The urge to build a houseboat can almost become an obsession. The thought of building your own little floating home has a kind of “primal appeal” to many. But as cool as it would be to build your own tiny floating home and just sail away, the reality of living on a houseboat might not be as exciting. So, before you fill your eyes with sawdust and your lungs with fiberglass, why not rent a houseboat for a week and give it a try.

Personally, I would love to toss most of the junk I currently possess and live on a houseboat. Then, reality (I call her Suzanne) pops my “crazy bubble” with questions like, can you live in a home with one little bathroom? How long can you take a shower before the water runs out or turns cold? And then there’s that “elephant in the room” question, what if we sink? Will we get sea-sick? Is there internet? Did I lock the car?

These are all legitimate questions and the great way to answer most, if not all, of them, is…Rent a Houseboat!

You can rent a houseboat

You can find houseboats for rent in lots of locations around the country. Lake Shasta in California has houseboat rentals. Lake Mead in Arizona has huge houseboats for rent. Tennessee and Kentucky are filled with beautiful lakes and where there are lakes, there are houseboat rentals aplenty.

Houseboats for rent

2014 Beaufort Boatbuilding Challenge

Here in North Carolina, nestled in among the islands of the Outer Banks, is the little fishing town of Beaufort. We discovered it a few years ago when we attended the National Boatbuilding Challenge. This is a yearly boat building contest that pits builders against the clock in a race to build a little skiff. It took me two days to get the sawdust out of my eyes and I was just watching! What a great time.

2014 National Boat-Building challenge
Through the cloud of sawdust, I spotted the houseboats. Out in the harbor, just off the docks, I spied awesome houseboats! They were just the size I was dreaming of.

In North Carolina, Outer Banks Houseboats is the place to go. Outer Banks houseboats has ready-to-go houseboats you can rent anytime. Rent a houseboat for a weekend or a full week. The houseboats also come with a 21′ skiff to get back and forth to the dock or to just explore the beautiful Beaufort Area. When not exploring, you can kick back and soak up the sun on your personal houseboat. Visit their website to find out all the information.

The purpose of our visit that day was to see “the Pinta” and “the Nina,” a pair of amazing replicas of Christopher Columbus’ famous vessels. They are really sailing these ships up the coast. We got to get on board the Nina and climb all over it. (that’s all a kid really wants) At 65′ long and 18′ wide, the Nina really feels small when you think about sharing it with 25 smelly sailors. The original Nina was actually said to be even smaller at only 45 to 55′ long. The Pinta was about 20′ longer.

Rent a houseboat

• The Nina
• The Pinta

Today we don’t have to cruise to the new world boat load of animals and sailors to get the experience of living aboard. Things have changed much since then, like indoor plumbing, hot water, and air conditioning. nowadays, it’s more like home. Come to think of it, isn’t that what a houseboat is supposed to be?

So rent a houseboat in Beaufort and see what enjoying a week on a houseboat is really like.

What a great way to spend a week.!
Outer Banks Houseboats, Beaufort, NC