R ental houseboats vary in size from 28 feet to 56 feet in length and sleep up to fourteen persons. Often, a couple of families or a group of friends will get together and share the cost of a rental houseboat. Reservations are recommended, especially for the summer months. Boats are equipped with about everything you will need, except bedding, food and personal items. You will have to purchase insurance, pay for the fuel consumed, and pay a deposit that is refundable upon the return of a clean, undamaged boat.
Most outfits accept credit cards.
Pets of reasonable size and disposition are usually permitted, but we recommend you check ahead to be sure. They can carry quite a few people and plenty of gear. On a historical note, in the Delta's early recreational days, starting just before WWII and then really getting moving after the war, renting fishing boats was a major Delta business activity. Some outfits had fleets of over 100 fishing boats. In the heart of the season, it is estimated that some 300 fishing boats were available at Bethel Island alone and they were towed out to Franks Tract in long strings of boats.