My brother and I are investigating a possible family vacation on a houseboat. We have heard about one on the Potomac in Washington DC and another on Lake Powell near the Grand Canyon. Any experiences good/bad would be appreciated.

We've rented a houseboat 3 times. Once on the Mississippi, once on Lake of the Ozarks(Missouri), and once on Lake Cumberland(Kentucky). Had a great time on all. All 3 times we had a 54'boat and had a total of 10 people. Make sure your group is compatible as you do spend alot of time together.

The houseboat rental agency at Lake Powell is Forever Resorts, the same agency we used in Missouri and Kentucky. Very nice boats. Rather than me going on and on, why don't you E-mail me with your specific questions and I'll do my best to answer.

I've done a houseboat out of Bullfrog marina (Utah) on Lake Powell. Awesome, it's like being on another planet. Early fall is a great time to go, the weather has cooled off a bit by then (to the 80's), so it's just right. Houseboats are very slow and handle just like a house on the water! So I would recommend doing Lake Powell with a ski or speed boat in tow, or at least ski doos. You can't go very far very quickly in a houseboat and at Lake Powell there are hundreds of miles of shoreline, endless canyons, beaches, arches, and Anasasi Indian ruins to explore. Also, houseboats really suck the gas, so be prepared to pay a big bill if you try to go very far. The nice thing is, like a motorhome, you have everything with you and you can split the costs with the whole group. As mentioned above -- it's close quarters - so make sure you all travel well with each other or you might end up as enemies! Have a wonderful time.
Also note: at Lake Powell there are no radios on the houseboats. You are dependant on other boaters (sometimes scarce) for help in an emergency. Cell phones may work there now -- I was there years ago.

We rented a houseboat for a week with another couple in Canada (northeast of Toronto) and had one of our best vacations ever. We'll never forget it! We had a large houseboat for just four people (it slept 10), but we enjoyed the space. It had a full kitchen, microwave, etc. and a gas grill on the deck outside. You could steer from inside or from the top deck, where you could sunbathe (we played music up there at night and danced under the stars. In the morning we'd wake up to the sound of loons and we had breakfast watching them dive and guessing where they would surface again. There were always interesting places to stop and explore. We docked at a gallery of Canadian art, got dressed up and visited the gallery and then went next door to a fine restaurant. When we got back to the boat, we changed into our shorts and sat on top and steered into the golden sunset. Another memorial time was when we tied up onto a small island with many rocks and waterfalls that we could explore. That evening when we were grilling our dinner, there were large bubbles coming out of the water next to the boat. My friend, Mary, speculated that it was "salmon spawning". I thought it was an undersea monster. Eventually, we were greeted by two scuba divers! When we got home we really missed the look, feel and smell of the water. We didn't experience any seasickness until we got off the boat at the end of our trip. We were sitting in a restaurant in Toronto and all four of us were swaying back and forth. It took several weeks for me to feel like I was really on solid ground again. We weren't boaters, so the first few days were challenging, learning to navigate the waters and maneuver the craft, especially because there were many locks connecting the waterways. The first time we did a lock was harrowing!

We rented a houseboat this past June in Kentucky, on Lake Cumberland. We rented for 4 days. It was 16'x 65' with 4 pirvate bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. It included a fullsize kitchen, dinning room, living room. On the second level it had a 8 person hottub.
Although 7 of us was on board, it slept 10. We had a great time with many stories. My son included pictures on a website.

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Coffeehouse/2840/

We plan on going again.

Eight of us are renting a housboat at Lake Cumberland, KY. It is our first time. Besides bring a bathing suit, any suggestions or recommendations? Leaving Thursday 7/22/99.

My husband and I (with our 8 children - ages at time 5 year old twins thru 12 years) rented a houseboat in Florida about 30 years ago. We lived on it for 2 weeks - had a blast! would do it again in a heart beat. I'm from the DC area so you would have a lot to see for day trips. Don't know anything about Lake Powell.

Good luck!

We rented a house boat on Lake Powell 20 years ago, so some of my information is dated.
The problem is that if you go when the temperature is tolerable, the water is too cold for swimming. If you go when the water temperature is pleasant, the ambient temperature is intolerable. The place can really get hot.
The other problem is that while the place is really beautiful, its all the same. We cruised around for seven days and everything after the first day looked the same.
We recently went back with my ten year old daughter and saw the whole thing in about three hours including a prolonged stop at Rainbow Bridge.
Unless you have a ski boat in tow, the whole thing is boring.