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Presque Isle houseboats: Good life, lots of work

6 min read
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Andy Colwell/Erie Times-News

Tom Bloom of Greene Township in Erie County looks toward Horseshoe Pond houseboat No, 28, which his family has owned for 10 years, at Presque Isle State Park in Erie.

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Andy Colwell/Erie Times-News

Horseshoe Pond houseboat No. 7, owned by Mike and Carol Hirsch of Erie, at Presque Isle State Park in Erie

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Andy Colwell/Erie Times-News

Nancy Bloom and her husband, Tom, pose aboard their houseboat on Horseshoe Pond at Presque Isle State Park in Erie. Since 1981, the Blooms have spent the summer months aboard two different houseboats, including this one, No. 28, for the last 10 years.

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Andy Colwell/Erie Times-News

Erie resident and Horseshoe Pond houseboat owner Mike Hirsch poses for a portrait with his dog, Yahtzee, aboard the houseboat at Presque Isle State Park.

ERIE – Houseboat culture at Presque Isle State Park’s Horeseshoe Pond offers a dream summer escape, gorgeous sunsets, magnificent wildlife viewing and countless recreational water activities.

Ownership, however, carries a slew of maintenance and repair responsibilities.

“An hour’s work for an hour’s pleasure.”

Greene Township resident Tom Bloom, 80, has heeded that houseboat maintenance advice for the past 40 years. It was offered to him in 1980, when Bloom purchased his first Horseshoe Pond houseboat from a pair of Erie brothers.

Twenty-four houseboats dot Horseshoe Pond at the southeast end of the park.

Bloom and his wife, Carol, have spent their summers there since 1981 living on two of them, the most recent of which Tom Bloom built from scratch in 2006 – Houseboat 28.

“I have been doing it for 40 years,” Bloom said. “I’m 80, and I do get a little tired of the maintenance, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”

Sometimes, pond life can make waves.

Recently, a houseboat about 250 feet north from Bloom’s water residence partially sank.

About half of the houseboat was initially submerged. There were no injuries, authorities reported.

Crews from Erie-based Lakeshore Towing Services Inc. worked throughout the week to raise the houseboat to a nearly level position.

The houseboat that partially sank was built in the early 1990s and is the largest and heaviest houseboat on Horseshoe Pond, said Eric Guerrein, president of Lakeshore Towing Services, a marine contractor business he started in 1988.

Guerrein declined to identify the houseboat’s owner.

“The owner lives on it every summer and lives in Florida the rest of the year,” Guerrein said.

Guerrein believes the houseboat partially sank after one of its eight steel tanks ruptured.

“That tank ruptured following high winds and all of the air leaked out and water came in,” Guerrein said. “The tank next to the tank that ruptured had an air vent in it, and that went under water. It pulled the structure down low enough where water got in the vents for the other tanks.”

Bloom was at his houseboat on Monday afternoon. As he prepared to leave, he noticed the southeast corner of his neighbor’s houseboat sinking into the pond.

“By the time I got home, it was already on Facebook with a photo of the houseboat down in the water on its south side,” Bloom said.

Heavy rains and high winds swept through the area, Bloom said.

“We had a vicious blow on Sunday. It was raining sideways,” he said. “There were whitecaps in the pond. I feel that probably had something to do with what happened. There was a west wind cutting across the bay, and that houseboat was taking it head-on.”

Guerrein said the tank likely ruptured and that Sunday’s storm “stressed the tank enough to where it allowed the water to come in from the wind and waves.”

The houseboat lost flotation on its southeast corner and partially sank in about 10 feet of water, Guerrein said.

Lakeshore Towing crews winched up the houseboat, which is being supported by a barge that can hold up to 90 tons, the largest in the company’s fleet.

Guerrein has owned a houseboat at Horseshoe Pond since the early 2000s.

“This is the third or fourth houseboat over the years that we’ve had to save that was sunk or partially sunk,” Guerrein said. “We have a long history of doing work out there.”

Guerrein said his crews will tow the houseboat that partially sank to an area near East Dobbins Landing, remove and repair the ruptured tank, re-install it and tow the houseboat back to Horseshoe Pond.

“The biggest thing with houseboats is the anchoring system,” Guerrein said. “Over time, anchoring chains wear and break, and houseboats can get out of position and drift.”

Guerrein advises houseboat owners to annually check their flotation and anchoring systems.

Erie residents Mike Hirsch, 59, and his wife, Carol, have been Horseshoe Pond residents since 2001, when they purchased a houseboat.

“There’s definitely a lot of work, and most people accept that as part of the plan,” said Mike Hirsch, a retired Erie firefighter. “Bad-weather days make you a nervous wreck. You’re thinking, ‘Please, everything hold together.'”

Hirsch said his two most important houseboat maintenance objectives are maintaining the flotation and anchoring systems.

Bloom, president of the Presque Isle Houseboat Owners Association, couldn’t agree more.

“I’ve already scheduled my dive team to check out all of my floats and barrels,” Bloom said. “You do that every year. You have to make sure you haven’t lost any, that the existing ones are there, and that the barrels are full of air and not water.”

Bloom said his houseboat has nine anchors.

“I guess I’m kind of an anchor freak,” he said with a laugh.

Hirsch is the only Horseshoe Pond houseboat owner who has more attached anchors – 11.

“You also have to maintain your electric line,” Bloom said. “You have to remember that when you moor there, the only thing you get is the privilege to drop your anchor. Your electric line and everything else is your responsibility.”

Other high-priority maintenance projects involve roof and window projects.

“You want to make sure the windows are sealed and, when needed, re-caulked,” Bloom said. “On the pond, it rains sideways.”

Bloom said Horseshoe Pond’s houseboats are governed by the state, and no additional houseboats can be added.

When Hirsch and his wife purchased their houseboat 19 years ago, the roof leaked, there was a broken anchor chain, the deck was unsafe to walk on and there was a hole through part of the floor. An extensive renovation and rebuild transformed their summer residence.

Their home living space measures 997 square feet, and the wraparound deck measures 998 square feet, just below the combined 2,000-square-foot limit allowed on the boats by the state.

About 10 years ago, Hirsch had new decking installed. A decade of constant moisture has begun to rot portions of the decking’s underside.

Despite owning his houseboat for nearly 20 years, Hirsch said he’s still learning how to properly maintain it.

“Just when you think you have everything squared away, you get a storm or a gust of wind that proves that you don’t,” Hirsch said.

Hirsch admits houseboat life requires many hours of upkeep, but the payoff materializes at least twice day for him.

“The two best things are the mornings and the sunsets,” Hirsch said. “You wake up and you’re already at the peninsula. If you want to go to the beach, or go biking, or go swimming, you’re right there. At the end of the day, watching the sun go down makes it worth it.”

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