Help, wife's freaking out

[Chubby4Life]

We buy used boats simply because we don't want to pay so much. It seems that every year we spend 1-2 grand on repairs and upgrades. Am I the only one this seems to happen to? Please share some of your yearly expenses (minus gas & insurance) so that I can pass this on to the wife and show her that it's not just us. Again, please share your stories with me as she is saying she want's out of boating! Chris

[SB]

People with new boats still spend money on repairs.

[MAINEVENT]

We buy used boats simply because we don't want to pay so much. It seems that every year we spend 1-2 grand on repairs and upgrades. Am I the only one this seems to happen to? Please share some of your yearly expenses (minus gas & insurance) so that I can pass this on to the wife and show her that it's not just us. Again, please share your stories with me as she is saying she want's out of boating! Chris
I have owned my used boat for 3 years now and its on its 3rd motor 5 to 7K every motor :lightsabe
Did you tell her what B O A T stands for before you guys bought one :idea:
Bust Out Another Thousand :D
But what kind of boat did you get post some pics :D

[riverbound]

Break
Out
Another
Thousand
Those costs dont seem to far out of line to me.

[Throttle]

there is always somethin, new boat this year... I only had to do a 20 hour service and my 100 is due now too, so say about a grand ($) for both with maybe a few other minor things.

[HocusPocus]

i buy used boats often... but i don't put that kind of money into them unless im having a new interior put in and thats only if im doing it to resale. i do repairs as needed.. but no upgrades. if i decide i want a boat thats faster then what i have, then i sell it and buy another. i prefer to buy boats with stock factory motors, if i guy gives me a laundry list of the "upgrades" he has done i pass on it. to me a stock motor is a reliable motor.

[cdog]

Ya, it's pretty much boats period. You'll allmost allways be chassing bugs down. I'm spending $1,200 today at GT performance for a EFI tune. Last time out I sucked up some weeds that got stuck in the drive. I guess it F'ed up the seapump too. It's allways something. My wife bitches a little. I just make her look the other way as I pay for things. :D

[JetBoatRich]

I think "Thousand" should be plural :jawdrop: Thousands

[Mike.A]

B = Break
O = Out
A = Another
T = Thousand
The way it is, the way it has always been. Doesnt matter new or used.
We spent about 4k last year, upholstry & Sterio and such. I am sure this off season I will find something else I need or want.

[OGShocker]

Back a few years ago I bought a 24' Skipjack fishing boat for $6,000. She is the most expensive boat I have ever owned.
We lost the motor in less than 20 hours and replaced it with a Merc 350 and bravo3, rewired the boat and replaced all of the electronics (GPS, Stereo, vhf radio w/ ant. and depth sounder). We put a aluminum half tower and hard top on her. We just finished a full upholstery rework. For all the fish we've caught from this boat I think we have paid $1,000 per pound. :notam:
Knowing then what I know now, I'd do it all over again. :D

[OGShocker]

B = Break
O = Out
A = A bunch of
T = Thousands

[Dribble]

I do my own maintanence and most of my own repairs. I average about $200.00 a year.

[JetBoatRich]

B = Break
O = Out
A = A bunch of
T = Thousands
That is more like it :yuk:

[Jordy]

Break
Out
Another
Thousand
SUCKER
Those costs dont seem to far out of line to me.
You forgot the "S"

[BarryMac]

B - Bend
O- Over
A - and
T - Take It!
Like others have said, I do most of my own maintenance, I would guess that I spend between $200 and $500 a year, depending on what I am doing. You can save a ton of money by asking questions on here and doing it yourself, there is an assload of knowledge on these boards and people are usually more then happy to help out those of us that are not quite as knowlegable as we should be.

[Jordy]

there is an assload of knowledge on these boards
What exactly constitutes an "assload" of knowledge??? :D

[BarryMac]

What exactly constitutes an "assload" of knowledge??? :D
I suppose that depends on whos ass you are looking at, some have more and some have less, myself, I'm 30lbs lighter then this time last year so my assload is considerably less now then it was then. And as Hank said it is much more than a grip, unless you have Gorilla sized hands, then it may be the equivalent... :boxed: :D

[atomickitn]

its a never ending story !,, new motor this year 9k, stripper pole, $300, lots of extras, $1000...... more memories than i can ever imagine, and lots pf new friends,,!!!!!! priceless! id do it all over if i had to ! :rollside:

[Outnumbered]

We buy used boats simply because we don't want to pay so much. It seems that every year we spend 1-2 grand on repairs and upgrades. Am I the only one this seems to happen to? Please share some of your yearly expenses (minus gas & insurance) so that I can pass this on to the wife and show her that it's not just us. Again, please share your stories with me as she is saying she want's out of boating! Chris
That sounds pretty normal to me. What I have found to be the bigest advantage of having a new boat, besides the repair cost savings, is less down time. The maintenance on the new boats seems to be a quick in and out at the shop vs weeks or more for the older boats when something breaks.

[Mrs.Racer277]

B = Break
O = Out
A = A bunch of
T = Thousands
LMAO!!! :wink:

[2Driver]

It's like owning a house. There are just short periods of calm between the spending storms :D

[cdog]

It's like owning a house. There are just short periods of calm between the spending storms :D
Well said...

[voodoomedman]

It's all relative to who you are and what you do. On a positive note since everyone elses was kinda negative. I bought my boat with all the upgrades and everything I wanted. My motor is a big 496 but a stock Mercruiser package. Basically the cost of the boat was alot and the gas to fill it. Other than that I get it serviced once a year for around 300 bucks and that's it. Everything else I do myself and we keep it immaculate. I just want a mechanic working on it because I don't have boat engine tools and I don't want to break on the water and I don't want to pay 5 grand to fix something.

[76ANTHONY]

yeah, i bought a real bargain, 1300.00 for the boat, 21000 for the resto. hey mines only 18ft, cannot even dream of a 23-28 fter. man it goes and goes and goes, the money i mean. :D

[moneysucker]

You are going to spend money no matter what you do. Lucky for you you are only doing repairs. Wait until you feel the need to go faster. You can get into the tens of thousands per year. You are lucky that you are only spending a a couple grand per year. I will come home from the lake and when asked how it was sometimes I can honestly say, "todays trip to the lake cost me $2000." and that is with me doing the majority of the work. Once you get into the blowers, injection, and hardware changes to get a few MPH is when it starts getting good.

[lucky]

just say
s= she
h= has
o= overies
e= everyday
s= shopping --
tell her to go buy another pair and don't worry about the boat , as it cost less than her habbit ;)

[SummitKarl]

well can't say as I have had a bad exp. with used boats, it's 20 yrs now and it's still running strong at just over 5K hrs. and I maybe have put $1k into normal maintence over the years.
but then again I did buy a boat with a FORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D

[cdog]

well can't say as I have had a bad exp. with used boats, it's 20 yrs now and it's still running strong at just over 5K hrs. and I maybe have put $1k into normal maintence over the years.
but then again I did buy a boat with a FORD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D
Found On River Dead! :rollside:

[Tom Brown]

yeah, i bought a real bargain, 1300.00 for the boat, 21000 for the resto. hey mines only 18ft, cannot even dream of a 23-28 fter. man it goes and goes and goes, the money i mean. :D
I restored a boat also. It cost astounding amounts of money and several thousand hours of my own labor. The best part is that my boat is probably worth about 10K. :D
Restorations of more coveted hulls aren't quite as monitarily inefficient. I still don't think they generally get the money back in boat value, though.
... so C4L, look on the bright side. At least you didn't pay tens of thousands of dollars to do a near infinite amount of work.
:)

[76ANTHONY]

hey i'll take 10k for my boat, i dont even think its worth that, but it sure is fun. priceless. boats arent an investment, there a hobby, most of the time :cry: :cry:

[a catered life]

tell her to chill and be glad she's your wife cause we spent $2000 in jauuary, $2400 in febuary, $1500 in april, $1200 in early june and another $800 in late june :cry: just in repairs and a few minor upgrades

[76ANTHONY]

you think your wifes freaking out, i was thinking about a bigger boat, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[bunny 166]

It just the way things go...you always spend more than you think you're going to....we've spent double what we bought the boat for in re-doing things.... :supp:
We love our boat,too!! ;)

[OGShocker]

I'm almost positive you can buy fish at the store for less than that. I think they sell it for around $700/lb. :D
That may well be but, they get pissed at Albertsons when I drink beer and pee of the back of the cart.

[Chubby4Life]

O.K. now that I see that I'm not a total sucker I'll share my last year: After installing the 2 million watt stereo, I decided the 55 amp mando had to go, so we bought the "recomended" 160 amp, cha-ching. Then while on our spring test run, we lost compression in all but 2 of the cylinders, while in the rebuild, my need for speed took over and we installed a 383 stroke kit, cha-ching. During the break in the "super alternator" took a crap, cha-ching. We make it to Memorial Day and "super alternator" dies again, cha-ching. Fed-up, we (I) decide what we need is a new boat, picked up the new one for the fourth and have a great weekend. 2 weeks later, after a trip to the Delta the new mo-fo starts to overheat, Back to the shop, new sea pump, cha-ching. While there I tell mech. that there is a tick comining from the transom, (maybe a shift adjustment) Nope, stripped pinion gears, cha-ching. We now have the boat hooked up and are leaving for Mojave later tonight and are praying for a good trip. Anyway, thanks for everyones input I made her sit down and read other horror stories and she agrees that maybe it just comes with the territory. We'll be at Nevada Telephone and GA all weekend if anyone wants to stop by for a brew. (White Dana Offshore with the yellow & purple lightning bolts) -Chris

[a catered life]

That may well be but, they get pissed at Albertsons when I drink beer and pee of the back of the cart.
lmao

[Beer-30]

Yeah, ya pretty much just don't get a boat unless you are willing to put in the maintenance. Or, you have an unpredictable, worn out boat with stuff that isn't fixed that can leave you high and dry (or low and wet in this case).
I, like some, do my own maintenance also. I have only had the boat since Jan, so I don't really have a good yearly cost, but $200 should be close.
Now, since I bought a used boat, it did need a few things. The rear seat bases have stainless hinges for storage access. The wood had let go and the screws were falling out. I spent $375 to get new wood bases cut, fiberglassed, and T-nuts inserted so they now bolt in instead of screws. Better than new. Plus, they put new foam in! Another $225 on top of that got me new snap-in carpet pieces front to rear. So, for $600, I fixed the interior to almost-new. It needed a drive shower (never had one), so $110 there and I installed myself.
It had just had a drive-alignment check and service the previous May. I dropped the oils and put in synthetics - drive included. Probably $125 in parts / supplies.
Had a blow out on one of the 6 original tires. No damage. Put 6 new trailer tires on, upgraded from 6 ply to 8, just shy of $400.
But - I won't need to do any of this, except the service, next year or for at least the next 4 years (since it was 4 years old when I got it). Now, just more bass (wife wants more) and some trim tabs will be the next things. All of the next items will be "wants" more than "needs". ;)