Why You Have To Have Plenty Of Money To Own A Boat

Have you heard the expression "owning a boat is like having a whole in your pocket"? It shouldn't have to be that way if the services were not so expensive.

It is bad enough that boats constantly need repair and tender loving care, but even worse is the fact that the owners get ripped off by the service providers, such as mechanics, marinas and of course, the makers and sellers of marine products. It should not have to be that way. Once the boat is paid off, having to repair it and paying through the nose for any little thing is what burns the whole in the pocket and that's why you have to have plenty of money to own a boat.

The poorer of the boat owners usually had the option to do the repairs themselves but now with the new "clean marina" excuse, it is no longer allowed in many places and worse than that, the marina must provide the services instead of an outside contractor. Where our boat is at, for example, painting the bottom of the boat, which is usually done to protect it from the elements before putting it back in the water, the marina employees are the only ones allowed to do the painting. This is an easy chore that anyone can perform, however, the boat owners must shell out hundreds of dollars to them or let the bottom of the boat rot. This is just one more burden placed on the boat owners. I have nothing against the clean marinas act, but taking advantage of it concerns me.

There is plenty of money to be made in the boating field and having more service providers would be a good competition to bring the prices down. There are not enough mechanics, electritians, and everything else to go around, and it is incomprehensive that not too many people (especially the young) are choosing that path. I wrote about it a few years ago and it just keeps getting worse. There is no recession for those guys.

Boat owners don't necessarily have a lot of money, but they can provide plenty of job opportunities if they are not eventually driven out of the sport!