TOPIC: How much did your free boat really cost?

I have been thinking about actual costs. Like gas money, favors and time. I now have a split in two shell.An engine. A steering wheel. Almost a title. A bow light. I am over $1500. If I stop now package is worth $500. Interesting very interesting. If I put another $2000 into it.....Full steam, ahead Captain!!
I have not included the- I am enjoying the ride factor. Which boating is really about. In short order I have "met" a lot of nice people.Very nice site ,Thank You.

My gosh, what have you done so far that ran the cost up so high? Doing My herters the most expensive was the paint I wasted on the hull. Used over a gallon of high build primer and high end auto paint, I could have gotten away with Rustoleum on both the bottom and top.
Saved all the receipts but afraid to total them up probably around $2500. All the stainless fasteners, screws, bolts, nuts, were pricey. A donar boat furnished the windshield, shifter/cables, steering, gator trailer. Can never include you labor, after all it's supposed to be fun.

To quote the great Bill Meyer.

"Sometimes, you can't afford a free boat."

My Freedom
I was give a free 56 Glasspar. The girl friend statement was that I like boats more then her

2 months 10 days left of being single

Free boat = $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ lots of $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ plus wife that goes x#XX%&*X)#! )&$X#@>?"_^%! Alot. Figured it out yrs ago, don't try to keep track of how much you spend on a boat. Remember it is just a hole in the water to throw money into. Just enjoy the work and the rewards of a job well done and the comments you will get when it is tied up to the dock. Skip.

BTW

Boats are cheap compared to airplanes...even on a Pre WWII trainer I get (soon to be got) AD notes two or three times a year....and you have to fix it

not to say that things have been cheap by any means but, so far, i've had pretty good luck. traded a pistol for my boat with a running motor on it and a decent trailer under it. paid $375 for another boat with lots of misc trim and 2 motors on it. this allowed me to sell the motor that was on the boat i swapped the pistol for. made back more than half my money that way. bought another boat/motor/trailer for $100 with intent to use parts from it and the trailer (mine was decent. this one was great). couldn't use the parts i was wanting so i sold 'em instead and about tripled my money off of it. this made up the balance on the first parts boat. so, so far, i'm out a pistol that i couldn't have sold for much and about $300 in other misc parts. i do need to do a little fiberglass work to the boat, and a coat of paint wouldn't kill it, but neither of those things are necessary at this point. maybe down the road. but, as it is, i've got less than $500 into a boat i feel i could likely sell as it sits for $750-$1000. and i've still got leftover parts from the 2 parts boats i've yet to get sold.

i do realize that i'm not restoring a show-stopping boat, and that many of you are. the day i decide to go that route with a boat is the day i stop keeping receipts. i won't want the evidence lying around for the wife to find.

and as far as the family goes, maybe i lucked out there, too. my two older kids LOVE to come out and help me work on the boat. and soon as the youngest (she just turned 1) can be trusted to hold a bolt without trying to eat it, she'll be out there too. even the wife's not too irritated by all the mess, clutter, and expense. she's even mentioned that she's looking forward to family trips up and down the river!

So far my '73 Starflite has only cost me about $700, after paying $300 for the boat initially. It's still original and hasn't been restored, yet. I'm still using it - took an "R&R Cruise" on Lake Sinclair yesterday!

The '71 GT 150 project boat however, is well over $1500 and isn't finished yet! Initial "hull" price $200. (I quit saving the receipts when my wife found where I wash stashing them in the garage.)

For me working on the boats in the garage is good "therapy", and fun (for the most part). Cruising the lake in your Glassic = PRICELESS! The friends I've made here and on the Glastron forum(s) is icing on the cake, definitely "life enriching"

My boat cost 200 bucks, no motor or trailer. I got about 3 grand in the whole kit and caboodle now, but that includes almost a grand into my trailer over the last few months (brakes, new aluminum wheels. radial tires) and 450 bucks for a large outboard project (135 horsies).

Frank

There are times when doing math is just not a good thing

thetudor wrote:

There are times when doing math is just not a good thing

I agree...

I probably don't want to know what I've got wrapped up in the boats. I started to keep track with the Glasspar, but after a point, I just stopped. I probably just didn't want my wife to ever find the records

There were no very expensive single purchases, but everything adds up- $50 here and there for hardware, sandpaper, etc, A couple of hundred for paint and primer, or an order of Epoxy... Looking back, I PROBABLY should have just bought a finished boat. But- What fun would that be?

-Andrew

my boat was far from free...$3,000. yes i overpaid for all the work i have done to it, but i was looking for this boat for so long i didn't care. i've put over $7k into it not counting the free labor from tim c., john g., and frank a. from what i've experienced i wouldn't do it again. the 3k it cost me to repair the gelcoat cracks and paint, was money thrown away. soon as the boat bounced over a few wakes, the cracks started re-appearing. can't afford to repair it again..retired. no more old boats for me. i'll be pontooning it soon.

When I rebuilt the woodie...that was costly! Three years and many thousands. Frame up rebuild. Glass is a lot cheaper than white oak and African mahogany but the oooohs and aaahhhhhhs on the water sorta make it all worth it. Upkeep on wood is forever. Now to mention filling up the 35 gallon gas tank, antique insurance etc but it's part of the family to be handed down.

to all,

frankly, i don't want to know how much my "free 16ft runabout on a good trailer" has cost me. = imvho, there is NO such thing as a "FREE" boat.
(CHUCKLE.)

yours, satx

it would seem that whatever the investment has been, most don't regret it one bit. i can't think of another hobby that i could jump into feet first and get started in for so little money (free boat and/or cheap basic supplies) AND that involves the whole family. heck, i've got more tied up in snowboarding gear than i do in my boat and i leave the family behind when i head to the slopes. then, once it warms up, i have to stash the board for the summer. with a boat i am able to stay out in the garage tinkering for most of the off-season. even at a few grand, these things are quite a bargain, IMHO.

riceman, et.al.,

fwiw, i figure (based on past similar "re-does) to have about 1500.oo in the SternCraft 17 Balboa in parts/supplies, NOT counting the 250.oo for boat/trailer & the 250.oo for the other boat/trailer, that i'm buying to get the (overhauled 7/11) 165 Mercruiser engine out of
OR
the many hours that i will spend "re-modeling" the rig to suit me.

otoh, i shudder to think what a NEW similar 17.5ft I/O utility (for big-water fishing) would cost today on a similar I-beam trailer!

NOTE: i'll be "scrapping out" the mid-70s Ebb Tide that will be "the organ-donor" for the SternCraft's engine, if anyone needs the trim pieces/parts, the hull and/or good "shopbuilt" trailer.

yours, satx

Well I guess in my case it's all about the sentimental value since mine has been in the family since Grandpa bought it new. I knew from the start I didn't want to keep track since it didn't really matter anyway. The main objective was to restore her to stay in the family for another 50+ years! Nw the 1953 Century may be a different story, we'll see how that one goes.

Bob

Waterwings,

understood. = i'd "give a lot" to have my FIRST boat/motor/trailer back.

it was a 1958 YELLOWJACKET with a Big-Twin Evinrude & a "homebrew" trailer (that my father & uncle built especially for me when i was about 14YO).
(sadly,the rig was destroyed in a car crash in 1966.)

yours, satx

My last "Free" boat was a 1600+ mi drive, it was an empty hull sitting in the woods.....for many years. 6 weeks later I drove it, I had to replace every piece of wood in it,paint,trailer,motor,steering,seats,F/tank. You name it, cost? I think it was about 1700.00 and my labor,everything I put into the boat has a story of where it came from.

I do it for the fun, exercise, nostalgia, preserving some of my youth, recycling, camaraderie..........But mostly just to have something different than all the rest.

Corny, but true.

Littlefin, not corney at all, There's satisfaction in bringing something back to life that has class and style that will never be found again in todays cookie cutter style boats. Pride of ownership comes to mind also and you can't beat that with a checkbook.