Owning a Boat is EXPENSIVE!

[Guzzi]

Geez, I read only the first two pages and my head was spinning...that being said, I'll throw in my two cents, which is probably not worth that.
Anyway...

Buying a house is expensive, so I would suggest you rent!

I guess I better sell my house...it's paid for.

Hey, then I can afford a sailboat!

[SSBN506]

I think what should be remembered is boating is as expensive as you make it. Much like anything. If you buy a new BMW Z4 you better be able to afford it. But just because you can’t afford a Z4 doesn’t mean you can’t have a car. I think his article should have been “Don’t by a boat you can’t afford there is more than the purchase price to consider”.

I have a 25ft 1978 sailboat in a town with a population of less than 200,000 and one sailboat club with two locations on the river and one on a lake down the river.

Cost
Boat $7500
Club membership $375 for the year (this includes a mooring)
Winter storage $200
Launch and hall out $120 per
Insurance $120 for the year.
Yearly engine checkup $250
Yearly sail checkup $250

So it cost me around 1315 + gass per year.

For some people that is nothing and for others it is a lot of money. Now move my boat to Toronto or Boston and the price will go up. Could go up big time. But people buy what they can afford. If all I could afford was a 8ft sailing dingy that is what I would have. If I could afford 42 ft Hunter I would have one.

For me the act of sailing that you could also get from a charter is only part of it. I would say for me 50%. 50% sailing, 25% working on my boat 10% status 15% love of the water.
My point is it is different for all people and we get what we can afford. For me I would rather own an old BMW or boat then Rent a new one.

[SailChick20]

Captain Obvious does have a valid point or two....it seems as though many people do tend to just jump in, before considering all costs and actual time available to use it. Fools in that category have made their own bed, IMO.

Pour moi, a GenX/Y...the cost is ridiculous, yes....but, I would pay much more to keep what I get back from sailing.

1. Friends I've met through it...that are true...willing to reciprocate help when needed (saves$!), and "get" what sailing gives you. There's nothing like sailing with friends who share your passion...often no need for words, just the wind.

2. A place to go. You know, those times when you just need to unwind...or be alone...or think? I've had days when it was too rough to go out alone...and just polished, tinkered around or read on the boat...and felt nearly as rejuvenated. When I have a bad day at work, all I can think about is how soon I can get out of the harbor (I'm lucky to be only 2 miles away..and able to sail 4-5 days/week).

3. Confidence/optimism that spills over into life. After a challenging day sailing, once I get back on the ball...I think to myself...you are an effing bad@ss for handling this today...and remember that when I'm feeling initimated or nervous in other situations. Maybe that's more of a benefit to being a woman that sails....

4. The equivalent to a lake cottage, but I don't have to drive through hours of gridlocked traffic to arrive there...plus, I can take my "cottage" to new places.

Seriously, I think I could make this list pages long...but you all know what I mean. I would get another job if it meant I could keep my boat (and the pages of reasons, even if they don't make the greatest financial sense). If I were to have to move voluntarily, I would first look for an area that could accomodate my sailing. This is not something I ever want to be without...money issues or not.

Happy New Year, SN!

-Kristen

[Yamsailor]

Sailchick20

--I think your view is great.

[Cope44]

Ok here goes...

I always wanted a power boat.

A real fast one, with two engines. I grew up racing boats on the weekend with my folks. Flat bottom fast jet boats in the delta. I worked at the power boat expo, I worked at the big ocean races. I just knew in my heart I would someday own one, what ever the cost. I eventually moved away, and did not get any time on boats for a few years.
I live in a lake town and would sit on the beach with my friends and watch the power boats go by. The real sweet ones you can hear before you see em! I would tell my friends about how much fun it was, and how I will own one some day. Well time passes as it dose and I became fast friends with a guy who owned a sail boat. The boat had not been in the water in "forever". He was not even sure it would float.
Well us power boaters All know sail boats are G@y, But what the heck, it would get me out on the water. I would be a little closer to my dream boats. He had no interest in the boat or fixing it up. It was left to him in a will, and had sentimental value. Neither he, nor I knew how to sail.
A few stupid questions here, and a book, well more of a pamphlet really, from the used book store, A lot of elbow grease, a lot of fiberglass dust, A little bit of money, I do mean a little bit. The back registration was like $30.00. And now we sail on the lake and I no longer want a power boat, Ok, well maby a little bit.

As stated before any thing that gets you out there is what it's all about.

I smile every time I look at the boat on the lawn, and THAT will never devalue.


Last but not least my friend now loves the boat and remembers it's previous owner every time we talk about it or take it out. The boat went from a eye sore to a proud vessel.

I guess what I'm trying to say is my boat has "gained value" in the eyes of at least two people.

Cope

[N0NJY]

Last but not least my friend now loves the boat and remembers it's previous owner every time we talk about it or take it out. The boat went from a eye sore to a proud vessel.

And that's what it's all about.....

Thanks Cope.

[imagine2frolic]

COSTS? I don't have to worry about any stinking cost. An addict doesn't worry about cost.....JUST GIVE ME MY FIX .......give me 20 to 35 knots on the quarter with no land in sight, or an anchorage with a beautiful sunset! I'll pay anything, do anything, say anything, and be happy to be able to do so, and get my fix!!!!!!!!! It goes beyond reasoning.....It's an ADDICTION! ........i2f

[Joesaila]

A boat is a hole in the water...I would not want to be without. Especially my sailboat. I can spend money on enjoying it, or leave the dough in a bank. While its better logic to always 'count the cost', I'm committed to enjoying life now.

[bubb2]

Was it not said, "if it were not for the the boat, I would just spend my money on women and booze."

[seawitch1906]

Originally Posted by N0NJY

No one is actually disputing your expenses. They are "what they are". They are for all of us. I'm a NEW sailor, haven't even put the boat in the water yet. I've already spent (somewhat less than) 10K. My wife and I intially laid out a cost of around 20K for everything from training to buying a first boat.

We're 50% below that and I don't expect any more major expenses until I go to get a bigger boat.

We're working out a budget for that now... and do not expect to actually purchase a boat for at LEAST a year, perhaps three more. So, it's kind of up in the air at the moment. Things could change.

MY issue with your post was the way you directed your message to "All you dreamers".....

THAT's where I have the problem.

Life is complex enough in this day and age for us all, Internet, Satellite TV, GPSes, text messaging, cars with computers that won't start when the battery voltage.

My wife and I are really several years from "retirement". Our "dream" was discussed once or twice some thirty years ago - then life happened, children, major medical issues with some of the kids forcing year long hospital stays, the death of a child, moving constantly for 20 years, finally settling one place, about as freakin' far in the US as you can get from an ocean.

The dream was there in both our heads, but we never really again discussed going sailing, traveling the world or getting out of Colorado. I was resigned to the fact I'd be settling down in "Little House on the Prairie" where my kids and grand kids could come visit me, ride a horse or milk a cow, or shoot some guns, bows and arrows or simply have a good glass of home brew beer or mead.

Then, something clicked one day. My wife and I were discussing that "retirement" and when I asked her what she wanted to do, she said, "I'm not sure what I want to do, but I'll tell you what I DON'T want to do... that's just quit. Stop doing things. I want to travel. "

I asked her, "How would you like to sail?"

She said, "Absolutely. Yes. Let's do that."

There was a bit more discussion of course, about things like RVs and traveling the country and so on, but we both knew deep down that our love for the Caribbean would win out. So it was decided.

The dream, Sir, is becoming real for us, day by day. It's still a few years away, and I've got plenty of work to do - but I've not been sailing for sixty years like you - it's not something which I have "grown tired" or doing yet, and certainly it isn't something with which we've become jaded seeing others let their boats rot.

I've seen enough nonsense and crap, death and destruction in my life to last several lifetimes - and I want to do something *I* want to do, not "work for the government" or "be on call". I don't give a damned how much I end up spending and I don't really want someone to kick me in the gonads and tell me to "quit dreaming".

That's my gripe with you. And it's one I'll stand here and tell EVERYONE that you're wrong about.

You're wrong.

As others have already said in different ways, it's not the cost of doing something that you enjoy, rather it is the priceless memories and experiences you gain that make you a better person for what you're doing.

With that I'll tell you we'd decided on a name for the boat - from a Buffet song - and I'm certainly not (as most know) an Obama fan with his "Change" crap he pushed on the public... but the "Winds of Change" is the name of the boat and that's what it'll remain.

Rick

yes and yes ! that is my problem with this self elected lecturer ,[EDIT-JRP] .. if you read my prev posts.
When you stop dreaming mind is well put a bullet to your head
I hope all your plan come to reality and spend that money ! go sailing
wish you fair wind my friend

the Witch