In July of 2011, my wife, Kristen received a call regarding her cousin, Zachary Amos. Zac bravely battled Acute Myeloid Leukemia for three years and the doctors said he would only have 2-4 weeks to live. Zac had to wishes one of which happened to be to go on a houseboat.

My wife set out on a mission to fulfill Zac's final wishes. We didn't know anyone who owned a houseboat or even a cruiser! Through networking and a miracle, we eventually got connected with an awesome family, Chris and Dessie Bostick who owned a beautiful Somerset houseboat on Percy Priest Lake near Nashville, TN. 

Inspired by Zac and our day on the Bostick's boat, Kristen and I decided we wanted a boat of our own, but neither one of us had ever owned or operated a boat before. We looked at several web sites with boat listings and were amazed by both the price range and quality of boats. After viewing a 34' cruiser and considering our two sons, Connor and Caleb, who were four and three years old at the time, we determined we needed the space that only a houseboat could provide. We wanted a relatively newer houseboat since we would not have time for a fixer-upper with our busy work lives.  We looked at a few different boats on Percy Priest Lake, Tim's Ford Lake, and Center Hill Lake with no success. Either it was too old, too expensive, too small, too big, or not well kept-none met our criteria. We started losing faith in our houseboat dream until we found a listing for a 2006 Sailabration that was located at Volunteer Landing in Knoxville, TN. We fell in love with it instantly!

The 16'X66' Sailabration had a spacious side hallway floor plan with two cabins, two bathrooms, a full galley with stainless steel Kenmore appliances, a party top complete with bar and bimini, upper helm controls, jet ski ramp, and a waterslide!  What struck us most about this boat was the very tasteful decorating and use of dark-wood paneling throughout.  When Kevin called the boat's broker, the broker said, it was under contact, but he'd call if something changed. We sadly thumbed back through the internet, but couldn't find anything like our boat we had already set our hearts upon. One week later, the broker called back with great news saying it was back on the market. After being on the boat we found ourselves putting down the money and a few weeks later we had the keys.To fulfill the Coast Guard's registration, we were told we needed to name the boat. The name quickly came to us. "Lake-A-Wish" after Zac's last wish for a houseboat ride.

We contracted Sailabration to move Lake-A-Wish from Volunteer Landing to Percy Priest Lake in Nashville, TN. in September 2011. As the boat was only twenty minutes from our house, we found ourselves spending most weekends on the boat. 

Since the first time I stepped aboard the Bostick's houseboat and now every time I'm aboard my own, I feel relaxed and fulfilled. Worries tend to drift away, leaving me with pure time to enjoy with my family. Regardless of illness or how busy everyone is, Lake- A-Wish brings everyone together to relax and enjoy each other's company.

Kristen and I were looking for something to do as a family on the weekends. We looked at lake houses and we considered a small boat. We never thought of combining the two together, and we're so glad we did.