GASSING UP A HOUSEBOAT: Our EPIC Journey To The GAS DOCK
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- Опубліковано 1 сер 2024
- This week’s Deep Houseboat Life video is all about fueling up a houseboat and our trip to hopefully do that at Gainesville Marina’s gas dock. In this houseboat life video, we’ll cover everything from how much gas our houseboat can hold, how much the gas costs for our Lake Lanier houseboat, how we actually gas up our houseboat, how often we fuel our houseboat, what it’s like to put gas in a houseboat, and everything else in between while living on our houseboat.
Why do we want to fill up our houseboat with gas? Well, we want to continue to enjoy everything the houseboat lifestyle has to offer, such as taking our houseboat on Lake Lanier out for more cruising and houseboat camping adventures as the summer winds down to pack in as much fun as we can. Though, cross our fingers we’re actually able to fuel up our houseboat today. It’s just myself and Jessie here with our daughter Clare. This will be the first time we’ve gassed up our houseboat with only us three on our part time liveaboard houseboat. So we’ll have to see how this goes at the fuel dock as we’re gassing up our houseboat.
We’re hoping the gas dock is not too crowded, the attendants are ready to help us dock our Sumerset houseboat, and we don’t have to fight any wind that’s been popping up and can safely tie up without crashing against the gas dock. My wallet will also thank me if we can stay under $500 as we’re fueling up our houseboat. I’m not 100% sure what gas prices are right now at the marina we’re headed to, and I should have called to ask.
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And you can binge watch all of our houseboat life 2021 videos here: • Houseboat Life 2021
🕘Timecodes:
0:00 - Intro
1:57 - Fuel basics on our houseboat
3:42 - Let’s leave the dock
7:48 - Morning cruise to the gas dock
12:04 - Arriving at Gainesville Marina
14:13 - Pulling into the gas dock
16:21 - Gassing up our houseboat
20:14 - Finish fueling up our houseboat
21:58 - Leaving Gainesville Marina
23:15 - Rundown of total gas expense
23:55 - Ways to save gas on a houseboat
25:26 - Thank you!
All music from Epidemic Sound, appearing in below order:
1. Things That Matter (Frank Jonsson)
2. Up Here (Blue Steel)
3. Lunar Glow (Ookean)
4. Like Clockwork (Benjamin Kling)
5. Your Wave (Cospe)
6. Mountain (Twelwe)
7. Be Free With Me, Acoustic Version (Siine, Frank Moody, Elve)
8. Things That Matter (Frank Jonsson)
#deephouseboatlife #houseboat #gasupourhouseboat
Thank you for joining us on our EPIC journey to the gas dock! Anyone surprised at that final price tag, or is that just part of houseboating? Let us know your favorite part of the video in the comments 👇.
Turn off electrical equipment in engine compartment before fueling !!! What if there's a fuel leak ? Whatsamatta you ?
My son had a cabin cruiser on Lake Lanier. He named it “B.O.A.T”. (Bust Out Another Thousand)
Lol, love the name of your sons cabin cruiser.
Been awhile since I checked in on DeepHouseBoating, & I am really shocked to see you haven't made a video in 3mo.I hope all is well with y'all...
I’m always out to help a fellow boater and especially when it comes to safety and or money. 1 those broken Tach’s are much more serious problem than meets the eye on a multiple engine boat. When one engine/prop is spinning faster than the other you’re putting a significant strain on the gearbox, shafts and bearings of the slower spinning engine when at underway speeds. I could tell by the prop wash that your port engine was at much lower RPM and don’t go by the old “ my throttle handles are level together” because when the tachs aren’t reading correctly your throttles are generally out of sync as well.
2 that gas tank for the toys. If you ever plan to use it in the future then you need to use it because the condensation buildup in a tank that sits empty for long periods causes a multitude of huge costly issues.
Love the houseboat idea but the waters where I am are just to rough for them so I can only wish.
Thank you! We really appreciate these tips. These are both on our list to get checked out this fall, especially the tachometer.
it is nice to find that so many of the comments here are helpful. I work on a fuel dock in the summer, and i am continually amazed at the amount that we collect from some of the boaters. Of course, having a sailboat with a 6 hp outboard that runs for hours on a 3 gallon tank kind of skews one's perspective! It is helpful that you are sharing the expenses that you encounter. Have you or will you do a segment on the total annual expenses of keeping the boat at a marina? jt
We have been lucky and grateful that the vast majority of folks that watch our videos and comment are awesome, helpful people! Most boaters tend to be that way, at least from what we've found. Haha I bet you get to see the whole perspective of who comes through to fill up their boats at the gas dock. Wish we had your situation with a 3 gallon tank that will run for hours! Funny you ask about the total annual expenses of keeping our houseboat at our marina - we're actually releasing a video on just that tomorrow morning! Hopefully you will find it helpful.
Get an inverter for you boat. Use the generator to charge your batteries when low. Generator sucks gas.
Our generator is definitely the worst offender of sucking gas. Check out our inverter system upgrade with lithium ion batteries. Just made this change and are very excited about it. Thanks for the tip! ua-cam.com/video/gb_JkZjNL9w/v-deo.html
Another epic journey for the Kitchens Krew and this time to the gas dock! Love watching Dory's ears blow in the wind, eeking under the bridges, and watching your "perfect parking" at the dock. The music that you choose is fabulous and it always pairs perfectly with not only the mood but the video. Keep it up, I anxiously look forward to Thursday morning for another award-winning video! I am ready to cruise..... how about next weekend???
Thank you so much for supporting us every week! We were excited for y'all to watch this one. These specific kinds of videos are by far harder to make than some of our other videos. Though, we really like to share how fun it is to get to do stuff like this out on the water, so we dare to dabble in the unknown to see what happens. Definitely want to take y'all out on a cruise soon!
Bravo gang! Great info and appreciate the insight. We too fueled up the 27 foot pontoon this last weekend. Piece of cake. Attendants helped out and made it all so easy. Our dock had restrooms and a great little cafe to grab a bite. Entire family had a blast taking videos and pix that will last a lifetime. Well worth the money, then again much cheaper then your houseboat. ;) though one day I can see us upgrading to something like you have. Keep the videos coming. Appreciated!
So glad y'all had a great weekend! Cherish those memories. A lot of good living happens in those everyday boating moments. Really cool y'all filled up at a dock that has a cafe. Fueling the tank and the family's stomachs in one stop is a win-win. The gas dock we went to has a restaurant, and if we time it right, will stop and enjoy the food next time. Thanks so much for watching our videos. We enjoy hearing that your family is having so much fun together on the new pontoon boat.
Inspirational video. Thanks
Thank you so much! We really appreciate you coming back and continuing to watch our videos. It means a lot. This was a really fun video for us to create and we were excited to share this adventure.
If you haven’t fixed it yet ,the contacts in the gauge gets corroded causing them the jump or read incorrectly. You can pop the gauge out of the dash , engines off of course, they have a numbered 4,6,8 dash pot with small slots for a screw driver remember where they are ,then turn them back and forth several times returning the the original number. This usually takes care of the problem.Good luck Great Boat !!! Also make sure you drives are trimmed up or down equally while underway that will cause them to read differently.
Thank you so much! This is incredibly helpful...think we'll do this...and even make a video about it :)
New to the channel, awesome houseboat, wishing you many years of enjoyment. We have recently purchased a 24’ pontoon and is definitely different than the bass boats we’ve had in the past. As I’m only months away from retirement we want to enjoy our boat as much as possible. Loading and unloading is a challenge but as time goes by it will become easier. Wishing you safe travels and as much enjoyment as possible.
Mike, welcome to the channel and thank you for taking the time to watch our video and comment! Congratulations on nearing retirement!!! You and your family are going to make life long memories out on that pontoon boat! Have a safe and enjoyable weekend!
Greetings from Lake Murray SC...You handle your boat perfectly! You have the right attitude!
Thank you for watching our video and for the comment! It takes a lot of patience and to learn how to handle a boat. Having a positive attitude makes the journey, and life, much more enjoyable. Do you have a boat on Lake Murray?
@@DeepHouseboatLife
Yep we have a boat. A Chaparral 270 Signature. Has a small cabin and head. And A/C ! Easy to transport.. Actually hauling it to the coast next week!
@@SuperBrookstone that is AWESOME! My cousin has a Chaparral - great boats. One of the funnest things we've ever done with a boat was put my cousin's Chaparral in at Lake Seminole here in Georgia, and we drove it all the way to Apalachicola on the Chattahoochee/Apalachicola Rivers. Can't even really describe how bad ass it was. Y'all will have fun with that at the coast, enjoy!
Thanks again!
Absolutely! We were happy to share this adventure. We love any chance we get to take our houseboat out for a drive, even if it’s to get gas ha.
I would seriously urge you to Close the engine room hatch while you fuel up. This will help keep gas fumes from flowing directly into the engine room. Once finished… you can open up engine room if you want. Do run the blower for 5-10 minutes before starting engines.
Thank you so much for watching our video! Great tip, we will try that next time.
Loved this video - of course!!!! Great job and I just wish Whitney had been there to help! Wed. and Thurs. are her days off. Appreciate the business and want to take a ride one day soon! Ya'll are living the life!
Hey! Thank you for the comment we are love getting gas at Gainesville Marina. We should take a cruise in the fall to see all the leaves changing colors and watch a UGA game on the top deck!!
@@DeepHouseboatLife we’re in!!! Sounds like fun!
For economy run engines below 2000 rpm when crusing,, warm up no need to rev so high 1200rpm is fine, blowers before start, you were forward when the blowers were on, move to the aft and open engine covers all the way open, gas fumes if any lay low in the bilge. finally have the port engine checked, on start up the tach was all over the place with engine surging, probably a choke or similar issue .It's a nice looking houseboat, enjoy!
Thank you, Tobey! This is very helpful advice. We'll make sure to run through this again next time we fill up our houseboat.
Hi great videos nice boat. I’ve owned a 1992 holiday mansion 48’ in Va.for about 10 years. I keep it in a covered slip that’s 16’ wide my boat has a 14’ beam so I’m well versed on how confounding the docking experience can be. I don’t have thrusters and I also have out drives so the control is not quite as good as inboards. My slip has large pilings and I use them when I need to, to pivot off of. Once I make contact with one I try and keep the boat against it and pivot around it till I’m lined up enough to get further into the slip. I’m not new to operating machines I’ve operated lots of heavy equipment I’m a dual rated pilot flying and owning both a helicopter and fixed wing but the boat on a windy day can get the best of me. I agree people around a marina are helpful but they’re curious too especially when it’s windy. When I come in on a breezy attempt boat owners want to watch, heck I do too lol but they’ll always offer to help and that’s nice.
Practice things you’re not comfortable with as much as you can. I’ve docked my boat on the same day multiple times just for practice but I’m still not sure what the next docking experience will be.
Keep up the good work.
Sorry for the long post.
Hey Ricky! It's nice to meet you, and we appreciate your post. Awesome that you are a pilot - my dad (this is Trey) owned a Cirrus when I was a kid. Think he liked flying that more than the houseboat we had in the 90s that didn't have thrusters because of the wind. Looked up pics of 1992 Holiday Mansion boats and they are really cool. Is that the type of houseboat that you can take more easily into salt water? Definitely gotten much better at launching and docking our houseboat this summer. We've taken many trips out to beaches and islands to houseboat camp, and the practice has really helped. Thanks for watching our video and commenting. Hope you have a great week!!
If not on a lake, and you are running the larger rivers, and take LONG trips...that 3rd 'garage' tank is actually a liability. As others have said, leaving it stale causes a BUNCH of 'possibly serious' problems down the line. Keep it 'fresh', I've found that the easiest way is to 'T-tap' either tank 1 or 2, and use it as a 'tank extender'...you can take on more fuel this way...extend your trip, cycle your tank's fuel, and if you go back to 'using your garage', then it's easy to 'remove the T-tap' and simply restore the hoses to the way they were OEM.
Hey Skeeter! Thank you for the comment and this is really helpful information. We have never gone a long distance trip and never thought to use the "toy tank" as a way to extend travel. Its always nice to get great tips like this from our viewing audience!
Love the channel and your boat is amazing! Hope to own one myself someday.
Thank you for the comment and its great to hear from someone who is looking to get into boating. Are you looking at houseboats specifically, or are there other types of boats you really like?
@@DeepHouseboatLife Saving up for a houseboat and waiting for the right time to buy. Love the Sumerset brand, now just waiting for the one to come up at a decent price. Willing to spend a little extra for turn key like you outlined in other videos.
We love our Sumerset and the layout a lot. It’s a great brand. We had Stardust houseboats when I was a kid. That’s also a great brand and we considered it as well, but the Sumerset we found was turnkey and that made all the difference for us. Best of luck on your houseboat journey!
Those fuel ports should be outside the hull along with the tank vents and bilge blower outlets, so that any fumes cannot fall into the bilge. I find that present arrangement rather scarry.
Thank you for the tips!
I herd no airhorn signals backing out of slip, might of missed it, there was no shop to shore radio turn off or remarks to cell phones when refueling other than tjat nice boat driving.
good docking! ha. i was expecting something else .
Next time you do that you should turn the blowe off and close the door to the engine compartment while fueling. When finished open the door again and run the blower for 10 minutes, then you can start the engines. Leaving the hatch open will let the gas fumes to enter the engine compartment, the gas fumes are heavier than the air.
Crancking sdthe engines with those fiumes in the bilge is a safeth hazard. The whole boat could blow up into a gigantic ball of fire.
Really really love it. From N india
Thank you so much!!
I always keep the fuel tanks topped off. Leaving air space in the tanks will cause moisture condensation. Over the winter it’s a tiny bit every day. By the time the boat sits for 4 months you’ll have a lot off water in your fuel.
Really interesting, David! Didn't realize this could happen. Definitely something for us to consider as we're headed into the cooler months. Thanks for the tip and for watching.
@@DeepHouseboatLife This is the same reason aircraft owners top off their tanks after flight and before storage. Condensation is your enemy! Lovely video. Stay safe on the water!
Great Video - We use to go camping at Lake Lanier for about 6 years straight back in the early nineties and haven't been there since as I started traveling alot for work but this video sure brought back great Memories!!! Thanks
We are so glad you took the time to watch the video and we were able to help bring back some great memories from your past. Lake Lanier is a really special place for us, and for many others. Keep checking us out for more summer videos on the lake!!! We have several where we do our version of "camping" on our houseboat, and you may recognize even more of the area in those.
Nothing about boats is cheap, but you appear to have a really nice rig there. Best of luck with it. 😉
Hey Dale! You are right and houseboating does have some bigger expenses, but the time we enjoy here as a family is worth every penny. Thank you for the kind words and hope you have a wonderful weekend!
Hi guys,
I’ve been enjoying your journeys from up here in Dalton. It’s been a while since the wife and I have seen Lanier so thanks for the videos. If I might offer constructive criticism, the head cam backing out was a bit hard to watch. However, you are the content creator and I’m just an arm chair quarterback 😂. Thanks again for the videos stay safe.
Hey Kevin, thank you for watching our videos! Really appreciate you as a viewer. If you're an armchair quarterback, who is the team you cheer for lol? But in all seriousness, we appreciate the feedback. Funny you mention it, we laughed when we saw the footage from the GoPro...we found my 2012 GoPro in my closet and decided to see if it still worked. Turns out it does...but without any image stabilization whatsoever haha. Decided to keep it for this video. Puts in perspective just how many times I turn my head backing out of the slip. Hope to see you on the water one day, and you stay safe, too!
@@DeepHouseboatLife I understand constantly looking as your moving, and I thoroughly enjoy your videos. That part just seemed hectic hard to watch. Another UA-camr I love to watch, Traveling Robert, makes jokes about it when he gets excited and little to fast with the camera. Overall great video, I always enjoy watching the relaxed life.
Btw GO DAWGS!!
Your channel just came up. Interesting vlog and what a great boat!!. Subscribed. cheers. To fill all three tanks here in Ontario, and not Marina prices, would cost 1637.00
Thank you for taking the time to watch our video and subscribing! That’s a lot to fill up!! We have “reasonable” gas prices where we are, but it can hurt the wallet sometimes. Some of our goals for 2022 are to find better ways to be on the boat and use less gas (better inverter batteries, solar panel etc.). Hope you have a great week!
I think these boats are absolutely excellent. It is just a pity that they won't fit onto the inland waterways in England. We have a 'narrowboat' as it is called which is a little smaller than the one in this video. That being said, quite a few Americans come over to the UK each summer to enjoy crusing our canals.
Hey David! Thanks for watching our video. We love getting to meet other “houseboaters” from across the pond. Those narrowboats are absolutely dreamy. One of our favorite artists is Above & Beyond, and they did a one hour DJ set a few years ago on a narrowboat, going down the canals. They filmed it and put it on UA-cam. Looked absolutely gorgeous! We hope to make it there one day to explore the canals on a narrowboat. How long have you had your boat?
Some owners with a toy tank keep gas in that tank as an emergency backup. You can add fuel from that tank to your main tanks if necessary using the toy filler.
This is a great idea! We've thought about doing that. We don't believe the previous owner of our boat used the toy tank, and there is a lot of crud and dirt in ours right now. We're a little weary to use it "as is." We'd like to have someone come look at it before we put gas in it, to make sure it's clean enough to use with an engine. Are you free to come visit and take a look at it? Love to get your thoughts :)
@@DeepHouseboatLife Sure. I’m retired so any time is usually good. My “first mate” might like to come too.
We would love to meet up sometime, and we are planning to be on the water most of September and October. Feel free to send us an email (on our channel about tab) and let's coordinate something. Your first mate is certainly welcome to join, too!!
Yall need to go have Sunday brunch at Skoogies in Gainesville Marina, great brunch buffett and bloody mary's!
Hey neighbors, thanks for watching! I used to work at Gainesville Marina selling boats after college (no, I didn't get a gas discount to go up there ha). Never went to Skoogies for brunch, but I hear it's awesome. Some of our dock neighbors went up there a few weeks ago for brunch and said the fried Oreos were delicious. Gotta give it a try soon.
Gainesville Marina and Boat Sales
2145 Dawsonville Hwy, Gainesville, GA 30501 9:10 9:10
Do y'all ever run into Dave and Karen - Watts on Wheels? I know they have a houseboat there, they are a fun channel to follow. Enjoyed your videos as well.
Hey Steve! We definitely know of Dave and Karen from Watts on Wheels. We follow their channel, too, though haven't actually ran into them yet. We're on different marinas, and we aren't too far away from where they are. We enjoy watching their videos and think they would be really fun to hang out with sometime. Maybe we will run into them one day! Welcome to our channel, and thank you so much for watching our videos. We really appreciate it!
I’ve wanted to live on a houseboat since I was a small child. I’m 52 yo now and probably financially capable of doing it but I don’t know a single soul that’s done it and although I’ve had a boat of some kind since I was 12 I still to this day never set foot on a house boat. It’s just not a common thing where I love in NC.
I still dream tho and that’s important to me.
Thank you for watching. That is really cool you have had a boat of some kind since you were 12! Houseboating is a blast and I bet there are some on nearby lakes. Have a great day and enjoy your time out on the water!!
@@DeepHouseboatLife my very first boat was a 16’ Sears Jonboat with a Sea Cruiser 500 9HP that I got for my 12th birthday.
It had been sitting out in the woods for years. When Dad and my uncle lifted it up we found the oars under it and that made me so happy. I had my very own row-boat but it was even better because it had a real gas engine and an electric trolling motor. I’ll never forget that day. My love for my dad became a whole new kind of bullet proof!
He would take me to Lake Wylie a drop me off with the boat. He HATED the water and boats. He wanted no part of it but he knew I could handle it. Don’t forget those were different times back then.
My love for boats was born. By the time I was 18-19 I had five boats that I managed to drag into my parents back yard and all I had for a car was a 1974 Grand Torino lol! 😂 I had no way to pull a boat anywhere. 😂
You might in the future keep those tank caps on when not putting fuel in.
Thank you, Ed!
You should have tried my last Hatteras. It held 2800 gallons.
Wallace, thank you for commenting and watching our video! I bet filling up for under $10k was a good day at the pump for you!! Was your last Hatteras a Motor Yacht or Sportfish, and what was the cruising range? Do you have a boat now or are you between boats? I used to travel to Florida a lot for work and when I had extra time I would have dinner at the Sailfish Marina in Palm Beach. I saw some really beautiful boats at that marina. Have a great day and look forward to your response!
@@DeepHouseboatLife it was a 65ft sportfisher. Last trip to the Bahamas cost around 16k in fuel for a month and half trip. The cost of fuel was the main reason I decided to change. I now have a place on the Savannah river and a 28ft Searay that we take to downtown Savannah or on the intercostal for dinner trips. So much less maintenance. I've stayed at Sailfish a couple times it is a very nice marina. I've also been to your lake a few times. It is also very nice, just a little far for me to have a weekend getaway. Good luck on your new adventure. I hope you and your family enjoy your new floating home.
Hi Guys
A long way to go for gas - may need to fuel up again by the time you get back! A couple of notes - your engine temperatures seem to low for that run, and when you turn off your generator, disconnect from the loads first - you may have something running (eg HVAC) that could be damaged by slow decrease in volts and frequency as Henry stops.
Hey Captain Doug! Thanks for stopping by, and love your channel. These days the journey is far more fun than the destination to us. With a one year old, we're just happy to get out however we can, even if it means burning a little more gas to have some fun. Ha! Funny little behind the scenes blooper - when we talk about our fuel gauges before heading into Gainesville marina, we were actually still at the dock and hadn't left our marina yet. Just did a little switch with where that part actually ended up in our video. You are right on decreasing the load on the generator. Before we even switch off the power, we turn off the A/C at the control unit (where you adjust the temperature) and then turn it off at the breaker panel. We do not run the HVAC when we are underway for the exact reason you said of turning the power on/off too quickly when not needed.
My buddy has a 42ft Fountain with triple 454's it would take $400 bucks and a case of beer to get her fueled up for the weekend.
NICE!!!! Only $400 to fuel her up?!?!?! I bet at WOT you could watch the gas gauge move!! One of our dock neighbors has a Power Quest and the other has a Baja. I love a good go fast boat. Go fast, make noise and burn gas my friend!!
My bad that was back in 96-97 yrs!
Do you worry about the gas sitting in the tanks for months on end? Have you considered additives to combat the negatives of ethanol in pump gas?
Hey Mark, thank you for watching our video and welcome to the channel. The marina that we get fuel at sells ethanol free gas. Most marinas that sell gas on the water sell ethanol free gas, or have an ethanol free option. Where boat owners can get into trouble is if they trailer their boat and fill up at the same gas station we fill up our cars. As an added level of precaution we also add STA-BIL ethanol treatment and fuel stabilizer. This was recommended to us by dock neighbors and mechanics. I put STA-BIL in the fuel tanks in November 2020 and in April 2021 I started the generator up no problem. In a few weeks we are doing a video on winterizing boats and will discuss this in more detail. Hope this helps and let us know if you have any other questions.
I was wondering if it was traditional to tip the gas dock or not...how much do you typically tip for that? A set % maybe?
It’s definitely not required to tip, but it is customary to do so where we are located. We usually tip $20 each time we fill up, and not necessarily a % of the total (mostly because gas is so expensive on the lake right now). Most of folks that work the gas docks are high schoolers, so we like to pay it forward where we can, especially when they are out working in the heat.
Would suggest you keep the engine hatches closed while fueling, since the fuel fills are immediately adjacent. The fumes coming out the fill pipe as the fuel level rises will fall right into the engine compartment. After fueling, open the hatches and run blower.
Peter, thank you for watching and the comments. This is something that a few people have pointed out and something we will be doing next time. It’s always great to learn best practices from fellow boaters!!
opening the engine bay for a couple minutes is better than running the blower for 10....
100% agree with you. I always go back and open up the engine bay to look for any fluid leaking and let any fumes escape. We even leave it open when we are fueling up. You can never be too safe when it come to gasoline fumes. Thank you for the comment and hope you have a wonderful weekend!
I love houseboats, and narrow boats... but they don't work on the lakes around here. for the lakes around here you want something with a deep v hull. we get wave troughs around here that small sailboats vanish into and toss around large freighter and tankers. So when buying we need to treat the lakes more like oceans. Tug/trawler style boats, or deep water sail boats.
Hey Jennifer! Thank you for taking the time to watch our video. We really do appreciate it. Sounds like you're on the Great Lakes in the US, or somewhere similar? One of our dreams is to do the Great Loop, and we're starting to learn that we'll need a trawler/cruiser to be able to make it through the Great Lakes. You are definitely right about the deep v hull. Must be thrilling to be on a lake that's also like you're in the ocean with all the waves. Really cool, hope you have a great weekend!!
@@DeepHouseboatLife Thrilling, back breaking, terrifying. I've been out in a 32' bayliner plowing through waves larger then the boat, trying to keep track of sailboats around us. Radars useless except at the top of the trough searching for small sailboats in distress during CORK. hit the wave at an angle rolling to the side, then the world drops out as your bow breaches open air and noses down...
You have to know where you are, where the sand bars and islands are, where the other boats are, keep track of the wind and wave directions, watch for rogue waves that were reflected off the coast.
You want a boat thats tough, deep v hull, and "sealed" front. people DO have pontoon/party boats, but they have to watch the weather and not even consider leaving a sheltered port if there is any bad weather.
Current weather, 20 knots southwest increasing to 30 knots, wave height, 3-5' increasing to 6-8' this evening.
Wow! I can feel all those things (thrill, back breaking, terror) as you describe your boat hitting and rolling on the waves...and noses down. A lot of elements to take into account. Thank you for sharing your experience with us so we can learn. The lake we are on is a bit calmer than that, so we'd be novices in that. Hope you have a great weekend, and stay safe out there.
@@DeepHouseboatLife can you imagine trying to battle that kind of waves in a pontoon boat, where every time you nose down and hit the bottom of the trough, water rushes up against the forward windows?
my suggestion would be nordic or ranger tugs/trawlers. not the fastest boats out there, but can take a beating.
💐💐💐💐
Why do you run the engines at different RPMs.? I have boat with twins for 34 years and always run them at the same speed for efficiency and stress on the engines.
Hey!! Thank you for watching and taking the time to comment. The tachometers on the bridge deck are not working properly. It’s something that came back in the marine survey they we need to address. Hope to get this fixed during the off season when the service department isn’t jammed with summer time boating requests. Have a great week!
Do you have bow and stern thrusters?
Hey, Jero! We do have thrusters. We got them last year and it's been such a game-changer for us. We can go out a lot more often, now that we have them. Some people don't need thrusters and can drive more confidently than we can without them. And many hats off to them!
Id swap them out for 2 300 gallon tanks with a 200 gallon reserve
Thank you for the suggestion, Joseph!
@@DeepHouseboatLife i have a very very big question how did you buy your houseboat how did you find it where did you look all that jazz
@@boyer89joe awesome questions - we worked with a houseboat broker here on our lake, Houseboats On Lanier, that helped us find our boat. We used them to find the inventory that we looked at, and also to help us broker the purchase. Highly recommend using a houseboat broker, if you can. We actually have several videos that go into more detail about how we specifically bought our houseboat. Check them out, if you haven't. Hope this helps! ua-cam.com/play/PL7GfgXkYrvsdjpsZXxXD2CeaRB0imi7BE.html
Fast forward almost a year... what are fuel prices running there now?
Hey Chad! Thank you for watching and great question. Last time we filled up we paid 6.29/gallon which wasn’t fun. The biggest consumer of gas on the houseboat is our generator. We are looking to upgrade the inverter so we will be able to run the generator a lot less and really save in gas. Check back in a few weeks for updates on this!
You would think that you would mention what size the engines are...
Hello and thank you for watching. They are 5.0 liter Mercuiser.
do they have houseboats with diesel engines? rather have a diesel , better fuel economy.
Hey John! Thank you for watching our video, and for your question. Houseboats with diesel engines do exist, though they are mostly on houseboats that people take on longer cruises around the Maryland and Virginia area and down the Mississippi River. Diesel is especially great for longer range cruising on a houseboat.
Any plans to convert it over to solar/electric?
Thank you for asking us about this - we're actually about to pull the trigger on some lithium ion batteries, potentially leading to solar eventually...more to come on that soon!
@@DeepHouseboatLife Very cool. Considering how gas prices have skyrocketed, I'm sure Solar will pay off in the long run despite it being very expensive to get setup etc.
@@MrDLUA-cam we sure hope so! It’s something we were considering before gas prices started rising, and that definitely makes the switch even more appealing now. Looking forward to sharing more about our setup soon.
No tip 4 dock help
Tip went on the card 👍🏼
Maybe solar system on the boat
That's the dream! Eventually we'd like to make our boat more energy efficient. We're working towards it, and appreciate your comment.
$4.29 ? f'in marinas gouging those gas prices.
Hey Tony! Yeah it’s crazy how much the marinas charge sometime. It’s just part of being on a lake and not being able to shop, or drive around, to look for a better price. Demand > supply on our lake in the summer time. Hope you have a great weekend and thank you for watching our video!!
Ethanol free, high test is all that marinas usually sell, plus their cost is higher than your average gas station. You would be surprised at their profit margin. Probably less than 25 cent a gallon.