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Moving up to a Great Lakes CruiserAug 29 '02 (Updated Oct 19 '03) Write an essay on this topic.The Bottom Line It's not like buying another car...it's like buying another HOUSE! I have a great love for Lake Erie and it has always been my hope to be able to have a nice cruiser that I could use to relax and perhaps even do some scuba diving. While I knew it would be expensive, I have to look back at the last year in astonishment over the actual costs involved. Don't get me wrong; I don't regret it for a second. I have simply come to realize that boating is not something that can be rationalized. It is an addiction, and like most junkies, we are blind to the actual costs of the monkey on our backs. I will do my best to recount the 2002 boating season to you in HARD NUMBERS so that you might have a real idea of what to expect if you should choose to enter into this hobby. Up until last year, I have only owned water-ski boats in the 16-18' range. These boats were trailered, used outboard motors and were limited to inland waters. The few times I had attempted to use them on Lake Erie were not very successful. The narrow beam and lightweight of these boats simply can't deal with even minimal chop. I used the boats very infrequently because of the hassle of transporting the boat, putting it in the water and pulling it out after each use. It wasn't very conducive to spontaneous usage. At the end of last year the wife and I decided to get a cruiser large enough to be used on Lake Erie and we decided to get a dock for it so that we would be more able to use it spontaneously. I did my homework and looked long and hard. I finally settled on a 24 foot Bayliner owned by a friend of my uncle's. Since I knew the owner, I had the advantage of knowing his boating habits. He was one of those boaters who spent lots more time sitting on the dock that on the boat. He put about 10 hours a season on the motor and only made one major trip a year...10 miles to have the boat pulled out of the water and winterized by his mechanic friend. He was meticulous in his maintenance and had the receipts to prove it. Overall the boat was in fantastic shape for it's age and it presented itself very well. It also had a brand new Shorlander tandem trailer with disk brakes. We agreed on a price of $7000. Not a bargain, but about the going rate for this type of boat with a trailer. Next we looked for a place to dock our boat. After visiting several marinas we agreed to a mid-priced one not too far from home. The cost was $1300 for a wall dock without utilities. While our boat is equipped for dock electric, no docks with electric were available at the time. We borrowed my sister's F250 Ford to move the boat and found very quickly that the trailer was not set up properly. We had to have the trailer adjusted to put more weight on the tongue of the boat to keep it from weaving in traffic. The cost was $200. We put the boat in the water ourselves at a ramp close to my marina, which cost me about $30. It was no easy task to trailer this boat 40 miles and put it in the water. I would never consider doing it on a regular basis and I can't imagine getting much use out of the boat if I had to go to all this hassle every time I used it. Not to mention the cost of keeping a full size pickup truck just for the purpose of towing my boat. I drove the boat to my marina and tied her up to the dock. Now I went to the boat store to equip her properly. To make the boat legal we needed to transfer the registration/title and pay the taxes on the boat (about $500 total). We equipped her with 8 PFD’s ($250) (4 of them were top-quality ones), flares ($50), ropes ($40), a throw able PFD ($7), boat hook ($10), boat tool kit ($40), fenders ($80), fish finder ($200), cellular antennae ($100), inverter ($150), TV/VCR ($200) (to keep the kid's busy), GPS ($500), two good deck chairs ($100), a swim ladder ($100), and a tow able tube ($150). Now the marina I stay at allows the tenants to modify their wall docks with decks and pavilions etc. We decided to wait till next year to do anything since we would like to transfer to a newer part of the marina with electrical hookups. We did have to replace the pilings at our dock, which cost us $200. Now, for the entire season I had three times that I had to call on my friendly neighborhood boat mechanic. The first time was when I started to get a coolant leak, which ended up being a cam seal. The engine had to be removed from the boat to do the repair, which means it had to come out of the water. So that ended up costing us $1200 and we weren't able to use the boat for 2 weeks. About a month later I noticed that the blower wasn't working and I had the blowers and bilge pumps replaced and I had some other electrical items rewired. That cost about $300 but didn't really keep us from using the boat. The most recent hang up was a starter that failed. That cost us $320 and kept us off the water for about a week. We made one major trip during the year. We took the boat from Mentor to Huron (about 60 miles) and we rented a beach house there. I had to pay to have the boat docked at a local marina there. It was $210 for the week. On the way back, we hit a patch of rough water. A wave ripped across the bow and tore the searchlight off my bow pulpit. It cost $200 to replace. We use the boat all the time and often come up to the marina after work to go on a cruise. I would estimate we use the boat 3 times a week and on average we fill the tank once a week. It holds 55 gallons and I bought a gas caddy ($200) that holds 25 gallons so that I could get gas from a gas station and fill the tank myself. Apparently most places don't allow this, but my marina does and since they routinely charge upwards of $2 a gallon for their gas the caddy has already paid for itself. I have had the boat in the water since May 1st and I will be taking it out the end of September. So based on those figures you can say that I filled it completely about 20 times at a cost of $1540 for the season...at about $1.40 a gallon. OOPS, almost forgot. I had to insure the boat. I got very comprehensive insurance with towing and lots of liability coverage. In addition I had to make sure that I had coverage for my scuba gear and electronics. I had a car accident 2 years ago...and that is reflected in the $700 cost for annual insurance. I bet most people don't pay half that. At the end of the season I have to have the boat taken out of the water, winterized, power washed, tuned up, shrink wrapped and stored. This will cost me $500. During the season we have noticed a few things that we would like to have replaced on the boat. We want to have the cockpit seating reupholstered and the captain's seat replaced. We also want to have the carpet in the cabin replaced. I haven't gotten estimates on these projects yet. I have had an estimate done for repainting the entire hull and putting on fresh bottom paint ($1300). While the entire hull doesn’t absolutely NEED to be redone, it is looking rather tired and SHOULD be replaced. The antifouling paint DOES NEED to be replaced and I imagine that would cost $300. So where do we stand? What's the total for this year's fun? Looks to me like I spent $7000 for the boat and $9677 to operate it. That figure does not include the cost of the things I want to have done to it during the winter. But I tossed in the $300 figure for new antifouling paint because that is a necessity. The first time I met my mechanic he reminded me that b-o-a-t means bring on another thousand...well I guess whoever made up that saying was an extreme optimist. Will it cost you $10,000 a year to keep you boat going? Most likely not. Many of the costs I had this year were one-time costs, but I think that $6000 is a pretty good estimate of what it will cost next year just for the necessities. I want to stress that I am not trying to turn anyone off to boating. I love it to death and I can't wait to get a bigger boat. I just want to open the eyes of anyone who might be considering a larger boat. You could buy a new ski boat every year for the cost of what it costs to maintain a larger cruiser. (Bayliner has a $10,000 ski boat with trailer...so that statement isn't as wacky as it sounds). There is a reason that large boats depreciate so quickly. The cost to maintain them is astronomical. I saw a 40-foot Chris Craft go for $9000. It was a gorgeous boat and had been beautifully restored, but even with all the hard work done, the cost of maintaining that boat would easily drain the assets of anyone who looked merely at the purchase price of the boat.... and who didn't fully understand what it costs to maintain one. I wish you all good boating, and hope this helps someone out there. ------------------------------------------------------------ Everything below this point is a review of the 2003 boating season. I will keep adding to it bit by bit so that the numbers stay fresh in my mind once again... to keep everybody on the same page... 24' Bayliner cabin cruiser 35' wall dock in Suburban location on Lake Erie the season lasts roughly May-September During the winter I discovered that one of the stringers on the inside of the hull had rotted out and I decided to do the work myself. Luckily the damaged portion of the stringer was located forward of the cockpit and was easy to get at. During the repair process I discovered an area of weak fiberglass so I felt that it was very important that I do a complete and total refurb of the entire hull. Not what I planned on doing in the spring, but it needed doing. Total cost for doing the job right including removing the rotted stringer, grinding the gelcoat off the entire boat bottom, refinishing in 5 coats of West System Epoxy (3 coats barrier coat), and 2 coats of ACT bottom paint pushed almost $2000. I figured that it was such a pain in the butt to do that I would do it right or not at all. I had an estimate of over $3000 to have it done professionally and that was for only 2 coats Epoxy. Insurance for the year went down so it's now at $550 for the year. I took the boat out 2 times in May and I was amazed at how well the boat handled with the new bottom. Seems that the bottom job really stiffened up the hull. Too bad when I brought it in the second time I heard an amazing grinding sound coming out of the lower unit. Apparantly the coupler broke and it threw a big piece into the lower unit and made a real mess of things. This repair almost made me reconsider the whole boat thing. It topped $3500 and it really was a stretch to come up with the cash. My mechanic was very sympathetic and got me back up and running in under a week. I was impressed by that. Since then we have babied the boat. Gas still runs about 60 gallons a week and I will tally it up at the end of the season. We have had really poor weather this year and it has only been since the end of June that we have used the boat on a really regular basis (3-4 times a week). For anyone out there who thinks that boating ever gets cheaper we are well on our way towards outdoing last year's astronomical expenses. It does make one question their commitment to boating. I am still very enthusiastic but I have to admit to people that unless you REALLY use your boat (and I can attest that no more than 5% of the people at our marina REALLY use their boat)....it really is a stupid waste of money. I am still in awe of several massive cabin cruisers in our marina that I have NEVER seen leave the docks....and I am at the marina often enough that I should have seen it happen at least once. Must be nice to drop many thousands of dollars in insurance, docking fees and maintenance and never use the boat...not to mention the cost of a boat that probably is worth more than their house and DEPRECIATES with every season. So far the incidental expenses related to the boat have been minor. We dont really need any of the basic items since we bought them last year. We did buy a new tube for the kids. That was $150. We have held off on several minor repairs because of the massive expenses earlier on in the season. I need to repair/replace 2 seats and do some other things. They will have to wait. During the season we had a fuel gauge go... I was wondering why it seemed are gas milage was improving :-) The tow cost $135. Note to self, buy $50 tow insurance. The carb is acting up and I can see that it will need a rebuild over the winter. I will wait and see how that goes until after we get her out of the water. Layup this year will be $550 including lift out, power wash, winterize, shrink wrap, storage and lift in next year. I am already talking to someone about redoing the cockpit seating. The wooden chair skelaton is falling apart and NEEDS to be replaced. I estimate the cost at $1500.. will update you when I get a more concrete estimate.. So.. the total for the 2003 season is $9085 and remember that does not include spring prep cost for next year and the needed cockpit or carb repairs that are pending. Also, this figure ASSUMES that we find nothing unusual during our pull-out inspection of the bottom. My mechanic keeps trying to convince me that a well maintained boat is an investment. I hold my laugh.. the only investment is in his boat repair business. No, Im not getting soft on boating....but I am very aware of the realities of my addiction. If I have any bad feelings about this year they lay in the generally poor boating season we had on the great lakes this year. Lots of storms and lots of bright sunny days with gail warnings too. 'til 2004... happy boating... oops.. I spoke too soon. The marina just sent me a notice in the mail. I got to have the deposit on my dock in by Oct31 for next year's season!  |
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