My wife and I are thinking of renting a small (44' or 46') houseboat on Lake Powell for a week. Has anyone done this with just 2 people?
Our concern is whether we will be able to anchor and tie it up on a beach with just the 2 of us.
Anyone have experience with this? We really don't want to go with a bunch of other people this trip?

My husband and I owned a small houseboat for a couple of years. We went out by ourselves most of the time. Yes, you can do it. It does take some coordination and communication, but it is do-able! Have fun!

Thanks Sharon,
Any tips on how you went about anchoring with just the two of you? How long was your house boat?

Any body else have anything to add?

Thanks!

We have never taken a houseboat on Lake Powell and it might be totally different, but on Dale Hollow we would find a sloping bank in a nice little cove and the one behind the wheel would take the bow (slowly) in as close as possible, actually running up on the bank. The other would jump out with a line to tie around a tree. We would end up with two lines around trees. Now, with our sailboat we would actually use the anchor and in that case, my husband would haul the anchor out while I had the wheel, as soon as I had the boat stopped he would throw the anchor overboard, as he did that, I would reverse the engine so as to dig the anchor into the sand. You might do your houseboat this way. You will want to have a length of anchor line at least one
and a half or two times the depth of your location.

Our houseboat was 27 ft long. It was an old vintage trailerable houseboat. If you want to just stay out on the water then anchoring is very easy. Drop the back anchor, wait for it to "catch" and tighten up and then drop your front anchor. To pull up to the beach my husband would drift in slowly, preferably to a nice sandy spot, (not too rocky). I would get the ropes that were tied onto the back end of the boat all ready in a coil. I would throw the ropes toward the front and then jump off at the shore and grab one rope and pull it tight and tie it off.Then you get the other rope and tie it off. My husband would control the forward throttle if necessary to stay at the shore and not drift backwards. If the boat starts to swing around you just have to get the other rope and pull the boat back straight and then tie off. I'm not familiar with Lake Powell. Where we had our boat there were lots of trees and we would pick a spot that we could tie up to. I would definitely ask for advice from the rental company, too.

When you book your houseboat, you will get a DVD showing the main operations of the boat. You also get an orientation lecture before taking it out. At Lake Powell, there are very few trees. You beach the boat, then put the anchors out on the shore. I think that you can do it with 2 people, but the houseboating itself is a lot of work.

Lake Powell is huge and those houseboats move slowly. If you don't rent a speed boat or PWC, you won't be seeing much of the lake, unless you want to drive the houseboat all day, and anchor every afternoon.

Just a warning - last year, when we were there, gas was $3/gallon on dry land and $4/gallon at the marinas. I'm sure it is close to $6/gallon at the marinas by now.

Although it was a lot of work (we had 9 people sharing the duties), it is a beautiful vacation.

thanks everyone.

Hi dbldewars,

This reply may be too late to be helpful as your post was a month ago, but we've had experience house boating on Powell and have just bought shared ownership on a 42 ft.on Powell. We do anticipate doing some weeks alone. We're 68 & 58 yrs. old so no young, strong muscle to help.

Powell is different as no trees to tie to or sandy bottom to drop an anchor into. Bow lines, from each side, are attached to large anchors that you run up on the beach and bury in deep holes. We've followed advice to take two pieces of 18"-24" 2x4 boards. Each gets set in the hole first and the anchor locked over them, before burying. It provides more grab if the wind comes up. Two more long lines are run from each side of either mid ship or stern, with 2' lenghts of rebar, that you also take a ways up the shore and pound into the rock. Powell has more rock than sand. That holds the boat square to the beach to avoid it blowing around in windy weather.....which is more common in the spring. The rental company should provide you with both shovel and mallet, but ask ahead of time.
Depending on the time of year you go sept. & oct. are my favorite months) the lake can be a bit more challenging for finding a place to tie up as there are lots of boats and much of the shoreline is either too rocky or too steep. There is also a lot of chop from the big 75 ft. houseboats. It's still doable, but takes more work and caution, when the lake is busy. After going in July we said we'd not it that time of year again, if given a choice.
Last Oct. we spent 5 days on a 48 ft. with another couple (also our age) had the lake to ourselves, perfect weather and no problems whatsoever. We didn't have a tag along boat so did change mooring every day. Anchoring each afternoon was only about a 20 min. process. Once the boat is on the shore and one line run up the beach, the helmsman can then help with the other lines.
We don't normally vacation with friends so were a bit concerned about how that would go, particularly when it involves boating, as they had very little experience. We established the duties ahead of time, agreed to communicate and worked together. It was great and we all hated parting at the end of the stay.
Like camping, there is work in loading & off loading supplies, but once you're set up, it's easy. You can buy ice on the dock so don't have to haul that, they provide a big ice chest (completely outfitted kitchen) & the other benefit of going off season is that we were able to drive our vehicles right up to the loading dock as opposed to hauling carts all the way down the ramp. We rented one of their two man kayaks, which we really enjoyed for the narrow canyons.
We also took wood and duraflame logs for evening & morning fires on the beach. Duraflames would be sufficient, with the convenience of buying locally, when you grocery shop.
We motored every day, going from Wahweap to Rainbow Bridge and back, including canyons in between. It seems that our total fuel bill was only $300-$400, but that was last Oct. so prices were lower.

It's a 'one of a kind lake' and an incredible experience, that I can't recommend enough. You will be given a thorough orientation, thick operation manual and the boats have good radios for ship to shore help. They recommend using that first, if you have any concerns, questions or problems.

Take fishing poles, lots of memory cards for your camera and a good supply of beer.It will be a memorable vacation that will have you hooked.

If you do go, let us know how it went.

Randi