Thoughts on Being a Boat Owner
I have always heard that buying a boat just isn’t worth it. People talk about the maintenance and repair costs. I took that all into consideration and went ahead and bought me a boat at the end of last summer.
I’m not rich by any means so I bought a pretty cheap used boat. It’s a 17′ 1997 Dynasty. I got it so I could enjoy summers more out on the lake and try my hand at wakeboarding. That is why I made sure to get a boat with the wakeboarding tower on it. It also has a small 4 cylinder engine that is good on gas and probably a little easier to work on. It has plenty of power to pull a wakeboarder though so no complaints there.
So far I haven’t had too many problems with it. I have had the normal maintenance costs with a boat like maintaining the engine and seasonal prep work. I also understand that miscellaneous bills will occur, but luckily since it is an older boat the costs won’t be too bad.
The boat so far has definitely been worth it. My friends and I have had fun out on the lake and by having my own, I can go out anytime I want. I can only think of one reason why people regret buying a boat. That reason has to be that they stretch themselves too thin. Maybe they get more boat than they really can afford so the upkeep just isn’t worth it. I guess another valid reason would be if the boat they purchased was a complete lemon.
I actually do want a bigger boat. Not too much bigger but around 20-22 feet would be nice. That way it would be more comfortable having a good number of people on board. To accomplish this though I’m going to try to save up some money for next summer and then combine that with what I can get for my current boat. I’m hoping this will allow me to get what I want without having to spread myself too thin financially.
Looking at the costs of new boats, I’ll probably go the used route again. I know with new boats you can stretch out the payments for a long time, but I think that is where people get in trouble. So I’m going to do my best to avoid that and keep focused on keeping the fun factor to cost ratio higher!
There’s a saying that the two happiest days of being a boat owner is the day you buy one and the day you sell it. So far I don’t see that as a valid saying. I’ll be very sad if I have to sell mine without getting another.
