Are you planning a trip to Lake Shasta or another lake where you rent a houseboat?
My family & I have been vacationing on Lake Shasta since 1999 when my son was 4 weeks old!
We have learned a thing or 2 over the years and I would love to share my knowledge.
This page will show you how we have done things over the years and you can use this knowledge to make your own opinions on how you will want to plan your trip!
vacationlover
My Shasta Lake Houseboating Tips Blog 
This is SUCH an amazing resource for anyone wanting to do a houseboat vacation on Shasta! Thanks so much for putting the time into doing this – it’s so helpful. One question I had that I didn’t see covered in an entry was operator tips for various situations. We’ve stayed on a houseboat on Lake Powell with friends like you who have a family houseboat and have been doing it since they were little kids. They knew all about where to park, how to tie speedboats to the houseboat, best coves, how to anchor, how to weather a storm (there’s usually a summer storm every week at Powell), etc. Do you have Shasta specific tips on these things? Also, why is late August considered low season? We’re from Seattle and school doesn’t start until Sept 1st or after Labor Day – is school the reason for that low season? Thanks so much!!!
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Hi Nicki! Thank you so much for your compliments, you never know if anyone is actually reading these things 🙂
Each houseboat comes with 2 ground spikes and a sledgehammer and you are supposed to run the boat slowly up to the shore and then 2 people on shore are holding the ropes and tie them to the stakes. The shore is pretty steep on 90% of the lake but there are a few places with pretty flat beachy area. These areas are usually already taken and kind of exposed in the main channel. We personally like finding a little finger where nobody else is, or maybe one other boat, and moor there. We have someone drive ahead in the ski boats and scout a spot since the houseboats are so slow.
We have never experienced a storm although sometimes the wind will pick up in the afternoons. We try to do all our wakeboarding and skiing in the morning and right after lunch and save the tubing for afternoons for this reason.
We stay in any of the fingers around the Shasta Marina.
I know that most California schools start about that week of the value season so I’m going to assume they offer that rate to draw in us out of towners whose kids don’t start until later. It’s a significant enough savings for us, giving us more comfort/bigger boats for better prices. We had heard that June was good too but we went one year and it was only in the 70’s and actually rained one day so we haven’t wanted to chance it again.
Let me know if you think of anything else! Thanks!
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