price of a "decent" boat become about $45K? OK, break out the harmonica. A little tune please. Way back when I was a teen ayger, my parents said to me, "V. Grumpy, if you get all B's next year, we'll buy you a boat." Wow. The boat I so wanted was a little Boston Whaler skiff with a 25 hp Merc engine. I believe the price was give or take about $2K. My son, who works for a nationwide boat dealership sells a larger version of what I dreamed of for about $125K! Ok, now by a little bit larger, I mean a monstrous 150 hp computerized sea tested Merc. His version is so efficient (and expensive) you simply walk next to it and think "I wanna go now" and it turns itself on without a sound and you're off, forgetting about the monthly payment and absurd cost of fuel. Yes, it is a little longer than my dream boat with an Airbus type instrument laden center console -satellite this and that, radar, sonar and other ar's. But bottom line it's not that much different than my dream boat. You get in and go, fishing, swimming, island hopping, bikini watching or whatever. But sweet holy Jesus, look at the prices of some of these "other" boats. Flipping through my latest copy of SaltWater Sportsman, Boston-Whalers are some of the most expensive boats on the market. The 345 Conquest with twin Mercury Verados, 347 gallon fuel capacity, a 40 gallon live well and a top speed of almost 45 miles an hour costs twice as much as my house was valued before the real estate market collapsed. On page 70 in the Sept. 2008 issue a Henriques 30 Express "a versatile boat for inshore and offshore fishing" is a 35 ft beauty for $325,000! A 28 foot Triton 281cc center console is $140K! Back down to earth is the (page 79) Wellcraft 210F 21 footer for $43,520. And to the left across the fold is the ridiculous Nordhav 75 EYF for (gulp) $4,400,000! Now McCain says rich is $5 mil and Obama says it's about $150K. But neither can afford the likes of that Nordhav or a lot of the other advertised boats. Being a OTR trucker, I can't even swing for the rubber dingy thing that the Captain of the Nordhav goes to shore to purchase the owners caviar and champagne. And I'll let you in on a secret, used boats suck. And older used boat engines are garbage. My son and I have had several of both and oh have we suffered for it. Never again. You gotta buy NEW. You just have to figure out to pay for the sucker. Hopefully - he does not get an employee discount - my son will somehow buy a nice new boat with one of those dream Mercs before I'm too old to remember why I ever dreamed of owning that Whaler. And we'll have some good times. And fish until we drop. Because way back then I never did get that little skiff. Sure I got the B's, but my parents never fulfilled the promise. And deep down I've cryed about it ever since. The photo credit is http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9G_bHKApbFIqWMBux.jzbkF/SIG=1233n56i7/EXP=1219688192/**http%3A//www.flickr.com/photos/rc6750/2492031863/ and Saltwater Sportsman Magazine's website is http://www.saltwatersportsman.com/ These folks support catch and release which I'm a big supporter of.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
And just when did the...
price of a "decent" boat become about $45K? OK, break out the harmonica. A little tune please. Way back when I was a teen ayger, my parents said to me, "V. Grumpy, if you get all B's next year, we'll buy you a boat." Wow. The boat I so wanted was a little Boston Whaler skiff with a 25 hp Merc engine. I believe the price was give or take about $2K. My son, who works for a nationwide boat dealership sells a larger version of what I dreamed of for about $125K! Ok, now by a little bit larger, I mean a monstrous 150 hp computerized sea tested Merc. His version is so efficient (and expensive) you simply walk next to it and think "I wanna go now" and it turns itself on without a sound and you're off, forgetting about the monthly payment and absurd cost of fuel. Yes, it is a little longer than my dream boat with an Airbus type instrument laden center console -satellite this and that, radar, sonar and other ar's. But bottom line it's not that much different than my dream boat. You get in and go, fishing, swimming, island hopping, bikini watching or whatever. But sweet holy Jesus, look at the prices of some of these "other" boats. Flipping through my latest copy of SaltWater Sportsman, Boston-Whalers are some of the most expensive boats on the market. The 345 Conquest with twin Mercury Verados, 347 gallon fuel capacity, a 40 gallon live well and a top speed of almost 45 miles an hour costs twice as much as my house was valued before the real estate market collapsed. On page 70 in the Sept. 2008 issue a Henriques 30 Express "a versatile boat for inshore and offshore fishing" is a 35 ft beauty for $325,000! A 28 foot Triton 281cc center console is $140K! Back down to earth is the (page 79) Wellcraft 210F 21 footer for $43,520. And to the left across the fold is the ridiculous Nordhav 75 EYF for (gulp) $4,400,000! Now McCain says rich is $5 mil and Obama says it's about $150K. But neither can afford the likes of that Nordhav or a lot of the other advertised boats. Being a OTR trucker, I can't even swing for the rubber dingy thing that the Captain of the Nordhav goes to shore to purchase the owners caviar and champagne. And I'll let you in on a secret, used boats suck. And older used boat engines are garbage. My son and I have had several of both and oh have we suffered for it. Never again. You gotta buy NEW. You just have to figure out to pay for the sucker. Hopefully - he does not get an employee discount - my son will somehow buy a nice new boat with one of those dream Mercs before I'm too old to remember why I ever dreamed of owning that Whaler. And we'll have some good times. And fish until we drop. Because way back then I never did get that little skiff. Sure I got the B's, but my parents never fulfilled the promise. And deep down I've cryed about it ever since. The photo credit is http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A9G_bHKApbFIqWMBux.jzbkF/SIG=1233n56i7/EXP=1219688192/**http%3A//www.flickr.com/photos/rc6750/2492031863/ and Saltwater Sportsman Magazine's website is http://www.saltwatersportsman.com/ These folks support catch and release which I'm a big supporter of.
