Houseboats built to cruise and travel the Great Loop

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Houseboats built to cruise and travel the Great Loop

Typical route for houseboats on the Great Loop.

We are looking to have a houseboat built to handle the Great Loop? We have sent out a bid to three houseboat manufacturers a list of our requirements for a future houseboat.

This vessel will be 95' x 22' in length, and needs to be capable of navigating around the Great Circle Route.

Can someone provide proper recommended design (structural) characteristics, that will be necessary to handle the great lakes, across the Gulf from Mobile to Florida and other potentially rough water areas?

I currently have the prospective manufacturers and their respective marine architects studying the issue.

Would also appreciate any experiential stories or recommendations relative to taking a houseboat on such a journey.

Thank you,
Robert W. Steen
910-285-5745

Reply - Answer
Well Robert, congratulations on your decision to do the Great Loop, and also on your decision to have a new houseboat built to handle it all.

If I was to have a new houseboat built to do the Great Circle, I would definitely have Pluckebaum Houseboats on my list of potential manufacturers. Skipperliner Houseboats would also be on my potential builder list.

You would want a vessel that can handle some of the following conditions:

1) I'm not a Marine Engineer, however most manufacturers that build cruising houseboats are generally incorporating many of the stringent ABYC - American Boat & Yacht Council Standards.

2) A vessel with a fair amount of freeboard for wave handling capabilities. It makes cruising less stressful in difficult conditions.

3) Sufficient engine power to be able to get out harms way, and to handle the current and rough water conditions.

4) If you're building a large houseboat, than a good windlass and bow thruster would be on my list of necessary options, amongst many other options :)

5) The list could go on, and on, and on ....

I just wonder why you're having a 95' x 22' wide houseboat built to go long distance cruising. I don't know how many people you expect to have on board, it just seems like a large vessel to handle with two people, considering some of the marina sizes along the rivers.

Either way, we are all curious and eagerly looking forward to any updates that you have, since this article about a houseboat cruising the Great Loop is surely to be on many houseboaters minds.

Lastly, hopefully some of our readers will share and post comments about their houseboat cruising experiences. If anybody is knowledgeable in the structural and construction standards, please share any information for us all.

IAN - from www.all-about-houseboats.com

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Houseboats built to cruise and travel the Great Loop

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Houseboats cruising the Great Loop
by: Capt John

If I thought there was a good seaworthy houseboat capable of cruising America's Great Loop in it's entirety - I would have one.

I live a-board and cruise the Great Loop on a full-time basis. Furthermore, I am a very frugal voyager.

Right now I am averagng 0.4 gallons per hour motoring around in a 32' sailboat. Needless to say, if I could do even 1.0 gallon an hour in a nice little "houseboat" I would - simply for the open air, flat deck, and additional space.

However, not only does one have 70 miles of open Gulf to cross (between Carrabelle and Steinhatchee - one has to cross a good portion of open waters across NY Harbor, Chesepeake Bay, and Albermarle Sound. Albermarle Sound can (and usually is) worse than the Gulf.

Now. . . some have 'done the loop' in everything from jet skis to open skiffs and motor boats, and in fact it has been done in a sooped-up customized tri-toon.

But a houseboat on pontoons especially, would (in my opinion) be a very bad idea unless one was able to trailer around these areas.

John http://captainjohn.org/

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What about trailerable houseboats?
by: fsta

Can a trailerable go the Great Loop, or substantial parts thereof?

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Great Loop Travels - doing the loop in a 65 ft houseboat
by: Anonymous

Last year we left Sarasota and went up to the 1000 Islands in Canada and then returned in December. We will be continuing the loop this year yet starting a little earlier than last year.

Our story will be in the Houseboat magazine in March or on our blog. You need to research it properly and be prepared because it is not a cakewalk nor is it cheap.

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Great Loop Houseboats - no houseboat I know of...
by: Capt. John

Sorry guys, but no "standard production" houseboat I know can "for certain" handle that open 160 mile stretch of the open Gulf of Mexico from Caravelle to Tarpon Springs.

I am on my 4th time around the Loop. Did it once when I was too young to appreciate it, and have done it twice more. Now, I am retiring on the Loop, on the long slow route.

So, just to let you know, I have "first hand" seen aluminum style pontoon houseboats head out into the Gulf, and come crippling back looking more like trapezoids then rectangles. Furthermore, low "freeboard" both swamps and flips these babies.

You need a very high freeboard, and a solid hull to make that Gulf, and so you know, the Great Lakes can be just as bad.

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Houseboat on the Great Loop- doing that now
by: Fantasy

We have a 65x18 Fantasy houseboat that we have begun our loop travels with this April. Just the two of us manage this, and that is as large a vessel as one should have! We have been on the Atlantic side and done the locks and the ocean.

The great loop contains every body of water imaginable and every condition weather wise. I highly recommend not going to 95x22 unless you have crew onboard. There will be some places that it could be difficult to maneuver through with a boat that size. Good luck!

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Great Loop Houseboat
by: BillG

I have a similar thought (dream). I found several Cari-Craft houseboats for sale 45' to 63' and they seem large enough for my needs. They are catamarans.

One pilothouse looks more like a tug with its custom bow, all seem to have sea going capabilities. I read an article about someone taking one to Belize and Bahamas, another down the Baja. Any opinions on this vessel?

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Houseboat Travels - doing the loop 18x65 houseboat
by: Fantasy

We are doing the loop with just the two of us and you just need to pick your times and weather. So if we can make it, well, anyone can as this is our first voyage in this great intra-coastal (Fantasy)

Your size is too big for most marinas and will be impossible on some of the ICW waterways but rock on and just modify the boat.

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Choice of houseboats
by: Atlantis Blues

Robert; the Great Loop, what a good time. I would strongly recommend looking at a Pluckebaum houseboat. I lived a few miles from their boatyard for many year and watched them build the boats.

The workmanship and quality of materials is of the highest order. And the resale is very high. I worked with them at one time on a boat I wanted to build and found them very easy to work with. Also their hulls are very deep affording a great deal of storage, an important consideration on such a long trip.

On the boat your are looking at building I would offer the following comments. The beam you are looking at is pretty wide for many of the areas you will venture into. If you can keep it to 18 foot it will be to your benefit.

I would also suggest building the houseboat with Kort nozzles if you plan on cruising at or near displacement speeds. They will cut your fuel consumption and if they are directional type will aid in handling in tight places.

I looked at buying a 50 foot steel double ended trawler with a single engine and no bow thruster and the Kort nozzle was amazing in tight quarters. If you plan on cruising at palnning speeds the Kort nozzles are not the way to go though.

A single level deck is something that is very nice on a cruising boat. When you basically spend 24 hours a day on the boat the steps get to be a pain.

Have fun on your trip.

I hope to make it one day.

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AGLCA site for Great Loop info
by: Dave

Robert, I am also looking forward to doing the Great Loop in a houseboat with the knowledge that this type of boat requires a greater awareness of weather and sea conditions.

But whatever boat you choose, you would be wise to become familiar with the America's Great Loop Cruiser's Association (AGLCA) and their website www.greatloop.org for the information and tools available there. They offer a set of free tips sent to your email.

From tip #2- 19.1 feet is the lowest unavoidable structural clearance you will face. And the smallest lock at Port Severn is 23' x 84', so a 95' vessel would not be able to use the dock.
In any event, happy cruising.

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WOW
by: beached guy

My mind boggles me at the thought of such a huge houseboat. You didn't write if you had prior experience with the ICW.

So here are some of my observations at random.

I can tell you firsthand that some of the Sounds and the Great Lakes can get more then just a little bit bumpy. How much crew (not passengers) are you counting on?

Some of the docks in Florida are specifically designed to hurt your boat unless you got substantial rubstrakes on the hull. Fenders will be not enough.

New Jersey's locals like to park their butts (boats) right in the ICW channel (which is narrow and convolted) to do their fishing and consider transient boat as an intrusion.

In other narrow sections further south, we found swimmers in the water not heeding any boat traffic.

I am presuming that the "Skipper Bob" publications are still available. These are low cost no pictures cruising guides for the entire Loop and are of outstanding value in what you get.

There is also a organization that deals with folks that do the Loop. You can probably find it easy on the net and they have a large amount of up to date info and first hand reports.

There are several fixed bridges with limited air clearance that you need to be aware of, the lowest just south of Chicago if memory serves me.

I could see a houseboat your size may be too tall, something around 15 feet was the height that would pass underneath.

I agree with Ian, why such a size houseboat, and would a different style boat for the same $$ be more suitable for such an undertaking.

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Houseboats built to cruise and travel the Great Loop

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Houseboats built to cruise and travel the Great Loop