What Were Our REAL Houseboat Costs In Year 1?

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

Having this real cost info available to us when we were planning and houseboat shopping would have been a great tool for us. Do you agree? What did you find most helpful about our actual cost breakdown? What do you wish we had tracked or dug further into? Let us know in the comments 👇

[@jimmydean3453]

Nice to see the budget/finances of houseboat living

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

Hey Jimmy, thank you for watching. Glad you find this helpful. I imagine each houseboat family’s budget will vary based on boat length/age and how they plan to use their houseboat. This is at least a picture into ours, and it’s not perfect, but hopefully this can help others create a budget and cost sheet that fits their needs. Appreciate your comment!

[@mikeleggiero2524]

My wife and I live full time on our house boat. We have a 16x61 Jamestowner with cat walks. Boat was 75 thousand and a full remodeling going on . All new interior plumbing insulation and flooring. We turned a three bedroom into a two bedroom and a office. New motor next year. My 1987 boat will have a 2022 interior. My slip is 5500 a year. It's 21 x 60. Nice thing boat payment 480 a month. .

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

Wow! I bet your houseboat looks amazing now, and the new insulation goes a long way on those older houseboats. The first houseboat we had when I was a kid was an early 90's model, and it didn't have insulation. The second houseboat we had was early 2000's with insulation, and it was a lot more comfortable for overnight sleeping. Did you happen to take any before and after photos of the remodel? Would love to see. My wife and I couldn't quite stomach a remodel with a newborn, so opted for a more turnkey boat. Major respect for taking on the remodel...best part is the low boat payment!!! And a great slip price. Which lake is your houseboat on?

[@mikeleggiero2524]

@@DeepHouseboatLife Christmas it will be doone

[@mikeleggiero2524]

@@DeepHouseboatLife lake Cumberland . The hard part is getting people to do the work .my cabinets go in on Saturday new floors. New plumbing and yes I will have pictures of before and after . Next year the outside gets done . We have the boat set up as a two bedroom bath and a half and a office. I sold a 1970 kingscraft 35 ft house boat last summer. They're a video on that boat on KZbin. The one thing my wife loves about the remold is we put a full size washer and dryer in . Since my motor is blown and it a outboard I am thinking of doing a electric motor set up on it . Also going to do solar. We have a 12k generator . Boat life I wouldn't give it up for nothing. Our kids have four legs these days . There worse then kids always want to go on boat rides .

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

@@mikeleggiero2524 our dog, Dory, loves the houseboat even more than we do…and we can’t get enough of it haha. Funny how much dogs enjoy being out on the lake, too. So cool that you’re planning to do solar. We’ve thought about it, but haven’t pulled the trigger yet. Going solar will allow for some pretty serious off-grid time on your houseboat. And with the new washer and dryer, that will be a game-changer too. We’ve never been to Lake Cumberland, but have heard great things about it. Maybe we will make it up to the lake one of these years. Best of luck with the remodel. Sounds like y’all know what you’re doing! Hope it goes well

[@benrichards9667]

Thanks for the breakdown. To me, it seams owning a house boat is extremely pricey. If only two trips out, wow that's a chunk of money. On my 27' pontoon, we are out dang near every weekend and several days around the 4th, etc. It's much cheaper but we still spend around a grand with fuel, food, boat launch fees and more. I have an opportunity to buy a 100' houseboat but looking at your numbers, it's out of my budget. They want $250K for the boat alone. Then again it's 100'! Lol. Love the channel!

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

Ben! Great to hear from you, and excited for you that you have an opportunity to buy a houseboat. Our apologies, don't think we did a good job explaining the number of trips we took our houseboat out in general, other than the trips we took to get gas and fill up our boat. We actually took our boat away from the slip 5 times last year, which is still not a ton. BUT that includes 2 joy rides, 2 gas dock visits, and 3 days houseboat camping with the generator running/burning gas. We still have well over half a tank left in both tanks from our second fill up that we will use this year. Still pricey, though. Where most of the money gets spent in houseboating is the boat loan and slip, at least for us. A 100' would definitely be pricey in a slip, but that's a very good price for a houseboat that long. How old is it? That's tempting...one of the things we don't document a lot on our channel because we don't want to invade people's privacy is dock life, and it is A LOT of FUN. That's what keeps us in our slip more than anything else, and you'd have that to look forward to with houseboating. Though, that 27' pontoon sounds really nice. Thanks for continuing to watch our channel and glad you're back!

[@powerofmum]

Appreciate the honest breakdown. The estimates I have developed placed expenses at roughly $100 a day not including catastrophic system failures. It seems you are also at roughly $100 a day. Was I correct in understanding your annual fuel cost was reflected by only two trips away from the marina? Also, how much do you use your blackwater tanks vs marina facilities to achieve that monthly pumpout average? Do you use the showers, dishwasher, toilets frequently? Do you have any data on actual number of nights you were able to use the boat? Thanks again.

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

Really glad to hear you're finding this breakdown helpful, and in-line with your calculations. Also love your followup questions. Our apologies, we messed up a bit explaining the annual fuel costs and number of trips. We actually took 5 trips away from our slip last year, which includes 2 joy rides, 2 gas dock visits, and 3 days houseboat camping with the generator running/burning gas. We still have over half a tank of gas in each tank that we're using this year. So, when we're at our houseboat, we're on our boat for days/weeks. We leave for errands and eating out sometimes, but primarily use the facilities on our houseboat instead of marina facilities. Think we've only ever used the marina facilities to "emergency bathroom" a handful of times. The only thing that goes into our blackwater tanks is our toilets, and everything else (dishwasher, sinks, and showers) drain into the lake. So the pumpout is for the toilets only. We probably pumpout more than needed because the little pumpout boat only comes around on Wednesdays to pumpout while in our slip. Otherwise, we'll have to take our boat to the pumpout station at the marina. Nothing is worse than realizing your blackwater tanks are full, it's not Wednesday, and it's rainy and windy haha. We tend to operate with a little more caution than we have to so we can ensure a pump out while in our slip. Hope you have a great weekend, and let us know if you have any more questions. We appreciate them!

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

Also meant to say we don't track the number of nights we're there, but will consider doing that this year. Thank you for the suggestion!

[@stloucat]

VERY GOOD INFO!

[@DeepHouseboatLife]

So glad you enjoyed the video and this info is helpful!