I am still in graduate school,
which means I live by many standards as a pauper. I've never noticed;
especially with the ability to sail. I used to assume that owning a boat was
super expensive, and when I bought new kayaks five years ago, I confirmed my
suspicion. Cost is relative I guess, but for me this was a major purchase at
10% of my yearly income for the pair of them. Why go new though? It never
occurred to me to check Craigslist for some kayaks, or to see if there were any
in the local classifieds. I was lucky enough to grab last season kayaks, but I
could have saved a few hundred a pop if I had grabbed them used.
Sailboats
work just the same, and I had learned my lesson. My first dingy cost me a
quarter of the cost of my kayaks, which included the trailer. I did look for a
while, but to be honest, even with it being a little run-down, as long as it
floats and has sails you can have fun sailing it. I've noticed since looking at
other used boats, lots of folks don’t use their boats as much as I would have
suspected. Sails, even those with rust stains and mold can be cleaned by hand
and can have a ton of life left in them. I sailed for 8 months paying only for
gas to get to the river. It was fantastic! When I upgraded to a bigger boat the
costs were still reasonable (and less than the kayaks), but I've had to put
money into the boat. Worth it? Only if you use it! So I can say I am very happy
with the results. The only real issue with the boat was having almost new,
mouse ravaged sails. I've fixed one of the three and will fix the other two
before I sell the boat, but I found a very nice local with a matching set of
sails (he has a Mac 25 that he no longer sails her, having switched to a one
design), and am borrowing them until he sells his boat. All the other work and
money I put into the boat is so that it looks nice and is nice to “live” in.
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