Trailerable Houseboats (What Are They And Their Pros And Cons)


Most houseboats that are made are made to sit in the water all of the time. You then have to either have a dock at your house, live on the boat all the time, or pay to moor your houseboat at a dock. The trailerable houseboat fixes that issue.

What is a trailerable houseboat?

A trailerable houseboat is a houseboat that is small enough to be pulled up onto a trailer and removed from the water. Typically a trailerable houseboat will only be around 8,000-12,000lbs and will be a maximum of 30 feet in length.

Technically you can pull any boat out of the water with a big enough winch but this article is specifically referring to those boats that can be easily put in and out of the water as needed.

What are the pros and cons of a small houseboat?

Pros of a small houseboat

  • Easy to put in and out of the water
  • Can store at your home
  • Don’t have to pay marina costs
  • Easier to handle on the water
  • Cheaper new purchase price
  • Less expensive to operate

Cons of a small houseboat

  • Much less room for gear 
  • Much less room for people
  • Difficult to live on full time
  • Harder to buy used than larger boats
  • Have to have a large vehicle to tow it
  • Won’t use it as often since there is more work involved to get it in the water
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Ultimately, you have to decide if a trailerable houseboat is the best for your situation or if one that stays on the water would work better for you. 

If you are looking to live on your houseboat full time then a trailerable one probably isn’t the best choice for you as it will be much smaller and not have many of the comforts of a larger houseboat.

Where to buy a trailerable houseboat?

If you want to buy a used trailerable houseboat the first place to look is Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace or some of the other classified ad papers (Penny Saver, Uncle Henry’s etc). 

If you are looking to purchase a new houseboats some of the best new houseboat makers are 

There are many other different new houseboat makers but when you are looking at used houseboats there are even more houseboat manufacturers around.

Many houseboat manufactures have gone out of business, have merged with other companies, have changed names, or have merged with another company.

That obviously makes it even more difficult to buy a quality trainable houseboats as there are so many makes and models to choose from.

Ultimately, you have to decide if you want a trailerable houseboat or one that stays on the water all the time. After you make that decision you can then start looking for your houseboat!

Happy Boating

Matthew Robbs

I love the outdoors and especially spending time with my family. Whether on a boat or at the beach, my happy place is near the water.

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