Suggestions for Houseboat Timeshare

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Baggins said:
Thanks everyone, really great information to consider.

I am happy to see only positive reports about the lake time operation and I think that is the route we will go down. We will be lucky to fit in 1 trip a year and for owning a specific week that operation seems like the most reliable and enjoyable.

I retire in 10 years and the kids will be out on their own, a small ownership group shared ownership on a slip sounds like the best at that point as I know I will want to spend far more time on the lake.

Regarding Lake time, anything specific regarding their different classes of boats I should think about? We are usually multiple families with a decent amount of kids who go.
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You can go on the Laketime Web site and look at all the boats that have ownership available. We routinely take 20 or so people on the 75x16 Tuscan Vista.
 
Just buy a cabin cruiser... You can use it anytime and don't have to worry about other people destroying it. We get a wild hair up our butts and decide on a wed that we would like some lake down time. Thursday we are on the boat and do not have to ask permission. I know what condition the boat will be in when I arrive and when I leave it..


As a matter of fact, some friends are moving there boat from Mead to Powell today and we are going up on wed to meet them after it has some needed outdrive maintenance.
 
Baggins said:
Nzaugg brought up some good things to think about that I have probably taken for granted with the rental boats.

Does Laketime offer any kind of assistance should something mechanical go wrong while on the lake?

Gem, thank you for the heads up, but we will be looking for a summer week as our previous few powell trips have taken the kids out of school and wife out of work and it has caused some issues for us, so family requested summer going forward.
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I think all Laketime boats have a direct line to Laketime while on the water. They also have a Starlink connection so you have telephone and data service on the lake. As far as mechanical assistance goes, we have only had to use it once when we thought our generator was malfunctioning...turned out to be a different minor switch problem...but they came out immediately and fixed it. I believe they charge the cost of the trip to the whole boat group if the problem is not your fault and directly charge you if it is your fault like if you hit a rock and had to be rescued.
We have had several minor problems while on the lake and their very knowledgeable mechanics have talked us through them.
 
Baggins said:
Nzaugg brought up some good things to think about that I have probably taken for granted with the rental boats.

Does Laketime offer any kind of assistance should something mechanical go wrong while on the lake?

Gem, thank you for the heads up, but we will be looking for a summer week as our previous few powell trips have taken the kids out of school and wife out of work and it has caused some issues for us, so family requested summer going forward.
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I'm sure they do but from what I know of them their boats are super well maintained, a lot of things are standardized between boats so they rebuild often to keep that going. Their big advantage is that they pull the boat between owners and take it back to their facility on Haul Road so they can check it over thoroughly between outings. Most timeshare boats are lucky to get off the water once every two or three years. The old adage an ounce of Prevention is worth a pound of cure is never more true than out on Lake Powell. It's a brilliant program!
 
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Baggins said:
Nzaugg brought up some good things to think about that I have probably taken for granted with the rental boats.

Does Laketime offer any kind of assistance should something mechanical go wrong while on the lake?

Gem, thank you for the heads up, but we will be looking for a summer week as our previous few powell trips have taken the kids out of school and wife out of work and it has caused some issues for us, so family requested summer going forward.
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Laketime does offer service if something breaks down on the lake
 
I only want to share this for perspective for anyone reading this thread who's really trying to figure out what's best for them. This is only FYI information but I'll share some personal info that might help you out.

Someone earlier in this thread mentioned that he's getting two amazing trips a year for $10,000. Rental rates are higher than that and he's getting a concierge experience there with Lake Time. He doesn’t have to do much for himself, it’s handled and there is real value in that. I can't speak for others but I'll share my ownership experience for comparison and contrast. Outside of not counting my capitalized costs, our initial investment, my houseboat partner and I spend about 10k each a year to moor, insure and maintain our houseboat. For that we get up to 26 weeks each every year to use our houseboat.

Our boat is a 1998, 16x60 4 bedroom 1 and 1/2 bath aluminum monohull in good condition. So out of that 20 K a year we squirrel away about $3,000 a year for a refit/rainy day fund. Unexpected expenses can happen any time with an old boat so you've got to be ready to stroke checks outside of the minimums if necessary, potentially some hefty ones. This is no small detail, you have to carry this risk if you become an owner. So far we have not had to do much of that but I do all the maintenance and repair work myself. (I don't charge for my time, I'm kind of a control freak about the work that gets done on it, that works great for both of us) We are week on/week off on our schedule all year.

So, for us our family gets up there about 20 weekends(some long) a year including 2 to 4 week long trips a year total between winter and summer. Sometimes my wife and I just decide last minute to run up and relax as a getaway for the weekend which you can only do if you have a boat in a slip waiting for you. So ownership with just one partner works for us and our cost is about $500 a week IF we can use it twenty times a year. But maybe even better than the low cost per week is having the freedom and flexibility to get there at our convenience. If there is a conflict in my schedule, a relatives weeding or a big event in one of my kids lives etc. I’m not bound and locked down to any certain week. I can always go on my next turn or even the next week if my parter is not planning on being there. Our collective belief as partners is that the houseboat is expensive to keep and should be used as much as possible by us and if he’s not using it I can and vice versa without remuneration, it’s in our operating agreement.

For our partnership it helps that we both live close, I live near by in Flagstaff and my partner who is my cousin, he's in St George. Our initial downstroke was real and again is not considered in this equation but I think that we will get most of that if not all of it back when we sell someday. Our boat sold new for about $160,000 and we paid that for it 3 years ago and I think I could get that for it now or three years from now as long as it's in good condition. New boats like ours are almost $500,000 and that seems to help support the values of good used ones. But, buying a houseboat is the cheapest thing you'll ever do with it, keeping it going and paying moorage over the years is the expensive part.

Usually if it flies or floats it's cheaper to rent but it's not necessarily true of houseboats at Powell. Even if I only got four week long trips in a year on our boat I'd only be in the $2,500 a week range based on 10 k a year as my half of fixed expenses. Like I say no right or wrong way to enjoy our lake, this is just an FYI for curious people trying to understand their options. Getting into sole ownership or a partnership probably fits best for avid frequent users.

If you could get four good boaters together and you could each throw down 40k to buy a boat you could get up to 13 weeks on the lake for 5k a year but you have to be committed. Point is that house boat ownership doesn’t have to be only for the very wealthy, with creativity and work you can make it affordable for more moderately successful Joes. it's a super value for families who want to have fun and adventure together. Traveling is so expensive these days, air fare, lodging, meals out, entertainment cost more than ever. At Powell, on your houseboat that’s all built in, you just pay for fuel.
 
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Marina Bum said:
If you could get four good boaters together and you could throw down 40k you could get up to 12 weeks for 5k a year.
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I really agree with this statement and have thought of trying to do it this way. The problem is the good boaters I know are the ones that I want to join us on our trips to the lake.
Marina Bum said:
Sometime my wife and I just decide in a Thursday to run up and relax as a getaway which you can only do if you have a slip waiting for you.
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This was one of the most important things for me as well. If you have a small group, even if the week isn’t “yours” often times you can work with the partner and get on the boat. Our current group has someone who owns every week between the middle of may to early October. But less than half those weeks are actually used.
 
I’m just saw this thread. I am about to list my share of the canyon cabana at wahweep. The week is usually the 2nd or 3rd week in June. I think the most important aspect of getting into a houseboat is having a responsible group of owners. The canyon cabana has this and it is stressed that everyone needs to take care of the boat as if were theirs, which it is. If anyone is intersecting in our June share, let me know. You can look at the details of the boat on the canyon cabana website
 
Baggins said:
Hello All,

Been houseboating on Lake Powell most of my life, and looking to jump back in with a timeshare. Grew up having access to a small houseboat when I was kid, then parents switched to a timeshare and then sold it about 12 years back. I have rented boats a few times over the last few years, and really miss having something preset that I can look forward to every year.

I am also hoping that over the long term the timeshare will be nicer and cheaper then renting houseboats out of Wahweap over and over. We just came back from this year and had the 59' Wanderer which was actually pretty nice, but we waited till shoulder season to make it affordable, would love to get back to a summer week (Early June) so it does not affect work/school as much.

Anyways, I am looking for suggestions on companies/management groups/private groups that are known to be solid. I have been boating my whole life and I try to leave things nicer than I find them, and I think being a part owner of a houseboat group would fit my style much better than the rental game.

I appreciate any suggestions that people have and the pros/cons of the different options.

Thanks
Matt
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Hey Matt,
You've seen 3 to 4 people here suggest Lake Time. I'll be #5. You could buy a share on one of their "Family Series" Boats (65' x 14') for less than you'd pay to rent once. One of the best things about Lake time is the way they are maintained and managed. You almost never hear of a Lake Time boat having mechanical issues out on the lake, their mechanics are top notch. I'm hearing horror stories about the APEX mechanics. You could buy in to a privately owned and managed boat in a slip and you and your ownership group would have to have annual meetings, and maintenance days, and basically take care of everything. Lake Time does it all for you. Its as hands off as renting every year, but you don't have to rent every year. Second thing is that loading and unloading your gear right out of your vehicle and right into the houseboat in the yard in Page is so nice compared to carting all your gear down to the marina. Third thing is that the laketime boats are pretty user friendly. You don't have to worry about special anchoring like the big Adonia boats, they aren't complicated, and you can just enjoy Powell rather than worrying about your boat.

Here are the Downsides... Having to Launch the Houseboat and Retrieve the Houseboat on a busy day can add a couple of hours to the front and end of your trip. You spend some time waiting for them to have a pilot ready, get prepped on the ramp, pilot cars to drive from the yard. A lot of people say they love to chill in the slip. I don't know what that is like. Getting up lake takes a while if the Cut isn't open. A boat at Antelope marina saves you that time.
Big Lake Time fan here.
 
Ryan said:
We have been partners on 4 boats, plus the one my family had when I was younger. Some groups are huge, even having half shares where people only go every other year. My opinion is that the more owners you have, the higher the likelihood of issues is. Our last boat had 4 owners, the current boat has 5. I would never be on a boat with more than 5 owners again.

Lots of advantages of launch and retrieve. The biggest disadvantage is if water levels drop again, there is the potential to have your boat unusable.

I like having a boat in the slips. Makes it easier to load. And if you have a small group that is unable to safely anchor, you can stay in the slips and use it as a floating condo. There is also the social aspect of "slip life" if you are into that kind of thing.

We go to the lake somewhere between 2-5 trips/year. We only take the boat out of the slip once or twice.
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Good point about potentially being unusable. That happened to us in 2021. Water was so low all ramps were closed. Stateline aux ramp wasn't ready and we couldn't launch. Lake can now go as low as 3475 and we can still Launch I think though. That year we parked the Ski boat in a slip and slept on the house boat in the boat yard.
 
One other thing to consider, how many times a year are you planning on using this boat. Laketime is the best if you are only using once a year, no doubt. If you want to use it 4 or more times a year and partially use it as a Vacation home, get one in the slips with a great team of owners. Big houseboats take more people to anchor and beach. 75' boat will have 6 anchors to set up, it isn't easy work. 65' boat usually has 4 anchors.

For myself, I live in SoCal and can only get to the lake once a year, so Laketime worked amazing. If I live closer like 3-4 hours away, I would look into something I could use much more.
 
I really appreciate all the feedback, we are considering a Laketime boat as we speak.

We do only go once a year, so this experience looks like the best one for us!

In the future, when I retire, I think a Slip and more ownership share will be more realistic.

Thanks all!
 
I will be #6 advocating for Laketime. We just completed our 17th trip last week, we are on 65' boat and feel very comfortable with myself, my wife and 2 of our adult kids getting it on and off the beach, as well as managing our own smaller boat. I own two weeks on our boat, June and October (swapped weeks this year with another owner). The only trip that was missed was my fault and we had to cancel two days before the launch and Laketime easily accommodated. Out of the 17 trips we were delayed one time, as I requested a fix prior to launch which delayed us by about an hour or so. One year the houseboat was out with another owner and they got caught in nasty monsoon storm, tore up the the canvas top and frame, as well as some other stuff. The only way we could even tell was the replacement top was red and not blue but our trip went off with out a hitch and we were not delayed in our launch, a new top was installed over the winter. Out of our 17 trips, I have only had an issue one time with the houseboat on the water and Laketime was going to come out to fix, I did ask if they could walk me through a few things before they did and with them having me do a couple of things I was able to correct the issue (plugged water intake). We do have one owner with 4 weeks (3 in the offseason) and another owner with two back-to-back summer weeks. As my family grows, I will upgrade to a larger boat, and highly likely I will stay with Laketime. It is truly a vacation with them cleaning, pumping and filling water and fuel after each trip and we have had some type of upgrade each year thus keeping the boat fresh and current. I believe the houseboat fuel capacity is 580 gallons (we have never come close to using it all) and is filled in the yard avoiding marina gas prices.

The Laketime crew is outstanding.
 
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