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Owning a boat


Spidey_Senses

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Spidey_Senses

Just for fun as its not something I could conceivably afford in the next two decades.


Who owns, or has owned, a boat? Where did you use to go, and how often? Is there a lot of maintenance or other costs involved? How hard is it to learn, compared to driving a car. How difficult is towing and launching it?


Im mainly thinking about fishing I guess. Either on the Murray or off Yorke Peninsula (I live in Adelaide).

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Seayork2002

A friend owns one as says it is 'a great big hole with which to throw money in' so if you are willing to spend a lot to maintain it great, and I am sure others will have boats that don't cost a lot but I am only speaking of what they told us

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Fruitmincepies

We have a boat, we share with another family, so costs are halved. We use it to travel to and stay at Rottnest (home of the quokka, a holiday island off Perth). DH thinks it very worthwhile and would love a bigger flasher one, I’m not so sure.

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There is a saying that the two best days of owning a boat are the day you buy it and the day you sell it. Many family member either have or had boats including my parents for my entire life. Nobody ever uses them as much as anticipated and they cost alot if not getting used! I have my skippers licence and the driving and launching part is easy with courses available to take, especially if you are looking at River boating rather than open ocean.

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We brought a new fishing boat last year after we lost one in the bushfires. It was around $30k which I think is at the lower end for a new boat. It is kept at our holiday house but gets a lot of use. Over Easter week it was used twice a day (morning/evening fishing and during day). We use it for fishing, towing the donut and getting around. We often go out in morning and spend day out on the lake or river. We do have a space on a private jetty which means we only have to launch it once and not each day. It takes DH a few hours to thoroughly clean it after we have used it and put it away.


DH wants to buy another boat to keep in Melbourne- I just stare blankly at him and don't answer.

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We just bought one recently cheap off a friend who was selling his. Its still down the back in the driveway but we will be using it when we go camping etc for knee boarding and stuff.


And yes as PP said we did need to get a new (second hand) car. But that was on the radar anyway as DP tows cars and we go snowboarding a lot and needed something to chuck our shit in.

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We, well DH, has one. It’s pretty much on par with our cars to keep/service/maintain each year. It’s not super fancy so not a lot to go wrong with it. We don’t keep ours in a berth or moored either though which would be an additional (often large) expense.

I don’t enjoy it very much so rarely go out but kids love it for skiing/swimming. DH grew up boating so he’s very accustomed to it.

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We have 6 boats, and we just bought another today 🤦🏼‍♀️😂husbands job though, he is a commercial fisherman.

I don’t tow or drive the boats or anything, I usually go out with him on average once a month for line fishing.

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Not Escapin Xmas

My dad has a 16 foot fishing boat. And a big 4wd to tow it. He’s had it for about 15 years (got it when he retired).


He keeps a log of when it gets used to encourage himself to use it. It’s used almost 100% for fishing but it also works well for towing a donut/water skis (there just hasn’t been much of that in recent years due to the regular sighting of massive sharks!).


He’s very disciplined about maintenance and keeping it in good shape. He has this whole cleaning routine and if you don’t do as you’re told and help clean, you’re never invited back to go fishing again...


Short version is that you have to be disciplined, organised and REALLY into fishing to get your money’s worth.

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Sugarplum Poobah

Are you talking about a tinny to do a bit of fishing in, or a mahoosive yacht that sleeps multiple people? Because the first is pretty cheap while there are holiday houses costing less than the latter. There's also a mid point obviously 😁


The fancier it is, the more there is to go wrong and the more money you'll throw at it. A good reliable motor and general seaworthiness are your basic starting points. (I am very close to someone who likes to buy things he can "fix up". It's not a course of action I'd recommend...)

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GrannySmith

We’ve got a boat. DH sold his big fancy one before we had kids as it just wasn’t getting used enough and cost a fortune in fuel everytime we took it out. It was a great boat, just not suitable or affordable for us at that time in our lives. Now we’ve got a smaller, older boat that we keep at our holiday house. We used it heaps over the Xmas holidays but it hasn’t been touched since then. We’ve talked about bringing it home so it will get more use but haven’t done so and honestly I don’t think it would get much use. We will probably upgrade when the kids are a bit older if they keep showing an interest in fishing/boating. Boats are DH’s thing, they aren’t cheap but they’re his hobby and bring the whole family fun.

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LemonMyrtle

The type of boat you want makes a big difference.

We grew up with sailing yacht, trailable ones you can sleep in. We would holiday on it once or twice a year. It was a cheap holiday because accommodation was free, not even site fees required. Petrol costs were small because we would sail. The boat needed maintenance but my dad did most of it himself. We had some great holidays, nothing is closer to the beach than sleeping on the beach. And resale is really good for yachts.


A small tinny just for fishing won’t cost you much either, petrol will be a big cost but not huge if your boat isn’t huge. You don’t need anything giant just to fish, depends on the type of water you need to battle.


Boats are fun.

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My parents bought a secondhand boat when we were teenagers. Not a huge one, but big enough. I think it got taken out a few times. They sold it to my younger brother when he moved out of home, don't know what happened to it after that.


My younger brothers best friend had a pretty big sailboat though - they were going to sail to the USA on it at one point,


DH had a Zodiac when I met him. A lot smaller, and inflatable. Fine for the occasional fishing trip. Not that he took it out much! And we still had to pay the yearly registration fee. He want a new boat really now though, but i said no. We couldn't afford it anyway.


We have kayaks now, DH has a fishing kayak. He's taken out out a couple of times, but at least they last fairly well and you don't need a license or have to pay a yearly registration fee, So having them sit there not being used isn;t as much of a problem.


And we have a shack on a lake front! He still doesn't use it! Or his fishing license that we need to get every year!

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LemonMyrtle

A lot of people seem to also have to buy a new car to tow the boat,

 

Yes. Very important point. You need a good strong heavy 4x4 car to launch a boat. Boat ramps can be tricky, and slippery, and just being able to tow a boat isn’t enough, you need to easily be able to launch it, (in the wind, in the rain, with people queuing up behind you....)

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Kiwi Bicycle

We had a fibreglass ski boat as teens. Dad took a Boatmasters course, but that really was only necessary to go out on the sea. We found that my sister would get seasick, bouncing over waves, so that put a stop to that.

We mainly used it for fishing and waterskiing on a fresh water lake, which was great as we didn't have to wash the boat, trailer and flush the engine everytime we took it out on the salt water..

For large outboard motors, you do need to turn the over every month or so ( like a car), and by storing it and only doing this every 6 months, we did end up with engine issues ( it was a huge 115hp deturned 140hp Suzuki engine).

Launching the boat was ok epecially if you can use a proper boat ramp and not beach launching. We had a alot of fun but as we couldn't leave the boat on the water overnight, it was a bit of a daily chore loading up, driving 3 mins and launching. It did chew through a bit of money.

We sold it ( with a loss due to age and needing a major engine reoair but we brought it 2nd hand for $ 13k to start with). My dad did buy a plastic boat and electric trolling motor to fish with, but never used it.

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Spidey_Senses

Are you talking about a tinny to do a bit of fishing in, or a mahoosive yacht that sleeps multiple people? Because the first is pretty cheap while there are holiday houses costing less than the latter. There's also a mid point obviously 😁


The fancier it is, the more there is to go wrong and the more money you'll throw at it. A good reliable motor and general seaworthiness are your basic starting points. (I am very close to someone who likes to buy things he can "fix up". It's not a course of action I'd recommend...)

 

Oh yes, good point. Im thinking bigger than a tinny so that the 5 of us could fit in it. But not huge. As you can see I know nothing about this topic :P

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Spidey_Senses

A lot of people seem to also have to buy a new car to tow the boat,

 

Yes. Very important point. You need a good strong heavy 4x4 car to launch a boat. Boat ramps can be tricky, and slippery, and just being able to tow a boat isn’t enough, you need to easily be able to launch it, (in the wind, in the rain, with people queuing up behind you....)

 

We have a large 4x4 so that part is not an issue. We are not a very experienced towers though so we would need to practise that I guess. We have access to a small camper trailer and use that a bit. I am planning to do a towing course soon.

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justanothermum

We’ve got 4 boats for recreational fishing/leisure each has there different use. They are good value to DH I don’t have much interest 😂

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Silverstreak

My family had a succession of small yachts when I was growing up, Dad loved to sail.


Yachts are a money pit, there's the yacht itself, paying for the berth, repairs and maintenance, like when a motor blew up. Can't remember if yacht club fees included berthing fees. Then there's the cost of the snappy yacht club t-shirts and raincoats lol.


And because everything is so costly, there's the impetus to drive down and visit each weekend to check out the boat, yacht racing, social events etc, which is a time thing rather than a money thing.


All that said, we had some really magical times on the boat with friends and family. But yeah, money pit!

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Chicken Pie

We in Adelaide we had one but we sold as we use my FILs boat in Yorkes and if we want it down here we have a friend we store it at


Insurance isn’t much, storage at a boat yard wasn’t too much, IMO you need experience to launch it but coming back in is easier. When we had our boat we used it a lot for fishing, crabbing, sunset chill etc so I guess it depends on each person. It’s a money hole if it’s not used or needs work but ours was new and the older one we recently put in a new elec anchor but it’s otherwise fine


If paying via a loan that can cost depending on spend of course but that’s like any big purchase though a decent boat is not cheap

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We have always had a boat, presently we have a 5.2 meter Haines sig half cabin with a 90 hp motor.

We do annual maintenance yearly, use a fuel stabiliser over winter when we don’t use it and get it serviced every 3 years.

You don’t need a new car just something suitably sized to tow it. It’s used for fishing, snorkelling, bird,seal and dolphin watching, surfing at a boat only accessible area and just hanging out.

You do need a boat license ( can get it at 12 in Vic) and experience to use a boat ramp etc, it’s very entertaining over summer watching people with nfi trying to do this. Being able to reverse a trailer is essential.

We live near the beach and It’s just part of our lifestyle and is well worth it for our family.

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Chicken Pie

Meant to add we launch at North Haven but have travelled far out to fish from there. Yorkes is good fishing and I find generally better than Adelaide


DD loves it too

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BOAT stands for Bring Out Another Thousand!


We have a 20ft Neureus, 150HP Mercury. We ended up getting new fuel tank made, as the one in there was way too big and too costly to fill, not to mention the weight. Services are usually upward of $600. Spark plugs alone are $30 each. Quite costly all up. Due to the weight constraints we had to get electric brakes fitted to the car as it was over 2 tonne. All the safety equipment is also quite costly. Epirbs, flares etc. You have to ensure you have off shore flares if you are heading to Yorkes. as well as Category 4 life jackets, which are different to river life jackets. Keep in mind, that the flares and epirb etc have expiry dates, and feels like chucking money away when they have to be replaced. Our yearly boat insurance is about $1200. We are at the moment in the process of building a new shed to specifically house the boat as the canopy is too high to fit in a normal shed, so higher expense for higher shed.

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