Thank you for this, I had no idea. I now see that I also assumed that yacht = super rich asshole boat. They’re so much cheaper than I expected! I could sail the ocean for less than $20k. Damn.
gonna need a lot of work and other items to actually sail, fire suppression, satnav, depth sounder, licensing etc. its still a rich asshole boat but not a super rich asshole boat.
Not at all. Fire suppression on a small yacht is a hand-held fire extinguisher or two, which is $30. In fact, I don’t know anyone who has more than that for fire suppression. Satnav is not necessary, but most boats over 30ft will have a chart plotter already because manual charting is a lot of work. Every sailboat over 30 feet has a depth sounder already. A decent chartplotter-depth sounder combo is about $1200, like a laptop, if you need or want to replace it for some reason, but they’ll last 20 years no problem. Small sailboats don’t require much paperwork and don’t require annual licensing in many jurisdictions, just a small one-time registration fee when you buy it. Permits for international travel are cheap. If I recall correctly, the permit to sail to the US, for example, is under $100.
You definitely don’t have to be a rich asshole to own a sailboat and it is weird that this perception persists. My first sailboat was a 1983 30-footer that I got for $18,000 about 10 years ago. My slightly newer 36-footer was $45,000 and it is big enough for a coastal cruising couple to live on pretty comfortably. The vast majority of boats are designed to be sailed by a cruising couple, and most sailors are stinky, sunburned, slightly stressed, somewhat impaired, and bruised from doing their own maintenance and being tossed around in rough conditions.
The average sailboat is basically a trailer on the water, except you don’t need a big truck to haul it. You can spend as much or as little as you want to, of course, but the majority of boats in an average marina (ie, not a rich Florida asshole marina) are 1980s-era fiberglass boats in the 30-40 ft range. The engines are typically 3-cylinder marinized small diesel tractor engines in the 25-50 horsepower range that’ll push the boat at about 6 knots (about 11 km/h). This is not the description of a rich asshole toy. This is a solid, middle-class hobby similar to trailer camping.
You definitely don’t have to be a rich asshole to own a sailboat and it is weird that this perception persists. My first sailboat was a 1983 30-footer that I got for $18,000 about 10 years ago. My slightly newer 36-footer was $45,000
my brother you are out here with a 45000 pleasure craft that does literally nothing beneficial and think its nothing, i think you may in fact be a rich asshole.
My brother, I didn’t say it was “nothing”, I said it was middle class. I worked a second job in the evenings to save up enough to afford the first boat. Then I sold the first boat for the same amount I paid for it and used that plus some savings and a small loan to afford the second boat, which I just paid off. And I drove a rust bucket for an extra five years so I could afford to save for the second boat. I didn’t just have a spare $45k laying around. And even if I did manage to save $45k over a decade, that’s still not rich by any means.
Middle class is not rich. Fundamentally, it means you have to work for a living and make more than the bare minimum needed to get by. Middle class means you can save a little and be able to afford a little nicer house over time, a decent car, and a few luxuries. If you only make enough money to scrape by with no ability to save, then you aren’t middle class, you are poor. Being middle class also means you need that pay cheque every two weeks and that you are vulnerable to becoming poor if you lose your job.
Thank you for this, I had no idea. I now see that I also assumed that yacht = super rich asshole boat. They’re so much cheaper than I expected! I could sail the ocean for less than $20k. Damn.
gonna need a lot of work and other items to actually sail, fire suppression, satnav, depth sounder, licensing etc. its still a rich asshole boat but not a super rich asshole boat.
Not at all. Fire suppression on a small yacht is a hand-held fire extinguisher or two, which is $30. In fact, I don’t know anyone who has more than that for fire suppression. Satnav is not necessary, but most boats over 30ft will have a chart plotter already because manual charting is a lot of work. Every sailboat over 30 feet has a depth sounder already. A decent chartplotter-depth sounder combo is about $1200, like a laptop, if you need or want to replace it for some reason, but they’ll last 20 years no problem. Small sailboats don’t require much paperwork and don’t require annual licensing in many jurisdictions, just a small one-time registration fee when you buy it. Permits for international travel are cheap. If I recall correctly, the permit to sail to the US, for example, is under $100.
You definitely don’t have to be a rich asshole to own a sailboat and it is weird that this perception persists. My first sailboat was a 1983 30-footer that I got for $18,000 about 10 years ago. My slightly newer 36-footer was $45,000 and it is big enough for a coastal cruising couple to live on pretty comfortably. The vast majority of boats are designed to be sailed by a cruising couple, and most sailors are stinky, sunburned, slightly stressed, somewhat impaired, and bruised from doing their own maintenance and being tossed around in rough conditions.
The average sailboat is basically a trailer on the water, except you don’t need a big truck to haul it. You can spend as much or as little as you want to, of course, but the majority of boats in an average marina (ie, not a rich Florida asshole marina) are 1980s-era fiberglass boats in the 30-40 ft range. The engines are typically 3-cylinder marinized small diesel tractor engines in the 25-50 horsepower range that’ll push the boat at about 6 knots (about 11 km/h). This is not the description of a rich asshole toy. This is a solid, middle-class hobby similar to trailer camping.
my brother you are out here with a 45000 pleasure craft that does literally nothing beneficial and think its nothing, i think you may in fact be a rich asshole.
My brother, I didn’t say it was “nothing”, I said it was middle class. I worked a second job in the evenings to save up enough to afford the first boat. Then I sold the first boat for the same amount I paid for it and used that plus some savings and a small loan to afford the second boat, which I just paid off. And I drove a rust bucket for an extra five years so I could afford to save for the second boat. I didn’t just have a spare $45k laying around. And even if I did manage to save $45k over a decade, that’s still not rich by any means.
Middle class is not rich. Fundamentally, it means you have to work for a living and make more than the bare minimum needed to get by. Middle class means you can save a little and be able to afford a little nicer house over time, a decent car, and a few luxuries. If you only make enough money to scrape by with no ability to save, then you aren’t middle class, you are poor. Being middle class also means you need that pay cheque every two weeks and that you are vulnerable to becoming poor if you lose your job.