Houseboating in the Delta

[obski]

I appreciate all of the input from everyone. I went ahead and made a reservation for Lake Oroville for August 5-11. I'm already psyched for the trip. We had a great time on the Delta last year and would have liked going back, but it will be fun to visit and explore another body of water this next year.

[vlxjeff]

I appreciate all of the input from everyone. I went ahead and made a reservation for Lake Oroville for August 5-11. I'm already psyched for the trip. We had a great time on the Delta last year and would have liked going back, but it will be fun to visit and explore another body of water this next year.

Did you get the Forever Resorts houseboats?

I guess we'll see you there. I'll be at the lake on the weekends on both ends of your trip.

You'll have a great time, I'm sure.

[vlxjeff]

Forgot to add. If have any questions, just ask. I'll get you any info you need on the area.

[stewart]

obski,

You'll have a good time on Oroville, its a great lake! Jeff will be able to give you some good ideas on places to beach your HB when you get closer to your trip. Too bad you couldn't make it a couple of weeks earlier for our NO CA WOW

[obski]

I appreciate all of the input from everyone. I went ahead and made a reservation for Lake Oroville for August 5-11. I'm already psyched for the trip. We had a great time on the Delta last year and would have liked going back, but it will be fun to visit and explore another body of water this next year.

Did you get the Forever Resorts houseboats?

I guess we'll see you there. I'll be at the lake on the weekends on both ends of your trip.

You'll have a great time, I'm sure.

Yes, I went through Forever Resorts for the houseboat. It will be the 59' XT Deluxe.

I'm sure I will have lots of questions. Maybe we will cross paths on the lake.

[Malibudude]

I appreciate all of the input from everyone. I went ahead and made a reservation for Lake Oroville for August 5-11. I'm already psyched for the trip. We had a great time on the Delta last year and would have liked going back, but it will be fun to visit and explore another body of water this next year.

We'll probably be there on the weekend of the 11th, we're at Mammoth for Labor Day weekend. There are some cool places to checkout depending up the water level.

[KokaneeKonsumer]

Whats wrong with Shasta? They have crappy boats and amazing boats. Plenty of glassy water, and hot weather!

The other family and we have spent way too much time at Shasta over the years and are pretty much burned out on it. We really enjoyed our trip to the Delta way more than at Shasta.

We are thinking of heading up to Sushwap in 2008.

Hijack On

What about Lake Okanagan, just south of Shuswap ? That place looks pretty good (on google anyway). Does anyone have any experience with that area?

Link: http://www.bcadventure.com/adventure/explo...el/okanagan.htm

Take it from this Canadian - Lake Okanagan is fantastic - busy though as boomers now snap up resort properties - weather always hot - and lots of water space and if you look hard, calm water can be found. Shuswap is the house boat capital of Canada - lake is on water/water sports oriented. For both lakes to avoid the summer busyness, the shoulder seasons of June and Sept. are good options.

[Malibudude]

Whats wrong with Shasta? They have crappy boats and amazing boats. Plenty of glassy water, and hot weather!

It's another 1.5 hrs further than Oroville from me.

[obski]

I want to thank everyone, especially Malibudude and VlxJeff, for their input and pointing out Lake Oroville to me. We had a great time on the lake and would go back in a heartbeat. The marina staff were the most helpful, friendliest group I have ever dealt with in renting a houseboat. They were amazing from the time we drove into the parking lot, greeting us with smiles, and taking us right down to our houseboat that was all ready for us.

We got in slalom runs every morning, then spent the rest of the day wakeboarding, tubing, and surfing. One of the really fun things we did was to play around on the HL Roam board. What a fun squirrely board. Everybody got to try their hand at wakesurfing as well. My daughter brought a number of different toys to demo for the week and I think she made some sales out of it.

The friends who joined us live in Merced and had never heard of Lake Oroville before. They really enjoyed the lake as well. It is a beautiful spot. At our first beach area, we had some bald eagles flying around most of the time.

The only complaints we had were that it was a bit windy, but we still could always find good water. We also had one bad boater we ran into a couple of times - and unfortunately it was a Wakesetter VLX. Two different times they pulled out right in front of us causing us to have to turn and suddenly stop. Not cool. We also saw them do the same thing to other boats.

I'll post some pics later.

[vlxjeff]

I want to thank everyone, especially Malibudude and VlxJeff, for their input and pointing out Lake Oroville to me. We had a great time on the lake and would go back in a heartbeat. The marina staff were the most helpful, friendliest group I have ever dealt with in renting a houseboat. They were amazing from the time we drove into the parking lot, greeting us with smiles, and taking us right down to our houseboat that was all ready for us.

We got in slalom runs every morning, then spent the rest of the day wakeboarding, tubing, and surfing. One of the really fun things we did was to play around on the HL Roam board. What a fun squirrely board. Everybody got to try their hand at wakesurfing as well. My daughter brought a number of different toys to demo for the week and I think she made some sales out of it.

The friends who joined us live in Merced and had never heard of Lake Oroville before. They really enjoyed the lake as well. It is a beautiful spot. At our first beach area, we had some bald eagles flying around most of the time.

The only complaints we had were that it was a bit windy, but we still could always find good water. We also had one bad boater we ran into a couple of times - and unfortunately it was a Wakesetter VLX. Two different times they pulled out right in front of us causing us to have to turn and suddenly stop. Not cool. We also saw them do the same thing to other boats.

I'll post some pics later.

Cool, glad you had a good time. You were there on the 4th and 5th, right? Yeah we weren't there that weekend, but I hear it was pretty windy that weekend. It was a lot better this past weekend.

You'll have to come back some time when there's more water in the lake. There's a lot of cool sights to see there, but the water is too low to get to them right now. You'll also have to come check out the south end of the lake.

[Malibudude]

Glad you had a great time. It's a great lake and isn't as well known as say Shasta. As Jeff said there are some cool things to see around the lake that you'll need to come back when the water level isn't 100+ feet down.

[obski]

Here are a few pics from our trip:

[obski]

A few more:

[vlxjeff]

Great pictures!

Is the cove where you had your houseboat a no-wake zone?? If it is, I know where you were. It's been a while since I've been there and didn't realize the shore was pretty decent for the north end of the lake.

[Malibudude]

That's some other lake in another state... I'm pretty sure I know where it is as well.

[obski]

Great pictures!

Is the cove where you had your houseboat a no-wake zone?? If it is, I know where you were. It's been a while since I've been there and didn't realize the shore was pretty decent for the north end of the lake.

Thanks. Again, we had a great time and appreciate the opportunity we had to discover Oroville.

That picture was taken at our second cove. The first half of the week we stayed quite a ways up the North Fork across from Berry Creek. There was a bouy just beyond where we are that said 'No Ski' on it. We weren't quite sure of what to make of that. We wakeboarded beyond the bouy, but didn't ski. The second cove we stayed at was across from where Dark Canyon Rd comes in. The first cove was incredibly scenic, with Bald Eagles putting on quite a show for us. The second cove was much closer to the marina for refueling, and close to the spot near the 70 bridge that had glass every morning for our slalom runs.

I'm ready to go back again, but we will likely be heading up to Shuswap next year.

[stewart]

Looks like a great HB trip on the lake

Was it just your family on the HB?

[chathamsolutions]

Here's a map, for those who don't know the lake.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/462/files/LakeOrovilleMAP.pdf

Looks like you had a great trip. Oroville is fun. The history that I've had with the lake LINK has all been at the Dam, and the south fork.

Glad you had a great time.

[obski]

Looks like a great HB trip on the lake

Was it just your family on the HB?

I was our family, a friend and his family (with the smaller kids), and two good friends. All but one of the group was with us last year on the Delta. It is a wonderful group of friends and we are already making plans for Shuswap, probably with a bigger group.

[chathamsolutions]

Here's a map, for those who don't know the lake.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/462/files/LakeOrovilleMAP.pdf

Looks like you had a great trip. Oroville is fun. The history that I've had with the lake LINK has all been at the Dam, and the south fork.

Glad you had a great time.

Sorry, didn't finish my thought.

Since your experience was on the north fork, would love to hear your thoughts - good experiences with parts of the lake / or bad.

We're planning on heading up to Oroville with some friends late this season or early next.

[jjackkrash]

Looks like a great HB trip on the lake

Was it just your family on the HB?

I was our family, a friend and his family (with the smaller kids), and two good friends. All but one of the group was with us last year on the Delta. It is a wonderful group of friends and we are already making plans for Shuswap, probably with a bigger group.

When are you going? We will be at Shuswap next summer near the end of August with extended family. We use Waterways. They have always treated us well. And their "value" season starts August 24 (the weather has always be perfect for us late August, early September). But I'd get signed up soon, the reservations go fast. We already laid down the deposit.

Jack

http://www.waterwayhouseboats.com/Genesis66.

[obski]

Looks like a great HB trip on the lake

Was it just your family on the HB?

I was our family, a friend and his family (with the smaller kids), and two good friends. All but one of the group was with us last year on the Delta. It is a wonderful group of friends and we are already making plans for Shuswap, probably with a bigger group.

When are you going? We will be at Shuswap next summer near the end of August with extended family. We use Waterways. They have always treated us well. And their "value" season starts August 24 (the weather has always be perfect for us late August, early September). But I'd get signed up soon, the reservations go fast. We already laid down the deposit.

Jack

http://www.waterwayhouseboats.com/Genesis66.

We'll also be likely using Waterways. They sure have some nice looking houseboats. They have brought one down to the Portland Boat Show in the past that you could walk through, although they didn't bring one this last year.

We'll have to get on the deposit. Our friends will be joining us next weekend when we rent a ski lake, so we'll have to see about finalizing things then. We'll have to go earlier in the summer since their school starts in the middle of August. I wouldn't mind saving a few bucks, but I'd rather be able to be with friends and family.

[obski]

Here's a map, for those who don't know the lake.

http://www.parks.ca.gov/pages/462/files/LakeOrovilleMAP.pdf

Looks like you had a great trip. Oroville is fun. The history that I've had with the lake LINK has all been at the Dam, and the south fork.

Glad you had a great time.

Sorry, didn't finish my thought.

Since your experience was on the north fork, would love to hear your thoughts - good experiences with parts of the lake / or bad.

We're planning on heading up to Oroville with some friends late this season or early next.

The good: The North Fork area was absolutely beautiful. We got awoken a couple of morning by a family of eagles. They are stunningly awesome creatures. We were able to find good water somewhere every day and it was not crowded in the least during the week. There are plenty of places to beach the houseboat.

I enjoyed working with the staff at the marina. I found them to be helpful, friendly and accomodating. In fact, when we first pulled into the parking lot of the marina, one of the staff came out to greet us and personally take us down to our houseboat, which was all ready for us. After years of poor customer service and outright rudeness at Shasta this was a very welcome change. I can't say enough good things about how well we were treated. Everything on the houseboat worked flawlessly, which was a big change from our experience last year on the Delta.

The houseboats have fresh water showers, which are nice, but they fill the gray water tanks pretty quickly. I stuck to 'lake showers', but the fresh water ones were nice for the women.

The bad: The only place to get gas is at the marina, so when we were quite a ways up the North Fork, we had to go all the way back to the marina to refuel the ski boat, get ice, and for the midweek tank dumping. There is a really long no-wake zone leading to the marina. We set up closer to the marina after dumping to save on time and fuel, and to be closer to the spot that we consistently found morning glass.

The water level was down quite a bit, but that didn't really have an effect on our fun. It's a big lake.

It was a bit windy while we were there, which I was led to understand is a bit unusual, but we were always able to find some areas with better water, if not complete glass. Some of the areas on the North Fork are narrow, so you get some bounce back of waves from the walls and from other boats. Much of the time, there were no other boats around though.

We would all definitely be up for another trip back to Oroville.

[chathamsolutions]

Awesome.

We went to Shasta and put out a houseboat from Holiday Harbor - the staff there was incredible. If you go back to Shasta I HIGHLY recommend launching / renting here. The water level was low and I launched my 23LSV, I had to really floor it to get it off the trailer, and when I did I heard a loud boom. I had to step off the boat onto the trailer to physically push the boat off the trailer. When i did, I discovered that one of my main trailer bunks had snapped. Upon my return to load my boat a few days later they fixed my bunk (for a total of $27!!!!! - pulled off my old bunk, cut a new piece of wood to fit, drilled the holes in the right places, brought out a staple gun and reattached my original bunk carpet). They also brought the big 4x4 and put my trailer in the water and loaded my boat, pulled it up to the top of the ramp so I could load it on my truck. They did all this with a smile.

Shasta though, was crowded. The water was never great. It was warm, but never great. It was an ocean the 2 days we were on the water. Granted, it was Friday and Saturday, but we could never find calm water. AT 7:45 on Friday night I looked out at our little section of lake and counted 9 ski boats and many other houseboats. I wakeboarded once and surfed most of the rest of the time.

That said, if youre thinking of the Trinity Alps area again, I'd HIGHLY recommend Trinity lake. It's awesome. Water is incredible from 7:30am - 1:00 and then from 6:30-8:30. It was windy the rest of the day, but still tubeable for the kids. Trinity is by far the most consistently good water I've had - 4 years in a row (out of Powell, Nacimiento, San Luis Reservoir, Anderson, San Antonio, New Melonies, Havasu, etc.).

From what I've heard though, Shuswap is supposedly HUGE. So, I'm sure it'll be a great place to play.

[obski]

The last two years we seriously considered Trinity, so we will probably go there one of these times. It sounds like a nice place.

That is a great story about HH. It is always good to hear about wonderful customer service.

The one time I was at HH was at the end of one of our church houseboat camps. We had rented a few patio boats and such from them and my wife was returning one of them carrying all of her craft supplies and then some. I drove around from either Digger Bay or Bridge Bay (I don't remember which one) with the boat to meet her. She was going with a group of others that were also returning some rentals to HH. I got there after getting everything loaded up in the stifling heat present that day and waited for her. The others showed up, but no wife, so I waited some more. She finally showed up last in the group saying that her boat was moving slower than the other boats. After she pulled in, we found out why. While the patio boats were in the camp we had tied some cinder block anchors to them to hold them in formation. These had not been removed from the boat she was driving, so she was dragging 3 cinder block anchors all the way across Shasta. I then helped her and the others unload and I thought I was going to die after making multiple trips up that very long and steep ramp in the oppresive heat. Man was I beat after that, especially after spending a week on houseboats with 300 high school kids. So that is what I think of when I hear the name 'Holiday Harbor'.