Tour 2008

See the Photo Album

Near and Far

The sun was shining and ticket sales were flying as the 2008 FHA tour got under way on Sunday September 7th.  The Houseboatique with its colorful array of merchandise was doing a brisk business with booth volunteers modeling FHA aprons decorated with a houseboat motif.  And a special 2008 commemorative Tee shirt was offered for sale.

People came from the floating home communities in Portland and Vancouver, BC and from states as far away as South Carolina, Ohio, Texas, and New Mexico in addition to other communities in Washington and Oregon.

Lake Union and

Portage Bay

Twelve houseboats from the east side of Lake Union and Portage Bay were on the tour and each one was a different experience for this year's participants.  Mini-buses were used to shuttle visitors to the different areas.

Barry & Candice Peterson's dramatic and sophisticated new floating home on the Fairview Landing dock even has a basement -- complete with portholes and is topped with a rooftop deck providing 360 degree views of the lake & city. The handsome decorating in Lee Bordeau's Mallard Cove houseboat is an example of a larger more modern houseboat built as part of a group of 20 homes in the mid 1970s and has been updated several times since then to suit the owner's taste.

Peter & Brigitte Erickson's end moorage houseboat -- originally the UW women's canoe house -- shows what a classic one story houseboat is all about with its large open living area, big covered front porch and two floats yielding lots of recreation and entertaining areas. Dorothy & Calvin Echodu's place in Portage Bay -newly remodeled by the former owners and featured in This Old House Magazine -- was another fun place to visit with its beautiful antique converted wood cook stove a unique focal point in the kitchen.

Dramatic Sophistication

Classic Cottages

Tanya & Gerry Seligman's floating home on the Newton street end with fabulous views of the City is stylishly decorated with accent art objects from their extensive travels. Ann Prezyna & Gordon Lewis's place had their electric motor powered dinner raft parked next to it, ready to set out on the lake for a sunset meal.  Laura Conner's end moorage place filled with antiques and interesting nooks & crannies was another favorite stop.

Five very different cottages, three on Fairview owned by Elliott Wolfe, Jeri Callahan, and Mike & Deanna Handron, and two on Portage Bay, Stacy McCarthy and Sandy Caldwell, show how different uses of the available space can be maximized in the smaller homes that represent the majority of what houseboats are and used to be -- classic styles of the 1920s to 1940s, updated to the present. 

BBQ and Espresso

Between dining on the delicious BBQ lunches prepared by Otis Pimpleton and his crew -- back for a third tour, and sipping free espresso drinks -no one was going to leave hungry.  And refreshments provided a second wind for touring the next group of homes.

Many Thanks

Many thanks and congratulations go to Melissa Ahlers & her hard-working tour committee, our generous tour sponsors, and the almost 100 volunteer hosts from the community who showed up on tour day to make this another successful FHA event. Thanks also go to Wong Doody's exceptional group who put together the marketing materials for us including the lovable 2008 partying fish design.  And, last but not least, we gratefully acknowledge the home owners who so graciously allowed their homes to be on the tour this year.

Tour 2008 Photo Album

Our Photo Album has more pictures like the ones to the right, only bigger.

Tour 2008 T Shirt

From the Houseboatique

Price: $15.00 (cheap)

Tour 2008 Announcement

This page before Tour Day

Tour Sponsors