BUY A NEW BOAT & YOU’RE SUNK BEFORE IT’S ON WATER

If you take a ride down the Intracoastal Waterway here in Fort Lauderdale, within 5 miles you’ll pass more than a hundred million dollars in largely unused boats.

But if boating’s a crime, I’m guilty. As I write this, I have two 30-foot boats docked behind my modest waterfront home. I love boating, and I love working on my boats. But the only advantage to actually owning one – especially a big, complicated one – is that it makes any other indulgences you have seem practically free. I’ve owned boats for many years, and I can state unequivocally that I’d be better off if I paid $1,000 to rent a boat for the day whenever the mood struck.

When someone asks me, “What’s the best boat?” I say, “Someone else’s.”

The only thing you can do to make boat ownership dumber is to borrow the money to buy one, or to buy a new one. Think cars depreciate when you drive them off the lot? Chickenfeed. Boats sink in value so rapidly, it’s truly astounding. They also tend to sit unused for long periods of time, which is the worst way to maintain one. And with gas prices where they are today, the cost of an all-day fishing trip is measured in the hundreds.

Boats are no way to stay afloat, and unless you have money to burn, this pastime may not bring you the status you think it will.