Owning a boat helped me avoid a much larger mistake.
Truth be told, until this spring, I owned 4 boats, but please hold the face punches for a moment. I bought my first boat, a 15 foot day sailor from my father. I still own it but plan to sell it. My second boat was a 18’ "bow rider" for water-skiing/ wake-boarding.
The wife and I bought it together to use at the lake house we rent a couple of times a year. At the time (early fall, 2007) we were planning on eventually buying a lakefront vacation house and reasoned that getting a boat before the house would let us partake in those on water activities without waiting. We paid $5,300 (negotiated down from $6k) for a 1994 fiberglass ski boat. The first few outings we discovered a few mechanical problems which were easily fixed (starter rebuilt, new impeller, etc.). We used it quite often (a couple times a month) the first couple of summers, making the 90 mile trek each way to the lake where we kept it in a self-storage unit for $100/ month (My HOA does not allow boats/RVs to be visible in your yard or driveway). And of course we always had it out for the rented house weekends.
We all learned to wake board (nieces, nephews, siblings and friends) and had a good time. As we got more skilled, we preferred the best conditions: glass smooth water. But glass conditions are hit or miss, so when conditions got choppy, it was no longer much fun bouncing around on the waves. Plus, I was usually the default driver which meant no drinking when I would prefer to be bobbing in the water with a cold beer. In addition, life has a way of offering up other activities each weekend that are more appealing than a 3 hour round trip drive to the lake to spend 2 hours on the water. So we used it less and less.
But it still needed annual maintenance, which all fell to me: drive up, change oil, filters, belts, spark plugs, take out of storage and drive 5 more miles to lake to start engine so you can “fog” the cylinders to store it for winter, drive back to storage, then drive 90 miles home. Ugh.
Plus, we were still paying $100/month for storage. By 2015, we were using it once or twice a year. By this time we had paid more in storage fees than the original boat. I wanted to sell. That was also the year I discovered MMM. After a few days of teary discussions, the wife came around and agreed that we weren’t using it and that it wasn’t worth owning.
I spoke w/ a dealer who politely avoided laughing in my face when I asked about consignment. He showed me the “blue book” of boats quote and suggested I list it on Craigslist, which I did. I gratefully sold it about 2 months ago for $1,000. Good riddance and I am pleased it went to someone who is planning to use it.
This whole experience made me realize how much I do NOT want to own lakefront (or any other) vacation property. I now know myself and would end up resenting all the required maintenance on property that is an hour and a half drive away. And we simply wouldn’t end up using it like we fantasize; at least not after the initial novelty has worn off. I could still see us relocating to some lake property as our permanent residence after we both retire.
So what about the other remaining boats? One is a cedar strip canoe that I built over the course of 14 months. It hangs inexpensively from the rafters in the garage and mostly collects dust but is super pretty. The other is a 17 foot wooden sailboat that I built over the course of 2.5 years. It resides in the back yard, hidden from the HOA’s offended eyes. It’s also super pretty. It’s also much roomier and more stable than the little racing boat I bought from my dad, which is why I will soon sell that. But none of them are costing me storage fees, so no real rush.