Houseboating Recommendations?

[Dumbass17]

Alright guys/gals,

who here has gone houseboating?

looking to book for next summer and am wondering some basic stuff like, how much was the average cost per person, including boat rental/booze/food?

what are some good companies to rent from or to stay away from?

any other info / insight you can give me would be great. really want to get the ball rollin' on booking this!

[HuMz]

I've gone the last 5 years....boat and gas is roughly 400 to 650 depending on the boat. And if you buy booze in calgary your probably looking at another 200 bucks.

[lasimmon]

If you want to save money on booze, get all your friends to place and order then have someone go to Superstore liquer and give them the order. Thats what we do when we go houseboating, and they give us a sick deal.

[JfuckinC]

shouldnt be much more than 300 ish + booze a person... that's what we usually go with every year... Until people ram boats into other boats and huge storms come... then the price definitly jumps hahaha

[Tomaz]

I went for a 7 day trip with 10 ppl in high season, did the half day before to load up and get ready. Cost was averaged about $700/person +food/drink. I paid about $1200 as I jumped in and split costs on food/booze with friend.

We used Waterway in shuswap, but would try twin anchors next time we go. Our boat was falling apart (mainly our hot tub leaked onto/into the houseboat) even before we set sail. We fought a bit for compensation as they were unable to give us a new boat before departure.


Now that I think about it, they were pretty good about the whole thing. I just might give them another shot. lol

[JfuckinC]

Twin anchors is way better. They can be bitches about costs afterwards but the boats are sooo much nicer.

[TE4MFaint]

Leaving Saturday morning to go to Shuswap via Twin Anchors. Will let you know how it goes :) Getting the big pricy bastard too. Should be fun!

[leftwing]

I went with Waterways in "value" season earlier this summer. We went for a friday, saturday, sunday and payed extra for the early boarding that let us board thursday evening. We payed for a 14 person boat with only 10 people attending, total cost per person was $350 and that included food, gas, insurance... everything except booze. Booze will cost however much you choose, we bought ours in AB to avoid the pst.

I agree with other posters that the Twin Anchors boats were much nicer looking (never went inside one), but the Waterways boats weren't dumps by any means, just looked more dated. But we had no problems with Waterways staff and they were very helpful whenever we needed assistance, no complaints in that department. Cant comment on Twin Anchors.

Depending on what your planning on doing I would say that 3-4 days is perfect amount of time, I would not have been able to go for much longer, but we were drinking every day, all day (bachelor party). If its a family vacation 7 days might be nice as you will have more time to go see more things and relax on the water.

Renting a boat (speed boat) might be something to look into. If your into wake boarding I remember the prices on boats being very reasonable...that would be something to do for a few hours one day.

Hope this helps.

Ps. definitely recommend going house boating, i've only been once, but I would definitely go again and again and again. Very fun.

[Dumbass17]

thanks for the input guys

probably going to try and set up something to rent a 15 person, and aim to get about 12 of us on board..now it's just getting people to commit
and yeah, it'd be for a long weekend or something..4 days perhaps

any suggestions ont he best weekend to go? canada day?

[DGill]

Twin Anchors have really nice boats but they are very anal when it come's to returning the boats, we were about an hour late and they charged us 800+, in the end it came to about 700/person for about 15 of us including food booze, etc and we got one of the biggest boats they had. All in all a very good time.

[leftwing]

Originally posted by Dumbass17
thanks for the input guys

probably going to try and set up something to rent a 15 person, and aim to get about 12 of us on board..now it's just getting people to commit
and yeah, it'd be for a long weekend or something..4 days perhaps

any suggestions ont he best weekend to go? canada day?

I've heard that Canada Day long weekend its the biggest weekend all summer which is understandable. I went the weekend before that weekend this year. Im sure Canada Day long weekend is ridiculously busy though which may suck because everything will be so busy, but on the other hand the partying will be out of control.

In respect to returning the boats, they specifically mention in the waivers/orientation that returning the boats late will result is a fine, so I wouldn't call that them being anal. At one point during our trip we tore the slide right off our boat (it was floating in the water) and we managed to get it back set up and the bolts hand tight and when we returned it we told them that the slide was loose and they might want to take a look at it and there was no problems. So I would say they are decent as long as your are decent.

[Dumbass17]

yeah looks like canada day falls into mid season (peak starts july 7) so that would save some cash.

probably get the cruiser II from twin anchors!

[Dumbass17]

do you guys think 7 days is too long?

[HuMz]

Originally posted by Dumbass17
do you guys think 7 days is too long?

Yeah if you plan on partying hard. I know 7 days would just about kill me and my friends, usually 4 days 3 nights is more then enough.

[ExtraSlow]

Just got back from a houseboating stag party with thirteen guys.
Costs were total of $790 per person including boat, fuel, food and booze. We went pretty wild one though, three kegs, lots of Jag, and probably $300 worth of meat. That was for the Thursday night to sunday afternoon. It can be done a lot cheaper.

We went with Waterway and it was pretty good. A buddy of mine said thier boats were better than twin anchors, but I got onto a twin anchors boat one night, and they had two fridges to our one, so that would have been nice.

Waterways was hassle free on return, just slow.

[Dumbass17]

thanks for the updates

we are now just debating getting the 22 person or 15 haha.

on top of that, did you guys take/see any or can you suggest any awesome things to take on the boat? such as games or gimmicks to have fun with during parties..like drinking jenga, twister, that sort of stuff...

[CompletelyNumb]

If budget isn't a concern, go for the bigger one. I had 12 people on a 15 man boat and it felt cramped kinda.

Drinking games? Cards for socialables haha. Whatever floats your boat man. Bring music too. Be careful with fireworks. People always seem to bring them. Instant attention from the COs.

I'm going on another trip in a few weeks. Waterways 15 man houseboat. Pretty cheap this late in the season. $200 per person for the boat and fuel. The majority of the expenses always seems to be the liquor and other party goodies you may enjoy.

[ExtraSlow]

Looking for any updates or comparisons on Waterways vs Twin Anchors vs everyone else.

Honestly, Not that worried about getting the most baller boat, more worried about super anal returns.

[403ep3]

I've used both and found that for the more cost-effective boats that twin anchors is better.

I prefer twin anchors as their customer service was top notch as well.

[ExtraSlow]

Yeah, I haven't been that many times. Last one was years ago with waterways, and there was a little problem at the beginning with the shore power, and they were less than stellar. The return took a hellishly long time, but I suspect that's typical.

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by ExtraSlow
Yeah, I haven't been that many times. Last one was years ago with waterways, and there was a little problem at the beginning with the shore power, and they were less than stellar. The return took a hellishly long time, but I suspect that's typical.

Twin Anchors can have it's problems too. One of ours trips, we had generator problems all weekend, which really cut down our enjoyment time having to wait for them to come out to us and fix it (several times). Then we didn't even get any money back for our trouble, but got a slight discount for the next years rental.

Returns always take awhile, unless you're first in line at 8am the morning you return it. We're usually still drunk and shored up at a beach until at least noon, and are always last in line, lol.

[lasimmon]

Ive done both Waterways and Twin Anchors many times.

I feel they are both essentially the same. Although one is closer to the main lake which makes it a quicker return.... Can't quite remember which that is though.

[ExtraSlow]

Was just on the phone, as it sounds like twin anchors doesn't do the "early boarding" thing that waterways does, so you need to be on your boat in the afternoon like between 2-5 PM, and get underway.
waterways you can show up at 8:00 PM and just stay on the dock the night before, which is easy for folks driving from cow-town.


Thoughts on that?

We're getting our guest list down, and it's larger than I thought. We'll be on some of the larger boats for sure. Either the Cruisecraft V from TA or the Genesis 66 from waterways. Maximum number of bathrooms and beds is the priority. If you met these guys, you wouldn't want to share a bed or toilet with them.

[ExtraSlow]

Also, is there any public dock available in sicamous for picking up latecomers? I picture this being an issue this time.

And, for Mid-september, is there a decent number of other boats out on the lake to meet up with and party, or will it be pretty quiet? Reason I'm asking, is the Legacy 94 boat from waterways looks pretty good, but they forbid going to nelson beach, and I think that was the party spot last time. Would hate to miss out on the party by having the wrong boat, you know?

[lasimmon]

We didn't go this past year but the 2 previous years I went in September after the long weekend.

It was quiet. At least compared to July/August.

At Nelson beach there would be maybe 4 boats. Some nights more some nights less.

['93 SR-V]

There is a public dock just on the north end of the rail bridge coming out of the narrows but it might be a bit of a pain to dock a houseboat there as it's where the public boat launch is and there is that big sand bar there you have to avoid... might be better off getting the late comers to take a water taxi out to meet you. In my experience waterways is less anal when it comes to returns.

[CompletelyNumb]

The "Don't go to Nelson Beach" is often ignored. I know we did, but it was also after long weekend september, when I imagine they are less likely to be out checking for their boats.

It was quiet, 5 boats on the beach, still a good time.

And latecomers should find a way to the boat, not the other way around. Water taxis, locals, whatever.

[asp integra]

Been on both Waterways and Twin Anchors. I much preferred the twin anchors experience over waterways and would not sail with waterways again. There were problems with power and starting the boat every morning. Twin anchors has generators which makes a huge difference.

Why is there a no nelson rule?

[CompletelyNumb]

During the busy season it's a solid party beach. Waterways told us that the largest percentage of damage claims come from boats that were on that beach, so they banned it. Apparently they will scout it out after the time cutoff and fine boat captains that anchor there.

[gwill]

I did the genesis 66 last year with a large group and also snagged the Bon voyage package. That's where they get your boat out on the water before 6-7pm on thurs. It's a bit better then the preboard which only allows you to get on the boat early to load your stuff. You can't go far on the Bon voyage but at least your on the water and can party without any issues on the dock. You also don't get stuck waiting to go out to the lake fri morning when everyone leaves at the same time

I've used waterway the last 3 years in a row with mostly no issues. Last year was the first year we ran into any issues. For example our ropes were way too short which caused some issues with the one storm we had and there were some nails poking out of the kitchen table chairs that caused an infection on one of the people who got stuck. They did promptly replace the ropes and refunded some money due to the nails.

As for neilson beach water way doesn't let their largest boats go there. Not sure I would want to risk their fine if taking one of those boats there.


Also used the water taxi the one year. If I'm remembering correctly it cost a friend $250 to get to neilson beach from the main marina by the rail road bridge. It's not cheap but they got a friend out to us at 11pm at night. That year the lake was full of debris from the floods so maybe they charged more then but I would assume it's the same price now.

[gwill]

Have you already purchased your boat? Last year I picked up the genesis 66 for the 4 days for 50% off and only paid $4700 instead of the $9000 it regularly cost. The year before that I did the same thing and grabbed a deal in December.

Tsn's site had the genesis 66 last year for 50% off and the year before that was a calgary radio station that had sister stations in BC... Astral media or something?!?

[ExtraSlow]

I have not secured the boat. TSN as in the sports network? Would love one of these deals, that would make the biggest boat a no-brainer.

[ExtraSlow]

I found that deal you were discussing. It's run by Bell Media, who own TSN as well as the Astral radio stations. A little google-fu and you can find it on both sites.

The deal is for "summer" season and Mirage 66 boat only. I have emailed them to inquire about Fall season and other boats. we'll see.

A deal on that Legacy boat would make my choice pretty easy. If I can't get a deal on that, what are peoples opinions on getting two mid-size boats instead? We're likely to be about 25 guys, so we could probably use the extra space of two boats. But then it's a little more hassle instead of one massive floating palace.

Man, I'm excited for this trip. Can anyone tell?

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by ExtraSlow
If I can't get a deal on that, what are peoples opinions on getting two mid-size boats instead? We're likely to be about 25 guys, so we could probably use the extra space of two boats. But then it's a little more hassle instead of one massive floating palace.

Man, I'm excited for this trip. Can anyone tell?

Two boats = twice the bathrooms which is good, but also twice the gas, which is bad.

Houseboating is definitely a blast. Going in the summer is crazy though. We were always the last boat partying until 5 or 6am, lol.

[gwill]

Glad you were able to find the deals. From my experience every year they do different boats as a part of the promo. Last year was the genesis 66 which was perfect for the 21 of us who went. 2 boats wouldn't be a bad idea if you get it on the deal.

If your gone from thurs till sun afternoon and only hitting up neilson beach and the floating store you won't spend more then $4-500 in gas. I believe 2 years ago I did the mirage 66 and it was great for our large group. The genesis 66 is definitely a bit nicer but when your partying and drunk your not going to care about the minor differences between the 2 boats.

25 guys on one boat regardless of what size will be an adventure in itself. Luckily whenever we went it was 50/50 girls and guys.

Also from my experience with waterways they've never charged us for any extra charges when I've dropped the boat off. We've always left it in good shape and clean it well.... The odd dishes may be missing or the odd cigarette burn but they've never charged us. We did get hit with a $500 fine the one year for entering the channel before getting clearance... We've never made that mistake since.

[gwill]

Extra slow: I found the genesis 66 on sale with thesunonline.ca Google genesis66 50% off and you should find it.

Before purchasing call waterway directly to make sure the weekend you want is available with that boat. Make sure you don't tell them you are buying any sort of promotion from anywhere in case they try and hold out on you.

[ExtraSlow]

I found that promotion as well. It's still a version of the same Bell Media promotion, and still summer season only. At least it's the Genesis, which is better than the Mirage class boats.

[ExtraSlow]

Well, after some digging, it appears this bell media promotion is transferable to other boats, which is good news. They just take the face value of the gift certificate (which is what you are really buying) and apply it to whatever sailing and boat you want. Does not apply to early-board/Bon Voyage programs, or fuel/propane costs.

Only bad thing is the only 2015 version I can find is the $8002 Mirage 66 one. Since I'm looking at the fall season, I could make use of a cheaper one with a face value of $5000-$6000. If anyone sees one of those, let me know. I would still save money using this deal, but just not as much as possible.

[ExtraSlow]

Well, the fine folks at Waterways were very accommodating. They were willing to let me apply the value of that bell media gift certificate to the boat I wanted. Ends up closer to a 25% discount instead of 50%, but good enough. Note you cannot use the gift certificate for early boarding, insurance, fuel or anything besides the boat rental.

For anyone thinking if going this year, jump on that bell media deal, as it'll be the last one they offer for the year. It's rare that they'd have one offered this late, they usually end in February or march.

So far thumbs up to waterways and the folks in the bell media promotions department. I had a lot of questions, and they were very helpful. The one chick sounded kind of cute too, but maybe I'm just projecting.

[gwill]

You'll have a blast with water ways... Ask for the Bon voyage package as you leave earlier then the early pre board.

The promos they have are pretty sweet... It makes me cringe when I hear of friends paying double the price for a worst boat. This year is the first time in 4 years I haven't bought one of those deals. If I go on a friends boat this year I'll be paying double the usual price for a smaller boat.

Definitely still worth it and it's been nice not chasing after the funds from everyone.

[C_Dave45]

Always wanted to do that. I don't have enough friends lol. Best I can do is rent a pontoon boat for a day. :(

[Tik-Tok]

Originally posted by C_Dave45
Always wanted to do that. I don't have enough friends lol. Best I can do is rent a pontoon boat for a day. :(

Make it a 3-day Houseboating Poker Tourney, I'm sure you'll fill it up. :thumbsup:

Edit: Except call it a Tiling Information Session, and write off as a business expense :rofl:

[2Legit2Quit]

Le bump

Going out next Friday with Twin Anchors, read through a few threads on here and got some helpful tips.

We're looking to get out as early as we can, talked with a gal from twin anchors who told me they allow check-in starting at noon and it's first come first serve as far as boats come, if the boats are ready to go out. And with the captain/co-captain walk through training things you won't be getting out until your group is all aboard and settled afterward.

So I'm thinking myself and a few others will be there for noon and then have the rest of the group show up around 1 or so?

Also, for any of those who have brought a speaker setup out, did you bring a generator for it? I know there's the boat generator but someone has one of those super quiet generators that don't use much gas.

We're bringing a ton of ice out with us, but I'll assume a trip to the floating store will be needed anyway. What about drinking water?

And yes, we're bringing a metric fuck ton of booze so that's covered haha.

[lasimmon]

I've never thought of bringing a generator out. Didn't think it was needed :dunno:

Also can't really comment on when to show up as we would always do the arrive thursday and spend the night on the boat in dock then leave at like 8 am.

[RealJimmyJames]

Some of the companies have a "no speakers" policy. You may need to be sneaky. Separate generator is unnecessary. Boat will have generator running all evening anyway usually.

[cycosis]

We'll be out in Koukanousa for august long for my bachelor. Make sure you tie your boat down really good at night as wind storms can pickup and fuck everything up with everyone is wasted or asleep.

[Lex350]

Originally posted by RealJimmyJames
Some of the companies have a "no speakers" policy. You may need to be sneaky. Separate generator is unnecessary. Boat will have generator running all evening anyway usually.


One year we stuck our band on the boat. Loaded all the speakers and equipment up further down the lake so they wouldn't see. We also ran a small PA and had no troubles with power. You won't need a generator.

[2Legit2Quit]

Sweet, thanks for the replies. And yeah we're going to pack the speakers up so we don't run into any issues when we're loading on.