House boat trip

[Duck Hunter]

I'm thinking about taking the family on a house boat trip for a family vac. And was wondering about any experiences good or bad . Also any recommendations for places in northern Mn. . Lake of the woods or Voyageurs National Park ? Thanks, Duck Hunter

[Gray Wolf]

Took a houseboat trip on Rainy Lake in the fall of 1999. We had a great time. Excellent scenery, very good fishing. Check out Northernaire Houseboats and Rainy Lake houseboats. Both have websites.

Gray Wolf - Jack Kaminski

[fishinnut]

I've been on three houseboat trips on LOTW. The only problem encountered was a full septic holding tank. Check before you head out and make sure that it has been pumped out completely. Make sure to use the radio for contact with other houseboats for fishing info. Try to talk to other houseboaters and set up a time for those chats. I would recommend Lake of the Woods Houseboats out of Sioux Narrows.www.lowhouseboats.com

[Honest John]

I think you are gonna LOVE a house boat trip! There are tons of places to go, but it is hard to beat Rainy Lake or Lake of the Woods. I have taken several house boat trips on LOW and I have done camping trips on Rainy.

One way to do your trip is to study your map and select what look like the five best mooring sites for the houseboat. You probably want your site out of the wind, away from the main channel area (too much boat traffic), near or on a good beach, etc. Then navigate to your first choice location and tie up there if no one else has beat you to it.

I liked keeping the houseboat in this one location for the whole time. I suggest planning on having half as many boats as people who can drive them, but DO have at least two boats. One will probably come with your house boat rental, but it may be a good idea to upgrade that to a bigger boat. Bring stout rope and tow the boats some distance behind your houseboat. Once you have your houseboat moored, you can use it as your base of operations and take short or long trips out to fish and play.

Some people want to drive the houseboat every day and use it to tour the lake. That is great fun, but it will involve a lot of anchoring and tying up and pushing off again. The more you anchor and tie up, the greater your chances of having some difficulties. Also, if you only have two drivers, it gets to be a little too much driving for both of you. You can, however, break up any long hauls with some stops to fish, swim or play. If you have 3 drivers, then constant traveling is more do-able, but I think 4 drivers are really needed for most fun when you are doing the constant traveling thing.

Good luck. I think you will have fun.

John

[wish2fish]

I have been on three HB trips in the last 4 years. All have been in Voyagers NP.
We have gone with 4-5 couples and 3 children. Each couple needs a room and I would recommend that there is a bathroom for every 4 people.
The first HB trip I took was on a HB that had one bathroom, never again!!!
The second and third HB trips were on Ebel's 65' 5bdr - 3bath - very nice and comfy. www.ebels.com

Have fun!

[PWaldow123]

Used Houseboat Adventures last year and had such a great time that when we got back in immediately booked them again for this year.

www.houseboatadventures.com

[BD]

We have used LOTW Houseboats for 14 years. We started out with a single boat and now go with multiple boats with a group of 20+. We have had very few problems with the boats and those problems were corrected asap. Never had the full holding tank problem.