Storm Dude I love my boat and so does the wife she was the reason we up sized in the first palce. My daughter is 5 and has been boating since she was 9 months old the baby will adapt just like she did...I hope. Just dont know how much I can afford to use it anymore. The day will come when I can so maybe I should just let it ride for now....

if your wife enjoys it, and this is your 2nd, then you may do some overnighting. Keep it. Your wife might not like to go back to a lighter wt, single boat...that won't ride nearly as nice as your 31.

yep.....no doubt

I have a baby also and may be getting into an OB boat due to noise and I'd like to fish a little....

Cougarman who on here has that shed and what is the manufacturer.. my dad builds a lot of commercial (too heavy duty) and that looks about right for my backyard

Ernie

btw my wife is a stay at home mom, and I could live A LOT better if she worked but it is all about what kind of future person you want the child to be in my opinion.

Been racking my brain, seems like DockHoliday.....


Cougarman

Once boating is in your blood, it is never going away. You won't be really happy unless you are out on the water.

I would downsize. In the tests I've seen, single engine boats burn half the gas as a twin. You also have half the maintenance and repair costs. If you get something smaller, you could just have one vehicle for family use and towing use, ie. no separate tow rig. I know a lot of guys here would not go for these compromises, but I have decided to do that myself. There are other ways to save money for boating, too. It is far better to get on the water with compromises, than not at all.

I would also look at your day to day expenses. It's amazing how much money people spend eating out, drinking, entertainment, etc. over a year's time. They don't realize it, because it goes out little by little. Something as simple as bringing a lunch to work instead of eating out can save $2500 a year. You might also live longer, too. You can buy quite a bit of boat gas for $2500.

Michael

That is Dock's set up. I would know that rig and boat anywhere.
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Facing same problems now with a 1 yrs old and wife. Problem is teh market on twin engine performance boat dosent seem that great. The y2k superboat seems to be a really good option. But is it worth having a boat payment? Prob not

Best time you can have with your family is on a boat. Gas is expensive buy you can cut back by changing driving habits. Just being in anything that floats is the the key. Single engine might be the way to go. I have a ton of fun with my family on my folks 24 sea ray sundeck - holds 12 people.

Have you thought about buying a lakehouse? If my family didn't have one I would of never bought a speedboat. I would of bought a small yacht instead

DO NOT GET OUT OF BOATING.

Agreed,..............You can also set up direct deposit for your fuel account and just have maybe $50 dollars a week deposited in that account all year long. ( Not Just during boating season) Then when summer does come that money is just sitting there for boating fuel only. Then you don't feel the hit so bad. But you or your wife can't touch that account for anything else cause it never gets paid back.


Cougarman