airshot Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 17 minutes ago, gimruis said: You're getting ripped off. My 18 foot aluminum bass boat is worth about $25k and my annual premium for boat insurance is less than that. I'd be having a chat with my agent if that's the current best policy out there for your rig. That can depend on your area and the amount of coverage, boat value is only one part !! Then the EPA costs if your boat woukd happen to sink...many small polocies don't cover salvage fees and fines from EPA. Ins can vary a lot, it pays to compare apples to apples. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User gimruis Posted June 6, 2023 Super User Share Posted June 6, 2023 Just now, airshot said: Ins can vary a lot, it pays to compare apples to apples. That's true. Maybe he is a high risk boat owner too with previous claims. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airshot Posted June 6, 2023 Share Posted June 6, 2023 Or he has a higher medical payment for accidents, and his policy might cover any EPA fines or charges, depending on the area they might have more claims. Liability ins can make a big difference, just like auto ins, do you carry 25K..or 50K...or 100K...all the way up to 500k, can make big differences in premieums !! My sister lives in Indiana, we have simalar boats and coverage, but her state charges more than Ohio even thru the same company !! Today they often use credit scores to set ins rates.....not sure why, but it is what it is !! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas15 Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 19 hours ago, gimruis said: You're getting ripped off. My 18 foot aluminum bass boat is worth about $25k and my annual premium for boat insurance is less than that. I'd be having a chat with my agent if that's the current best policy out there for your rig. This is a 12 month policy and you are correct I'm overpaying and getting ripped off but in the grand scheme of things we (spouse and me) are decent stewards of our money we put 25% of our income into retirement accounts, 18% into regular (HYSA) savings (saving just for the sake of saving), have 8 months of expenses in our emergency fund, have no CC, auto, truck, boat, personal, kids college or mortgage debt, pay cash for everything and keep a written budget so my overpaying insurance for the SS Minnow which insurance is actually optional because I own the stupid thing free and clear isn't causing the few remaining strands of my hair to auto-combust but you are correct my boat insurance policy sucks it does cause me much stress but it is more to protect me from liability not the actual boat because I don't co-own it with a bank and there are a lot of boating idiots around here if I weren't so lazy I would shop around and save save save me some boat bux. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User gimruis Posted June 7, 2023 Super User Share Posted June 7, 2023 11 minutes ago, thomas15 said: insurance is actually optional because I own the stupid thing free and clear isn't causing the few remaining strands of my hair to auto-combust but you are correct my boat insurance policy sucks it does cause me much stress Boat insurance is optional here too (unless of course you're still paying it off). But I don't quite understand why someone would go without it, even if their boat wasn't worth that much. I can't personally tell if your post is meant to be sarcastic at the end based on all the other information you put into it. The rest of your financial situation is quite honestly a moot point and I don't know why you disclosed it. There are a lot of variables here, but I would check with your agent about other policy options. Just a suggestion. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas15 Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 1 minute ago, gimruis said: Boat insurance is optional here too (unless of course you're still paying it off). But I don't quite understand why someone would go without it, even if their boat wasn't worth that much. I can't personally tell if your post is meant to be sarcastic at the end based on all the other information you put into it. The rest of your financial situation is quite honestly a moot point and I don't know why you disclosed it. There are a lot of variables here, but I would check with your agent about other policy options. Just a suggestion. Not sarcasm actually it is on my to do list to shop this i have used this policy for 9 years (Boat US/GEICO) and in my mind it really isn't worth worrying about because my boat is 18 years old a lot of people try to get insurance on a boat that is not seaworthy in the hope of getting a payout when the transom falls off I just want to make sure I have insurance saving a few dollars doesn't really matter but GEICO did raise the rate I have no claims and a my FICO score is +/- 825 it's hard to micromanage literally everything in life but most of my friends and co-workers accuse me of just that. My real point in my original comments was to express that boats, even a simple craft are more expensive and time consuming than we think or imagine there is always something that needs attention and costs money. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas15 Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 It's like owing a camper or RV my friend has a $65K 5th wheel camper and diesel PU to haul it around for the money he has in this rig he can pay for a lot of hotel rooms and avoid barking dogs all night long and he spends a ton of money on the upkeep and storage and so forth on this thing. If he ever sat down and actually tracked his true expenses to own this hardware I'm certain he would proceed to check himself into a facility for observation and possibly treatment. Most of the time and expense of owning this thing turned out to be a surprise and not anticipated, he only found out the true scope of the investment after he brought his mobile living room home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User Bird Posted June 7, 2023 Super User Share Posted June 7, 2023 14 minutes ago, thomas15 said: It's like owing a camper or RV my friend has a $65K 5th wheel camper and diesel PU to haul it around for the money he has in this rig he can pay for a lot of hotel rooms and avoid barking dogs all night long and he spends a ton of money on the upkeep and storage and so forth on this thing. If he ever sat down and actually tracked his true expenses to own this hardware I'm certain he would proceed to check himself into a facility for observation and possibly treatment. Most of the time and expense of owning this thing turned out to be a surprise and not anticipated, he only found out the true scope of the investment after he brought his mobile living room home. Wife and I have been RVing for 30 years and it is indeed a money pit and gas mileage dragging these things are in the single digits ?. BUT just like Bass boats, you gotta pay if you wanna play. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Phil Posted June 7, 2023 Share Posted June 7, 2023 The insurance on my 2021 Ranger RT178, 75 Merc 4 stroke, trailer and all the electronics is $158.11 a year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super User gimruis Posted June 7, 2023 Super User Share Posted June 7, 2023 1 hour ago, Captain Phil said: The insurance on my 2021 Ranger RT178, 75 Merc 4 stroke, trailer and all the electronics is $158.11 a year. Mine is a little more than that, and I have a 2015 version of your boat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airshot Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 13 hours ago, thomas15 said: It's like owing a camper or RV my friend has a $65K 5th wheel camper and diesel PU to haul it around for the money he has in this rig he can pay for a lot of hotel rooms and avoid barking dogs all night long and he spends a ton of money on the upkeep and storage and so forth on this thing. If he ever sat down and actually tracked his true expenses to own this hardware I'm certain he would proceed to check himself into a facility for observation and possibly treatment. Most of the time and expense of owning this thing turned out to be a surprise and not anticipated, he only found out the true scope of the investment after he brought his mobile living room home. Wife and I bought a motorhome because of all rhe problems we had with motels/ hotels...being dirty, loud guests, lost reservations, overbooking and breakins in the parking lot. We really enjoyed the privacy of the motorhome. We rarely stayed in camp grounds, always clean, no breakins, no lost reservations...the few extra bucks were well worth it !! Unfortunately my wife became dissabeled and we sold it, but no good memories in any of our motel stays... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deephaven Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 Where about in the country are you and what sort of lakes are big to you? How mechanical are you? There are a ton of options...but what works for me may not work for you. I personally will never buy new, but understand others have different constraints. The more we know about your needs the better we can help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thomas15 Posted June 8, 2023 Share Posted June 8, 2023 8 hours ago, airshot said: Wife and I bought a motorhome because of all rhe problems we had with motels/ hotels...being dirty, loud guests, lost reservations, overbooking and breakins in the parking lot. We really enjoyed the privacy of the motorhome. We rarely stayed in camp grounds, always clean, no breakins, no lost reservations...the few extra bucks were well worth it !! Unfortunately my wife became dissabeled and we sold it, but no good memories in any of our motel stays... I'm truly sorry to hear about your wife. I'm not against RVs and the camping life, my point was there is a cost to owning campers and boats that you find out about only after you get them. That is how I tie my comments to the OP. And I'm not about telling people what to do with their time and money it's none of my business. But we all know people with these items that have become slaves to them because it can become a big cost factor and consumer of free time and there is always the unexpected hick-up. My wife and I talk about getting a camper from time to time so there is the draw I get this. But even with our kids on their own and us having a degree of financial security we are still finding it difficult to block out time to go fishing together and using our boat that is not a financial burden to us. Part of problem is weekends are crowded so we want to spend that time on Fridays to avoid the crowds, this gives us limited opportunity to do this activity together. That will obviously change when we retire in a few years. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airshot Posted June 9, 2023 Share Posted June 9, 2023 That is where we were, saved up for retirement and enjoyed the motorhome for the first year and a half. First I had a heart attack and a triple bypass, the following year she started her health issues. Yes, all toys are expensive !! No way around it, but you do need to "make" time for life's pleasures before there is no time left!! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Baron Posted June 9, 2023 Share Posted June 9, 2023 To the OPs question, I had my eye on the used boat market for a couple years before I was able to buy. The benefit of my poverty was having a good idea of pricing and knew when I’d found a fair deal (of which there were none during the bat flu insanity!). I was hoping to find a 17’-19’ aluminum bass boat, or maybe an open jon I could tailor to my own use. I ended up with a fully refurbished 2002 Bass Tracker Pro Team 165 with a 2-stroke Merc 50hp (price was $10k Canadian pesos). It runs very smoothly at about 32mph, which is plenty fast for this new boat captain. The price was good, so I had enough change in my pockets to replace the outdated trimmings with an older model refurbished Minn Kota Power Dive V2 with a dated but new in the box iPilot head ($1k from a very reputable local shop) then a Garmin ECHOMAP 95sv (95 is the Canadian version). I’m very happy with the end results and am looking forward to a great season. My only “doh!” moment was when I went to load some rods in the locker and found it only fits short handled 6’6” rods or less. Oh well - now I need a 19ft. lol My advice is shop for a while and try to spend less than your budget. My trolling motor and sonar upgrades were voluntary, but the new battery was not (got a good one, but was $300) and my onboard charger was pooched (another $200) plus about $400 in miscellaneous bits I hadn’t thought of (gas cans, ropes, mandatory safety gear, etc). So, almost another $1k evaporated pretty quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
airshot Posted June 10, 2023 Share Posted June 10, 2023 Welcome to the world of boats....been a boat owner for over 60 years...it has never gotten cheaper as time went on !! Wouldn't be without one though !! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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