18 Owner Houseboat Rule at Lake Powell

I believe I understand the gist of the 18 owner limitation on houseboats at Lake Powell, but can someone explain the reasoning behind it. Also, has anyone had any experience dealing with it?

Why in the world would you want any where near 18 or more owners on a houseboat? 4 is more then enough on ours...

cause broke azzes like me cant afford a quarter share of a 1mill plus house boats...

We have a shared ownership HB at Powell with the potential of 22 owners. Some owners have 2 or more weeks so there aren't that many owners.
I guess I don't understand your question.
Is this a new rule on the lake?

How can a lake limit who owns what?

I looked at the regs and couldn't find such a rule. Is it new or just rumor. Lake Powell is operated by the National Park Service. Aramark is the only legal entity that can rent boats. On all other watercraft an owner must be present. I know of at least one houseboat with 26 owners, where everyone gets one "Season" week and one off season week.

Please let us know where you saw such a rule.

Thanks,
Ryan

To answer some questions: Lake Powell is part of Glen Canyon Nat'l Rec Area, which is run by National Park Service (NPS). NPS regulations are found in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFRs). The 18 owner rule, as I understand it, applies to houseboats that are on a buoy or slip. Our houseboat is a launch and retrieve, which is not subject to the rule. L/R houseboats can have as many owners as it likes. But we (the owners) are thinking of putting it in a slip at Antelope Point Marina (many advantages). Doing this, will really limit ea. owner's ability to sell the share because the share splitting will not be allowed. Share splitting is more than 1 family owns the H/B share. Thus, the question. Why the rule and the reasoning behind it?

I have the non-paying job of being the manager of our houseboat group and have been dealing with this issue for the past couple of months. We have 25 shares on our boat and now have 42 different owners, as we had allowed up to 3 owners per share. The implementation of the new 18 owner limit grandfathers multiple owner boats. But all new changes in ownership must reduce the number of owners by at least one. Also, all changes in ownership must be approved by Aramark in writing and include a $300 fee. They are also collecting a brokerage fee with every ownership change that varies from 1% to 10% depending on their involvement and assistance in the sale.

Aramark has stated over and over that these are not their rules but they are only following Park Service rules. So I can't begin to explain the logic or reasoning for the 18 owner limit. They will try to refer to some NPS rule that limits time on the lake to 30 days/year for a person and a rule that limits you to ownership in no more than 2 boats on the lake. But no matter how you look at it, it smells like they are only trying to limit the # of houseboats so they can rent more.

One more thing that is coming. This year they are coming down on the houseboats in the Marinas on buoy fields. Next year they are going after all the houseboats that get pulled on and off the lake each week in arrangements that are called "turnarounds". They are forcing the rules on us by forcing us to sign new mooring agreements. The turnaround houseboats will get the same rules and limitations by implementing a special registration and sticker requirement for these houseboats. Some of these turnaround companies go and do work on their boats on the lake by listing themselves as one of the owners in the boat. This will be limited by the new 2 boat limit rule.

There are lots of changes and I can't find much positive in it.

Thanks Paul. Do not envy you as the unpaid manager of the houseboat. I know our president spends A LOT of time taking care of these issues. Truth is, I'm trying to figure out a way to keep 1/2 our share, and sell the other half. Maybe it's not an option now.

Having more owners on a boat is a two-sided issue. More owners means more people to divide the expenses with. The wrong owners means more expenses due to abuse and wear-and-tear. I don't mind the normal wear-and-tear. But we have been able to slowly get rid of our bad owners who treated it like a rental. We split our share with our best friends which cuts the costs in half and we useually get to spend the best time of the year together.

You may still be able to add owners this year on your L/R before they implement the same rules on you. I'm sure that they will have to also grandfather those that are over 18. As it goes into effect for us now, they are comparing our current owner list with the 2003 list that they had from us. This one time we can make all the changes we want as long as it is one less than on the 2003 list. Of course they want the $300 and 1% of sales price too. Aramark probabaly doesn't have a older list of your owners to compare to, so you may be ok.

Brad & Paul.... Tell me this, what are "true" ownership fees. Not buying in and set yearly fees, but the true cost of ownership... Those "everyone owes this" to fix or upgrade this?

We have looked and looked every year and keep saying we are going to buy in, but always stay out for one simple reason. I have been willing to pay a higher rate to not be locked into a money pit.

Side note, what are the rules as far as getting out of your share? Meaning, if someone wanted to take a loss...could they just say to another owner, "I'll give you my share for $500 and a case of Heineken"?

Sorry.....not meant to be a hi-jack.....

EJ
Ours is a fairly simple 55' houseboat that went into service in 1997. Original owners paid between $9000 and $15000 for their reserved 2 weeks/yr. All shares sold in the last few years have gone for $5000 or less. The annual maintenance fee has averaged $1400/yr over the last 6 years. There have been no extra assessments. Last year it cost $400 every time someone took the boat out. This covers piloting the boat in and out of the slip, check on/off, and cleaning the boat for you when you return. This year that cost has risen to $500.

For those expenses we have kept our boat in great condition. The engines and outdrives were changed out once, and we regularly replace things that start looking old or worn. This off season we replaced all of the indoor carpet and vinyl flooring. Last year it was the couch and all mattresses. The year before it was all of the outdoor carpet. With these dues we have also added an inverter system with solar panels and extra batteries so the generator doesn't have to be run if you want to turn on the microwave or the kids want to watch a movie. A good group will keep up with things and not poor-boy it until it falls apart.

We have had 2 insurance claims in the 10 years for things that were an accident and an act of God (weather). And the deductible is only $1400- so you can't get hit too bad. This doesn't mean that tomorrow our generator won't blow-up or both engines die. If it does we will make a special assessment to cover what is outside of our reserve. But probably worst case is an unexpected bill for $500. We have had 2 owners that didn't sell their shares and just walked away from their share. And to answer your other question, you could make whatever deal with another owner you wanted. Useually management get the right to approve everything. It only becomes a money pit if you don't use it.

EJ, was hoping you'd chime in. The short answer to your question is, at least for us, you typically have a lauch & retrieve fee (every time you go out) and an annual maintenance fee. One of the reasons for my question is b/c our H/B is likely moving to Antelope Point, which will reduce a lot of the costs (i.e. L&R cut in half if get under 18 owners from $1500 to $600 something). But this means the H/B will be subject to the 18 owner rule, which may prevent us from selling 1/2 our share.

It's easy getting out of share -just sell it. I'm guessing you'd have a few dozen takers with your hypothetical offer. Send me an email and I'll take some time to really go over the fees.

forever house boats out of antelore point now has rental rights. may have been said. just skimming sorry.

If I am not mistaken, Forever Houseboats runs a charter service under Aramark....