Our houseboat dreams started in Jan 2017 with a pile of cedar (1,700 board feet), a pontoon boat and 60 hp gas outboard.

The first year on the water was very disappointing as we spent a lot of time and money trying to repair our gas outboard. So, at the end of the season, we began shopping for something different. While speaking with my son in Seattle, he suggested we look into an electric motor. At that time, I didn’t know of an electric outboard powerful enough for a houseboat like ours.

By the end of the summer, I found a perfect fit with the Elco EP-20. We were traveling on the lakes of Michigan with our powerful, efficient and quiet Elco Electric Outboard. We are absolutely loving it. The installation of the electric outboard was so straightforward and the support from Elco has been tremendous. Without the expense of repairs and maintenance that we initially experienced with the gas outboard; we are now able to add accessories to our boat. We upgraded to the SMART battery monitor which is Bluetooth enabled. Most recently, we just finished another phase, the addition of solar panels which will allow us to spend weeks on the water doing what we love.

When we started building our houseboat, we had several dreams. One of our dreams was to build a boat that is trailerable and would be totally self-contained, so we could find quiet places on our lakes and rivers where we could throw out anchor and spend a week or two on the water. Also, we did not want to worry about trying to find a place on the water to purchase gas. As s boaters know, this is becoming more and more of a challenge. We also wanted to see all the animals, birds, sunsets and sunrises while cruising quietly.

Elco Motor Yachts made all our dreams come true! It is so refreshing cruising around with clean air and without the smell of gas and oil polluting our wonderful Michigan lakes.