I grew up going to the lake and have such fond memories of spending weekend days wakeboarding, getting a tan and eating subs. As my own girls start to get older (my oldest just turned three yesterday), I can’t help but want to re-create some of my memories and pass them down to them. My family has always owned a boat since I can remember. My parents still have the bigger boat they bought when I was in high school and use it frequently over the summer.
With my 30th birthday approaching, John has been asking what I want. Originally, I thought it’d be fun to take a trip somewhere. I explored a few options but no matter what we did, it would be expensive. I first thought of doing a family trip to the Caribbean or going on a cruise, but that would cost thousands and I’m not sure we’d have fun since our girls are still so young. Then I thought maybe we could fly my parents out here to babysit so John and I could go on a kid-free vacation, but that would also be expensive and if my parents are going to fly all the way out here, I’d like to spend most of our time with them.
So then I had an idea that it’d be fun to get a boat for my birthday! (I know, I realize this is quite extravagant…bear with me.) I mentioned this to John and while he’s not against it, he’s not quite for it yet, either. Honestly, neither am I. Boats are very expensive to maintain and you really have to use it a lot to get your money’s worth.
The Pros and Cons of Buying a Boat
Let’s start with the pros…
It’s a fun hobby! This is obvious, but a boat is obviously a hobby and a toy. Totally not a necessity, but people buy them because they love the lake and they love the experience of boating. I’m definitely in that camp. I know for a fact I would LOVE spending our summer weekends out on the lake. To me, there is nothing more relaxing!
We would pay cash. A big one, but we would not be going into debt to buy a boat. We would pay cash for it, plain and simple.
And the cons…
It’s expensive. I figured we could get a decent used boat that would fit in our garage for $5K-$9K. While we are able to pay cash, we’re currently saving for a hefty down payment on a house. We would use down payment money to pay for the boat. Doesn’t seem that wise, now that I’m typing this out…
Maintenance is expensive and time-consuming. As a kid, having a boat is great! I did nothing except show up. As an adult, it’s quite different. John would probably take on most of the responsibilities as far as driving it and towing it, but I would be right there with him helping him clean it, winterize it and maintain it. Is that something we want to take on? Is it something we have time to take on with two little kids? Is it something we can even afford to take on? We still need to figure out a lot of things.
We’re 45 minutes from a few different lakes. That’s not too far, but it’s not exactly close. If we lived 10 minutes from a lake I’d probably be more swayed to buy one. John does sometimes work on the weekends and of course we sometimes have errands or other plans. In all reality, how much would we actually use the boat?
It seems most boat owners would say that they are a money pit. I can totally see this, but a lot of things we do are money pits. Sometimes it’s OK to purchase things (if you can afford them) because it will bring you joy and fun memories.
So, what will we do?
While we’re still up in the air, most likely we will not be getting a boat for my birthday this summer. We had a long conversation last night and while we would eventually love to own a boat, now is probably not the best time. Instead, we’ll most likely rent a boat for my birthday and spend the day on the lake! This will give us a feel for boating here in NC and allow us to see if it’s something we’d like to purchase down the line.
Do you own a boat? Is it a money pit or do you really enjoy boating and being at the lake?
photo credit: Flickr via Jack Snell
Everyone I know who has/has had a boat has said it is a big money pit. I wouldn’t want to mess with it, nor would I want to store one!
Yeah if it doesn’t fit in our garage, we would never get one!! My husband is weird about the garage tho — he needs plenty of room for his tools. We don’t even park our cars in there because he’s so paranoid!! I think we’ll end up renting one for my bday and then going from there. I’m sure at some point we’ll get one…but it realistically won’t be for a few years.
It’s always easier if you know someone who has a boat instead of having one yourself haha. Are there boat rentals near you? Last summer we rented a nice sized boat and it was $50 / hr + gas. There was 4 of us, so after we split up the cost for a day, it was totally worth it! No cleaning it up, maintenance – nada! It was pretty awesome.
Agreed! We will rent one on my bday but it’ll just be my husband and our girls. We’ll probably spend like $400 or so with gas and other fees. It will be worth it for a day of fun and to see if boating really is our thing! (More so, if our girls are well-behaved, haha)
My parents actually just built their lake house 4 years ago (it’s about 2.5 hours away from the town we all live in) and we’ve really been enjoying going boating the last few summers! I didn’t grow up going to the lake, but I’m really looking forward to Little Miss having that experience. I think it’s so special!
Boats can definitely be money pits in a lot of ways, as I’ve experienced through my parents. But if we didn’t have access to their boat, I think we would definitely consider purchasing one of our own if we could swing it financially. You know me, I’m all about creating fun memories as a family, and I think that fun times out on the lake in a boat is something that kids will reminisce about forever 🙂
I think renting is a great compromise though, especially if you wouldn’t have the time to be out on the water every weekend as the kids get older and involved in more activities. That’s part of the reason why my parents waited until my younger brother had graduated from high school to get their own lake house…between all of our sporting events and other activities on the weekends, we hardly would have been able to actually go on the boat and enjoy our time.
You and I are a lot alike, haha!! I’m all about the memories and fun times, too 🙂 I think the plan for now is to rent one on my bday to get a feel for it and enjoy the day, and then we’ll go from there. I’m sure we’ll own one at some point, it just might not be for a few years!
How awesome that your parents have a lake house!!! That is my dream!!!!
What’s the old joke? If you want to get a boat, save up $20,000. Then throw it in the water. If you can handle that, start saving for a boat.
But yeah, my main issue with boats (other than the fact that we live in Arizona) is that they’re just so expensive to maintain and fix.
Funny, I have never had any interest in a boat (boating is not something I have had experience with) but at my current job a coworker’s husband recently bought one, and I know others are keen to as well! Boating and fishing is pretty big here – we are the City of Sails after all. My husband doesn’t have much experience with them either but does like fishing. I doubt we’ll ever get one. Definitely, like holiday houses/beach houses/pools, good to have friends who own one!