Purchasing a Speedboat or Sailboat

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

Good Morning All,

 

Thought I'd throw out a little Monday Morning Discussion. I just made plans to rent a Cottage on Green Lake for a week next summer and now (in addition to everything else going on in life) would like to plan to have a speedboat/sailboat to start next summer.

 

My questions:

 

#1- Sailboat or Speedboat? I don't have any kids and the focus right now would be enjoying the lake with 20 something friends.

 

#2- New or Used? I have no idea what a decent sailboat costs, but I have found a couple 17' Bayliner Runabouts new for about 11-12K

 

I figure a new boat/7 year (typical boat loan) is $181/mo at 7%

 

#3- Costs? (any that I'm missing)

 

Boat/Trailer Cost

Equiptment (Tubes, Skis, Ropes etc)

Spare Props/Anchor etc

Boat Insurance (approx $250/yr) / WI License

Fuel Costs

Bigger Car to Haul Boat

 

#4- Rent space in a Marina (keep boat in the water), or haul it to/from every use

 

THANKS!

[Thurston Fluff]

I've got a 23' Aquarius sailboat and love it. We bought it used and totally redid it to our tastes. One thing you should keep in mind is the gas cost. We manage to get out about 10 to 15 times a summer and barely go through a tank of gas. You'd go through that in a day or two with a speedboat. Sailing requires wind though and has limits in that regard. I keep mine in a marina but if you are looking at a 17' one you could put up the mast in about 20 minutes. Not hard at all. Have you done much sailing or are you new to it? IIRC Green lake is pretty small so you might want to see if there are any regulations with speed boats. I don't think there is but I have't been on it for years. Really the differance between the two activities is night and day. One, depending on wind, is more active the other more relaxing. If you like speed related activities like skiing obviously go with the motor although a sailboat seems like it's going faster than a speedboat at the same speed. One thing you may want to take into consideration is night sailing. I love to go out at night it's a totally differant feeling than day sailing. Either way enjoy the water.

[BMuch]

I have a 20' stern drive speed boat. An additional cost is Annual Maintenance. Winterizing our boat costs $175 or $250 every other year.

 

On which lakes do you plan on driving a 17' speed boat?

 

Have you heard that the best day in a man's life is the day he buys a boat? But, his second best day is the day he sells his boat.

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

I was referring to Green Lake (up by Fond du Lac) which is a pretty big lake isn't it (i know its the deepest in Wisconsin), though compared to the great lakes its tiny...

 

Lakes I'd take a boat on.... probably like Whitewater Lake, maybe Lake Geneva, Green Lake, Big/Small Cedar Lake...

 

Basically recreational boating/sailing.... not looking at the Great Lakes much if at all...

 

And yeah, I know a boat can take up ALOT of space and $$$$ if its not being used.... but i figure my late 20s is the best time of life to use a boat, and life will probably get too busy once I have kids to use it much....

 

I figure this is my last "hurrah" with my 20 something yuppie friends before we "grow up", get married, and have kids...

[BMuch]

A 17' motor boat is probably an ok size for you since you won't be spending a lot of time on Lake Winnebago or the Great Lakes.

 

I took my wife, two daughters (ages 4 & 2), and my brother-in-law down to Menominee Park in Oshkosh by boat yesterday. Our family loves boating, so your boating life won't neccessarily be over once you're older and have a family.

[burniebrewer]

I just made plans to rent a Cottage on Green Lake

 

Do you know where?

 

My family used to own a cottage on Big Green Lake. My great aunt was old and irrational and just went and sold it without telling anyone. I know for a fact we would have bought it. It was tiny, but had a huge yard with a good 30-40 feet of lake frontage down a hill in the backyard.

 

I can only imagine how much time I'd spend up there now if we still had the place.

[TwinsBrewersWorldSeries]

The Cottage is over towards County Park.... I believe its the far Western Side of the lake

 

The place (in my opinion) is an absolute steal at $850/week for June/September or $1200/week in July/August....

 

We have about 5-6 couples going to "share" it for a week, and it will be less than $200/couple for the week.... not to mention there are three bedrooms and three pullout couches.... plus the lake frontage/pier/boat landing

 

Now if we can get past sharing 1 bathroom ....

[burniebrewer]

We were very close to the scout camp. Don't know if it's still there. If I recall, looking at "2 o'clock" from my pier I could see the Heidel House.

 

I went back up there a few years ago with a friend and we parked on a sand barge for most of the day with about 200 other boats...nice scenery.

[aracko]

Also looking into buying a boat for lake Michigan. going to look at it today. I dont know what exactly to look at......so I will stand there looking dumb while the salesman owns me.