This past weekend I spent up at The Delta in Central CA with a bunch of college students. A great weekend.

A houseboat or a house on a boat.

A few more











Notice the Cigarette boat tied alongside

A few more....






Our home base for the weekend.


Mark

My daughter wakeskating




A friend skiing




Mark

cool pics---

that "house boat" at the top has a gangway and a set of steps, apparently for entering/exit other vessels. Wonder what it's actually for?

I like your home base!

I go by that houseboat in the first pic pretty often. It's on Disappointment Slough, which is a good way for me to get home on windy/busy days when the main ship channel is bumpy. It has been in its current location for a month or two. I'm pretty sure it used to be moored to one of the islands in the middle of the slough. There's a lot of old houseboats like that in the Delta that slowly deteriorate and often fall down. I've never seen any signs of life on it.

MarkHB - where were you anchored for the weekend?

Some nice boat on the delta (not the houseboat at the top). Someday I will get the cajones to go out on the delta. I worry about what I can't see.

^^^^^^

Yeah. I saw it during a recent trip to Tower Park from Village West.

I think those side docks are used as outriggers. Looks a little top heavy for me to be up there...

How much are they asking for it??? LOL

Great pics of an obviously great time!

5 fingers

Mark

I'm ready to be your "tour guide" for a day.

I guarantee no "groundings" on the way to Lost Isle.

No guarantee's on the way back though!!! LOL

I've spent many a night on the hook in 5 fingers. Great place to kill some time.

The egeria was getting pretty think the last few times that we were there in our big boat.

The first couple pix show the permanent-dockside flying buttresses, very medieval.

I like Flipper, the 104 ft MY ( Crescent Custom Yacht )



Nice pictures, thanks.

Two years ago it was thick, but this year it seems to be OK.

Mark

I didn't know you could get into the five fingers. I tried 2 summers ago, and quickly gave up because of the egeria. It must have improved quite a bit since then.

Silverbullet - as long as you stay on the "main thoroughfares" in the Delta, there isn't that much to hit if you have a good chartplotter to show you where the shallow spots are. I'm probably cursing myself, but after 3 years, I'm still on my original aluminum prop. Since I grew up boating on lakes, I'm still getting used to the idea that on many sloughs near the shore is the place to be rather than the middle since that's where the deepest dredging usually took place.

Aboater - are you at Village West?

I might very well take you up on that.

BABC Lost Isle trip!

Nice shots Mark. Looks like that whole crew was having a good weekend on the water. Nice looking water craft down there. Not sure I'd feel comfy sleeping in that top one. I'd feel like I would wake up with it on its side and me in the water.

Those Seven Crown houseboats are slightly better than the one in that first picture.

When one's like that deteriorate and sink do they ever get charted or put on the notice to mariners as a shipwreck?

Mark, those are nice pictures and it looks like a good time was had by all.

Sadly, no.

There has been a huge movement of late to remove derelict boats which include partially submerged ones. Lots of Grant money awarded to the various county's.

It all comes down to responsibility.

If an agency marks a submerged vessel (or even a tree hazard) and someone still hits it, the liability falls on the agency that marked it.

That is why you rarely see any hazards marked in the delta.

I'm available most weekends.

Things will quiet down around here in October, yet the weather and water is still great!

Seven Crowns/Paradise Point is the only place I know of that still rents houseboats on the Delta, but I saw an ad somewhere recently that they were selling off houseboats. I'm not sure if they're getting out of the business as well, or just updating the fleet.

Most of those old non-moving boats are tied to the shore or anchored right next to it so when they sink, they're not a navigational hazard. If/when the one in the first picture sinks, it won't go far. There's probably <8' of water where it's sitting. I believe it is actually aground at low tide now. All but one of the counties that make up the Delta have passed laws that allows them to condemn and remove those types of boats the since most of them don't have proper sanitation facilities, so they're slowly disappearing.

I don't think NOAA has any responsibilty for mariners use of their charts and neither does the CG have any for posting the notices to mariners put together by NOAA.

It comes down to not having the resourses to do it, I think.

"Village West"

I used to keep our big boat there for quite a few years, but now go there to enjoy Bob's or the Garlic Bros.

I keep my Sea Ray in an enclosed storage locker at Orwood.

I've been cruising/fishing/enjoying the Delta since 1967.

One of my goals is to visit every marina/resort on the current Delta Map before my final voyage...

I'm about 70% there.

Updating those charts would be an issue.

It seems that almost every trip out on the water reveals another sinking/derelict boat to watch out for.

More so in recent years...

We rented one of those pontoon deck boats that you drive your RV up onto and use it as a "houseboat" from Herman & Helens years ago.

We also used to rent actual houseboats from Paradise Point and S&H Houseboats in Antioch before we got into "big boating"...

They are always selling them, but their fleet always seems to be the same 30 year old boats(at Mead and Mohave anyhow).

I think I'll talk up the delta for the annual guys' house boat trip for next year. Been doing it at Mead for a long time and we're going to Mohave this year in two weeks due to low water levels at Mead. I've seen all that already but have never boated on the delta. Some of the old timers that have been doing this trip for years before I got invited used to do it at the delta. Maybe they'll be up for a change too. Plus, I want to catch a stergeon (sp?) for dinner!

Bob's makes a good breakfast and hambuger. My boat has been at Village West for 2 years now.

I like that goal. I've been to most of the places in the central delta. I've gotten as far north as Guisti's/Wimpy's, west out to Humphrey's and south down to Disco Bay. I'd like to see more of the south Delta. I've always thought the loop Hal described in his books of going through the south delta to the San Joaquin and back sounded like a fun trip, but I don't know if it is still navigable. I never completely understood the route once you got near the four corners either.

My parents started us boating in '67.

It was a 20' Kayot pontoon boat. We kept it at Del's Harbor, which is now River's End Marina. We then move