Wondering why

dwna1a

Well-Known Member
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Apr 23, 2012
5,974
James River
Boat Info
88 Weekender 300 "Seahorse"
Engines
Twins 350
Folks make me wonder sometimes. Last week we spent most of the week working to keep our covered floating docks above water, so we were around our boats and many others everyday. We noticed that one of our 2009 SeaRay's was pumping water at a steady pace. The dock master, another owner, and myself boarded and tried to get into the engine room. We couldn't get in, called the owner, after one week he showed up yesterday! It took four phone calls to get the owner to his boat (he only lives about a mile away) He found that a strainer bowl had frozen a busted when it thawed it filled the bilge, when the bilge pump line froze it got pretty ugly with the water up to the bottom of the engines. Go check your boats and when the Dockmaster calls, go check the boat out!
 
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People do amaze me sometimes. I remember a guy at my old marina, had bought a brand new 270DA, put it in the slip with a lift. Used it that first summer and I never saw them again. Over the next year the lift had problems and the boat ended up floating in the slip, one line attached, no cover and a couple of the portholes open (at least it was not the hatch). It sat that way for several years. At one point I tied the thing up correctly and the harbor master called the owner several times. He never showed and the boat just sat that way for several years. I brand new nice boat, that just looked like hell after a few years. You wonder if it's just ignorance about boats and upkeep, or plenty of $ and wasting a $100k on a boat just doesn't matter, I just don't get it. I think a lot of people buy a boat and think it just sits in the slip ready to go when they want, after awhile something breaks from lack of maintenance, they get frustrated and the boat just sits. A season of sitting in a slip in the elements and things are usually headed downhill - fast. For a lot of people if it's not turn key they don't want to mess with it -- boats are not turn key!
 
The instances you two described are pretty severe.

What amazes me is that people will spend big bucks to buy a boat, pay for moorage, then never come down to the boat. There are many boats in my marina that not only never leave the dock, but the owners never come down to them. All that $$$ just sitting there, evaporating through depreciation, and nobody seems to care.
 
It really surprised me, too, when I started looking at marinas. One marina in particular had a large number of boats that appeared to be abandoned (torn/collapsed canvas, listing, etc., but the attendant told me that everyone was up to date on slip fees. Why in the world would someone keep paying to slip a boat they were just letting rot in the water?

As the quote says, "I want to like people, but people are so f'ing stupid"
 
Story goes at my old marina guy comes down from the north buys a nice big bowrider with big block motor. Dry stacked. Figures he's in the south and doesn't need to winterize. Winter comes and block cracks. Gets a quote to repair some thing like $7000. This was about 10 years ago. Says no that's too much. So he leaves the boat in the rack for 7 years. Pays the monthly, $200 fee. Eventually sells boat for $1500.

So it only cost him $15,300 to save the $7000. Not including the purchase price of the boat.
 
I dont want to know what would keep me from my boat. Rarely do i hear a boater say they just werent into it anymore. Do know my boat has no fault engine, outdrive and freezing protection because $7000 would kill my boating for at least the season.
 
Reading these stories is interesting, but seems common. My particular dock has 30 slips, and I’m there basically every weekend and have been there every other weekend since November, although the last couple of weeks have been busy for me at work. But I know my dock now and we have a couple of those who "just let it rot”. Nice boats, but they are filthy and I have never met the owners, ever. We also have floating condos on the dock too. Some are really in disrepair. Fortunately, they are at the end of the dock, so it doesn’t bother me.

But it reminds me of growing up, spending summers at our family’s place on a lake in NE Indiana, we had all sorts of different houses, cottages and boats. Even up and down our cove you had nice places and some rat holes. The boats too. I fished almost every day and would just look at some of these places and think, “If that were ours...” but, to each his own.

Yeah, I don’t get people either.....

Matt
 
The marina i am storing at has a auction every spring to get rid of just these type of boats.Some dont look bad at all but most have been outside stored for a few years the covers blow off,they plop them in the slip then put them back on the hard.I saw one on cl last week that i have never seen on the water and have never seen a cover on in 5 years but the seller says it is in great shape and has low hours and has always been indoor stored.
 
Well now we have two that cracked the strainer glass and started to sink. The second boater was called as we entered his boat, he was there before we got his decking cleaned up after walking onto his boat with muddy shoes! He was on his way home after work over 30 minutes away...he must have had that truck of his in flight!
 
Two words.... Due diligence. Many of us are guilty but overcome stupid with a love for all things boating. We don't get smart per se..... We just get less stupid..... Then we join CSR and get smart!

Lots to of folks buy a boat without a clue of the total cost of ownership in their head.

Case in point .... My boss has seen my boat and wants to take go for a boat ride this spring. He offered to pay for the fuel. I said, sure, let's go to lunch but I've got the fuel. No biggie. It's a maritime legal thing. You get lunch. He said, "Nope, I insist. What do you think it will cost for fuel?" I said' "Roughly 3 hours round trip.... $300". He said, "it costs you $100 per hour every time you take this thing out?" I replied, "That's nothing. You should see what it costs per hour to NOT take it out!"

IMHO..... That's why there are a lot of dock queens and boats for sale now.
 
WOW!!!!

This makes no sense to me. Pay all that $$$ for a boat, a membership and slip fees, then forget about it for years.

With all that money to throw away, wonder if the want to adopt a 50-year old fat guy???? lol
 
I remember the good ole days, $1.200 for gas on a weekend was great fun.
 
I have to say on my dock there is only one boat that never moves, the rest of us go out once a month or more. The other dock I know of four or more. One guy has a nice boat that cracked a manifold over a year ago...he hasn't touched it yet! So it sits. There is a SeaRay 26' 2009. He had a problem with his lower unit when the boat was still under warranty, he put the boat on a trailer and never touched the boat again. The boat now is junk with water about a foot deep in the cabin
 
mabey waiting for them to sink so they can file an insurance claim.
 
WOW!!!!

This makes no sense to me. Pay all that $$$ for a boat, a membership and slip fees, then forget about it for years.

With all that money to throw away, wonder if the want to adopt a 50-year old fat guy???? lol

50 YO fat guy or this....

PhotoID43229.jpg

Hmmmmm!
:huh:
 

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