CHARLEVOIX, MI – John Winn jokingly tells people he and his wife are selling their lakefront home on Round Lake “because we need a bigger boathouse and a smaller house.”

The “bigger boathouse” part is hard to believe when you consider what the co-founder of the Four Winns boat manufacturing company is putting on the real estate market for $6.99 million.

The five-bedroom Nantucket-style house is built around a massive boathouse that has three large bays and several storage rooms that hold and display about 30 of Winn’s antique, wooden and recreational vessels and boating related paraphernalia.

Winn, who retired 12 years ago from the Cadillac-based company he founded in 1975 with his two brothers and father, has lived in the waterfront mansion they built in the heart of Charlevoix’s Round Lake harbor since 2003.

Now that he and his wife, Zita, are empty-nesters, Winn said he wants to build a new house just for the two of them – and more boats.

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Winn acknowledges their house was built for well-heeled boat lovers and may not appeal to everyone.

“But when I find that guy, I’ll have no competition,” Winn said with a laugh.

Although the Andre Poineau-designed house was built around the boathouse, the 10,437-square-foot mansion does not suffer by comparison.

RELATED: See a video in which designer Andre Poineau walks you through the Winn house.

From its low profile facade on Belvedere Street in Charlevoix, the nautical-themed house does not overwhelm as guests cross a bridge to get to the entrance.

Inside, the heart of the home revolves around a large “chart room’ offers a space for entertaining. It includes a bowling alley, billiards, shuffleboard and banks of windows to look at the boathouse, where gleaming wooden boats and boating paraphernalia are on display.

The nautical theme extends throughout the interior, where most of the walls, ceilings and floors are made of mahogany. Beyond its old ship motif, the darker interior also keeps the home’s interior private despite its prominent location in the busy harbor.

The decks overlooking the harbor also are designed to offer sweeping vistas without compromising privacy.

The main floor also includes two living rooms, two bars, a sun porch with a fireplace off the kitchen and an office with a private deck overlooking Round Lake.

On the upper and lower levels, there are five bedrooms and a guest or nanny’s apartment. A 3-story elevator links all the floors, which boast a total of seven full bathrooms and four half-baths.

Keeping everything warm and lit are four fireplaces, four hot water boilers to heat the boathouse, home and a snowmelt system underneath the driveway. A 1,100-amp electrical service provides power to the boat hoists and the five air conditioning condensers.

Thanks to good insulation and heating system, the water in the bays never freeze in the winter, said Winn, who estimated his winter energy bills run between $1,000 and $1,200 a month.

Despite its daunting size and price tag, Realtor Pat O'Brien of Pat O'Brien & Associates said he's confident he will find a new owner for the home, which he has co-listed with Sotheby's International Realty.

The listing, which was featured in the Wall Street Journal's "Mansion" section last weekend, has already drawn the attention of several qualified individuals, he said.

“The quality of this house is just unbelievable,” O’Brien said. “Andre Poineau is an artist as much as he is a builder. He’s done some of the finest houses on Lake Charlevoix.”

Indeed, Winn said he probably will engage Poineau for his next house once they find a property on which to build in the Charlevoix area.

“We’ll do some of the same things,” said Winn, who said he’s built six new homes in the past 20 years. “It will just be down-sized with everybody gone now.”

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E-mail Jim Harger: jharger@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/JHHarger