No ordinary VRBO: Columbia Falls couple offers landmark houseboat as vacation rental

They say it takes a village to raise a child. Well, it takes a family to run a houseboat. Alan Sempf and his partner Kayla Caudill know that all too well. The couple bought the Kee O Mee houseboat docked in Somers Bay last spring and have been operating it as a vacation rental for the past year. It’s been going well, but has proven to be a lot of work, too. Oftentimes it’s literally all hands on deck to clean and keep up the massive houseboat, which was built in 1976.

The couple both have three grown children, which helps a lot, they both said during a tour of the craft last week.

The boat was previously owned by Ben and Laci Lard. They bought it in 2016 and named it after Ben’s great-grandfather’s houseboat, the original Kee O Mee. The original Kee O Mee cruised the waters of Flathead Lake from 1928 to 1937, when it caught and fire and sunk in the lake after something went awry with its newly installed diesel engines.

That’s no worry for today’s Kee O Mee — it doesn’t currently have an engine, noted Sempf, though someday he said he’s like to put one in.

This craft is simply massive. It weighs between 200,000 and 300,000 pounds, depending on how much water is in its huge steel pontoons, which are about six feet in diameter.

The pontoons do more than just float the proverbial boat. One is used to store gray and blackwater, while the other other holds freshwater in order to balance the boat.

Once the blackwater is full, it’s carefully steered over to the dock at Somers Bay using a small barge and its tanks are drained appropriately by a local septic tank company, Sempf explained.

Sitting offshore more than 100 feet, it’s in public waters according to state law, Sempf said.

Guests meet in Somers Bay and are ferried over to the 2,400 square foot houseboat by the couple. The houseboat also comes with kayaks and a separate pontoon boat, so guests can go out on the lake excursions. Everything comes with lifejackets.

The boat itself is truly a house. It sleeps 12, has a woodstove for those chilly nights and has a full kitchen and bath. The upper deck has games like cornhole and there’s a slide off the side where swimmers can go right off the boat into the lake. It has solar power and a floating trampoline as well.

It rents for $995 a night and has proven to be very popular, the couple notes.

Sempf is from Columbia Falls and Caudill is a fourth-generation Montanan, with family ties to Lakeside and Somers.

“I grew up swimming in Somers Bay,” she said.

Folks interested in knowing more about the craft can visit its VRBO site at 2307623 Kee O Mee. People can also contact Caudill and Sempf directly at houseboatingheaven@gmail.com.