Houseboat rental and traveling as far as Escalante Canyou

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Sawz said:
I have been looking into renting a houseboat in 2021, but when I read the specs on the houseboats, the ones I'm looking at have a 100 gallon gas tank for toys and boats
I know for a month that's a little more than 3 gallons a day which isn't much. Are you planning on being out everyday?
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Don’t plan on running the houseboat all over the lake once in place in EC will stay parked most of the time using tracker to fish and sight see. When we move the house boat it will be to a canyon up stream towards BF. Thanks
 
Have you contacted Aramark yet to see if they have a 30 day rental?

If I were you, and only going with two people, I would look to buy an older cruiser style boat, get it in time to assure it is mechanically sound, use it for a month, and then sell it.

If you buy it right, you could likely pretty much break even. And even if you didn't, you wouldn't likely lose more than $10k, which is likely what you would spend renting a boat from Aramark.
 
We have owned 24 boats. 2 near 30 ft. Have had the experience of cabin boats. I am fighting two kinds of cancer right now. Maybe by the time we get ready to rent a houseboat only one that is incurable. We are wanting to Rent a houseboat . One level only and for the marina to do the loading and unloading as my strength is very limited. But with my wife’s help we can easily handle a houseboat. Thanks
 
In addition to the Expedition there are a couple of other options in the smaller 46-53‘ range...the Voyager and Adventurer.

I’ve never rented them but whenever family or friends ask me about Powell houseboat rentals, and in your case especially for an extended trip, I recommend checking out the “Boat Specs“ at LakePowell.com for these often overlooked items:

Engine size/hp & Gal/Hr fuel consumption. These “Economy” boats usually come with either a single 3.0L inboard or a pair of 60 hp outboards. The single 3.0L inboard is slightly more fuel efficient but two outboards offer redundancy in the event of a mechanical issue and better maneuverability in/around docks. Neither engine option will set any speed records but will tow your Tracker just fine and get you to EC in 5-6 hrs.

Holding Tank Capacities. Obviously the bigger the Black & Gray water tanks, the less time and fuel ($$$) you’ll spend moving around to empty full holding tanks.

Generator Fuel consumption. Gensets can range from 4KW to over 10KW with widely varying fuel appetites. The higher the KW the higher the Gal/Hr, meaning more expensive fuel you’ll have to pay for when you turn the boat back in.

Some boats have all-propane appliances while others have household-type 110v appliances that require daily generator time to recharge house batteries. The propane refrigerators are pretty ineffective in the hot summer months but work pretty well when highs stay at below 90F.
 
Rivergoer said:
In addition to the Expedition there are a couple of other options in the smaller 46-53‘ range...the Voyager and Adventurer.

I’ve never rented them but whenever family or friends ask me about Powell houseboat rentals, and in your case especially for an extended trip, I recommend checking out the “Boat Specs“ at LakePowell.com for these often overlooked items:

Engine size/hp & Gal/Hr fuel consumption. These “Economy” boats usually come with either a single 3.0L inboard or a pair of 60 hp outboards. The single 3.0L inboard is slightly more fuel efficient but two outboards offer redundancy in the event of a mechanical issue and better maneuverability in/around docks. Neither engine option will set any speed records but will tow your Tracker just fine and get you to EC in 5-6 hrs.

Holding Tank Capacities. Obviously the bigger the Black & Gray water tanks, the less time and fuel ($$$) you’ll spend moving around to empty full holding tanks.

Generator Fuel consumption. Gensets can range from 4KW to over 10KW with widely varying fuel appetites. The higher the KW the higher the Gal/Hr, meaning more expensive fuel you’ll have to pay for when you turn the boat back in.

Some boats have all-propane appliances while others have household-type 110v appliances that require daily generator time to recharge house batteries. The propane refrigerators are pretty ineffective in the hot summer months but work pretty well when highs stay at below 90F.
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I've rented both the 46 and 53-footers. The 46-footer is a slightly newer model, dates from about 2003 or so, while the 53-footer is from about 2000 I'd guess. The 46-footer is a little nicer, better kitchen appliances, a little more efficient fuel wise, but really poor for storage space, especially if you have more than 4 people. Also note that the 53-footer has 4 anchors, and the 46-footer only has 2. The smaller boat is more maneuverable, and can make it into tighter anchorages... With a small group, I tend to go with the 46-footer. They used to rent 36- and 44-footers years ago, but haven't for a long time. I rented those too, and they were pretty basic, sort of like buying an '82 Winnebago and hoping it works...
 
I am not sure what wattage would be required but I have a 10 watt hand held and can neither send or receive any transmission when I am down at EC. I actually bought a Garmin emergency beacon that allows me to text from anywhere. You can find them on Amazon. If you are going for a month, I would get one.
 
Competing products play a game of leapfrog based on development cycles and market timing. I bought inReach (from DeLorme) when it had leapfrogged the competition. Spot quickly caught up. When I was in the market to replace my original inReach (now from Garmin) it had leapfrogged Spot. Looks like Spot may be in the lead now. I'm not sure that there's much more going on (breakthrough innovation, etc) than simple R&D and market timing. You'll likely be happy with either product.
 
I think all of them are probably pretty decent. Just make sure that you test it before every trip. You also want to check pings on the subscriptions. It is really a big deal, i.e. life or death. You want frequent pings for at least 24 hrs. The response time to some places on lake powell will be at least two hours. You also really want to buy the utah search and rescue card. It is 130 a for five years. Everyone always expects medical bills, but you can be billed for the search and rescue event itself. If you start to factor in search aircraft and such it can get pretty expensive pretty quick.

I had a friend that had to be rescued of a mountian near Steamboat several years ago. His medical bills were $36,000 and the search and rescue bill was $7800. You will gladly pay anything when you are about to die. It sure does make the recovery a bitter pill unless you are wealthy.
 
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I'm just seeing your post from over a month ago, so if you haven't already gone...

Consider spending at least the first night near the marina. These rental boats often have mechanical problems and I'd hate to be far from the marina when you discover one of the more serious.

On further consideration, seems like all houseboats and big cruisers, with their complex systems, have problems that often show up on the first day out. Or, maybe I just break stuff.
 
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Good discussion. Lots of good info for you here.

A few more data points for you.

Rather than pleading ignorance should you be found violating relevant NPS and state regs, become informed beforehand. It’s so simple to do the right thing. Rather than “ignore” the rules or follow the misdirected advice in this string re: time allowed on the lake, 2 minutes of research will yield the answer.

From the Superintendants Compendium (off the park website): “Occupancy of a slip, mooring buoy, or specific location, to include a campsite in a campground, on a beach, or any other location within Glen Canyon NRA for more than 14 consecutive days in any specific location or more than 60 days total in the park in any calendar year.”

Move once during your trip and you’re in compliance. (As others have suggested, you should do this anyway - so much to see!). The assertion you cannot stay in the park for more than 14 days is false, as is the 30-day camping limit quoted by Pegasus. The 30-day limit applies to land based camping only.

As to the 14-day parking limit for your truck and trailer, this won’t apply as you’ll be parking at boat rentals. Just let Aramark know. This only applies to those lots surrounding the main boat ramps.

Dangling Rope is at buoy 42. The nice little store there carries very little beyond the “basics”. I wouldn’t count on restocking much there other than fuel and souvenirs, ice and yummy ice cream. Keep in mind everything there comes there by barge. This makes goods and fuel expensive.

I hope you have a great trip!!!
 
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