Cool I bet its a blast

 

it was. only kept it 2 seasons. It guzzled gas in a way that made my old Sea Ray with twin 454's look like a Honda Hyrbid :|

 

Are boats pretty expensive to maintain in general, such as your average speed boat? I can't imagine the costs of trying to maintain one of those cigarette boats.

 

my first boat was a 19 foot Bayliner - ski/rec boat. Single engine, open bow, etc. Fun boat - easy to take wherever on a trailer. But - if you want to get any life out of it and avoid major expenses later - then you should rip it apart, clean it, winterize, and service the outdrive & seals every winter. Kinda like keeping a bike up to snuff for a number of years, ya know? Winterizing, thorough cleaning, and minor part replacements would cost an average of 300 to 600, plus labor if I didn't do it myself. But... then the boat would be ready to rock on the first day of the next season.

Now - when you are talking offshores like the Cig and Fountain - those boats spend 50% of the time out of the water - meaning airborne. The hulls, electronics, and outdrives take a major pounding. This includes all the seals on the transom, hoses, sea-strainers, motor mounts, etc... you *might* get away with rebuilding the outdrives every other year, but usually you want to do it yearly to avoid downtime halfway through the next season. Big, beefy outdrives can cost anywhere from 800 to 1500 each to have gone through and done right. Most of it is in labor of course, but snapped shafts can get pretty pricey too. Fresh bottom-paint every year (if your boat sits in the marina), and polished props. Figure every winter you will put anywhere from 2 to 4k into an offshore if you don't need an engine rebuild or a major overhaul on the outdrives.

Cruisers are still pricey, but as they don't tend to see the abuse an offshore does - it is much easier to do, and you usually only need to go through the drives every 3 years or so.

The old adage of "the 2 happiest days in a boaters life are the day buys the boat and the day he sells the boat" is quite true - especially if it is one you have put a lot of time and money into.

I will probably get another one day - when fuel prices and the economy stabilize a bit, but it will likely be another cruiser. Unfortunately this means I will either need to have fuel trucked in, or buy it at the marina - both of which are crazy expensive. I got rid of the Fountain almost 4 years ago, and back then fuel docks were charging in the $4 neighborhood for regular. 150 gallons would last the weekend if I behaved and did more parking and posing than boating. If I didn't - I could easily run through it in less than a day. And that was with the most efficient Merc's that Fountain offered.

 

With these gas prices you almost have to be loaded to operate these boats. I was at the lake this last weekend diving and I was amazed at all the boats that were there. And this lake is about two hours from the closest major city. Some of the guys were saying it was an easy 300 dallors to pull there boat to the lake spend the day and go back home.

 

 

"ahhhh STOP CHASING ME"

lol

 

*cringe* you know that resulted in a shattered ankle and blown knee.... daaaaaaamn.

 

yeah im sure it sucked

 

pr0n for the blind