If Shabah is preaching to the choir, I am the heathen who skipped church to go fishing.
I go with the "I'd rather be using it than waxing it" crowd. A boat is a tool. Mine are the pick-up truck, the SUV; yours may be the Mercedes convertible. That's the problem with the question: the meaningless word "boat."
Where I live and boat, a major boating community, boats are more often not covered--BECAUSE THEY DON'T NEED TO BE! You can get boats that are made for outdoor use. They don't rot after the first rain; there's no carpet to fret about. My living room sofa wouldn't fare so well if I used it as lawn furniture, so I bought lawn furniture.
You can't say my boat is neglected because I leave it in the water uncovered year round, any more than you can say I neglect my Chevy by not parking it in a heated garage. Or covering it every night.
I do, however, maintain them. My efforts are put into the things that matter: the fuel, the motor, the electronics, the condition of the bottom, the equipment. My new boat looked new when it was new; it looked 5 years old when it was 5 years old; it looks 24 years old now that it is 24 years old--and has looked about the same for the last 10 years. Part of that is because we buy boats made for outdoor use that hold up.
