat per year before Jessie left her job to care for Clare. We appreciate you watching! Glad you liked the breakdown 😃

[@cm5838]

The one thing you didn’t mention is how much time you actually spend on your boat. Even if it’s as much as a weekend a month it would be a whole lot cheaper to rent a houseboat. Definitely cheaper on the stress of maintenance. I sold my last boat because we were only using it one or two times a year and the registration of the boat and trailer, taxes, maintenance was just too much to justify, it was cheaper to rent a boat for those few times, but now that I’m turning into an old fogie I want to spend more time fishing, from a pontoon boat, with an enclosed cabin with air conditioning. This Arkansas heat will kill you. I chose a pontoon because I don’t get around too good anymore and the large deck would be nice

[@SudsMcDuff007]

Arkansan here, also looking into a/c cabin pontoon boats... or a small houseboat.

[@houseboats1013]

Be careful putting Lithium ion batteries on board. There was a recent article in BoatUS saying they are quite dangerous (fires / exploding etc) in this environment and insurance companies may not cover your boat if you have them.

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

Hey Capt’n Doug! Great to hear from you and hope you and the family are doing well. I have also seen several articles like this, and even read some USCG article as well. Seems the industry is starting to recognize lithium ion and building out new standards and requirements. Since our houseboat is a 2002 model, I took the USCG recommendation to keep them in a “ventilated area” and “outside of the passenger cabin”. We have also purchased several new fire extinguishers that are approved for lithium-ion batteries. This is great info you are sharing and know that other fellow boaters will find this valuable. Are you getting a new houseboat? Someone told me that yours was for sales??

[@houseboats1013]

One of the advantages of a houseboat is that we do have ventilated areas outside the passenger compartment (bow and stern). The same thing can’t be said for cruisers. I am not convinced of the benefits of Li-ion batteries for a houseboat though considering the cost and safety issues. Battery weight is not an issue on a houseboat and that’s usually the prime reason for using this type over traditional lead/acid.

[@houseboats1013]

Oh and yes - the old Cap’n is hanging up his cap after 5 boats and 12 years. I’ll leave it up to you whipper snappers!

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

Awe that’s a bummer we won’t see you out of the lake this summer. Enjoy time with family, and thank you for passing the torch to us whipper snappers 😁. Hope to still see you in the comments section. We always appreciate your perspective.

[@DaleRussell2]

Good info. 👍

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

So glad you found this helpful. Thank you for watching our video, Dale 😀

[@SuperBrookstone]

How often do you have to change zincs / sacrificial anoids on your boat? Just curious…

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

That’s a really great question, and something I’ve thought about from time to time. I need to do a little more research on that because I’m not sure if it requires us to take our houseboat out of the water or not. And I’m not sure how often we should change them in fresh water vs. salt water. This is definitely something we’d love to learn more about through the community here on our channel! Thank you for the question. Hopefully someone here can help answer.

[@SuperBrookstone]

@@DeepHouseboatLife I’ve written several messages to you about this zinc/ annoid topic and they seem to disappear??? Have you seen them ?? Weird

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

@@SuperBrookstone that’s really strange that keeps happening! I’m so sorry! For some reason we can see the comment come through via email or notifications, and then when we go to respond on our KZbin channel, it’s gone. Maybe because it includes a link is why it’s disappearing? Sometimes KZbin auto categorizes comments with links as bots and then we never see them 😩

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

Here is our email, in case you’d like to send us the link and comment this way: [e-mail]

[@SuperBrookstone]

@@DeepHouseboatLife ok.. no link this time. I’m no scientist but these things work.. My messages discussed a twin engine boat I saw out of Lake Wylie which was tied up in an estate and left in the water for a long while. The out drives were corroded beyond repair..All water from salt, brackish to fresh water will damage the drives over time. Metal hulled boats such as Tugs have these things all over them.. I have to believe that with all the big boats at your marina someone has hired a Diver to replace theirs vs. hauling out. I know that people do that on the coast with large boats. The few on my boat are screwed onto the outdrive. Not trying to be dramatic but sooner than later with this project. Hit images after searching ‘sacrificial anoids/zinc’s’. Scary…Best wishes Captain!