On Jan 6, 7:54*am, North Star wrote:
On Jan 5, 11:24*pm, Tim wrote:





On Jan 5, 2:24*pm, Canuck57 wrote:

For me, it makes no sense to own. *Being in southern Alberta, no real
decent lakes (there are a few but crowded) it saves me dragging it all over.
--

But that's one of the beauties of a smaller trailer boat. It's paid
for, doesn't eat much, can be hooked to an any or no given notice, and
even head for a small lake 25 mi away (Omega Lake), run what you brung
and go home. No appointments, no real travel time, no hassles.

Kinda nice in the middle of the summer to drag the boat to work (4 mi)
the at 5, head for the lake, boat/relax for about 2-21/2 hrs, and be
home by 9pm right when the sun is down. *did that 2-3 times a week a
couple years ago.

Sometimes it was just the boat, a life vest and a cold bottle of
water., and me *of course.

very peaceful

! agree!
A trailerable boat is a great way to go. Sure saves a lot in yacht
club fees and you can boat in a much larger area without long ocean
voyages. The trick is to figure out what size boat is practical for
both small/medium lakes and coastal ocean waters.

I find my 20 footer to be right for Lake Erie, rough or smooth.

On Thu, 5 Jan 2012 19:24:29 -0800 (PST), Tim wrote:

On Jan 5, 2:24*pm, Canuck57 wrote:


For me, it makes no sense to own. *Being in southern Alberta, no real
decent lakes (there are a few but crowded) it saves me dragging it all over.
--

But that's one of the beauties of a smaller trailer boat. It's paid
for, doesn't eat much, can be hooked to an any or no given notice, and
even head for a small lake 25 mi away (Omega Lake), run what you brung
and go home. No appointments, no real travel time, no hassles.

Kinda nice in the middle of the summer to drag the boat to work (4 mi)
the at 5, head for the lake, boat/relax for about 2-21/2 hrs, and be
home by 9pm right when the sun is down. did that 2-3 times a week a
couple years ago.

Sometimes it was just the boat, a life vest and a cold bottle of
water., and me of course.

very peaceful

I hate to say it, Tim, but it's much nicer skipping the work part and just going to the water!

On Jan 6, 3:00*pm, Happy John wrote:
On Thu, 5 Jan 2012 19:24:29 -0800 (PST), Tim wrote:
On Jan 5, 2:24 pm, Canuck57 wrote:

For me, it makes no sense to own. Being in southern Alberta, no real
decent lakes (there are a few but crowded) it saves me dragging it all over.
--

But that's one of the beauties of a smaller trailer boat. It's paid
for, doesn't eat much, can be hooked to an any or no given notice, and
even head for a small lake 25 mi away (Omega Lake), run what you brung
and go home. No appointments, no real travel time, no hassles.

Kinda nice in the middle of the summer to drag the boat to work (4 mi)
the at 5, head for the lake, boat/relax for about 2-21/2 hrs, and be
home by 9pm right when the sun is down. *did that 2-3 times a week a
couple years ago.

Sometimes it was just the boat, a life vest and a cold bottle of
water., and me *of course.

very peaceful

I hate to say it, Tim, but it's much nicer skipping the work part and just going to the water!

i can appreciate that.....

wrote:
On Wed, 04 Jan 2012 23:51:48 -0700,
wrote:

The cheapest way to own a boat is to use it a lot. Then your per hour
cost drops to a very low number.
Or rent it. Also saves patching up road chipping and the like. Better
gas millage too when getting there.

--
Most of the people I know would be thousands of dollars a year ahead
if they just rented a boat on the dozen days a year they actually go
out. By the time you amortize a $40,000 boat over the 40 or 50 times
they use it before it just rots on the lift and toss in the
maintenance headaches from stale gas and other things sitting around
unused causes, $150 an hour rental is a bargain. They usually end up
getting a few thousand on a trade in and start over, promising
themselves they will try to use the boat more next time.
We get out 3 times a week for a couple hours each and I figure boating
costs me less than $8-10 an hour, all costs including maintenance and
gas in the computation. Gas is the biggest part of that number and
when we go slow in manatee season or when my wife says it is cold
(below 80) that can get me closer to $6-7 an hour.
That's an interesting thought but I prefer to have my boat available
whenever I need it and I'm lucky enough to live in an area where I can
use it 300+ days a year!

wrote:
On Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:35:58 -0500,
wrote:

wrote:
On Wed, 04 Jan 2012 23:51:48 -0700,
wrote:

The cheapest way to own a boat is to use it a lot. Then your per hour
cost drops to a very low number.
Or rent it. Also saves patching up road chipping and the like. Better
gas millage too when getting there.

--
Most of the people I know would be thousands of dollars a year ahead
if they just rented a boat on the dozen days a year they actually go
out. By the time you amortize a $40,000 boat over the 40 or 50 times
they use it before it just rots on the lift and toss in the
maintenance headaches from stale gas and other things sitting around
unused causes, $150 an hour rental is a bargain. They usually end up
getting a few thousand on a trade in and start over, promising
themselves they will try to use the boat more next time.
We get out 3 times a week for a couple hours each and I figure boating
costs me less than $8-10 an hour, all costs including maintenance and
gas in the computation. Gas is the biggest part of that number and
when we go slow in manatee season or when my wife says it is cold
(below 80) that can get me closer to $6-7 an hour.
That's an interesting thought but I prefer to have my boat available
whenever I need it and I'm lucky enough to live in an area where I can
use it 300+ days a year!
The question is, will you?
I log about 300 hours a year so it is easy to justify owning a boat.
There are other people here who don't use 10% of that a year.
I boated over 400 hours last year - about 285 underway according to the
hour meters. Much of that was fishing and trolling - I have a
trailerable center console fishing boat.

On Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:29:29 -0500, Earl wrote:

wrote:
On Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:35:58 -0500,
wrote:

wrote:
On Wed, 04 Jan 2012 23:51:48 -0700,
wrote:

The cheapest way to own a boat is to use it a lot. Then your per hour
cost drops to a very low number.
Or rent it. Also saves patching up road chipping and the like. Better
gas millage too when getting there.

--
Most of the people I know would be thousands of dollars a year ahead
if they just rented a boat on the dozen days a year they actually go
out. By the time you amortize a $40,000 boat over the 40 or 50 times
they use it before it just rots on the lift and toss in the
maintenance headaches from stale gas and other things sitting around
unused causes, $150 an hour rental is a bargain. They usually end up
getting a few thousand on a trade in and start over, promising
themselves they will try to use the boat more next time.
We get out 3 times a week for a couple hours each and I figure boating
costs me less than $8-10 an hour, all costs including maintenance and
gas in the computation. Gas is the biggest part of that number and
when we go slow in manatee season or when my wife says it is cold
(below 80) that can get me closer to $6-7 an hour.
That's an interesting thought but I prefer to have my boat available
whenever I need it and I'm lucky enough to live in an area where I can
use it 300+ days a year!
The question is, will you?
I log about 300 hours a year so it is easy to justify owning a boat.
There are other people here who don't use 10% of that a year.
I boated over 400 hours last year - about 285 underway according to the
hour meters. Much of that was fishing and trolling - I have a
trailerable center console fishing boat.

Best way to go, in my opinion. I got my Key West 186 CC a couple years ago and love it!

Happy John wrote:
On Tue, 10 Jan 2012 19:29:29 -0500, wrote:

wrote:
On Mon, 09 Jan 2012 20:35:58 -0500,
wrote:

wrote:
On Wed, 04 Jan 2012 23:51:48 -0700,
wrote:

The cheapest way to own a boat is to use it a lot. Then your per hour
cost drops to a very low number.
Or rent it. Also saves patching up road chipping and the like. Better
gas millage too when getting there.

--
Most of the people I know would be thousands of dollars a year ahead
if they just rented a boat on the dozen days a year they actually go
out. By the time you amortize a $40,000 boat over the 40 or 50 times
they use it before it just rots on the lift and toss in the
maintenance headaches from stale gas and other things sitting around
unused causes, $150 an hour rental is a bargain. They usually end up
getting a few thousand on a trade in and start over, promising
themselves they will try to use the boat more next time.
We get out 3 times a week for a couple hours each and I figure boating
costs me less than $8-10 an hour, all costs including maintenance and
gas in the computation. Gas is the biggest part of that number and
when we go slow in manatee season or when my wife says it is cold
(below 80) that can get me closer to $6-7 an hour.
That's an interesting thought but I prefer to have my boat available
whenever I need it and I'm lucky enough to live in an area where I can
use it 300+ days a year!
The question is, will you?
I log about 300 hours a year so it is easy to justify owning a boat.
There are other people here who don't use 10% of that a year.
I boated over 400 hours last year - about 285 underway according to the
hour meters. Much of that was fishing and trolling - I have a
trailerable center console fishing boat.
Best way to go, in my opinion. I got my Key West 186 CC a couple years ago and love it!
I've seen a lot of them and they look like they are very well made! I
fished on a 268 (I think) that was a friend of a friend's boat and it
was very comfortable and had nice features.

On Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:20:00 -0500, wrote:

That's an interesting thought but I prefer to have my boat available
whenever I need it and I'm lucky enough to live in an area where I can
use it 300+ days a year!

The question is, will you?
I log about 300 hours a year so it is easy to justify owning a boat.
There are other people here who don't use 10% of that a year.

===

We've logged about 3,000 hours on the trawler over 7 years, another
200+ on the runabout, and at least another several hundred on the
dinghies.

On 1/10/2012 10:54 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:20:00 -0500, wrote:

That's an interesting thought but I prefer to have my boat available
whenever I need it and I'm lucky enough to live in an area where I can
use it 300+ days a year!

The question is, will you?
I log about 300 hours a year so it is easy to justify owning a boat.
There are other people here who don't use 10% of that a year.

===

We've logged about 3,000 hours on the trawler over 7 years, another
200+ on the runabout, and at least another several hundred on the
dinghies.



Whats it cost you a year to live like that? Just wonderin'...

On Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:56:57 -0500, JustWait
wrote:

On 1/10/2012 10:54 PM, Wayne.B wrote:
On Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:20:00 -0500, wrote:

That's an interesting thought but I prefer to have my boat available
whenever I need it and I'm lucky enough to live in an area where I can
use it 300+ days a year!

The question is, will you?
I log about 300 hours a year so it is easy to justify owning a boat.
There are other people here who don't use 10% of that a year.

===

We've logged about 3,000 hours on the trawler over 7 years, another
200+ on the runabout, and at least another several hundred on the
dinghies.



Whats it cost you a year to live like that? Just wonderin'...

===

I honestly don't know and purposely avoid that calculation. The cost
of cruising runs all over the map depending a lot on how much time you
spend in marinas and restaurants. Many of our ownership costs are
fixed regardless of whether we use the boat are not, even some of the
maintenance expenses. Our average fuel burn is about 7 to 8
gallons/hour when underway, about $30 at current prices. Variable
maintenance costs probably add another 50 to 100%.