Course How To

Houseboats For Sale - decisions and tips for all new house boat buyers.

by Ian from www.all-about-houseboats.com

Houseboats For Sale - tips for new house boat buyers.

Houseboats For Sale - tips for new house boat buyers.

Houseboat manufacturers and builders are strewn throughout the web, but when it comes choosing a houseboat to buy, how did you OR how can you decide which is best boat for you?

Different boats have different uses? Some houseboats are smaller lighter, so they're better suited for fast cruising and transportable. There are also big houseboats that are generally slower, yet have plenty of room for family and friends.

Some important decisions have to be made before buying a boat, you preferably have to know it's intended use beforehand, and than you can choose some of the many variables like styles, makes, equipment, etc... that make it the right houseboat for you. Let's look at some of the decisions:



Decisions decisions, what are you using the boat for?

* Boat use: entertaining, fishing, anchoring, cruising?

* Smooth lake cruising, or rough river conditions?

* For a couple, or large family friends and kids?

* Weekend holiday use, or extended yearly living?

* More stationary boat, or smaller trailerable?

* Low maintenance, or classic wood higher maintenance?

* Climate conditions, heating or air conditioning?

* Boating budget, small = less cost, bigger = more?

* Older boat means more repairs than newer boat?



Now let's look at different boat styles, makes, and equipment choices?



Decisions decisions, what to buy, or what DID you buy?


* Buy a new boat, or find a good used boat?

* An aluminum, fiberglass, steel, or wood?

* Pontoon, planing, or full hull (barge)?

* Outboard, sterndrive, or I/O setup?

* Do you want single or dual twin engines?

* Buy a 4, 6, or an 8 cylinder engine?

* Buy gasoline or diesel fuel engines?

* Prefer a single or dual helm (flybridge)?

* Want to cruise (5 mph) or plane (20 mph)?

* A smaller trailerable or larger roomy boat?




As you can see, buying a houseboat is a lot more complex than you thought, so many variables and decisions to be made beforehand. If you're serious about buying a boat, the best piece of advice for new boat buyers, is take a moment and read this invaluable book on Buying a Boat.


If you're in the market to buy a houseboat, you should signup for our free Houseboat Insider magazine, and as a bonus you can download our free Pre-Visit Checklist. The checklist is extremely useful in keeping track of all the individual equipment and details of the boats for sale you visit.



Lastly, hopefully our visitors and readers will share and post comments about their buying a houseboat for sale 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 all-about-houseboats


Free Bonus Offer

To show our deep appreciation to all of our readers and visitors, here is the link to our free houseboat magazine, the INSIDER. Go ahead click the book and sign-up, it's free and filled with great articles, tips, information and website updates.

free Houseboat Magazine - The Houseboat Insider


Comments for Houseboats For Sale - decisions and tips for all new house boat buyers.

Average Rating starstarstarstarstar

Click here to add your own comments

Rating
starstarstarstarstar
More tips for new houseboat buyers
by: Ray

Ian, looks like you have most of the bases covered here. Good job. One item I would add is affordability. Can you afford the boat you really want right now?

Have you a "slush fund" set aside for unexpected problems? Will you be able to do what you really want to with your boat with today's rip off fuel prices?

Especially those on the water or at marinas. These are usually $.50 to $1.00 or more per gallon than land station prices. Just something else to consider when you go on the hunt.

Reply - Answer
Ray, you bring up a few good points there, definitely worth keeping in mind.

IAN from www.all-about-houseboats.com


Click here to add your own comments

Return to Review of Houseboat Manufacturers .


Continue Reading Our Popular Pages

Our collection of houseboat ebooks

Ebook Boats Collection on Houseboat Books

We just love houseboats, do you?
Join our monthly HB Insider for free



Enjoy this page? Please pay it forward. Here's how...

Would you prefer to share this page with others by linking to it?

  1. Click on the HTML link code below.
  2. Copy and paste it, adding a note of your own, into your blog, a Web page, forums, a blog comment, your Facebook account, or anywhere that someone would find this page valuable.