I'm leaving a delayed review as we are about to book again this September and was surprised at how bad the ratings and comments were. We rented a houseboat for a week late August 2018 with our 2 teenagers and they each invited a friend. We have traveled extensively over the years, coast to coast and state side and by far the kids rated our houseboat week in their top 3 for best trip ever. Yes the boats are dated, damp and show wear and tear, however they are not hotel rooms on dry land. Our boat was clean and everything worked as described. We ran into minor motor issues mid week and a support boat arrived immediately to address and repair the problem. We look forward to another week next month of R and R, open waters and being off grid. Do your homework. Pull up videos and pics from their site and from personal posts. Fishing was great also :)

Escrita el 19 de agosto de 2024

Esta opinión es la opinión subjetiva de un miembro de Tripadvisor, no de Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor les hace controles a todas las opiniones.

Marc D

Lincoln, Canadá6 aportes

I wish I had done better research. Renters beware!!!

set. de 2020

I wish I had read these other reviews before I booked my boat and motor rental. On the positive side, the front office staff was very polite and helpful. Unfortunately it was downhill from there. I rented a 15 hp outboard motor with a 16-ft boat for 5-days with my 77-year old father. I was told life jackets were included so I convinced my Dad to leave his old one at home. The life jacket provided was old and weathered and “Jim” who was providing it was trying to be funny by making comments about my Dad’s weight (not cool). Jim showed me the propeller which had clearly been damaged but said that it wasn’t a big deal. We drove the boat approximately 50 miles over the first 4 days of our trip and then a rod bearing started making noise so we decided to head back into the main channel at idle speed to flag someone down as we had no cell service and we were approximately 11-km from Temagami. Someone came by and alerted Three Buoys who came out to tow us in. This all happened one day before our trip was scheduled to end. Once at the dock, Jim looked at the prop and commented that there was only some fishing line on it. Then everyone disappeared. I tried calling the office —no answer. I knocked on the door — no answer. The next day I called to settle my bill thinking I might get a 1-day refund because my trip was cut short due to the motor crapping out. The guy from Three Buoys basically accused me of hitting a rock so hard that it bent the lower shaft. He said there was no way I could keep my hand on the tiller because of the vibration. The vibration was the same from the moment I left the dock to when the motor started making noise. The motor made noise even in neutral. He sent me a video of a propeller being turned by hand that was clearly out of balance (When I asked if it was motor #16 (the one I rented) he didn’t know but said it was the “one I brought in”). Basically, he kept cutting me off and wouldn’t consider the scenario that he rented me a motor with a damaged prop and by running it for 4-days, the low level vibration transferred the damage up the drive shaft to the motor and it wore out. (My Dad is a mechanic and a longtime boater. He called it from the start saying this motor did NOT sound right from the get go. He was right!). He has been an outdoorsman all his life and we had actually brought our own motor along but decided to leave it in the car since the rental had more horsepower. Bottom line is that Three Buoys took my $200 deposit, kept my extra day rental (another $90) and told me I should be grateful I didn’t get charged for being towed back to base. I regret having not read these other reviews earlier and didn’t realize how poorly rated this company was. I was considering renting a houseboat from them in 2021 but not anymore. I strongly recommend anyone renting anything from them to take pictures before and after and not settle for anything less than an undamaged prop. Do not let the staff run off without settling the bill in person because you don't have much of a leg to stand on over the phone after the fact.
Other than that, we had a nice trip which unfortunately was spoiled in the end by this incident. Renter beware! Do your homework. As for me, I will not be recommending this company or returning. I will though, return to the Temagami area. It is beautiful.

Escrita el 27 de setiembre de 2020

Esta opinión es la opinión subjetiva de un miembro de Tripadvisor, no de Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor les hace controles a todas las opiniones.

Nancy Paterson

1 aporte

In a Word - Disgusting

set. de 2020

So disappointing! The boat was old, smelly and uncomfortable, certainly nothing as advertised. The floor was spongy and the linoleum was ripped and had holes. The pull-out beds were old shabby and uncomfortable. The “stateroom” was a joke, the bed was small and the plastic covered mattress was so thin it was like lying on the bare bunk. The sliding door at the front of the boat didn’t close and when the temperature went low at night the wind blew in and it was freezing. The man who gave the orientation warned us not to run the furnace all night or we’d kill the battery, yet surprisingly he had a generator we could rent from him for $300 cash! The bathroom was beyond description. To suggest one could bath or shower is a joke. The toilet smelled when we arrived and got progressively worse as the trip went on to the point it was actually sickening. Much of our food in the old fridge froze and had to be discarded. The anchor was dug in to the bottom and we experienced extreme difficulty getting it out. We finally had to cut the line after working on it for well over an hour because the cleat was about to come out of the degraded floor of this old boat. This ended up costing us almost $300 over and above our rental. We cut our trip short due to all these discomforts, but absolutely no allowance was made. We would never rent these boats again nor would we recommend that anyone else do so.

Escrita el 16 de setiembre de 2020

Esta opinión es la opinión subjetiva de un miembro de Tripadvisor, no de Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor les hace controles a todas las opiniones.

Sean J

Ottawa, Canadá1 aporte

Do your homework. They are out to take your deposit

jul. de 2020 • Familia

Be very careful when dealing with Three Buoys. We have had a terrible experience this year and they have only taken our deposit and told us it is to bad. We booked two houseboats from them in 2018 for a wedding. Due to a family death they were accommodating and postponed it till 2019. So that part was fair. This year with COVID-19 our guests are coming from the US and east coast and unable to enter in Canada and they would not refund our money. They said it is to bad for us. They did a favour before but they are keeping our deposit and had a stand by list to rent out our boats already. It is very shameful. They essentially are making money off people knowing they are unable to travel. They wouldn’t even offer anything to help share the costs. All they are worried about is the bottom line. So please do your homework and look into everything before booking with them. They will not bend on their deposit policy and making money on quarantine regulations and lack of border access. Hey told us in an email that because our address is not from states we could still attend so they would not accommodate. Which is disgusting as we wanted our family for our wedding and all other companies have been able to accommodate us and make changes due to the changing times. To bad they aren’t running a business like others. It is a shall. Lake Temagami is beautiful and a lovely spot.

Escrita el 22 de julio de 2020

Esta opinión es la opinión subjetiva de un miembro de Tripadvisor, no de Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor les hace controles a todas las opiniones.

ken v

1 aporte

13 years on the houseboat

set. de 2019

We have rented the 3 bouys for 13 years from 3 Bouys. The staff is always friendly and always looked forward to us arriving. We had the same core of 6 every year and added up to 8 a few times. Jim always did a thorough check of boat and told us the things to watch for, as each boat is different. Even though they do advertise 10 , 7 or 8 would be the max. shoal maps are given and lake experience is a must. there are water rules you must abide by and respect. the few mechanical problems we had they were out within the hour to help and fix/replace if needed. remember however is is not a hotel , you will rough it once you get to campgrounds on lake... a plank is recommended as we take our own. we will go back but our run for now is over .

Escrita el 18 de mayo de 2020

Esta opinión es la opinión subjetiva de un miembro de Tripadvisor, no de Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor les hace controles a todas las opiniones.

David Robertson

Toronto, Canadá5 aportes

No Truth in Advertising with this company!

set. de 2019

It’s too bad! It could have been a great cruise but it turned out to be a huge and expensive disappointment. If ever there was a case of a breach of truth in advertising, this was it, which just goes to prove the old adage…..Buyer beware!!
I booked our houseboat months before from Australia where I live. I spent over $5000 to rent a houseboat and a 14’ dinghy from Three Buoys Houseboats on Lake Temagami for a week. This was a houseboat that was advertised to cater for 10 people. It was a struggle to accommodate even 5 people!! This houseboat could not possibly accommodate 10 people unless they were all children and I am not exaggerating. It had one cramped private room and an upstairs loft with a ceiling that was so low, about 3 foot high, that the adult couple that had to sleep there could only crawl around. Downstairs, the remaining sleeping quarters consisted of a pull-out couch that was so shabby and so in need of repairs that it took 3 of us about 10 minutes to be able to properly pull it out. According to our friend who had to sleep there, it was dreadfully uncomfortable to sleep on as well. But the worst part of the whole accommodation was that both the front and back sliding doors could not be latched closed let alone locked! The doors would slide open with every rock of the boat or with any substantial winds. Given that we were boating in September, there was plenty of wind and rain and it was very cold and uncomfortable.
Upon our return to the dock at the end of the week, the company then advised me that the propeller had a ding in it and that we would be charged an additional $150 for its repair. I then pointed out the faults that we encountered after we were well up the lake on our first day and that we could do nothing about. When asked if Three Buoys would consider a little ‘quid pro quo’ in consideration for the faults and shabby condition of the houseboat that we had to endure, the owner just said “Forget it! It aint happening!”
Later, when I was visiting Bobcaygeon, Ontario, I checked out identical houseboats and this rental company never advertised that they could accommodate 10 people but rather that these size houseboats could comfortably accommodate 2 couples and a couple of children. These houseboats were in far better condition inside with modern furnishings and fittings……no comparison to Three Buoys Houseboats!
I would never recommend Three Buoys Houseboats so once again, the old adage applies, Buyer beware!

Escrita el 27 de noviembre de 2019

Esta opinión es la opinión subjetiva de un miembro de Tripadvisor, no de Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor les hace controles a todas las opiniones.

* Se agota rápidamente: según los datos de reservaciones de Viator y la información del proveedor de los últimos 30 días, es probable que esta experiencia se agote rápidamente en Viator, una empresa de Tripadvisor.

Three Buoys Houseboat Vacations (Temagami) - Lo que se debe saber antes de viajar - Tripadvisor