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Thread: Would You Live On The Water And NOT Have a Boat?

  1. #46
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    Ocean front you are not likely parking your boat in front of your house. You own there for the view and hopefully the beach. Either you go canal or estuary or bay or you rent a dry or wet slip or trailer if boating is your thing.
    NOW you tell me...

  2. #47
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ole Anderson View Post
    Ocean front you are not likely parking your boat in front of your house. You own there for the view and hopefully the beach. Either you go canal or estuary or bay or you rent a dry or wet slip or trailer if boating is your thing.
    Maybe oceans are different than lakes, but 95% of my neighbors have a dock and 90% have at least one boat.

  3. #48
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    In my neighborhood, we are on the beach side (open ocean), so no pier / dock. The "back side" of the neighborhood is on the harbor / canal side. The houses there all have seawalls and docks. Most could slip up to say a 30' boat. Larger boats would need cathederal masts to make it under the bridge. Being on the salt, there is more maintenance than fresh water. My friends trade slippage costs for dock and seawall maintenance. The other challenge is stray current from other's boats and their improperly grounded boats with a battery tender. Corrosion is a challenge, you can go through a lot of zinc.

    The owners of the local Woodcraft live on their sail boat (in a slip but not behind their house). A bit of irony there.

    i say if you would be on the water a lot, do it. What kills me is seeing all the boats slipped and never going out.
    Shawn

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  4. #49
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wade Lippman View Post
    Maybe oceans are different than lakes, but 95% of my neighbors have a dock and 90% have at least one boat.
    Oceans are MUCH different from lakes. There are some on the lee side of the great lakes with docks and hoists, but on the windward side where waves can get really big, not so much. Ocean front has the potential for very big waves, not so good for docks and hoists. Harbors are located or designed to mitigate the big waves to allow docks. Some harbors even have beaches, but not always a great view.

    Straying from Julie's question, sorry. Simple answer, you don't buy bulkheaded canal front for the view. On the other hand, here is the view down the canal toward a 250 acre lake from my deck in Michigan.
    Attached Images Attached Images
    Last edited by Ole Anderson; 07-30-2015 at 6:58 PM.
    NOW you tell me...

  5. #50
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    Quote Originally Posted by Julie Moriarty View Post
    Malcolm, while we can't afford a big boat and a small house, we are looking for a small house we can dock our small to medium size sailboat on (not yet purchased). The cost of slip fees vs. the additional cost of a house on a canal is about break-even. And I know me. I'm more likely to get a lot of use out of the boat if I see it all the time than if it's sitting in a slip at a marina. And the boat will be better maintained if it's in the back yard.

    Someone here said there are some of us who are one with a boat. One of those inexplicable curiosities is that we find great satisfaction, and even peace, in doing something others have no interest in doing. For me, it's sailing. The first time I stepped aboard a sailboat I became one with it. I know people who become white-knuckled the moment a sailboat heels. Not me. It's a rush!
    Power boats are like driving a car, after a while it is all the same and if you haven't got a goal (usually fishing) then it becomes boring and damned expensive. Sailing boats are different, you actually have to work and plan what is going on all the time. I lived on a river water front for my first thirty years of being on this planet and I had a boat before I had a push bike and my life was centred on the water. I could not imagine living on the water with no sailing boat or kayak or even a rowing boat but a power boat would not get a look in.
    Chris

    Everything I like is either illegal, immoral or fattening

  6. #51
    Quote Originally Posted by Chris Parks View Post
    Sailing boats are different, you actually have to work and plan what is going on all the time.
    "Working and planning" is my 17 hour a day job description, like I need more of that on the weekend?

    I'll take a boring ride in one of our 4 powerboats anytime!

    As for an answer to the original question: It depends on whether you enjoy boating or not.

    Water is my most favorite thing in life. There's just something about water. It takes up 71% of our planet. It's magical, serene, calming. It's a part of us. It inspires awe. It's necessary for life. It invokes passion. It invokes fear. It commands great respect. It can be deadly if you don't respect it.

    I absolutely LOVE boating. However, I don't need a boat to enjoy water. But I DO need water to enjoy a boat!
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  7. #52
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ole Anderson View Post
    Oceans are MUCH different from lakes. There are some on the lee side of the great lakes with docks and hoists, but on the windward side where waves can get really big, not so much. Ocean front has the potential for very big waves, not so good for docks and hoists. Harbors are located or designed to mitigate the big waves to allow docks. Some harbors even have beaches, but not always a great view.

    Straying from Julie's question, sorry. Simple answer, you don't buy bulkheaded canal front for the view. On the other hand, here is the view down the canal toward a 250 acre lake from my deck in Michigan.

    You got any fish in that canal Ole?

  8. #53
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    Honestly, if you have to ask the question, you already have the answer. Boats are a buttload of work and expense. If you need feedback about whether its worth owning one, you dont really want one. I Would go with that!

    I would love a house with a water view, but would never own a boat.
    Paul

  9. #54
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    Yes we have lots of panfish and some bass along with carp in the canal. Grandkids love catching bluegills with a piece of hot dog. I don't fish much at all at home, but in FL I fish probably 30% of the days we are there. You never know what will be at the end of the line.

    And having boats in both fresh and salt water, let me tell you, salt water is a pain unless you pull them after each dunk. Fresh water, clean the hull at the end of the year and winterize and store on your trailer, no big maintenance deal. Bigger boats are a different kettle of fish, so to speak.

    Even in salt water, I see a lot of folks with pontoons for putting around. A different experience than a go-fast boat.
    NOW you tell me...

  10. #55
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    Growing up in a fresh water "ocean-like" environment, I'll admit I'm not looking forward to barnacles, crevice corrosion, and all the other stuff we don't get in fresh water. But for all the thousands of miles I've sailed on the Great Lakes, I've never seen anything like I have sailing the few hundred miles I've sailed in the Bahamas and the Keys. Once you experience that, which is only a fraction of what the oceans have to offer, it's easy to deal with the challenges.
    “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness..." - Mark Twain

  11. #56
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    Reading the morning comics and this thread came immediately to mind


  12. #57
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    BOAT:
    1). Break Out Another Thousand.
    2). A hole in the water surrounded by wood/plastic/steel/aluminium into which you pour all your money.
    BOAT Bucks:
    Monetary unit for yachties, for the sake of simplicity with a fixed conversion ratio of 1.000 with the local currency.
    Boat ownership:
    1). Standing fully-clothed under a cold shower, tearing up 100-dollar bills.
    2). Boat ownership is like riding in a convertible with the top down in a cold rainstorm, steadily throwing 100 dollar bills out the window. Except for the fact, that you cannot actually ride in the boat, because it is broken.
    Sailing
    1). The fine art of getting wet and becoming ill, while going nowhere slowly at great expense.
    2). Standing fully clothed in an ice-cold shower tearing up boat bucks* as fast as you can go.
    (*) see also "Boat Bucks"
    Yacht:
    Commonly used to describe any boat prior to its purchase, and by many boat owners to describe their vessel to persons who have never seen it and are likely never to do so.
    “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness..." - Mark Twain

  13. #58
    We all have our hobbie's, and boating's not all that different than most others where spending money is concerned.

    That comic strip up there is totally interchangeable

    (I could keep it going forever, but I need to get some work done so I can go boating later!)















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  14. #59
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    If you don't own a boat, why pay the premium price? I don't get it.
    Three reasons - the three big reasons of real estate,,,,,location, location, location.
    It's all about, not what it is but where it's at.
    A premium location will hold it's value better, recover from a downturn faster and sell in a shorter time if/when it goes on the market.

    Simple answer for me would be not to concern myself with the boat issue and look at the housing market in total and buy according to my wants and needs.

    FWIW & this applies to the situation. I do not consider my house my largest asset. A house is a persons single largest liability. You have all that money locked up in it and can't get it out. Should you ever need money - for something like a life changing medical emergency (which anyone at retirement age should consider), your ability to quickly turn your largest liability into something spendable and retain as much of it's value as possible, should be a large consideration.
    My granddad always said, :As one door closes, another opens".
    Wonderful man, terrible cabinet maker...

  15. #60
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    The premium for living on an ocean access canal could be 25% or more in the purchase price and 50% or more for property taxes, (insurance is more too), if you own that house for 10, 20 or more years, would you recoup the additional costs you paid when you sell it? Or would you be better off taking all that money and saving or investing it? You certainly wouldn't have enjoyed a beautiful ocean view all those years. That leaves investment value the only plus, if you never owned a boat. Considering the fluctuating values of real estate over the last decade, I'd say it's a gamble, at best, to buy canal property for it's investment value. But if you own a boat...
    “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness..." - Mark Twain

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