I was chatting the other day with a guy at work. He's come to the realization that it's too expensive hobby and he's selling his set up. Talking numbers with him, here's what it runs:
The trailers are between 8 and 20k, depending on size and details. 4 sleds in 'em are on the order of 10-15k each new, 5k for recent used. Then there's the large truck or SUV to pull it, call that 40-50k. For a full set up, it's easy to be into in for 60-100k. Add to that - the truck is going to be a daily driver, so you're sucking down gas at 15-20MPG versus 30MPG for a more economical car, or even mid to upper 20's for a small SUV (Escape / RAV etc). The wear and depreciation on the sleds, trailer, truck - I'd hate to run the numbers to see what a trip actually costs in terms of dollars per hour....but then again, I doubt many who are into snowmobiling do. A quick search indicates rentals here in the PNW are on the order of 200-350 / day per sled (trailer included) and they only rent 2 or more.
I have to say, by the way, those are actually quite "modest" [giggles] set ups in the picture. At the snow parks I go to (I-90, east of Seattle) I see some truly massive set ups. The huge enclosed trailers with 6 sleds towed by the crew cab 4x4 large truck. After talking with the co-worker, I see those setups as being at least 100k. There are also the guys with 2 sleds on the fancy ramp thing on the back of the full size pick up.
Meanwhile, the GF and I have our low few hundred dollar each cross country ski set up (about the same cost as renting a sled for 1 or 2 days). Other than gas to get there, it costs us nothing (after plunking down for the annual sno park pass) to go skiing.
