“Thing about boats is, you can always sell them if you don’t like them. Can’t sell kids.”
Lin Pardey
If you love to travel, you might have thought about buying your own boat. In fact, it’s a dream for a lot of people. Who wouldn’t love spending their days relaxing on deck on their own boat, sipping cocktails and soaking up the sun? If you take a lot of trips around the coast and you like getting out on the water, buying a boat could be the right choice.
However, things aren’t quite that simple and buying a boat is a big investment, so it’s not something you should rush into. If you love to travel and you are thinking about buying a boat, here are a few important things you should think about.
How Often Will You Use The Boat?
This is the first question to ask yourself because you’re spending a lot of money on a boat and it’s only worthwhile if you’re actually going to use it. Some people romanticize the idea of buying a boat but then when they get one, they hardly ever use it.
So, think about what you want the boat for and how often you will use it. If you’re using it for fishing trips, for example, you’ll probably get out more often than you would if you’re using it for entertaining guests or watersports. Do you want to use the boat for beach getaways or will you be using it on a lake? These are all important questions to ask before buying a boat.
When you’ve decided how you want to use it, think about how much use you will realistically get out of it. How often will you have time to host parties? Will you want to go out on your boat and engage in watersports in the winter? Be realistic about this and if you are only going to use the boat once or twice a year, think about whether it’s really worth the investment. Don’t forget that you have to cover the cost of owning a boat (we’ll come to that later), so it’s probably not worth it if you rarely use it.
Are You Close To The Water?
This seems like an obvious thing to consider but people sometimes overlook it. They assume that it doesn’t matter too much if they’re a few hours away from the water because they can put the boat in a trailer or store it at a dock somewhere. However, when it comes down to it, they don’t end up using the boat because it’s too much effort to get to the water.
Even if you are near the water, is the location suitable for the way that you want to use your boat? What if you want to use the boat for water skiing but the only body of water is a small lake that doesn’t allow watersports? You’d think that this would be obvious too, but people get excited about the prospect of owning a boat and then don’t check these things until afterward. So look at the closest water sources and consider whether you are in the right location to own a boat or not.
Where Will You Store Your Boat?
In case you hadn’t noticed, boats are big and you need somewhere to store them. Think about this before you buy one, so you don’t end up in a difficult position when you realize that you have nowhere to put your boat.
You have a few options when it comes to boat storage; you could store it at home and then use a trailer to bring it down to the water when you want to use it or you could pay to store it at a dock. Storing it a dock does make life easier for you but when you dock a boat, it’s best to get a boat lift too, so you can keep it out of the water.
This protects it from waves, which could potentially damage it while you are not using it. If you are storing it at home, you need to find space and make sure that it’s well covered, so it doesn’t get damaged by the weather. You’ll also need to sort out a trailer to move it.
Can You Afford To Own A Boat?
Saving up the money to buy the boat in the first place is tough, but you can get some good discounts if you buy second hand. However, you need to think about whether you can actually afford to own a boat before you’ve bought one.
There are a lot of costs you need to cover if you want to keep your boat in good working order, so it’s worth adding up the numbers first. If you buy a boat that you can’t afford to maintain, it will fall into disrepair and your money will be wasted.
Boat storage is one of the big costs to consider, especially if you store it at a dock. On top of that, you need to think about boat maintenance, which is a lot of work and can be quite expensive. If you don’t keep up with regular maintenance, your boat is prone to damage, which is another big cost you have to cover.
You will also need a lot of gear to use when sailing your boat, and the cost of everything quickly adds up. Things like life jackets, fire extinguishers, rope, boat covers etc. can all be expensive and many new boat owners forget to account for this cost.
Whenever you buy something expensive like a boat, you should always get insurance. This will cover you for any damage from fires or accidents, and it will protect you from theft too. You may also need insurance to cover you for injuries sustained during boating accidents. If you don’t have comprehensive insurance, you could end up paying a lot of money in the future, so make sure that you can afford the best policy.
If you want to make your travel dreams come true with your own boat, make sure you think about these things first.
Stay Gold.
