|
Not Ready to Buy a Boat?
Go Cruising Anyway...
Once again the
warm months are approaching. This year maybe you, like many, will be
active participants in the boating season. Alternately, like many
others, you may be in year X of your 5, 10, or whatever year plan to get
you and yours out on the water. If you find yourself in the second
category, my suggestion is to promise yourself this summer you will get
out on the water anyway.
Now I’ve written a number of “just do it” diatribes over the past few
years only to be accused of being naive about the realities of buying a
boat. I am not. I appreciate the myriad of financial, business, and
family obligations that can make boat ownership right now impractical. I
have talked and corresponded with some folks for years as they plan and
dream about the boat in their future. Many realize their dream when the
time is right. Some unfortunately never do. My suggestion is, don’t buy
a boat until you are ready, but in the mean time, rent a boat (or take a
boat training class)
A week aboard a boat, any boat, will give you a better understanding of
cruising and the cruising lifestyle than reading anything (or maybe
everything) written about it. The more times you can charter, the
greater your knowledge will become, not just about boats or boat
handling, but about whether the cruising life is what you expected. At
the same time you will not only become a more informed buyer, but can
explore and enjoy areas you couldn’t visit in a lifetime aboard a single
boat. It is sad when couples plan for decades only to find they can’t
stand to be away from the grandkids or that the boating reality is
simply too confining for their alpha personalities. Will cruising truly
be what you expect? Why not find out this year?
But that’s just my opinion. |
