If the vision you have of a houseboat is of the small, squat variety, the “Dragon Boat” house, part of Sept. 14’s Floating Homes Tour, will definitely sink those beliefs.
The Dragon Boat, built in 1980, is the tallest houseboat in Sausalito, its four stories towering over all its neighbors. The houseboat has been featured on the Travel Channel, Today Show and HGTV, and now is part of the Floating Home Association’s tour of 12 Sausalito houseboats.
The popular tour, which returns after a one year hiatus, allows houseboat owners and would-be owners alike to see what life on a houseboat can be like.
Leni Miller’s houseboat is unique in several ways, evident by the first step through a leaded-glass door with a red-eyed dragon. The cream-colored limestone foyer opens to a living and dining room with 20-foot high ceilings covered with billowing fabric. A private deck off the living room has a stairway down to a float where kayaks are tethered for adventures.
A high mezzanine overhangs the modern, marble-countered kitchen, which provides an open water view, and a perfect setting for her meditation and media center.
The master suite opens onto a large deck and yields an unobstructed view of Mount Tamalpais and the neighboring marina. A marble fireplace occupies a corner of the suite, which has a California king canopied bed. The white marble master bath has brass dolphin fixtures and etched mermaid glass, but there also is a private bath with marble floor and claw foot tub next to the upstairs guest bedroom.
The roof deck is a favorite place for watching fireworks from Sausalito, San Francisco and, weather permitting, even the East Bay.
The lower level of the home serves as headquarters for Miller’s business, EASearch.
The Dragon Boat
Address: 51 Issaquah
Owner: Leni Miller
Square footage: 2,900
No. of stories: 4
Tickets: Prepaid registration is $50 per person; $55 on tour day
Time: 11 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Sept. 14
Location: Tour events are anchored at the Kappas Marina Green, 100 Gate Six Road, Sausalito, where there will be live entertainment, food and refreshments for sale, and artists and authors from the community offering their creations for sale. The popular tour is the primary fund raiser for the association and also benefits other local non-profits, including Sausalito Village and the Friends of the Marin City Library.
Other homes
Check out the other homes featured on the tour:
- Floating on a dream
- “White Elephant” houseboat focuses on whimsy, eclectic art
- Houseboat is a salute to modern Danish art and Hawaiian wood
- Tiny houseboat makes a big statement
- Romance is only part of this houseboat’s attraction
- Floating museum celebrates Denmark, old San Francisco and Jimmy Carter
- Landlubber transforms houseboat and himself
- Summer always in season on this Sausalito houseboat
- Colorful floating home suits a ‘pair of docs’
- Contractor takes his floating home ‘by storm’ to build his dream
- Transforming tiny floating home into a weekend getaway
