My plan: Purchase a condo or apartment either on one of the great lakes or the Mississippi . Buy a 40 foot boat, store it in the Marina. Cruise, invite my friends, have fun.

What do you think?

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Seems like a plan, though it might be expensive. Probably you can get most of your money back if a sale is needed. I'm available for the drinking part.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

It's do able but needs plenty of folding ca$h, boats, all of them are lined holes in the water that you never stop pouring money into .

First thing, decide what typ of boat ~ some discover sailing is the bee's knees .

One bit of solid advice : never, EVER buy any boat that not in the water ! .

I hope you have fun with it, I enjoyed boats when I was young .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

That covers half the year

A classmate of mine in college lived on an old wooden-hull yacht docked at a low-rent marina near the college. He was late for the Calculus II final exam, coming in about 15 minutes before it was over. The prof' asked why he was late for the exam. He said "My yacht sank." She thought he was making a wise crack, until he showed her that his pants were wet about 3/4 up his legs. It was December in Virginia.

The old prof' had been teaching forever. She was old and mean. How old? How mean? Pythagoras was in her freshman trig' class and only got a "B." But, she said in her 2500 years of teaching, she'd never heard "yacht sinking" as an excuse for missing an exam, so she let him take it that afternoon.

Oooh that's good advice. Whatever happened to that guy MTUpower? Wasn't he a boat captain?

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

My advice is always based on experience .

Sometimes one learns from bad experiences .

I try to, why I don't fool around with boats of any stripe .

That and I can't swim .

__________________
-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better

Mtu was pretty knowledgeable about benzos especially the diesels. He could be a bit cranky now and then.

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[SIGPIC] Diesel loving autocrossing grandpa Architect. 08 Dodge 3/4 ton with Cummins & six speed; I have had about 35 benzes. I have a 39 Studebaker Coupe Express pickup in which I have had installed a 617 turbo and a five speed manual.[SIGPIC]

..I also have a 427 Cobra replica with an aluminum chassis.

Every once in a while I see something wooden (example: old Lyman or Chris Craft)
the old wooden boats look so classy. Some even come with V8s...
and I'm like - I can wield a hand sander and a paintbrush - it cant be that bad....can it ?

(but every boat owner seems to say 'yes, it can be that bad'

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2009 Kia Sedona
2009 Honda Odyssey EX-L
12006 Jetta Pumpe Duse
(insert Mercedes here)

Husband, Father, sometimes friend =)

My college classmate's yacht that sunk at the pier had a wooden hull.

Back in the 1970's they opened a wooden boatbuilding school in Norfolk, VA. My uncle wanted to go, just as a hobby, taking the next step from making furniture as a hobby. But, the gooberment funded school was one of those job training programs for the "hardcore unemployed." It's now evolved into a non-profit that serves "disadvantaged youth." My uncle is neither. Those disadvantaged youth would be better off financially (i.e. less disadvantages) learning how to fix a car or a computer.

https://twbw.org/

BOAT: Bust Out Another Thousand.

MTU self exiled IIRC. Cranky is right. Angry guy.

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1986 300SDL, 362K
1984 300D, 138K

Most people think about boats in the abstract as fun, luxurious, and nothing but good times & sunny days on the water.

Until they own one.

My advice would be to get a realistic idea of what exactly you would do with one and how often. Boats are a grand PIA, and if you end up with one that is ill suited to your actual use, or you end up rarely using it, you will throw away more money and time and with more aggravation than you can possibly fathom at this stage.

Note that a home or condo will be an investment that should appreciate and help you build wealth. A boat will most certainly be the exact opposite - it is an ever-depreciating asset that will be more expensive to operate and maintain than you think

If after much sober consideration it still sounds like a good idea, go for it. I love the water and wouldn't be without boats (I currently have 3 powerboats) unless I become physically unable to enjoy them, but I've lived on or near the water most of my life and know exactly what I want/need from them.

40' is a lot of boat, and there are endless choices. Do you want comfy living tied to the dock? A good cruiser for long trips? A go fast boat for the adrenaline? A sailboat? Anyway if anything else comes to mind I might help with, just shout out.

Here in Floriduh, there are a lot of "boat sharing" companies. You join, and can take one of their boats out so many days per month. There's some sort of incentive to do it on a weekday. That's good for us retiree, since for us every week has seven Saturdays.

Boat sharing is way better than condo' time sharing. NEVER join one of those in Floriduh, or anywhere else for that matter.

I want to explore more by waterways. I was just in Milwaukee and thought it would be fun visiting different cities via the great lakes. I also am so close to the Mississippi and the river towns in Wisconsin that I thought it might be great to do the same.

I also want to have friends aboard and relax, have a beer while the sun sets.

I'm not a sailor. I'm a driver, I'd drive the boat, but I do not need to get there in a hurry.

I would anchor the boat in a marina and have to pay the fees of course, but I am at this point where I don't have much to do. So I would drive to the marina and park the car, get on the boat, go visit someone in St. Louis, and come back a week later, or something like that.

Eat **** and sleep. That's it right?

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You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

Well ;

The idea is eat, dump, drink beer, relax then sleep but the reality is " boats of any kind more than a dinghy require constant maintenance so maybe just rent one as needed .

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-Nate
1982 240D 408,XXX miles
Ignorance is the mother of suspicion and fear is the father

I did then what I knew how to do ~ now that I know better I do better