Re: What do you give up to own a boat?
Those "select" leagues & "travel" leagues can be more of a status symbol for parents sometimes. Not saying that's the case across the board, just make sure the kids really appreciate & enjoy that level of competition. Or have a shot at scholarships. At any rate I admire your willingness to make big sacrifices for your kids' happiness & well-being.<br /><br />We were pretty poor when we got married; we wife agreed I could get a bass boat when we'd saved enough to pay cash. Nineteen years later I finally got my 25-year-old boat - a gift from Dad. We're not poor anymore not rich, either, but like you lots of family committments & other "life happens" kind of stuff.<br /><br />What I'm saying is, if boating is as much a passion as it looks like from your picture, don't, DON'T, DON'T give it up! <br /><br />If you can tolerate down-sizing or down-grading to an older boat, then do it. If you can't, well, try meditation or something, just do it. Maybe you'll find that restoring an old boat will satisfy your passion for a while. <br /><br />If you get any cash out of the sale, get the replacement boat right away. If you wait, that money will just evaporate and you may never discover where it went.<br /><br />If you don't get any cash, well, have a garage sale, take a second job for a while, do something, but the longer you wait, the more likely you are to experience major regrets down the road.<br /><br />My dad always wanted a fishing boat, his whole life. He bought a small outboard so we could fish out of rented boats from time to time. Finally, when he was 72, he figured out that he had $2000 & was old enough to buy a boat if he wanted. Two years later he found he didn't quite have enough mobility to get much use from it, which is why I have it now. He seriously regrets not buying a boat sooner. <br /><br />Moral of the story: don't let this happen to you, life's too short!<br /><br />p.s. if you ask advice from non-boaters they may say "the boat's a luxury, just give it up," or some such nonsense. They just don't understand. What you have here on this forum is proof that you are not unreasonable. Plenty of otherwise reasonable, rational, sane, family-loving, patriotic Americans (Canadians, Australians, Brits, Dutch, South Africans, New Zealanders, hope I didn't leave anybody out) are just as passionate about their boats as you. You are not alone!
Amen! <br /><br />..tough to find but, another would be the M.C.'s of that late era too!<br /><br />plenty of options w/o the $40,000 price tag and $300mo payment!
