Non boat-owners..can you imagine buying a boat?

same. i put a motor on a kayak i get to put cool numbers on the side of that same kayak.

 

My grandma bought me and my cousins a pedal boat for use at her summer house in Maine, almost twenty years ago (summer of 2001); That thing was actually pretty fun! We only used it in the cove directly behind her house, but one time in the summer of 2003 or so my step-Grandpa and I took it out onto the big lake! I never attempted to do this myself, but he was a WWII veteran and former NFL player so even at almost eighty years old he was stronger than I was back then! Plus, a pedal boat should have no problem fitting in the bed of a Tacoma...

 

You always know who your "boating" friends are...
They are the ones that jump up and grab a rope to help tie down when docking the boat without asking. They are the ones who stick around after boating and help clean up and wipe down the boat.

 

THIS. Great comment.

We had a bay boat when I was married. MANY great memories and wish I still had it...the boat not the marriage. Caught stripers in Buchanan, ski later in the day with the kiddos and headed to the coast when we wanted.

Edit: And that black 2smoker old merc never not once let us/me down. Been out past the Port Aransas jetties on a few calm days and even got to fish the surf in that little boat. Shiat now y'all got me wanting another one.

 

I'm a new boat owner. I got divorced last year and finally got the 17' Boston Whaler Montauk of my dreams. I keep it on the trailer at a marina here in NH and use it on the tidal river and estuary (with some courage building to bring it outside the harbor mouth). It's been awesome, and the fishing has been really fun. I lucked into some money due to my divorce, so dropping $10k on it (it being a early 80's montauk with trailer, but new low hours motor) wasn't painful. The marina charges about $800 a season to leave it there, and I get out on it once or twice a week. There's an additional few hundred dollars in post-season checkup with a boat guy and obviously gas, but so far it hasn't been an outrageous money hole.

I haven't had any major issues with it in the year I've owned it, but I'm anticipating that maintenance costs are always eye opening. I have friends with boats and they prepped me well to deal with the costs.

But if you're considering a boat, consider doing some research on what boats retain their value. I already had an offer for $12k for mine one day laucnhing it. My buddy who has the same boat, gets one or two offers a year when launching his whaler for about that. So Unless I completely fuck it up, I probably can dump it for just about what I paid for it. That's what's great about Whalers.

 

But see you get great use out of it using it 1-2x a week

 

i see those around here. awesome.

 

My family had one when I was a teenager and we really enjoyed it. I just bought a used one late this summer. We have really enjoyed it! My kids are 18 and 20, but it's the first activity we can all do together. We can't wait until next summer! That said it's been expensive. Like you, storage was an issue, so we added a lean-to on our garage, we've spent a bunch on life jackets, tubes, wakeboard, boat upgrades, and it goes in the shop next month for a custom bimini top and new canvas. It's a 30 year old boat! So while costly, we really enjoy it, and it's been a great investment for the family.

 

And the memories are priceless.

 

Definitely money pits but they are fun and can be worth it if you really like it and use it.

 

my good friend, the brother in law of my bass-boat owning buddy - just bought an ocean boat for Ling and rockfish.

i am covered!! now i have two friends with boats!!!

 

I'm planning to buy a pontoon in the Spring, but, this is my back yard. If I didn't live on the water where I could use it every day I would not even consider it. (I'll probably still primarily use my Outback for fishing though)

 

I bought my first boat exactly 2 years ago and this picture was the 1st time I test drove it. I paid $20k for this 2014 Yamaha AR192 with 98 hours and the price was good because it was winter and snowing. I have put 120 hours on it the past 2 years and about $3000 in mods. The best mod was a nice stereo system, 2nd best was the grill that mounts on the back. I'm a single guy and this boat was the best thing that i've ever bought. I will always have a boat. 95% of my passengers are women and i've met some great groups of women that bring drinks, food, and money. So many crazy memories with this boat. Sometimes I think about it and I laugh. You can't put a price on that.

All my friends have big 26ft+ cruisers and i've thought about getting a bigger boat, but tbh, even though the boat could be small at times, I am grateful that the boat hasn't given me problems, costs very little to store and put gas in it. It also is a cool little boat for what I paid.

 

I wanted a boat bad, I am a cheap idiot so I bought a 1436 jon boat and 6hp Tohatsu motor. This was in 2013, it's been on the water 1 time.

 

lol but its usually just me and 5 women.. thats the magic of boat ownership

 

Put a Bixpy motor on the kayak.