Sumerset Houseboats - Innovations

Sumerset Innovations

As the industry leader, Sumerset Houseboats has set the standards that other manufacturers follow. We built our business by listening to our customers, and many of our innovations evolve from customer input and ideas. But before we had our first customer, we were already innovating...

1975

Linton Cress introduced aluminum hulls to Sumerset Houseboats as an alternate to steel hulls. Today's houseboats are some of the largest on the water and Sumerset utilizes the innovation and experience of their welding department to create hull designs that work where it counts.

1985

Sumerset spearheaded the growth of the custom houseboat industry with three dramatic design changes:
1. The introduction of the wide-body cabin that eliminated catwalks and increased the interior living space by 15%.
2. The introduction of the 16' wide cabin which also increased the interior living space by 15%.
3. The introduction of the main floor and flat roof design we see today, creating the Party Top recreation area on top of the houseboat.

1992

Sumerset introduced their first 18' wide cabin for houseboats.

1994

Sumerset took a huge step forward by constructing a state of the art manufacturing facility with an on site-testing pond - no other manufacturer has one. Each houseboat is given a comprehensive quality check on the testing pond before delivery to ensure your houseboat is everything you dreamed it would be.

1997

Sumerset was the first manufacturer to offer their customers a toll-free number AND the first to launch a website. But the greatest innovation was to begin posting daily production photos that allow our customers to stay in touch with their very special project. Watching your home being built, you'll find doing business with us saves you time and provides peace of mind.

2000

Sometimes it's what you don't see that makes all the difference. We went after NMMA and ABYC Certification because we knew it meant a better boat for our customers. We put ourselves under the microscope and brought our production standards to the level required by the Coast Guard.

2001

As more and more people become involved in the houseboating lifestyle, the need for safety becomes amplified. We took the lead in developing an alternate, safer exhaust system with the Sumerset Tall Stack Exhaust System. It significantly reduces carbon monoxide exposure for both occupants and people near the boat.

2002

We unveiled our Forward Seating Flybridge design at the National Houseboat EXPO in Louisville. It was such a big hit, the other manufacturers hurried to design one of their own. We know who thought of it first – Sumerset.

As we stated before, Sumerset also gets special requests that require innovative solutions - such as a powered bow anchor, a wheelchair accessible bow ramp and a 10 foot motorized PWC platform that lowers and raises out of the water.