OT: ?'s for anyone who has a boat

[Deffenm]

This is sort of a budget question as I need to make sure I understand how this will impact our budget.

My family really wants to get a boat and I know nothing about them. Does anyone have a boat that they can share some information? What costs do I need to consider (maintance, insurance, cost of gas)? I am not worried about us actually using the boat because it will be used a lot from Spring - Fall. I just want to make sure I fully understand what to expect before I agree to purchase such a large item. My kids prefer to go camping and boating to WDW or even cruises. We did both of these this year and they are more excited about our Sept. camping/fishing trip.

TIA for any information you can share!

 

[Gr8t Fan]

We owned a boat for a short period of time and I used to call it my hole in the water that I poured $$ into. Fortunately we purchased it second-hand for about $1,250, put about $750 into it, used it for two seasons and realized that we could continue to pour $$ into it ad nauseum, or cut our losses. We sold it for about what we paid for it and considered the $750 to be usage fees for the two years we had it.

 

[3boymthr]

You caught a couple of the basics. Gas for a boat can be very expensive. My dad has a boat and the gas costs $$$/trip - but he has inboard motors on a 20+ ft boat that he takes out into the Atlantic and he's gone all day. So find out what size motor(s) and how much gas it/they will use as aside from the cost of the boat this will be your biggest expense.

Other things to consider:

Over winter, will you be storing it at home or at a marina? If at home yay, if not you'll need to factor in the storage cost.

Will you be trailering the boat or will you be paying for a mooring or slip?
Moorings and slips can be very expensive - My dad was paying $1,500/year a couple of years ago.

Some states require inspections of both boats and trailers.

If you are trailering the boat check to see if you have to have a permit to use the boat ramp that you plan to use. Our local boat ramp charges $35/yr for a permit and that's for residents. Non-resident permits are more expensive.

The boat itself will need some maintenance, painting, cleaning, etc. yearly, but the cost for this varies significantly depending upon whether you do it or pay someone else to do it. (I spent many a spring cleaning teak )

There will also be state registration, title and taxes, etc. on the trailer and possibly the boat.

I can't help you with most of the hard dollar costs cause these will vary significantly depending upon the size of the boat, whether it's used on the ocean or a lake, etc. but I HTH

 

[Darcy03231]

If you're trailering your boat to locations, keep in mind that while some places have a boat ramp, there is no where to park your car/truck and trailer (our lake is one of them). Its one way some towns try to keep their lakes private. Some will have parking, but charge a fee (the lake a couple of towns over from us has limited parking and charges $50/day for non-resident and $10 for residents--it usually fills up early with residents.

 

[marymac123]

We don't have a boat but my DH is the service & warranty manager at a marina...sales are down but they sure make $$$$$$ on repairs & maintenance!!

 

[Juliegirl1]

You might be better off seeing if you can rent one!

My bf had a fishing boat - spent $10,000 or so on it, who knows how much to upgrade it with a trolling motor, camo stuff so he could duck hunt out of it etc. and then ended up taking it out less than ten times in a two year period. Not to mention the tags, ramp fees, gas and wear and tear on his vehicle taking it out. He finally sold it.

Although renting can be slightly expensive just think about all the maintenance fees and time cleaning it that you won't have to spend. Many lakes have marinas that will rent pontoons or ski boats. Plus you won't have to tow it which means better gas mileage and less time on the road.

I'd at least rent for a few times to decide if it is the right thing to do for your family and to try out different kinds of boats before deciding on the right one.

 

[4HppyCamprs]

We have a RV and people who have boats say that stands for Bring On Another Thousand. We rent a pontoon boat every year and love the fact that we dont have to maintain it, transport it, insure it, maintain it *yes again*, or store it. Everytime we go to bass pro shop we look at boats but it is not just the upfront cost with "toys" it is all the maintaince fees that really add up.

 

[vsimeone]

I think this really depends on what kind of boat you purchase and where you keep it. As my brother told us when we bought our boat 2 years ago "The two best days of your life are the day you buy your boat and the day you sell your boat."

In the summer of 2008, we bought a 1988 (yes, 20 years old) pontoon boat. It has a 25 hp motor. We keep it docked at a lake about 20 minutes from our house. We use it every opportunity that we get. We often just take it out to the "boater's swim area" and sit and swim so we don't use much gas. There is not a lot of upkeep on a pontoon boat but we do have to "winter" it every year. This includes a fee to take it out of the water and "dry dock" it and then put it back in again in the spring. We don't own a trailer and have never taken it anywhere but the lake where it was when we bought it.

We're happy and not ready to sell. In fact, we're just starting to consider "upgrading" to a newer, fancier boat but we can't justify the price just yet.

Best wishes in your decision! Feel free to ask any additional questions that I might be able to answer!

 

[eliza61]

Ok boat and "budget" are pretty much oxymorons. LOL Dh owned a 20 ft power boat. Outside of the inital investment (23K) there was insurance, maintence fees, fuel and slip/storage fees.

We sold that sucker and brought our dvc. heck of a lot cheaper

 

[kacaju]

Don't forget you will need a car/truck hitch to haul it.

 

[Kathi OD]

DH and I have owned at least one boat for over 35 years. They can be costly to maintain, especially if you cannot do the repairs yourself.

I'll assume that the boat you are considering has a motor. Sailboats have different costs associated with them.

Common costs include:

Yearly state registration. Just like w/ your car, most states require you to register your boat. This fee varies from state to state. If you have a trailer, that will have a registration fee too. We pay $39/year for the boat registration and $6/year for the trailer.

Insurance. Again, just like you insure your car, your boat & trailer should be insured. Our insurance costs $149/year.

Gas. This cost cannot be measured up front and will depend on the size of both your boat and its motor. Of course, bigger boats and motors eat up more gas. Be forewarned though, boats GUZZLE gas. Think of the least efficient car you can and it's much more efficient than your boat is going to be. We use our boat about 4 hours/week and generally use between 5 and 10 gallons of gas for those 4 hours.

Oil. Depending on the type of motor you buy, you'll have to add oil to it. You won't need as much oil as gas. I'm not sure how much oil we use each year, but I would bet it is between 3 and 5 gallons.

Repairs. When things go wrong with a boat, or its engine, it is VERY expensive to get it fixed. Think thousands, not hundreds, of dollars, especially with the engine. However, with preventative maintenance, you can reduce the likelihood of anything major going wrong. Boats that are kept in salt water will require more routine maintenance than those kept in fresh water.

Routine maintenance. How much routine maintenance your boat will need will depend on what it is made of and how well you take care of it each time you use it. Will you cover your boat after each use? If so, your carpets and upholstery will last longer. Washing it down (both the hull and any exposed areas inside the boat...think seats and upholstered areas) each time it comes out of the water will also help to keep the maintenance costs down.

Marina/slip fees. Depending on where you are going to use your boat, you will probably have these fees. They vary widely from place to place. We keep our boat in a private lake. We are charged a dollar amount for the length of the boat and a separate dollar amount for the horsepower of the engine. Since we pay that fee with our membership to the lake, I'm not sure how much we pay for it. Some places will charge a set fee for the season, some with each use.

Towing fees. Again, just like a car, you can bet your last penny that at some point, your boat will break down. Depending on where you break down, you need a plan for getting the boat back to wherever you need it to be. Towing can be super expensive. You might want to look at membership in BoatUS. They have different levels of membership, depending on where you plan to use your boat, that includes towing. I think membership starts at $30/year, but I'm not sure. They have a website.

As a PP stated you will either need a hitch & large enough vehicle to tow your boat wherever it is you want to use it, or pay someone to tow it there. These fees vary from place to place, but are usually so much per mile. Will your current vehicle be able to tow the boat you are thinking of purchasing without effort. If you don't have a hitch on your vehicle, I believe you can get one installed at U-Haul for about $150.

Winterizing. If you live in an area where you will not be using the boat in the winter, you have to winterize the engine. Not sure of the cost because DH does it himself.

Storage fees. Depending on where you plan on storing your boat in the off-season, this cost can be $0, or it can be much more costly. We are fortunate enough to be able to store our boat ourselves.


As you can see, it's hard to determine how much your incidental costs will be since a lot will depend on where and how you plan to use your boat, and how much you (or your DH) are able to do yourself as far as maintenance is concerned.

 

[brerrabbit]

I have owned boats for over 30 years and can give you some basics, but then again so much depends on where you live, what you will use it for and what kind of boat you want.

Considerations are, where do you store it, what kind of motor do you have, are you in an area that needs for the boat to be winterized, do you have the right vehicle to tow it? Then comes cost, insurance, maintenance, etc.

My current boat I have had for nearly 21 years, it is a 90 HP outboard on a 17ft center console boat that is rigged for fishing. It has a live well, depth finder, compass and salt water trolling motor for fishing. It also has enough power to pull some one on skis and is great for tubbing. It has a bimini top that I don't use much because it gets in the way for fishing. I store it at my house and when we built the house 16 years ago we specifically built a four car garage (two wide, two deep) so we could store the boat. This added very little to our monthly mortgage and the amount was considerably less than what we paid to store it some where monthly. Used boats are headaches and I had owned several before buying this boat. I spnet more on any one of those boats in repairs than I have spent in 21 years with this one. It has been garage or indoor storage kept it's whole life and is still in relatively good shape and I still use it. I have a lot of maintenance issues that you may or may not have based on where you live. I use mine in salt water which means I have to fight corrosion all the time and be very consious of flushing my engine and washing the boat after every use.

Then there is the maintenance and upkeep of the trailer. Lights get submerged in water and you have to make sure you disconnect them before you back it in to prevent shorting the system. Also you have to make sure you keep the wheel bearings greased and replace the berings every so often.

Overall I have gotten several times the amount I paid for it back in use and enjoyment and have never regretted the purchase.