I’m kinda one of them. Well my dad is. He’s typical of the boat owners I’ve met over the years. Boomer, business owner, white. He bought the first boat with a buddy in their late 20s, cuz that’s when he had enough disposable income after they could afford a house, a rental property, two kids, two cars, a dog and a golf course membership. They had a falling out and my dad bought out his buddy. Three or four boats later I look after the boat, and do all the maintenance. My dad’s in his 70s, he can’t take the boat out on his own anymore. We go fishing 5 or 6 times a year. Moorage is $6000 a year, fuel is $2000, insurance $3000, maintenance at least $2000. Maintenance would be 10x that if I didn’t do most of the work myself.
How much difference would it be if you compare it by renting a boat for those 5 or 6 times a year?
We could do some absolutely amazing charters for the money we spend on the boat. It’s something we have been talking about recently. The engines on the boat are 25 years old, if/when they die my dad wants to replace them to the tune of $40,000-$50,000. I’m trying to talk him into selling it and we plan a couple really nice fishing trips per year. I think one of the reasons he spends so much on it is that it’s one of the only things we have in common. We only really spend time together on the boat.
Sailboats aren’t prohibitively expensive for a normie, especially if you buy a used one. If you look at the large empty houses near every harbor though, you’ll see a better sign of the wealth disparity. The rich own multiple houses worth millions each and they seem to be rarely used while many people can’t afford a starter home now.
There are a lot of people in the world. Like a loooooot. Even if the % of non normies is only like 0.01% of the population that would easily explain those boats.
This is the real answer and the reason online bubbles are so sad.
There’s so many different way to live your life and we are atrofied around a couple of equally bad options.
If there was a plague that had a 100% human infection rate and killed 87% of the people infected it would still only set back world populations to around the start of the 1900s
True. The start of the 1900s was no time for messin’ around and making babies. We had to go work in the mines
But the children yearn for the mines
I have a friend who grew up on the coast and her family always sailed for fun.
When she got divorced she bought a sailboat and traveled for a bit in it. She then parked it at a marina and lived in it for so many years close to her kids and grandkids. She paid $100K for boat and her marina fees were $300/month. The boat was paid off with the divorce settlement.
The cheapest 1 bedroom apartment to rent nearby was $3500/month for less square footage than her boat. The cheapest small house was around $1,000,000 or around $6000/ month at the time. The homes around the marina were all priced at several million dollars.
We met someone like that and they were considered homeless by the city, lol. I think they were annoyed at that.
Seattle is full of people that live on boat as an affordable alternative. You can’t be squeamish about insects or get seasick easily because of the storms. I couldn’t do it myself, but I’ve known quite a few that have.
What kinda insects we talking about here?
Water spiders, gnats, etc. You know, bugs you see in a boathouse or in the bathrooms around water.
Why would you assume that I spend time on boathouses or aquatic bathrooms?
Lol, I assume everyone has been camping near a lake or something. That’s what I meant by bathrooms on water. If you have ever been by a pier, look underneath, that’s a good tell as well.
A city of 250,000 people could have 250 boats (that’s enough for a marina or two) and it would be 0.01% of the population (the one percent of the one percent). That seems to not really be that crazy.
And if you consider that a small percentage of the boat population may have 2 or even 3 boats, than it gets even less weird.
I also think that if you live near water, people are generally at least a little more likely to get a boat instead of a nice car or bigger house or other luxury item.
Edit: I was off by an order of magnitude so it would be 0.1% not 0.01, however, I think the broader point is still valid.
But 0.01% of 250,000 is 25.
(Sorry 🙁)
Yea that’s my mistake, but even scaled up an order of magnitude I think it still works. That’s still 1 in 10 one percenters.
The ideas that normies don’t sail isn’t true. I’m a normie and not rich and I started a sailing school because it’s fun as hell. You don’t need ^to ^own a boat to go sailing, you only need to know how.
Homie how tf are you sailing with no boat?
That’s the power of your imagination!
This simple trick, 🏴☠️
A friend with a boat is what you want. Same with a pool.
The best boat there is is one you don’t own!
