Houseboats typically include all the amenities of a land residence, including designated living spaces, multiple bedrooms, Internet access, and full bath and kitchen appliances. The outer hull and exposed elements are usually made from steel, fiberglass or aluminum, though some antique or luxury boats are made from various types of wood. The interior of a houseboat may be decorated in the same manner of a land residence and features curtains, wall decor, carpeting and other personal design touches. Houseboats may be one or two stories in height, and can be bought from a dealer or custom-built.
While houseboats don't have many of the traditional costs of land residence, such as property tax and yard maintenance expenses, they incur many unique costs of their own, such as marina fees and fuel expenses. When they are not in transit, houseboats are moored in marinas. Marinas, also referred to by houseboat communities as neighborhoods, usually charge houseboats a mooring fee based on the length of the boat. Most houseboats run on fuel, and since fuel prices are unsteady and shift dramatically based on market stipulations, this can either make a houseboat a very economical alternative to land living, or make it an expensive lifestyle. In the past 10 years, houseboat manufacturers have experimented with alternative energy sources like wind power, alternative fuels and solar power.
Houseboats require many of the essential appliances and features of a land residence in addition to the necessary boating gear. For example, in terms of home safety, a houseboat needs not only smoke detectors and carbon monoxide monitors, but also life jackets, flares and life rafts. Also, houseboats require additional items that a land residence does not, such as boating ramps, anchors and marine-certified waste sanitation processes.
From New Zealand to the United Kingdom, recreational houseboat rentals have become a tourist staple, as it allows travelers to move at their own pace throughout a country while remaining in familiar lodgings. Tourists visiting the ancient spice trading regions of southern India can travel along the region's waterways in oversized luxury houseboats called Kettuvallams. The Kashmir and Srinagar regions also enjoy a thriving tourist demand to stay on the 100-year-old wooden houseboats that are moored on the banks of the Dal and Nageen lakes.
Around the world, houseboats have become synonymous with an exotic and carefree lifestyle, and therefore are now also synonymous with extravagant luxury. Many retailers offer first class houseboats that equal or surpass the price of their affluent residential land counterparts. Amsterdam is one of the world centers of luxury houseboat living, and its canals even feature five-star houseboat hotels.
