Hilburn houseboat for sale, are they good house boats to buy?

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Hilburn houseboat for sale, are they good house boats to buy?

by Mike

Is a Hilburn houseboat good house boats to buy?

Thinking of buying a Hilburn houseboat for sale, and wondering if they are good house boats to buy for inland and coastal cruising?

We would be traveling around the ICW and short hops out on the open water.

We have seen them with V8's and also diesel engines, any ideas as to which are best?

Thanks for any help. Mike.

Reply - Answer
Well Mike, welcome to the houseboat forums, and congratulations on your decision to buy a Hilburn house boat.

Now if the boat passes the marine survey, and the price is right, than you can't go wrong with using a Hilburn for inland and short coastal cruising.

They were well made houseboats, and with solid construction. If you can get one with diesels, that would be my choice, but again, have a mechanic look at the engines and the drives, just to verify their condition first.

Lastly, hopefully some of our owners and readers will share and post comments about their Hilburn houseboat experiences. Feel free to use the "Click here to post comments." link found near the bottom of this page.

Thanks again for sharing, IAN - from www.all-about-houseboats.com

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Hilburn houseboat for sale, are they good house boats to buy?

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Houseboat Fuel - availability of gas vs diesel
by: Bill

As a marina owner, you really need to consider the type of fuel you will require. Diesel is increasingly getting more difficult to locate along the coast of Florida. I could not justify Diesels in my 14'X44' Hilburn rental houseboats.

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Great Houseboats - a 1989 Hillburn
by: Mark

We own a 1989 Hillburn houseboat, registered by previous owner as 14' X 62', but actual hull from marine survey rated 59.5'. She is the Southerner. From what we can tell, we are the third owners.

The boat is very sound and handles extremely well. We use it on the lower Potomac River so we deal a lot with wind, current and, of course salt. Seems like we are always doing some type of maintenance/repair, but it can always be traced back to poor work/care by previous owners.

We love the boat and as we maintain and improve it, we plan to use it for a lot more years. Our problem is a lack of information/resources. Seller passed on NO manuals.

Does anyone out there have basic manufacturer guides or a contact we could use to get more information. I'm sure the proper manuals would make some of our journeys on repairs much simpler. LOL

Thanks, Mark

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Rental boats are Hilburn houseboats
by: Miller's Marina of Suwannee, Inc. dba Suwannee Houseboats

I have SEVEN Hilburn houseboats that I have been renting since 1984-85. The hulls are aluminum and are great, their well constructed and have passed the test of the general public.

The down fall is in the cabin construction, after a few years, we have had to replace the roof to bad glass work and proper trim sealing... as well as not to bright of individuals diving off the rails helping to rip the screws loose.

Under normal use, private, it would propably last a lifetime. All gas powered, can't justify the cost of the diesels even as rentals. These boats have served me well and now I'm retiring the fleet.

Rating

1987 Hilburn houseboat
by: Ken

We own a 1987 14' X 41' Hilburn houseboat and have had it for 11 years. We have had great service out of it. It is well built and very enjoyable boat. It is maintenance free. The name of our boat is Bandit and we have it on Holt Lake at Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

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Hilburn houseboat on Lake Powell for 21 years
by: Alan

I'm an original owner involved in a multi-owner organization that has a 1989 Hilburn Custom. It has twin 4 cylinder Ford engines with Kodiak dual stage jet drives. We just replaced the engines after 12 years of usage. The jet drives were replaced about 10 years ago (had the hamilton brand jet drives in it before).

It's not the fastest houseboat on the lake but I've always found it to be maneuverable and it can go in places that pontoon houseboats can't even consider. The power train requires very little maintenance.

Rating

1986 Hilburn 50 w/diesels
by: Wiliam Beard

I own the Hilburn houseboat in your picture at the top of this section. It has twin Volvo AQAD30A diesels and with Duoprops. It burns very little fuel for I haven't filled up in a year and a half, and still have over 100 gallons left in my 200 gallon tanks.

They are all aluminum with the exception of the walls and top deck. All the railings and the 3 stairways are also aluminum.
I bought this to live on, but got married and we stay on it whenever possible.

Reply - Answer
Well William, I'd like to welcome you, and also congratulate you on a fine houseboat purchase. Sorry to hear about your "change" of houseboat living plans, and hope you both enjoy the boat :)

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Hilburn houseboat for sale, are they good house boats to buy?

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Hilburn houseboat for sale, are they good house boats to buy?