A Black Hole of Happiness

[Cletus Miller]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
What century does Wayne LaPierre live in?

Does he also think we should sterilize the mental defectives?

Has he taken away Charlton Heston's guns?

[Oliver_Wendell_Ramone]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
What century does Wayne LaPierre live in?

Does he also think we should sterilize the mental defectives?

No; you're thinking of LessinSF.

[ltl/fb]

Originally posted by Oliver_Wendell_Ramone
No; you're thinking of LessinSF.

I'm shocked he doesn't already have a vasectomy.

[LessinSF]

Originally posted by Oliver_Wendell_Ramone
No; you're thinking of LessinSF.

Actually, I believe that the mentally disabled should be encouraged to have and use guns, but only when among themselves, other mentally disabled, and both group's progeny.

[NotFromHere]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
I've wanted a boat my entire life. I've always thought that buying a well-used boat is the way to go since (a) boat technology hasn't changed that much, and (b) I will not recognize the majority of the boat's depreciation. You can get a 15-20 yr old 21-23 ft cruiser for $6-9k (it should be big enough for Lake Michigan). If I hated it, I could sell it in two years for $2k less.

I grew up on a river, so I have experience with smaller boats. I am fairly sure I can store it in the winter for a fairly cheap price.

Any thoughts? Anyone have a boat and love it or had a boat and hated it?

My father had a couple of boats. And we know a lot of people with boats. That area up north of here has a lot of boats per capita. Just know that the older the boat, the more likely there will be engine trouble. Even if it's an outboard.
OK?

[notcasesensitive]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
I've wanted a boat my entire life. I've always thought that buying a well-used boat is the way to go since (a) boat technology hasn't changed that much, and (b) I will not recognize the majority of the boat's depreciation. You can get a 15-20 yr old 21-23 ft cruiser for $6-9k (it should be big enough for Lake Michigan). If I hated it, I could sell it in two years for $2k less.

I grew up on a river, so I have experience with smaller boats. I am fairly sure I can store it in the winter for a fairly cheap price.

Any thoughts? Anyone have a boat and love it or had a boat and hated it?

Where are you planning to put it during the summer and have you priced that out? I am biased against boat ownership, but I think that I just don't "get it". My mom had an 18' motorboat that she bought new (bad idea) and owned in Albany, NY for about 15 years. There were a lot of extra costs (cleaning, storing, upkeep, mechanical issues, etc.) and she basically gave the thing away when she moved away from Albany. I think you'd have to be pretty serious about devoting time to using it for the cost/benefit to work out in your favor, but I don't know anything about the Chicago boat market or costs (I'd imagine they are higher than costs on the upper Hudson River, though). What is the season for actual boat use there and are you in town and free for enough of that time to have it be more than merely something that you will feel bad about underusing? Are you prepared to spend time and/or money cleaning (or paying for people to clean) and maintaining (or paying people to maintain) the boat?

There is some cheesey saying meant to convey how hard it actually is to sell a boat, but I'm too lazy to look for it right now.* Probably a good sign that I wouldn't make a good boat owner. Your assumption that you could turn around and sell it for not much less money than you bought it for may be flawed though. I think as the boat gets older, the market of potential buyers decreases fairly dramatically.




*Cletus, John and/or anyone else who cares to take a crack at finding that stupid quote should have at it.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
I've wanted a boat my entire life. I've always thought that buying a well-used boat is the way to go since (a) boat technology hasn't changed that much, and (b) I will not recognize the majority of the boat's depreciation. You can get a 15-20 yr old 21-23 ft cruiser for $6-9k (it should be big enough for Lake Michigan). If I hated it, I could sell it in two years for $2k less.

I grew up on a river, so I have experience with smaller boats. I am fairly sure I can store it in the winter for a fairly cheap price.

Any thoughts? Anyone have a boat and love it or had a boat and hated it?

is there a way to lease for a few years? I have a few friends that had the same dream and used it quite a bit the first summer, then, not so much the second.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by notcasesensitive


There is some cheesey saying meant to convey how hard it actually is to sell a boat, but I'm too lazy to look for it right now.*

It's not about selling, but "A boat is a hole in the water into which you pour money." Or is there another one?

Some might call it a black hole of happiness.

[Fugee]

Originally posted by ltl/fb
Is that real or fake? If real, I am totally lifted.

OK, finished watching, that was real. Wow. I am actually perhaps inspired.

Double Wow. One of my fave tenor arias and he sang it superbly. Meanwhile, America's Got Talent gets guys who flex their pecs to Dueling Banjos. Sigh.

[Fugee]

Originally posted by Pretty Little Flower
It is not just his opera snob that is coming out. It seems like all of TM's personalities have been coming out lately. The Uber-Bitchy Baseball Queen Bee. The Mini Cooper-Loving Diva. I'm thinking it's only a matter of days before Thurgreed the Cher Aficionado makes an appearance.

I have a plant that has a cultivar name with TM's real first name and it is getting flower buds. I can see it blooming the day the TM Cher Aficionado makes an appearance.

[pony_trekker]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
I've wanted a boat my entire life. I've always thought that buying a well-used boat is the way to go since (a) boat technology hasn't changed that much, and (b) I will not recognize the majority of the boat's depreciation. You can get a 15-20 yr old 21-23 ft cruiser for $6-9k (it should be big enough for Lake Michigan). If I hated it, I could sell it in two years for $2k less.

I grew up on a river, so I have experience with smaller boats. I am fairly sure I can store it in the winter for a fairly cheap price.

Any thoughts? Anyone have a boat and love it or had a boat and hated it?

I've heard it said that the two happiest days in a boat owner's life are the day he buys his first boat and the day he sells it.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
I've wanted a boat my entire life. I've always thought that buying a well-used boat is the way to go since (a) boat technology hasn't changed that much, and (b) I will not recognize the majority of the boat's depreciation. You can get a 15-20 yr old 21-23 ft cruiser for $6-9k (it should be big enough for Lake Michigan). If I hated it, I could sell it in two years for $2k less.

I grew up on a river, so I have experience with smaller boats. I am fairly sure I can store it in the winter for a fairly cheap price.

Any thoughts? Anyone have a boat and love it or had a boat and hated it?

There's an old joke about the definition of boat being "a large hole surrounded by water into which one unceasingly pours money and time."

That said, if you buy one, I want to go out on it.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by taxwonk
There's an old joke about the definition of boat being "a large hole surrounded by water into which one unceasingly pours money and time."

That said, if you buy one, I want to go out on it.

On an unrelated note, owning a boat is like owning a car in college, people you don't really want to see keep wanting to mooch off you.

[taxwonk]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
On an unrelated note, owning a boat is like owning a car in college, people you don't really want to see keep wanting to mooch off you.

I don't want to go out the same day Hank does.

And I'll bring lunch.

[Replaced_Texan]

Originally posted by Did you just call me Coltrane?
I've wanted a boat my entire life. I've always thought that buying a well-used boat is the way to go since (a) boat technology hasn't changed that much, and (b) I will not recognize the majority of the boat's depreciation. You can get a 15-20 yr old 21-23 ft cruiser for $6-9k (it should be big enough for Lake Michigan). If I hated it, I could sell it in two years for $2k less.

I grew up on a river, so I have experience with smaller boats. I am fairly sure I can store it in the winter for a fairly cheap price.

Any thoughts? Anyone have a boat and love it or had a boat and hated it?

What sort of boat?

If access is difficult for any reason, it's a pain in the ass to have a boat. I have an eighteen foot hobie cat sitting in a barn for over 20 years that I've sailed probably a half dozen times. Rigging her is a two person job, and it takes awhile before she's even set to get in the water. Unrigging her is just as much of a pain. She's too small to really justify any sort of boat storage outside of the barn she's sitting in, and she's sort of become an albatross for me. She's close to forty years old, and the repairs I'd need to make to make her either salable or sailable are quite significant.

I understand the lure of boats though. I'd love to have the time, experience and money to get a 25" or so foot sail boat to tool around Galveston Bay and even go on overnight trips down to Matagorda or even down to Vera Cruz if I were adventurous.

I think instead, I'd be better suited to get my barefoot certification and rent when the sea calls me.

In the meantime, I'll ride on friends' boats.