MONTICELLO, Ky. (LEX 18) — Lake Cumberland is known as the houseboat capital of the world, but before any of those boats can be launched, they start on a factory floor like the one at Monticello's Trifecta Houseboats.
It takes a lot of work to build a floating dream home. Robin Brown has seen a lot of dreams come down the factory floor in her sales role at Trifecta.
"Now, this boat right here is one of the biggest that we have ever built," Brown said, gesturing toward a massive boat under construction in their factory. "It's going to Dale Hollow Lake. It's 22 feet wide and 120 feet long."
Brown has been in the boat sales industry for more than 25 years. At her first job, she said, her supervisors were skeptical.
"I told them I would sell a boat in the first week and they said 'Don't set yourself up for failure,'... 'No, I'm going to do it!' and I did."
Now, Brown has made a name for herself.
"To put something like this on the water and know that you had a hand in it every day, that's pretty neat," she said.
The 120 employees build the boats from scratch. They have standard options and also help people bring their custom designs to life.
"On a custom boat, we can make this so it just disappears into the floor," Brown said, as she showed off the control pedestal in a houseboat's living room.
Their production line models start around 1,500 square feet, with spacious living rooms, kitchens, and cleverly designed bedrooms.
"It's a four-bedroom, two-bath, completely furnished," Brown said. "It's totally set up and completely ready to go for $599,000."
Each customer names their boat. One of the most interesting names Brown has heard is "Full Ride."
"I thought, they've got a lot of people, it's going to be full. When I talked to them, they had saved for their daughter's education for years and she got a full ride, so they got a boat!" she said.
They deliver them all over the country. Brown's particularly excited to see Lake Powell on the Utah/Arizona border.
"Because it's so foreign to what the lakes look like here, all the red rocks and the desert area. To me, that's, when I see it, it's beautiful. I'm so excited to go there to get to see it," she said.
It's a career that's given Brown a front-row seat to some incredible creations.
"If you're in sales, as long as I love what I'm selling, I'm so good at it. I love it," she said.
If the best boat is your friend's boat, Brown's got some pretty good options.
