Buying a Power Boat (?)

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After having a sailboat for 7 years, I have come to realize that the destination can be more important than the journey. It generally takes me all day to get somewhere in my sailboat that I could get to in about an hour with a power boat. So, I decided to sell the Catalina 22 and get a power boat. I think the family would enjoy a powerboat more, because of the places we could go in a short amount of time.

My search for a power boat started much like my search for a sailboat. I have been familiar with motor boats for a long time, but have never actually owned one. I did some information gathering on the whole issue of power boats. Here is what I have figured out so far.

• Motor boats cost 3-4 times the amount of a sail boat, be it new or used.
• I would imagine that annual maintenance also runs 3-4 times that of a sailboat.
• The key components are the engine and the drive mechanism. A gasoline powered marine engine will last for about 1000 - 1500 hours of use, depending on the load conditions and how well it is maintained. Typically, you will find that a motor boat gets a new engine after about 10 years.
• Motor boats tend to deteriorate faster than Sailboats because they are subjected to greater forces going through the water. A 20 year old sailboat is quite common, whereas a 20 year old motor boat is more rare.

My game plan is to sell my sailboat, save some cash, (hit the lottery) and then buy a motor boat. Since I am not a big believer in buying a new boat (unless I actually hit the lottery), my plan is to search through used boats for something that can meet my needs. I did some price searching to get an understanding of what boats generally cost, new and as the age. Boats in the small-to-medium size range seem to start out costing about $3000/foot new, and over the course of 10-15 years end up costing about $500/foot. So, a 24 foot boat would be about $75K new and about $12K after 10 years. Those first few years of depreciation are killers.

It seems as though one would want to avoid a boat that is about 8-9 years old and is still on its original engine, as it is due for replacement. Boats that are about 12 years old seem to have new engines. Since 'good' boats that are only about 5 years old are a little out of my price range , my plan was to focused on boats that are 12 years older or more, and in good condition.

I thought about how I would most likely use a motor boat and that gave me an idea of my requirements.

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