How much does it cost just to USE your boat?

[Dakota47]

Re: How much does it cost just to USE your boat?

Im a trailer boater also, lake is 26 miles from the house, gas-food-beer = $50.00 per day. ( thats for 2 people)

 

[Pursuit2150]

Re: How much does it cost just to USE your boat?

Boat Lenght X $75-$150 per Year

 

[PINESOL]

Re: How much does it cost just to USE your boat?

you think boating is expensive ... try extreme rockcrawling .. im starting to like it when the kids are crackin up laughing on the tube , instead of fear in thier eyes from a rollover at double the cost ... .. the lake is real close 20 miles . dodge diesel will set ya back. but used boat. a little know how to do your own work .. its all about the lunch and beverages .. good times ... priceless ...

 

[srothfuss]

Re: How much does it cost just to USE your boat?

Only the gas needed to trailer my boat to the launch! It's a huge benifit to owning a sailboat I suppose

 

[JimS123]

Re: How much does it cost just to USE your boat?

I have a "real" car that tows our 19' I/O boat. It's a full size 1980 with low mileage, always garage kept along with the boat. Been paid for for over 27 years, so it owes me nothing. It's 3 miles to the boat ramp. Boat running hours are about 60 per year, or 20 trips.

400 for car insurance, 100 for car maintenance, 200 boat insurance, 100 boat maintenance, 600 gas (10 gal x 20 trips x $3 per gal), 50 for registrations = $1450 per year. The food and drinks are not to be added because we have to eat no matter where we are.

Now, if we didn't have the boat, we would go out for a Sunday drive and use the same amount of gas, so subtract the 600 for gas money because its spent anyway. And in that case the car mileage would be higher, as would maintenance, so add another 400 per year if we didn't have the boat.

Bottom line is the boat costs us $450 a year extra. As an alternative, we could stay home all the time, save the complete $1450, sit on the porch and watch the cars go by, which would be priceless.....LOL.

Now, the second boat is a small OB fishing boat. 1 gal of gas per hour, 60 hours use per year ($180), no insurance (covered on the homeowners), maintenance maybe $50, the small car pulls it so no extras here, same 3 miles to the ramp so we wont even count the $0.60 in gas per trip. Annual cost out of pocket is $230, but if you figure in the Sunday drive costs again, THIS boat actually SAVES me money.

 

[jimyoung]

Re: How much does it cost just to USE your boat?

Gas for truck to the lake....$20
Gas for the Boat........$10
Lunch...........$12.00
No bait...plastics only.....
The look on the grandkids face when the fish bite............need i say more?

 

[Caveman Charlie]

Re: How much does it cost just to USE your boat?

I think your question is to general.

It depends on what type of boat you have, how you use it, how often you use it, and where you live. Just to name a few.

I just bought my first boat for 1500 dollars. It came with a trailer and life vests. It also had tow ropes for skiers but, I will probably never use them. It needed a little engine work ( and still needs a little more) but, even though it says "Mercruiser" on it is still basically just a old Chevy stovebolt 4. I'm able , on the farm, to do most of this work myself. I have about 2 grand in it so far. I expect to end up with the type of boat I want for 2500-2800 dollars by doing the work myself and careful shopping. (If I quit being stupid and bending up the prop. Oh well, live and learn. )

My tow vehicle is a 95 F150 I bought two years ago from a little old man who only drove it to church on Sunday. It had, at that time, 35000 miles on it. I have 60000 on it now. It's my main means of local transportation/ going to work (3 miles away) etc. . On long distances trips I take my car. The truck has a 5.0 (302) 3.31 gears and OD. By driving smart I can get about 18 Hwy 15 city. (approximately) I don't know what I get pulling the boat. But, as a old farmer/farm hand I know how to pull things efficiently.

I live in Mn, land of 10000 lakes. Most of the ones near me are small but, big enough for a little fishing or skiing on the right weekend. There are some larger lakes too. Almost all, with very, very, few exceptions, of the lakes in MN and; for that reason northern Iowa; have a public boat launch that's free. My boat takes about 10 minutes to launch or recover.

Storage if free for me I park it in my farm yard in a old shed. Even people in town in MN park there boats in there back yards under a cover.

There will be general maintenance every year. But, I can do most of that myself.

It's like a car, or any other piece of machinery. If you take care of it, do the maintenance, then you have less repair cost in the long run!

I am new to boating and can not give you a exact number. But, by being careful and resourceful, I can tell you that I can afford it on my, less then average, income.

It's all in how you look at it I guess.
Have a nice Day

 

[Jerico]

Re: How much does it cost just to USE your boat?

I tow my boat 60-80 miles each way depending on which lake, with a 3/4 ton Ford van converted to a camper. Figure about 20 gal, about $60 to get there and back.

2 nights at a camp sight (Fri,Sat) @ $18/night = $36

Food, snacks, drinks for 2 for the weekend = $40

Gas for the boat = $50

Figure about $150-200 per weekend We missed 3 weekends from mid-May to Oct. About 21 weekends = $3150-4200.

Add in insurance and maintenance. No, it's not cheap when you add it all up. On the other hand, if you figure getting away for a mini-vacation almost every weekend it is well worth it.

 

[Ezrider_92356]

Re: How much does it cost just to USE your boat?

for my 14ft aluminum about 2 miles to the launch will use less than a gallon of gas in 12 hours of fishing i tipicaly use 2-3 gallon of gas in the boat but the gas motor (25hp merc) is mostly used for moving from spot to spot so total about 5-6 gallon of fuel 2 dozen night crawlers 1.42 2 scoops of minnows 2.00 and about 5-15 dollars in lost tackle sometimes more if im using alot of lures. i can go out for the day for a 20 dollar bill easily. so obviously between my post and others the cost varies greatly between uses types of boats and distances traveled

 

[oops!]

Re: How much does it cost just to USE your boat?

it costs me 100 bucks a day on the water! gas, bevies, ice, hot dogz, and viagra, ok $110 with viagra.
tee hee.
it depends on what u do with the boat, float, ski, beach,
some of the best times my girl and i have are at night, put in at 7 pm. and just idle around and chat till midnight. burns 5 bucks gas. and it is a super evening.

if you like the water. its worth every penny!

 

[bamafutbal]

Re: How much does it cost just to USE your boat?

boating cost is negligible, its what you can afford to do or don't do. when i worry about the cost too much then boating is not worth it

 

[Texasmark]

Re: How much does it cost just to USE your boat?

Have the truck anyway and boat is light; hard to tell it's back there. Truck gets around 16 towing trailer....HEMI in a SWB 2wd Mopar...turns off 4 cyl when you don't need 8. Grin

20 miles to lake and since I live in the country I usually combine the fishing/playing trip with a trip to the nearby town to pick up supplies that I would have needed to make a trip for anyway.

Usually run about 5 gallons of fuel and a little Sea Foam per outing. Boat very efficient and I don't make a day of it.

Insurance is less than $20 per month. Have everything with one agent/one company so I get a lot of discounts.

No maintenance required.

Mark

 

[Caveman Charlie]

Re: How much does it cost just to USE your boat?

I have all my insurance through State Farm. Including a umbrella policy . I only carry liability on my boat. It's only 54 dollars twice a year.

 

[Fish n Geer]

Re: How much does it cost just to USE your boat?

Kind of a loaded question.Every boat being different in operation costs.Heck what does it cost to go to the movies now days?Family of 3 or 4? Kill a hundred dollar bill fast after refreshments and tickets.Rather take them boating/fishing.

"PRICELESS"

 

[AguaSki]

Re: How much does it cost just to USE your boat?

I would say a normal trip for my family is:

* $15 gas to tow 20 miles to ramp
* $25 - $30 boat gas. (We do some water sports, but spend a fair amount of time anchored
* $25 for food and cold drinks (no alcohol in my boat)
* $7 launch fee

I will round it to about $75 per trip, and we do about 25 trips each year.

A couple weeks ago I was asked to help organize a water ski outing for a Boy Scout troop. These boy's had no interest in swimming next to an anchored boat so the motor ran the entire time. In about 7 hours the motor sucked down about $100 in gas. Fortunately the troop had funds to reimburse me for the expense, but the trip taught me how expensive in can be to run the motor all day for water sports. I can't afford $100 in gas each weekend.

 

[jt57]

Re: How much does it cost just to USE your boat?

"How many $$$ do you waste each year on towing your boat each year?"

Well in the first place ,I don't consider it a waste,if I did then I would do something else.I don't figure in the cost of having a truck. as I would have one even if I didn't have a boat.

For me boating/fishing is cheaper then a therapist,and a lot more fun.My time on the water is my therapy,and i cherish every minute of it. All toll I will probably end up with about 35-40 days on the water .I hope I still have some fishing to do this year.

Fuel is by far my biggest expense ,but for me its part of having a boat.It's 70 miles round trip to the lake and back so the miles do add up over time.

 

[Asainz320]

Re: How much does it cost just to USE your boat?

Gas for car................... $20
Gas for boat................. $50
Lunch.......................... $15
Ramp........................... $10
TOTAL......................... $95 per trip

We go out around 2-4 times a month,depending on the weather, so around 30 times a year, which comes to be a grand total of almost $3000 a year, but its all worth it evry penny of it.

 

[Hashi]

Re: How much does it cost just to USE your boat?

Too Much!

 

[whywhyzed]

Re: How much does it cost just to USE your boat?

Heck what does it cost to go to the movies now days?Family of 3 or 4? Kill a hundred dollar bill fast after refreshments and tickets.

Went to a movie last week...

After the tix, baby sitter, dinner, popcorn, parking..... total came to just over $900

...


....

oh yeah, I forgot - that included the drugs we bought on the street to help us make it through 2 hours of the crap hollywood passes off as entertainment these days...

 

[burroak]

Re: How much does it cost just to USE your boat?

Just ran across this. Does it sound reasonable?

A rough rule of thumb can be applied to most boats, based on size, as follows:
Trailerable boats: $100/foot of length
Non trailerable boats: $1000/foot of length