News and Events

We have lost one of the great ones

We are all very saddened at the recent loss of Ken Thomson this past Sunday after a short battle with cancer.  Ken and his wife Joan would have celebrated the 50th wedding anniversary this summer, and will be sadly missed by his lovely and devoted wife Joan as well as his four children, 13 grandchildren, extended family countless friends and extended work-family at Twin Anchors.

Ken was the head of our electrical department for over 14 years and was instrumental in the design and development of the electrical systems installed on all of our CruiseCraft houseboats.  Ken was an amazing mentor to our more junior staff and as one of our more senior men, oftentimes played the role of a father figure being sought after for his wisdom.  Ken was extremely particular and unwavering about the way the electrical systems were both designed and installed - Ken truly kept our customers interests first and foremost in all of his work.

Ken retired last spring however continued to keep in close touch with his extended work-family, stopping in for coffee and to check up on projects underway at the plant.  Ken continued to consult on more complicated or challenging systems design and his depth of knowledge and insight into systems design was always appreciated and admired. 

Ken and Joan were able to take a long awaited and life-long dream to visit Scotland last fall, spending three fun-filled weeks touring the countryside.  Ken remained busy with the Lions Club, as a Councillor with the District of Sicamous and was just starting to enjoy his retirement until falling ill in April.   Ken  will be sorely missed - we have lost truly one of the great ones!

I have attached a copy of the obituary as appeared in this weeks newspaper.  We will be holding a celebration of Ken's life a the plant on Saturday the 26th. 

Sincerely,

Greg

Ken Thomson Obituary

New Swim Grid Demo

Click the image at right to watch the video

Houseboating, it’s a “Shore Thing”

Ken Zeal recently visited Sicamous from Reno, Nevada to view the progress of his new 15’X 60’ custom Twin Anchors houseboat. He will be spending much anticipated family time on his new houseboat once it is delivered to Bullard’s Bar Lake an hour north of Reno, Nevada.  The houseboat is being called “Shore Thing” after retiring his faithful older houseboat, which Ken, his wife Cheryl and daughters Shaylia & Ashley enjoyed for the past seven years.    He fondly talks about how the boat looked like a floating doll house but now wanted a larger houseboat with all the comforts of home.

Ken and family plan on spending as much time as possible on the reverse-floor-plan houseboat.  They will enjoy entertaining family and friends from the amazing covered bridge-deck with a jacuzzi hot tub, large bar, entertainment centre, BBQ and comfortable seating area that will seat up to ten.    The reverse floor plan, with galley and spacious salon area at the stern of the boat will allow the Zeal family to overlook the lake view from the back of the houseboat.  Bullard Bar’s shoreline is mostly steep and tree lined, the lake also offers the best Kokanee fishing in all of Nevada.

Ken talked to Nigel Lamb who happened to be making his scheduled sales trip in Nevada and stopped by the Marina at Bullard’s Barge.  “Nigel was a big part of why I decided to come to Sicamous and check out Twin Anchors Marine Manufacturing.” Ken added “I came to do business and expected everything to be very businesslike and now I am leaving feeling like family.”

The Zeals had looked at purchasing a cottage or condo and just couldn’t find anything that would compare to the flexibility and the affordability of a custom houseboat, not to mention the ability to experience a new and beautiful waterfront view ever day if they wanted.  “We have maximized every square foot, thanks to Nigel and Greg Kyllo’s extensive knowledge and Karen Eastland who is sharp and creative with Interior Design.”     

Ken and Cheryl look forward to taking delivery of their boat in May and will enjoy their new home away from home three weekends out of the four each month.    “Twin Anchors has helped fulfill our dreams.” Ken said simply.

Twin Anchor Employees Raise $1000 for Local Food Bank

Twin Anchor Marine and TA Structures raised  $1000.00 dollars for the local food bank at our Annual Christmas Party.  Even though this years party was only 65 people where as last year we had 180 people at the party.  

The employees raised $460.00 by donating funds from their staff Comittee, donations of money at party and also Mike Wolf shaved his beard off at the party  to raise money.  Always a great sport and very entertaining!  If you recall at our last event his wife auctioned him off! 

Many food items were also brought in to be dropped of at the Sicamous Resource Centre.    Twin Anchors Mfg met each donation and thought we should just make it an even $1000.00.  The event was very relaxing and everyone had a great time in at The Anchor Pub which was decorated beautifully for Christmas and the food was absolutely amazing!

Latest Media

A Tribute To Twin Anchors’ Dave Stead : Houseboat Magazine

Twin Anchor's 30 Year Celebration: Twin Anchors

HOUSEBOAT MAGAZINE FEATURE ARTICLE: Twin Anchors Molson Boat

If you happen to fi nd yourself in the Sicamous, British Columbia
area, you’re likely to see a houseboating sight just a little out of the
ordinary. Twin Anchors, in collaboration with Molson Canadian,
has taken houseboat vacationing in a new and exciting direction on
Lake Shuswap.
It happened as most great ideas do, Greg Kyllo, co-owner of Twin
Anchors happened to be visiting with a friend from Molson when
the conversation evolved to houseboating—Kyllo’s specialty. As the
conversation developed, an idea to build and launch a promotional
boat for the Canadian brewery was born. The result is quite a sight....

Read the full article Here

NEW LINE OF LUXURY HOUSEBOATS SHIPPED TO LAKE POWELL

Twin Anchors Marine remains dominant in the Houseboat manufacturing industry. Lake Powell Resorts and Marina’s, managed by Aramark Parks and Destinations, are proud to present two new models of luxury houseboats to compliment their rental fleet in 2009. The development and design of these two new models was a collaborative effort of the dedicated team of Aramark’s management and staff and the senior Sales and Design staff at Twin Anchors. The accumulative efforts resulted in two new distinct models: a 46’ model named “Expedition” designed to provide an affordable alternative for smaller families while maintaining the major amenities and creature comforts often only found on larger craft, and the 62’ “Journey”, designed for larger groups with additional luxury features including bridgedeck wetbar and hot tub. Both models feature redesigned catamaran hulls which provide increased fuel efficiency and maneuverability. Coupled with twin outboard engines, both the Expedition and Journey are amazingly easy to maneuver - even for the first time Houseboater with no prior boating experience.

In all, Twin Anchors will build a total of twenty new boats for Aramark this season – six of the 62’ Journeys and fourteen of the 46’ Expeditions. All of the Journeys and approximately ½ of the Expeditions have already been delivered with the balance in production and scheduled for delivery by mid May 2009.

The Luxury Journey sleeps up to 12 with four separate staterooms, two full baths, a spacious cabin design, gourmet kitchen, plenty of storage and an exemplary bridgedeck featuring dining area, wetbar, flat-screen TV and hot tub. The Expedition is sure to be one of Lake Powel’s most popular and affordable houseboats. Ideal for single families, couples or small group of friends, the Expedition sleeps up to six and maintains all the comforts of home including central air conditioning, and a fully equipped galley including residential fridge, stove and built-in microwave oven.

Twin Anchors Marine and Lake Powell Resorts and Marina share a common commitment to providing quality houseboat vacations in their respective markets, at affordable prices. “Our new Journey houseboats come at an ideal time when families and vacationers are looking to experience luxurious getaways at an affordable price” said David Sloma, Vice president of Operations at Lake Powell Resorts and Marina. Recreation is viewed as a necessity and to that end, houseboating is affordable vacation that provides the platform for an extremely intimate and sharing vacation experience - it’s your accommodation and your entertainment all at the same time.

Twin Anchors' hands-on experience operating a 100+ houseboat rental fleet on Shuswap Lakes, BC, makes them keenly aware of the need to build houseboats that not only exceed the needs of today’s discerning rental customer, but also are easy to service and maintain thereby providing low operating costs. Twin Anchors is a custom builder committed to providing design solutions coupled with quality building techniques. These strong traits coupled with a company wide passion for boating have earned Twin Anchors the respect and distinction of being the manufacturer of choice to 18 premier houseboat rental companies throughout North America.

View Journey Floor Plan

Shasta Lake, CA

3 new Titans will be joining the Jones Valley Resort fleet for 2006. The new Titans are the largest, most luxurious rental boats to ever be available on Shasta Lake - 65 feet long with a 16 foot beam. They feature three deck levels and will sleep up to 20 people. A tube slide, hot tub and deluxe outdoor entertainment center are located on the third level Texas Deck. The California deck has two staterooms, one bunk room and one bathroom, while the main deck will have a vaulted ceiling in the galley, four staterooms, two bathrooms and deluxe galley and salon.

The Big and the Small

The CruiseCraft 5’s are in the water on Shuswap Lake, BC. The design and building of a new model, especially one so large - 17’ x 75’ with three deck levels - is never easy, but the Twin Anchors Crew were up to the task. The 5’s certainly have a commanding presence out on the lake, and reports on her have been excellent.They have proved to be very popular this season, being rented for nearly the entire season from the time they hit the water in May. in fact, they are already booking for the 2006 season.

Proving that small is indeed beautiful, the new CampCruisers have been a success all around. The MM01 was so well received at the Myer’s Sport Show booth that they immediately ordered four more. Gary Myers, owner of Myers Marine, described the boats as “durable, tough, rugged and dependable from hull to top deck...” The MM04 and MM05 have recently been added to the build schedule, and we feel the orders will continue to roll in.

Custom Houseboats for Private Use

Although Twin Anchors is renowned in the North American houseboat rental market for producing the most diverse, high quality and multi-purpose line of houseboats, our private builds are also incredible. We build from the hull up so accommodating our clients’ every wish and whim is what we do! We already have four private houseboats in the planning stages for 2006 delivery. We have reserved a few more build spots for spring 2006 delivery dates.

Call us at 1-800-558-0881 for more information, or fill out our online Quote form.