Could sell the car... but what about the kayak?

[GreenSheep]

My nearly-9-year-old car is undergoing $1500 in repairs, which is making me re-think owning a car at all. I could easily get by without a car except for the fact that I use my car to transport my kayak to places where I can use it 1-2 times a week. I live in Phoenix, so lakes are about an hour away, and rivers (it's a whitewater kayak) are that far or farther. Have any of you come across a similar problem, and if so, how did you solve it? It seems silly to keep a vehicle solely to transport a kayak, but on the other hand, I don't want to give up kayaking, which is basically free and provides endless amounts of fun and exercise. (The long-term plan is to move, which will put me in a place where water is closer, but that's a few years away.)

Since I am new to kayaking, I'm still in a learning/practicing stage, and I don't have a large circle of kayaking friends yet. Eventually, I might be able to share a ride with someone to go spend a day on a river, if they have space to haul a second kayak, but right now, it's not really fun for someone else to go and just practice rolls and stuff, so I'm on my own.

[Jon_Snow]

Fortunately, living on the BC coast, I can keep my kayaks within steps of the beach and don't NEED to put them on my truck at all. But if I want to explore different regions, having the ability to transport them is very handy.

If you didn't kayak quite so often I would suggest renting...but since you are doing it every week that would get expensive...

As a fellow kayaker (though I am a long distance ocean paddler) I can sympathize with your plight.

[Gone Fishing]

Do you have a friend with a idle car?  Its amazing the number of people with an extra tagged/licensed/insured car sitting unused. I have a friend's sitting in my driveway at the moment! Perhaps you could work out a deal to rent it a day or two a week.   

[calimom]

Is there Zipcar or Getaround in Phoenix?  May be worth looking into for occasional car usage, especially if they have a car model that can handle a kayak.  I'm with you, kayaking is great exercise and a lot of fun.

[peeps_be_peeping]

Trade your kayak in for a whitewater packraft that weighs 7-12 pounds and fits in a backpack.

https://alpackarafts.com/product/alpackalypse/

[bobechs]

Here you go:




http://www.paddling.net/articles/The-Amphibious-Kayak.html

[Jon_Snow]

Yikes...that thing would have bad performance on the land and water. No thanks. *shudder*

;)

[Fishindude]

Just pick up some extra work and pay for the car repairs.
Unfortunate situation, but you just need to suck it up and deal with it.

[GreenSheep]

Just pick up some extra work and pay for the car repairs.
Unfortunate situation, but you just need to suck it up and deal with it.

The car repairs are in progress as we speak. It's not about that. I can easily afford the repairs. It's just that the expense made me think about the necessity of the car in the first place.

Thanks to those who offered suggestions.

[Retired To Win]

My nearly-9-year-old car is undergoing $1500 in repairs, which is making me re-think owning a car at all. I could easily get by without a car except for the fact that I use my car to transport my kayak to places where I can use it 1-2 times a week...

OK, so you are using your car (on average) about 80 times a year to transport your kayak.  If the $1500 repairs on your "old"* car keep it going for just 2 years, that's $1500 spent for 160 round-trip kayak rides.  Less than $10 a pop, and well worth it in my opinion.

Good luck.

*Your "old" 9-year-old car is 8 years younger than my wife's 1998 Subaru Forester and 10 years younger than my 1996 Dodge Dakota.  So, believe me, you can probably get a heck of a lot more use from your vehicle.

[takeahike]

Well, having a vehicle to transport your kayak is cheaper than waterfront property. :D  I'm biased though, because I too love kayaking and camping. I just replaced my worn out car with a vehicle that can carry my kayaks (anything can) and also pull my vintage trailer. These are my hobbies and I just won't be giving them up. 

If I couldn't own a car hmmm.. perhaps I could rent a car as needed to carry the kayaks. Racks are fairly easy to transfer from car to car if they are small sedans. You can also get foam pads to place on the roof.  They do this in Hawaii for the visitors with rental cars. Seen it. Renting a Uhaul cargo van is actually not that expensive. Phone a friend?

[Gerard]

Is there any way to get to a kayak place without a car? Could you keep your kayak there? If you're still learning, presumably it wouldn't be so terrible to kayak in the same place all the time, for a while at least.

And totally outside your question, how did you decide kayaking would be an awesome hobby when you live in the desert? Shouldn't you be chasing roadrunners, or something? :-)

[Liz]

Hi fellow whitewater kayaker! That's a tough situation and to be honest, I would have trouble getting rid of my Subaru/aka my kayak transporter just for that reason:)

[GreenSheep]

And totally outside your question, how did you decide kayaking would be an awesome hobby when you live in the desert? Shouldn't you be chasing roadrunners, or something? :-)

Good question! I have friends who have touring kayaks which we've taken on lakes (and very flat rivers) several times, and I always loved it. I also enjoy whitewater rafting and have done that on several vacations. Then I heard about a whitewater kayak lodge/school in northern California, went there for a week, and found that there was no turning back! Also, my 2-5 year plan includes moving to Washington (state), which will get me out of the desert!

Good suggestions here, but none of them are perfect for my situation, so it looks like I'll be keeping the kayak transporter for now. When you break it down per trip (even adding gas, insurance, etc.), it's not too awful.

[nawhite]

I'm a whitewater kayak instructor in Denver, if you decide to make it up this way for a trip some time, let me know, the community up here is pretty big and there are lots of options.

As for the car, it's well worth it, just figure out how to do it cheap. I spend much more on my boats and gear and training (have you taken a swiftwater rescue class yet? Do it!) than I do on my 9-year old Pontiac Vibe.

[GreenSheep]

I'm a whitewater kayak instructor in Denver, if you decide to make it up this way for a trip some time, let me know, the community up here is pretty big and there are lots of options.

Thanks! I have a good friend in Denver whom I owe a visit, so depending on the timing, maybe I'll make it a road trip rather than a flight. She does every other outdoor adventure sport known to man, so I think/hope it's only a matter of time till I get her on the river with me!

[GuitarStv]

http://www.wicycle.com/index.php/products/boat-trailers/wike-kayak-surf-sail-board-trailer

Seriously.  No need to own a car.

[driftwood]

I would give up kayaking while you live in Phoenix.

That's really hard to say, and it was even harder to do when I lived there.  Eventually I realized that I can't always bring my sport to every place I live (kayaking, rock climbing, mountaineering, etc).  It just became too much of a project to even get to the water.  I'm not sure if you're in Phoenix forever or just temporarily.  It might make sense to put that hobby on hold until you move to a place where you can pursue it all the time.

@GuitarStv.  That rocks, but it would take hours to reach places where you'd use a ww boat from Phoenix.  The main highways wouldn't be very bike friendly, so you'd be stuck with side roads and the more windy highways.

[MayDay]

Its not different than any other hobby that isn't located right next to your house (or within 5 miles). 

We camp and we like to ride bikes.  We can't do it in our Civic (4 people in the family- not enough room for gear in the trunk- it worked fine with 2 or 3 people).  So we have a van now.  Sure, we could give up camping and biking at interesting places until the kids leave the house.  Or.... only camp 5 miles from our house I guess???  But, no thanks, we like camping and biking, and the overall cost is reasonable given our income. 

It comes down to how much you utilize it (you do the activity a lot) and how much it puts you off track to retire (sounds like not much).  In our case we use it a lot, have no debt, and have a decent chunk saved.  We aren't going to suspend all fun activities until we hit retirement.