Summer toys thread

[Posaune]

I claimed to have a boat a few posts back, but in reality it's my brother's. I just pay him a small fee to use it. I used to own a boat and this is WAY cheaper and easier. And it's a better boat to boot.

 

[pais alto]

 

[graham418]

There is something to be said for that ......but compared to racing, boat maintenance is nothing.

Try boat racing! , or to be exact , sailboat racing. And you thought skiing was expensive!

 

[crgildart]

There is something to be said for that ......but compared to racing, boat maintenance is nothing.

Give it 5 years or so. Boats are bottomless money pits, even a brand new one will be surprisingly costly. Water, spending the entire useful life in water, puts immense stress on anything and everything other than fish. I've only had one boat in the family but know tons of boat enthusiasts. Few will deny that it is a full time job to keep any vessel sea worthy.

 

[noncrazycanuck]

wish i was in Pousane position,
currently have 3 boats and the 2nd daughter just asked if i'm interested in sharing a bigger 4th.
NO

 

[Core2]

I claimed to have a boat a few posts back, but in reality it's my brother's. I just pay him a small fee to use it. I used to own a boat and this is WAY cheaper and easier. And it's a better boat to boot.

This is the best way to "have a boat."

 

[graham418]

By definition, a boat is "a hole in the water into which you pour money"

 

[Uncle-A]

I think I may have posted it previously but this is one of my summer toys.

Summer Toy

• Uncle-A
• Apr 21, 2016

 

[Zrxman01]

As much as I would like a $4k 14 ft full on carbon race SUP These three "yachts" fit in my trunk!!!

There is life after windsurfing.

 

[Jeff N]

Owning a boat is OK. Having a good friend who owns and maintains a boat is much better!

I agree.

 

[Jeff N]

Give it 5 years or so. Boats are bottomless money pits, even a brand new one will be surprisingly costly. Water, spending the entire useful life in water, puts immense stress on anything and everything other than fish. I've only had one boat in the family but know tons of boat enthusiasts. Few will deny that it is a full time job to keep any vessel sea worthy.

A boat can be a lot of maintenance, but an ounce of prevention is definitely worth a pound of cure. If you want to work on a boat all the time, leave it in the water. You will guarantee that everything that can rot will rot, and leaving a boat in the water means that whenever something intended to keep water out of the boat fails, the worst outcome happens.

If you store a boat out of the water, covered, and don't let fuel get stale, you can actually have a pretty good run. Most boats have a plywood floor for archaic reasons and those will eventually rot. Critters can be a nightmare in the offseason. But usually boats die because of neglect- left in the water, leak formed, boat sunk. Not changing oil. Left with stale gas for a few seasons. Trailer neglect matters too- not greasing wheel bearings a big one. Not fixing little things and letting them become big things, and just being a dumb operator is where I see most broken boats come from.

As for my vintage of jet skis, not money pits at all. I have about $3,500 in my current setup. 2 strokes are simple- if they have spark and gas, they run. If you run premix, you know they are oiled. If you don't let untreated gas sit in the carbs, the carbs don't foul, and so the only variable is watching compression figures so you know when to spend an afternoon to replace the top end ($300-$500).

Total maintenance costs for 3 boats over the least 5 years is about $700 total. I had two seats recovered for a few hundred bucks, I had to replace a $40 head gasket (took 20 minutes, yay 2 strokes), rebuild 1 carb for about $40, and then I had a starter bendix fail, which led to a flywheel not coming off, which led to disassembly and a re-ring while I was in there. That still only ran about $300, but the boat was out for most of the season.

Jet skis have a fiberglass top, so no real worry about rot. Yes, fiberglass will eventually deteriorate, but keep it out of water and don't smack it and it lasts forever.

As I mentioned and have stated in other places, it has been my experience, and a translatable one, that for as much of a money pit as boats are perceived to be (and the reputation is not undeserved), it is still fairly easy to run boats/jet skis and have it be a much cheaper hobby than skiing. Spend ~$4,000 on a solid older ski boat (late 1980's, early 1990's), something with a car based I/O motor that parts are ubiquitous. The $4,000 or so is not hugely more than what you can expect to spend for ski gear for a family of 4. No season passes to buy, just an annual registration. For me, it is $35 per boat. A state parks pass (most boating lakes around here are state parks) is $75- and covers all boats. A ski boat uses a significant amount of gas- expect a weekend of fun to burn 30 gallons, so call it $90 for a weekend. Jet skis are like motorcycles in that regard- It is rare that I consume more than 5 gallons spread across my 3 boats in a day at the lake, so my fuel costs are a pittance. Compare cost of fuel to season pass costs for a family of four, and that is a lot of weekends at the lake...

Boats last a lot longer than ski gear does, so that $4,000 investment keeps ticking...

I would not recommend anyone buy a new boat, though. Depreciation for luxury items kicks you square in the nuts each and every time. New boats aren't really made differently than the old ones- one of the few big differences is fuel injection has crept in in the past few years, and that is a dubious upgrade for boats- lots more opportunities for corrosion to cause gremlins, and the advantages of FI aren't really felt in the boating environment.

 

[Jeff N]

My wife has a paddleboard. Loves it. I like it too, but it is definitely her toy.