Been looking at ads for houseboats, and discovered that sometime between when we bought the last one and now, people decided to start calling them "yachts". OK, granted, there is an area that is grey. A 150 foot luxury vessel with swimming pool and marble jacuzzi probably is as much yacht as houseboat, but a 30 foot 40 year old Nautiline????

So I search for "Yacht". Even bass boats and cuddy cabins are coming up! FOLKS, A 16 FOOT BASS BOAT IS NOT A YACHT!!

BUT that and a couple other things I stumbled across have made me wonder if maybe I should be looking at cruisers or even sail boats. Kay (the wife), insists that if I get a cruiser or sail boat I'll be going by myself, but she hasn't looked at these. At least from the pictures (which can be misleading, I know) some of these seem to rival the older houseboats. As an added advantage, they seem to run cheaper, so I can look at newer and/or larger vessels.

Granted, a 36 foot cruiser won't have the space of a 36 foot houseboat, but some of them look like the interior is close, and in the heat of the summer, I'm the only one that will go outside anyway! While I tend to be a leisurely cruiser, it would be nice to know that if I need to beat a storm in to the dock I have the capacity for speed. Also many of the cruisers can handle rougher water and even open water, so maybe if I ever get to retire the boat could go to the gulf with me??

Even smaller would be the sailboats, but even these seem surprisingly roomy from the photos. At $5 + a gallon for gas at most marinas, a trip down the lake in a houseboat or even cruiser can be an expensive proposition, but the wind is free! Even if you travel under power, the sleek design or the sailboat combined with generally small motors would make an afternoon cruise much more affordable.

Is it worth the reduction in space? Can Kay be convinced to even look?