Bankrupt

[rangerscott275]

Does anyone else feel like their boat is bankrupting them?

 

[Avenger]

If you don't feel that way, you either have too much money (if that's possible) or you're doing something wrong.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Your boat isn't doing this deliberately...unfortunately or fortunately we all have older boats, and more things break on older boats. Sorry to hear you are having troubles with her, though. I suppose the consolation is that on a Hatteras, if you can fix something it generally stays fixed.

 

[spartonboat1]

Yes, I was feeling drained... didn't help that the boom years in late 90's, early 2000's died down.

The three major areas of cost savings have been:
1) Find a very, very good tech and a yard you can really trust. I have paid out very large sums for work that left the boat worse for wear and in one case, I was very lucky I did not suffer a major fire from badly installed electrical systems.
2) Storage costs, esp. heated can be $4-6K/season. I made a choice to store outside at 20% of the cost of inside heated. We (my spouse actually) made custom canvas covers, and I incur the cost to winterize.
3) Do it yourself. Now that I am outside, I can now get at the boat and do my own bottom painting, other repairs. I was kicked out of the heated barn, after the 911 attack- insurance wouldn't you know. Do other repairs within your scope of ability.

My fairly good guess is that if I had done this at the outset I would have saved nearly $50K total over the years.

my 2CW

 

[Passages]

Maybe not bankrupt but it's certainly sucking up all disposable income.

2 days ago my mechanic assessed my port engine and declared it will get me through this season - but plan on a rebuild this winter. OUCH !

FWIW - It's a DD6-71ti pumped to 410 hp. Only has 1600 hours on original build. So much for these being 3000 hour engines. Man, I'm bummed the engine only lasted 30 years.

 

[ThirdHatt]

I was doing fine until my insurance company decided not to renew my policy when it expires! New quote from agent is nearly triple! From $3,100/yr to $8,400/yr for $250,000 coverage. Insurance is now a major part of my boating budget. So much for that new 48-mile radar!

 

[whaler23]

I concur with all. Even with boat paid for my current monthly nut on slip, fuel, annualized maint./12 is 1500.00 + per month. OUCH is right. Just paid for new enclosure, nearly 5K (real nice though) and thats not added in to monthly amount above. Boat still needs all electronics installed, haven't summoned the energy yet as I am doing that myself.

 

[yachtscape]

Does anyone else feel like their boat is bankrupting them?

Hmmmmm.....Were you speaking of morally or financially?

 

[Capten]

Your boat isn't doing this deliberately...unfortunately or fortunately we all have older boats, and more things break on older boats. Sorry to hear you are having troubles with her, though. I suppose the consolation is that on a Hatteras, if you can fix something it generally stays fixed.

Lots of stuff breaks on the new ones too - they are boats after all. Big difference is that a lot is under warranty on the new ones and may not cost much out of pocket.

 

[67hat34c]

We are feeling it . older boat, now hard to insure and expensive, slip going up alot, gasoline boat will have ethanol issue, stuff wearing out, upgrades etc

we had bottom sanded down to bare gel last year and had props redone along with other related items and spent 6k. this year we are getting top side painted and that is costing more than last year. I think if the ethanol issue came up too soon in FL then it would kill the boat for us. Too much at one time. Good news is that there are not know plans to convert Florida.

the bad news is we have been spending like crazy an have not been able to actualy use the boat since january, missed the whole fishing season etc. now hurricane season is upon us and may limit its use when we get her back in mid July.

 

[rangerscott275]

I keep thinking that if I replace / fix enough things, eventually the boat will be in ship shape (pun intented) and I'll stop bleeding money!

Speaking of morally bankrupt....I don't know about that, but along those lines, my girlfriend has pointed out that she finds herself coming in 2nd place to my boat on a very regular basis....I think my hatt may not only be a money sucker but has ventured into the realm of being a home wrecker as well!

 

[Genesis]

I have a down-to-the-penny list of what Gigabite cost me - I charge most everything and write checks on the rest, and all that goes into Quicken.

I didn't look (intentionally) when I owned her and when I did my year-end I intentionally skipped looking at that line item (e.g. "Boat:Gigabite") on the category reports.

I like my sanity, you see.....

But I did love her.

Someone a long time ago told me the basics of boat ownership. The first and most important part was "if you don't love 'em - not like 'em, love 'em - don't own one."

He was right.

 

[SeaEric]

Scott, It sounds to me like your priorities are about right and the pecking order is correct. However with ownership of a semi antique motor yacht, the cash hemorrhage is likely to continue. The good news is that the boat only communicates with you in a non-verbal fashion.

 

[rangerscott275]

glad my girlfriend doesn't read this site....because lately when she complains that I'm spending too much time working on the boat and that I need to get a new boat, i think in my head that maybe what i need is a new girlfriend!

 

[jim rosenthal]

Yes...the other day I got chewed out by a friend's fiancee who made sport of my boat, and car collection. To which I said, "well, when I take the key out, they shut up, and they stop eating, too".

Now, that wasn't politically correct, but someplace out there is a woman boater whose male S.O. is complaining that she spends too much time and money on the boat. And I'll bet she feels just like I do- wishes he'd shut up.

 

[Boss Lady]

We only have a short time on this planet and I plan on enjoying what time I have left. You can live on your boat, but you can't sail a house, so if something has to go, it won't be the Hatteras. As far as girlfriends and wives go, if you have a Hatteras neither are hard to replace. A friend of mine's wife was complaining that they needed start conserving money, so she told him he had to give beer since he consumed great quantities of it and it would be better for his health, he agreed, the next month their credit card bill came in and there were some expensive charges for makeup and stuff, he asked her about it and reminded her that they agreed to conserve, and since he gave up drinking she should cut back on the expensive make up and beauty products. She tried to justify it by explaining that she needed that stuff so she would be attractive for "him", he replied "what did you think the beer was for?", well, now he is looking forward to meeting a new girlfriend this weekend to go boating on his Hatteras. LOL

 

[MikeP]

Reminds me of some words in a song by Toby Keith -

JB hooked up around midnight
With an ugly girl from up in the city
He downed every can of beer in the cooler
Just tryin' to drink that poor thing pretty

 

[Hows Hatt]

Kind of makes me glad I have a project Hatt. I keep it in a buddy's barn nearby for $500 a year. Doesn't require staggerring insurance coverage. Doesn't take any fuel. No slip expense. I spend as much time as my "addiction" demands doing low cost boat stuff like removal of dead systems (plumbing, wiring, etc.). If my addiction calls for on the water time, I hook up the runabout or 13' Whaler and get a quick fix. I am anxious for the day my Hatt is back afloat but don't want to wish (or mortgage) my life away. I do enjoy taking the time to buy what I think I'll need piece by piece as budget permits. This is my third project boat and by far the most substantial. On the first two, I got almost as much enjoyment from raising them from the dead as I did from using them. The thread here about the Chris Commander redo is close to my vision of an ideal boat story. I know there are open checkbook guys here, but I'm not one of them. I already have enough money in my not a pretty sight yet Hatt to make more than a few think a rubber room and some meds would do me some good. Whether we're fat cats with no thought to budget or working stiffs who can have a Hatt (or any boat) only by budget, I think it's just terriffic that we have a passion for boats. Reminds me of the line from Wind in the Willows, "Believe me, my friend, there is nothing, absolutely nothing, even half so much worth doing as messing about in boats." Here's to Hatts ! Howard in West Michigan

 

[MikeP]

The open checkbook guys buy new boats or really old wooden boats! I don't see any of them around here.

As I've said many times, if I didn't do ALL the work on our boat, I'd be running around in a 20-some foot Bayliner, not a 53 Hatt!

Sometimes I get all enthused about buying some component. I've found that waiting a few days and really evaluating saves a lot of money. For example, I was absolutely determined to purchase a new hi-zoot NMEA-compatible autopilot to replace the oem 1980 Raytheon Neco which wasn't working very well. However, I found that the problem with the Neco was simply poor electrical connections. I went through all of the autopilot connections on the boat - around 200 - and cleaned/CorrosionX'd them. Cost? A couple of hours and maybe an ounce of CorrosionX. The AP then worked perfectly.

I realized that the ability to NMEA-connect to the GPS was, for me, of no real value. I mean, what's the point? You can't actually just leave the helm and let the boat navigate a route from waypoint to waypoint, changing heading as it does so. Somone has to be at the helm anyway. The Neco holds heading beautifully and that's really all I need it to do. At the next waypoint you just set the heading for the next leg. Sometimes I think all the gee-whiz stuff is gee-whiz because it CAN be, not because it needs to be.

Anyway, the point is, by actually waiting a while (contrary to my usual nature) I saved 3k by not buying something that although really cool, provided no benefit to us.

 

[Mike36c]

Folks, It's just money......



I'm looking to buy a plane, it just proves.. You can't fix stupid