With the renovations of the Lands End float home almost complete, the flating home, famous for it's role as the main characters place of residence for much of CBS Paramount's hit 90's TV show MacGyver, is said to be merely a couple of weeks away from sale.

The owners have been steadily working away renovating and modernizing the houseboat both inside and out with the goal of selling it once the renovations were completed and that time has finally come.
Once final preparations are completed the house will be listed on Ebay with an accompanying video to showcase the houses features and renovations.

You can follow the last minute preparations and announcements about the houseboat on the owners facebook page

Take a virtual tour through the house on our Houseboat page

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Let's be honest: that color is horrendous! Do they say how much they want for it anywhere?

The price will be on the listing when it's made in a few days time.

I agree with Fellow Traveler. What a godawful color. If I had enough money to buy it, first thing I'd do would be to remove the hideous blue and bring back the natural color of the MacGyver era.
After that I'd move it back to Coal Harbour and rent it to MacGyver fans who'd like to stay there for a week, or two. The rest of the time I'd stay there myself.

I've seen worse but the blue is indeed too much.

Should only cost a couple of hundred dollars to re-paint it...

"C'mon guys!" Y'all are supposed to be resourceful and handy MacGyverfans on here...



P.S. I'd get rid of those "new age" butterflies, moon and stars; paint it with some more muted "earthy" colours ~ and make it look more maritime and "ship shape"..

We can always make a paint bomb.

Or a few of us could hold a "war-games" session on there, using paintball guns to "renovate" that paintwork...

A new "MacGyver" version of those 'skirmish' games...


While repainting the outside, I would also look at remodelling the back of that house ~ that extension for the bathrooms - and the balcony off the bedroom - really are some of the poorest renovations/"upgrades" that I've ever seen ~ maybe the owners were working on the "out of site, out of mind.." principle ??

Ditch the ply panels off that balcony and replace with proper railings matching those on the decks. Then add some moulding and finials on that backside addition, to match the original trims..

(And no doubt the owners will try for "top dollar" with this sale?).


The interior should be just as easy ~ decorate it with a combination of maritime, handyman/DIY, 'outdoorsy', and tech'-head ~ to play up to everyones "inner MacGyver" !

If you're referring to the virtual tour (as I call it) those photos are before any current renovating was done. That's what the house looked like when they got it.

Well see current photos I guess when the listing goes up on ebay.

How much can It cost?

Shouldn't the houseboat be up for sale by now? Despite my misgivings about the color, I'm sure it must be an interesting place to live in.

I reckon a fresh coat of paint would be a cheap part of "personalising" such a home to one's self...

What I'm MORE interested here is their asking price ~ are the current owners selling at a reasonable price for what it is ~ or are they going to try and ask for an extra premium on the price, for its history and novelty??

If they DO try and ask too much over the odds, rather than an honest and fair value, it could be lingering on the market for a while. Especially in the current economic climate.

OMG!!!!!!!. My housemates' 4 year old could do a better paint job.
BTW What is the asking price for it???????????
I wouldn't be surprised if it was to be totally over the top. Not to mention all that CRAP stuck on the walls and around. I would most definately restore it back to original(or as close as I could, at least).

Maybe we can do an estimation? What does a houseboat cost? Over 500 grand? I mean considering our economic times...

It's a float home not a mansion. I just had a quick look at other houseboats on ebay and they are in the $100,000 - $200,000 price range. So I guess the same price as a normal house of the same size.

The fact that it floats doesn't seem to have much bearing on the price.

I was thinking in the order of $80,000 - $120,000 AUD for an easy sale... (You would need to actually see it up close of course, and see what condition it's in..).

Considering one can buy a second hand 10 - 15 metre yacht in good order for around $150 - 200,000 ~ and then head off to see the world, at your leisure ~ I reckon if they ask over $150,000 then they could find it lingering on the market...

IF they're asking more than $150 -160,000, then I would expect to see some extras thrown in to sweeten such a deal..


And then remember there ARE ongoing costs :
Mooring fees;
Insurance;
Annual maintenance costs;
Running costs - fuel, water, electricity (or generator fuel); and sewerage and garbage fees when moored permanently..

And somehow I imagine some of those major/popular harbours and rivers could have some pretty expensive fees.

Like RDA dropping in once a week to clean the place?

The fee's you're talking about are no different to the ongoing costs of owning any home.

Your also comparing apples to oranges with your second hand yacht comparison. This isn't a boat. It has no means of propulsion, nor is it sea worthy. It's a floating 2 bedroom house designed to float on water in a marina or other sheltered waterway.

Here where I am, I'm about 5 minutes north of Lake Macquarie, and about 40-60 minutes south of Port Stephens ~ both of which would have a couple of marinas where you could moor such a beast ~ probably at half the cost you might pay down on the Hawkesbury River or on the backwaters of Sydney Harbour...

I would imagine the mooring fees in the more fashionable parts of California or Washington state to be similar to Sydney..

For moving it, in enclosed waters, I s'pose you could bolt a couple of BIG outboard motors on the back, or tow it with a decent size tender ~ you wouldn't need a tugboat for that, would you?

[For moving on open seas, they always have those "heavy lift" transport ships for that ~ where you float the boat in through one end of the ship, and then lift it out of the water..].

There's some good pictures on this page which shows the floatation devices on the underside of the houseboat.

Just imagine pushing that house along, on a protected waterway like a river or a lake, with a couple of outboard motors or a boat pushing it from one end, when it came time to move...

And because the "pilot" of that "propulsion" boat or motor is driving blind, you would then need someone as navigator directing by walkie talkie/CB radio from up on the front deck..

And have a crowd of guests lounging out on the main deck, cocktails in hand!

Sounds like a house warming party to me.

Hello all, very interesting to read the comments about our home (especially about the colour!) The original home was unpainted weathered cedar siding and the previous owners painted it the turquoise colour with blue trim. We repainted it teal green with black trim (and cleared the wall clutter). Inside it is now a light beige with white trim, except for the spiral stairs which just got a fresh coat of black paint. We are very excited about listing our home on EBay and I expect it will be quite a wild ride to see what the eventual auction's outcome will be! Cheers!