Philosophical question: The cost of making family memories

[trinnyfam]

Hi all,
I did a bit of searching the forums for anything related to boating and didn't find much.
Here's my backstory...The hubs and I have 6 kiddos and live 1/2 mile from the boat launch to a lake that surrounds us on a peninsula in central Washington. His salary just went from 50K to 90K. We want a boat to take the kids tubing/wakeboarding and create many boating memories that we have from when we were kids ourselves.
Here's the wrench: We want to retire on time; possibly early.
The philosophical question is:
At what point do you divert from socking it away to make time for a little memory making in the form of boating with the family? Do you divert at all? Do you just go full steam ahead with your building your stash and not make the investment in the family culture/legacy you want to build?
What are your thoughts on finding a happy medium between these two mindsets?

[jamesbond007]

Is renting a possibility?

[Mgmny]

Buy a boat - but realize that you won't have more fun on a $30k boat (or $100k boat) than you would on a $5k boat. Go on Craigslist and find a good, used boat.

[Mgmny]

https://yakima.craigslist.org/boa/d/caravelle-br/6239374909.html

I just picked Yakima craigslist, but this is a good deal for a boat. Boat technology doesn't change a whole lot, so a 1990s boat isn't a whole lot different than a 2017 boat.

[surfhb]

https://yakima.craigslist.org/boa/d/caravelle-br/6239374909.html

I just picked Yakima craigslist, but this is a good deal for a boat. Boat technology doesn't change a whole lot, so a 1990s boat isn't a whole lot different than a 2017 boat.

Dang!   That's a good deal.   

How many years does $4000 and yearly upkeep throw back your FIRE date?     Does that calculation work for you?

FIRE isn't everything ya know.    I think many on this forum loose site of this and take the ER thing too far. 

[shawndoggy]

I've blown a bunch of $$$ boating.  I don't regret a single penny of it.  I'm really more just sad that it's basically going to be over when my youngest heads off to school this fall, and my only regret is that I didn't buy one when my kids were younger.

Buy a boat - but realize that you won't have more fun on a $30k boat (or $100k boat) than you would on a $5k boat. Go on Craigslist and find a good, used boat.

This is kinda true and kinda not.  If you want to do towsports, and especially if you want to surf, the $5K boat is unlikely to be capable or safe.  I think the pricepoints would be you won't have more fun on a $100k boat than you will on a $30k boat.

v-drive inboard with tower, ballast, perfect pass, reasonable number of hours is going to be $20K minimum (likely for a 21' boat) and up to $30-35 for a 23' boat.  Even a decent sized direct drive with tower ballast and PP would be $15-20K.

And those would be smoking deal/winter/go get it right now prices.  The good news is that boats at that age/pricepoint will depreciate very little if at all. 

[trinnyfam]

THank you my fellow money nerds! Its so great to have this resource to bounce ideas off of eachother. I appreciate everyone's thoughts on this. It's given me some more info. for the gray matter in my brain to munch on. you all rock!

[Mgmny]

I've blown a bunch of $$$ boating.  I don't regret a single penny of it.  I'm really more just sad that it's basically going to be over when my youngest heads off to school this fall, and my only regret is that I didn't buy one when my kids were younger.

Buy a boat - but realize that you won't have more fun on a $30k boat (or $100k boat) than you would on a $5k boat. Go on Craigslist and find a good, used boat.

This is kinda true and kinda not.  If you want to do towsports, and especially if you want to surf, the $5K boat is unlikely to be capable or safe.  I think the pricepoints would be you won't have more fun on a $100k boat than you will on a $30k boat.

v-drive inboard with tower, ballast, perfect pass, reasonable number of hours is going to be $20K minimum (likely for a 21' boat) and up to $30-35 for a 23' boat.  Even a decent sized direct drive with tower ballast and PP would be $15-20K.

And those would be smoking deal/winter/go get it right now prices.  The good news is that boats at that age/pricepoint will depreciate very little if at all.

You can still do tow sports. Water skiing recreationally and tubing just fine. Maybe you can't barefoot, wake board or surf, but is that really worth $25k if your goal is just to make family memories?

The OP wants a family boat to make memories, not professional wake boarding

[shawndoggy]

The OP wants a family boat to make memories, not professional wake boarding

LOL, because those are obviously the only two choices.

A bowrider will definitely pull tubes.  For sure. 

look I'd rather have a crappy pontoon and be on the lake than not.  But as anathema as it is to this site, sometimes in my life there have been times when I've ended up spending more by buying twice (or three or four times) before I pony up to buy what I really wanted, whereas if I'd have just bought the right one to begin with it'd have been cheaper.  That's the only point I was trying to make.  Something like a 2005 malibu vlx can be found for under 30k and would be a great boat for a family for a long time... and you could surf behind it.

If surfing isn't important, agree most anything will do.  even so, for watersports I'd still skew inboard.  And definitely recommend a tower, if only to get wakeboards and other toys in racks and off the floor.

https://seattle.craigslist.org/est/boa/d/mb-boss-plus/6243227046.html
https://spokane.craigslist.org/boa/d/ski-challenger-direct-drive/6184503869.html
https://olympic.craigslist.org/boa/d/mb-sports/6244177947.html
https://wenatchee.craigslist.org/boa/d/mastercraft-maristar/6226801582.html

[waltworks]

If you want the kids to rip it, get some windsurfing gear.

-W

[bigalsmith101]

Hi all,
I did a bit of searching the forums for anything related to boating and didn't find much.
Here's my backstory...The hubs and I have 6 kiddos and live 1/2 mile from the boat launch to a lake that surrounds us on a peninsula in central Washington. His salary just went from 50K to 90K. We want a boat to take the kids tubing/wakeboarding and create many boating memories that we have from when we were kids ourselves.
Here's the wrench: We want to retire on time; possibly early.
The philosophical question is:
At what point do you divert from socking it away to make time for a little memory making in the form of boating with the family? Do you divert at all? Do you just go full steam ahead with your building your stash and not make the investment in the family culture/legacy you want to build?
What are your thoughts on finding a happy medium between these two mindsets?

What lake? Banks? Moses? Chelan? My parents have a small house in Coulee City.

A good used boat can be had for a good deal if you look hard and make the right choice. Good luck!

[Bicycle_B]

A judgment call.  Some rule of thumb ideas: 

1. If you're saving 50% despite the boat purchase, go for it.  Less than 25% or some other number implying slow/failed FIRE, go to the lake but with swimsuits, fishing poles, etc. instead of boat. 
2. As others said, buy at a price point where resale value is close to purchase price.
3. If you succeed re purchase price, the cost most relevant to 1 is maintenance and operation.

Good luck!

[mustachepungoeshere]

Buy the boat.

Most of my childhood centered around skiing with my extended family.

We've had the same speed boat for 20 years; my grandfather replaced the motor twice but did the work himself. We have a shared collection of life jackets and wetsuits. The only rule was you had to wear one, so you wore whatever fit. Same with skis.

A few of us bought our own gear as we got older, and we started contributing to fuel costs, etc, because we recognised the huge familial value.

[MidwestnRich]

You know what BOAT stands for? Break Out Another Thousand. A friend of mine who's dad was big into sailing on the ocean told me, "You want to know what it's like to sail on the ocean? Take a cold shower with your clothes on while ripping up $100 bills."

In all seriousness though, it CAN be done on the cheap! My wife and I have a Sunfish sailboat (google it) that we take to lakes with our 1 year old even! It's a tiny boat, little or no maintenance, and it was free as a fixer-upper from some friends. I think it's way more Mustachian than all the redneck boats filling the lake with stinky two-stroke exhaust. Or the 50 year olds in a mid life crisis screaming across the lake on a jet ski. >.<

[Fishindude]

I'm a boat guy, and living that close to such nice water, you should definitely have a boat.
Perfectly good, used ski boats are readily available and can be purchased pretty cheap.   Bet you can get a real nice one for under $10K, just start watching Craigslist.
Get something with I/O drive and an automobile type engine and they are pretty trouble free.

Always pay cash for toys, never borrow.
And with boats and boat trailers, plan on a few surprise $$ repairs / expenses.

[KCM5]

Are you handy?

Those older boats are great, but do require work. My parents boat (a 1986 they've had since the 1990s) requires almost annual repairs on the engine. A lot of it is regular maintenance, but things break as well. My dad has also pretty much replaced the entire underside/floor of the boat due to it rotting. The boat looks to be in great shape, is stored on a hoist with a cover in the summer and garaged in the winter. The water just means that they require work.

But it also pulls up a skiier in no time and puts out a great wake for wakeboarding. It's an inboard/outboard, so I don't think you would surf behind it (I've never tried wake surfing, so I really have no idea).

[ender]

The thing with buying boats is that if you use them once or twice a year, they are a giant waste of money.

If you use them 10 weekends every summer along with a couple weeks? The "cost per use" goes down dramatically though it will still be decently high.