Bill's boating paradox...

[Bill]

There's a flip side - buying soon and getting caught when the bubble bursts.

Sorry, not very man maths I know.

[Bill]

CubanPete said:

Arnold Cunningham said:

Man maths would be persuading yourself it's cheaper in the long run to have 2 boats.

For this it will almost certainly be cheaper to have two boats.

Towing a ring or skier with something big enough to have a cabin and powerful enough to tow a skier will be expensive to buy and run

I would look at a 4-5m rib / dory for playing, and an 18ft+ with a diesel engined inboard for day trips and fishing etc.

You can use the little boat as the tender to a mooring too, which would be far cheaper than a marina.

HTH

I wondered about this earlier, what sort of thing would you suggest for the cabin boat?

[Bill]

So, apologies to those who said this all along, but it looks like we have a decision. Just been chatting to some boating friends and they've talked a lot of sense and persuaded us down the RIB route. Cutting a long story short, decent clothing is a lot cheaper than a cabin boat that's as fun as a RIB.

They also have a load of kit in their loft so we have a head start on clothes and a VHF.

We're even closer to having a budget!

[Bill]

Thanks. I still have loads of stupid questions though!

[Bill]

He doesn't have a boat at the moment, and I don't think he's ever owned a RIB. Plan is to hire one once I've done the course.

[Bill]

Cheers, I'll have a look.

Right, bearing in mind the planned usage, what are people's thoughts on what sort of thing to look at? There's 5 of us, but we'd want to be able to take 4 more on occasion. We don't need to be able to tow a water-skier with 9 on board but getting places in good conditions. We want to be able to explore further afield so up to Portland/IoW.

£15k budget.

Or am I back to moon on a stick again?

[Bill]

That's quite a step up from the shonky old fishing boat I was eyeing up initially!

[Bill]

N Dentressangle said:

Not helping, am I?

No more than normal!

[Bill]

Sorry...

A)Moon on a stick because I don't yet know what's realistic.

B) Not being clear. I want to be able to take 5 and go places, but able to have a few more in to potter about. Assume we'll leave people on the beach while playing.

ETA booked on a course locally based on the recommendation of a guy we've used for waterskiing.

[Bill]

Thank you, I do appreciate the advice and am trying to take it on board. Thanks for the recommendation Arnold, but I've already booked in Poole so I'll start there and see where that takes me.

[Bill]

Fair point, but we want to hire one first and that needs a ticket so I have to be patient.

[Bill]

Cheers.

Here's one from yesterday...

[Bill]

[Bill]

Jaguar steve said:

I do wonder if all the marinas in Poole harbour has some influence in the decision in the hope more visitors would come their way rather than anchoring for free in the bay.

I suspect most visitors have only come from Poole anyway. It gets utterly mobbed on a nice sunny day. (Which seems to me to be the days you don't really need the protection the bay affords.)

ETA I do get that overnight things can change so you want protection, but the vast majority are day visitors who only anchor up that end as it's more of a sun trap.