Let me see if I have the joy of boating defined:

Cost of the boat
Cost of the trailer
Weight of the boat + the trailer + gas + add ons = a whole lot more weight than listed.

Now comes the better part, not only do you spend a sh*tload on the boat, trailer, but now you have to buy a damn good towing truck too, damn that's almost half the cost of the boat.

Cost of insurance, bigger better boat = more insurance.
Cost of insurance on the towing truck
Cost of storage, either dry or wet, if wet, then cost of boat lift
Cost of maintenance
Cost of replacement parts
Cost of GAS

So, since I'm new, I know I left out a few more Costs, therefore the Joy of Boating = The amount of euphoria that off sets the total cost of owning a decent boat. It's kinda discouraging when totaling all this up, when purchasing a decent boat, and one of decent size, you take on a whole new dimension of things to account for, I'm glad at least this site really helps on preparing one for jumping into this.

It only hurts when you keep track of the cost .

very good point....It makes me ill when I think about how much $$$ i pissed away since I went high performance.

but it was alot of fun

What's killing me is the tow weight. I am purposely looking at 26-29' to keep the tow weight low, but after reading the Towing Forum last night I think I'm going to with a HIGH PERFORMANCE CANOE. I simply can't afford a tow truck for the purpose of towing my boat around. I can screech by with my Sequoia 4x4 because I'm looking at 500' from the dry storage to the ramp. I am looking into renting a F-350 to pull it if I want go out of state to different lakes, one of the things which is attracting me to boating. I never thought of the pull before reading this board.

Yeah, it's pretty sobering when you take every expense into account.
Add in Lines, Some good life vests, Fenders, an Anchor - rode and chain, small tool kit to keep on-board, waxes, polishes, and cleaning supplies...

Have to admit, that is why I'm also looking for an affordable under 30' single - probably 24'-27' range.

Worth every dime for sure..

While you're adding it all up why not throw in a nice condo or house at the lake; then you can deduct the cost of a new tow vehicle!

Thats why I left the go fast side and went to the pleasure side. I still have to be on the water, no doubt, so I down sized and have as much if not more fun. I hope to some day get back in but the cost of owning these is just sky rocketing, fuel and insurance are the killers, there are great deals on good boats and there always will be, so that is not the problem, the other costs are out of control and seem to be getting worse. What will happen is the industry will go thru a correction, like it is, and hopefully settle down. In the mean time I will keep my fender boat and pass the gas stations....but I will be out there with the same smile on my face.

What's the tow rating on your Toyota Seqouia?

You can be into a Chevy Tahoe or even a 3/4 Ton Suburban for the same kind of cash. The Tahoe can safely tow 7500 lbs. which puts you into just about any 24-26 foot single engine performance boat. The 3/4 Ton Suburban can tow 10-12K depending on setup; which can easily tow a 30-32 foot twin engine performance boat.

Oh and you missed the most important thing. BEER.