Why don't people use their boats?

[OnTour]

Everyone is at work trying to pay for their boats and marina slips.

[OnTour]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

I advise anyone looking to buy a boar to make sure they enjoy it. It's one thing to spend money on something you enjoy, spending it to keep the marina and bottom diver in business is different.

I would never buy a Boar...those things are mean ! Probably cheaper to own than a boat though.

[Coops]

"Buying a boar to enjoy it" and "bottom diver" in the same post, makes you shudder really.

Coops.

[ElGatoGordo]

Originally Posted by RainDog

Having a boat is like having a gym membership. Even if you never go, you still want to think of yourself as the kind of person who goes to the gym/sailboat. That keeps you paying the fee despite all logic.

That's probably the best answer. We have always gotten comments at marina Del Sol about how often we go out. We've been there 3+ years and for the most part my boat moves 2 or 3 times a week. But I usually only work 3 days. I sinply can't afford a slip if I'm not using it!

[Lake-Effect]

No one ever said on their death-bed "I wish I'd worked more".

Work less, buy small, sail more.

[Bestathook]

I have a friend who spends about 3 nights a week on his boat. He is a heavy drinker, and parties a lot on it, sometimes with guests, sometimes alone.

The boat sits with it's keel in a trench, in his side yard.

He likes the easy access, no boating while intoxicated tickets, no slip fees, zero fuel costs, no wear on the sails, and minimal upkeep.

He also loves to point out that he sails just as often as half the boats in the marina.

[markpierce]

Can you imagine the gridlock if everyone decided to drive their cars at the same time!

But regarding boats, it's seems rare to see more than 3 percent of boats leave their marinas. Last Monday, I observed only two pleasure boats (motorboats, not sailboats) underway, as compared to four paired tugs/barges and a tanker aided by two tugs. I would prefer a higher ratio of pleasure boats.

[Freedom45]

Here in Long Beach, Ca. I have been a live-aboard for 6+ years. I love the solitude as the place is empty of people most of the time. I think people buy boats THEN realize how much work they are and that they don't have as much spare time as they thought.
I sail once or twice a week on average and the ocean is mine...all mine...muhahaa

[GILow]

At our club it is no exaggeration to say 90% of the boats would not go out in a given year. One of the workers at the club was able to point to a dozen or more very good, seaworthy boats that he was sorely tempted to sail off to Greece for a few months as he knew very well that they would not be missed. Many are on fixed maintenance contracts where they are slipped (hauled out) yearly and antifouled, and often the owner has not sailed the boat even once between slippings.

Well, I have a theory about at least our boat. At 42 feet it is not what I would call large, but it is not small. But it is seriously ungainly when coming and going in the marina. Now the previous owners bought it, had a delivery skipper help them sail it home, and then barely used it for the next ten years. They were in a horribly tight marina, with a shallow channel on the approach and I think the stress of coming and going was too great. They ended up treating it more like a floating version of those caravans that live permanently on one site, you know the sort with pink flamingo statues and a white picket fence.

I wonder how many people are defeated by the prospect of getting the boat out on the water or find the Damocles Sword aspect of returning to the marina spoils the fun.

Matt

[markpierce]

Go sail/motor/enjoy your ######## boats!



We need to see more than tugs and barges.

[cheoah]

Originally Posted by GILow

I wonder how many people are defeated by the prospect of getting the boat out on the water or find the Damocles Sword aspect of returning to the marina spoils the fun.

Matt

More than will admit. I prefer my mooring to any marina. Going somewhere, I just slip my lines. Singlehanding out of a tight marina in current or wind is tough, worth waiting for slack water. I'll admit being plenty anxious about it in times past, but it never stopped me from starting a journey. Daysailing? Definitely. Not my thing anyway, and lets face it, at some point you have to stop and do some maintenance.

I guess everybody is looking for something different out of their boats. Mine is a means to an end, a sensible way to travel. The sailboat in a trench program sounds pretty bleak, but in the end, he is right. His boat is like many, tugging at their lines but going nowhere.

Mine is moored more than I'd like, but at 40, I'm hitting the career pretty hard, teenagers in college or high school, and too close now to let up on the work. Work has included more travel to latin america in the winter, and that eats some weeks right off the top. Hard to pass up weeks in Cuba or Costa Rica, all expenses covered plus pay. In the end, I still try to squeak out 5 weeks at least on my boat, and should be back up to 8 or more weeks in a few years, then much more in 6-8 years. I've justified my boat purchase based on what seems like a generous amount of time using the boat, such that chartering would be out of the question.

I see my boat as a long term investment, and still pay dearly on a mortgage for her. We'll see if I was smart in the end, but I was very careful to buy the right boat (after a couple others), one that was well built, basic, and generally enjoyable and straightforward to work on, so that it could be my boat for decades. So, much of its use is deferred. I dream and plan future passages, and those dreams are vivid because of the little ship tugging at her lines.

I see older guys, who's bodies are letting them down, confidence waning, but keeping the boat in her slip nonetheless. Once the boat is sold, the dream is harder buy into, and there is a point at which one must let go. That's why I haven't delayed my plans, inasmuch as possible, and with some sacrifice, because you never know when it will be too difficult to make it happen.

For me, there just has to be enough miles under sail each year, enough days and nights lazing at anchor, enough LP burned from one killer meal after another, to feed and care for the dream. It is different for everyone, but it does seem like boats sit unused a lot. Bet mine seems that way to some, but I'm too busy tending to life and handling the priorities as best I can.

MAny of us here have the same kind of dreams, each actualizing our own version of it - including the trench boat and pink flamingos. Whatever makes people happy, spend time together, and feel free is alright by me. All of us, to some degree, are beholden to our boats for maintenance, and some live for it.

I will say that in the Chesapeake, when the wind is blowing, the marinas seem to empty out. I was impressed especially with how many people sail their boats in Annapolis area.

[markpierce]

Hard to believe people don't take their boats out motoring/sailing because they are scared. Seems irrational to spend lots of money but not make use of their boats because they are scared to venture.

[laika]

My first real cruise was in my early 20s with 5 buddies piled onto a 37'. We sailed from NYC to Key West and I remember with each leg of the trip, there was always a good deal of anxiety beforehand. As we got out on the ocean we found the fears would quickly subside as the natural rhythms and sublimity of the sea took over. I vividly remember the first time waking up and climbing the companionway to see nothing but the ocean stretching out in every direction. I think that first morning was the hook line and sinker.

I've marginally improved the sailing skills and general wherewithal since then, but those pre-sail jitters definitely still present themselves. I have also heard from more than one highly experienced sailor that some form of this remains present before each voyage even for them.

I know that if I don't offer myself to the whims of the water regularly, with each day spent focusing on the more lubberly things in life, it only gets harder to actually get out there. Yet every time, once the lines are cast, I always wonder what the fuss was about.

So I guess seeing as how most own larger boats than I, don't know them very well, and have even more ties to the land and busier lives than myself, I shouldn't be too surprised that most don't go very far.

[GILow]

Originally Posted by laika

...and I remember with each leg of the trip, there was always a good deal of anxiety beforehand. As we got out on the ocean we found the fears would quickly subside as the natural rhythms and sublimity of the sea took over. I vividly remember the first time waking up and climbing the companionway to see nothing but the ocean stretching out in every direction. I think that first morning was the hook line and sinker...

That so eloquently sums it up for me too. Thanks for that.

[Doodles]

Originally Posted by markpierce

Hard to believe people don't take their boats out motoring/sailing because they are scared. Seems irrational to spend lots of money but not make use of their boats because they are scared to venture.

No, we humans behave irrationally often, especially when it comes to money, sex and religion, and most of it is motivated by some fear.