Wanted: Trailer for 50ft House Boat

Doc

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I'll be taking our Houseboat out of the water soon but I don't have a trailer. I looked at one last week, but it was to short. I would have to add 10ft or so to it.
Does anyone know of a houseboat trailer for sale that could handle a 50ft house boat? One with 12" beams would be great. I 'think' the houseboat weighs about 16 tons.
 

larryRB

Member
as posted elswhere, you have mobile home trailer sales on just about every major corner in Ohio, Many stock or have rusting away, the chassis for these mobile homes,, I would think these chassis would be ideal for your needs
 

HeyBob

Member
So I end up following a bunch of links and I end up at a houseboat site.

A lot of them are on Lake Cumberland, some of those boats are over 100' long, just how big is that lake and how many boats are on it?
 

shimp

Member
So I end up following a bunch of links and I end up at a houseboat site.

A lot of them are on Lake Cumberland, some of those boats are over 100' long, just how big is that lake and how many boats are on it?


it is the 5th largest man made lake in the world

as for boats--1000's

most of em are big houseboats, $250,000 and up!!!
 

HeyBob

Member
it is the 5th largest man made lake in the world

as for boats--1000's

most of em are big houseboats, $250,000 and up!!!

I did some looking around, must be veritable grid lock out there. So, what do you do when you get some chump that can barely drive a Hyundai piloting a 90' boat with twin screws?
 

Doc

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Cumberland has a HUGE houseboat rental business. I know lots of people from here in Ohio that go there once or twice a year for little vacations. They rent the houseboats for 3, 4 or 7 day rates. Not cheap but sure is a unique vacation. You usually would want some type of run about boat along so that you could explore the lake and sleep and relax on the houseboat at night. Many of the houseboats have a hot tub on them. And ..the majority of them are driven by folks who might not be able to parallel park a compact car. The boat normally cruise at 8 to 12mph but some can go 20mph. Slow is a good thing with the big boats.

Twin engines do make is easier to maneuver and after your 10 minute instruction session you are turned loose on the lake. It is really quite the experience.

Hundreds of boats are camping overnight every night on that lake but you normally can tie up and not be able to see another boat at all. There are so many coves where you can get out of the hustle bustle of the main lake that it is easy to get away from it all, or find calm waters to ski on.
A highly recommended getaway if you get the opportunity. :thumb:

I had to take our houseboat out of the water and block it up on cribbing. I'll post a pic once I take one (I had the camera with me but forgot the memory card. :pat: )
I contacted a member of the yacht club who runs stern wheelers. He is pricing out how much it will cost for him to weld me up a trailer. This is my best option of all....I just hope it is doable / affordable. Steel is so expensive I'm afraid to hear how much it will cost.
 

rback33

Member
It scares me that they turn people loose with only ten minutes of instruction. My wife and I spent Labor day weekend on Grand Lake in Oklahoma with a friend who has a 36' cruiser. It was an AWESOME weekend, but I cannot image trying to maneuver in and out of the slips with 10 min of instruction. He has done it thousands of times and still required concentration. I personally am not a big fan of houseboats, but to each their own.
 

Doc

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Most who rent have boating experience and good boat sense. But, there is always the exception and you hope not to be around them when they screw up. It's amazing how much damage you can do just moving 10mph. Something that weighs 15 or 20 tons isn't going to stop easy when it hits a dock or boat or jetski etc ....
It sure makes me appreciate the skill of the barge drivers that run up and down the Ohio river pushing 21 barges altogether about 200 yards long.
 

brazospete

New member
A lot of inter modal trucking cos. sell the chassis they use to haul containers on really cheap might check truckpaper.com!
 

Doc

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Yep, i got one. I ended up having it made. Nothing fancy but it works. I used it to launch the houseboat in May of this year and it worked well.
 

Doc

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I was to nervous when we were launching the big girl to think about pictures. I will get a picture of the trailer and post it here very soon.
 
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