thomas15

I named my boat The Minnow

Very cool!

I truly love hearing about others who worked hard to pay off a note and now can enjoy that item without the pressure of have to make a monthly payment.

So proud of you @Way north bass guy ! Enjoy your boat my brother!

Please allow me to refresh your memory (7/20/22): "Yes but my problem is I have no cash no 3 or 2 k for the best of deals. Bank turned me down but it’s all my fault."

My fishing partner doubles as my honey. You might think that having our personal finances under control is a synonym for some kind of privilege or good luck but Sue and I struggled early in our life together so that we could afford to put our two kids through college and live comfortably in retirement. We like to think about it as being a mature adult, are we wrong? If you think that we are of the opinion that you are in some sort of a financial crisis it might be because you told us in the older thread that you were turned down for a $4K personal loan?

At my workplace I'm known in a general sense as the person that takes budgeting and money management seriously. It wasn't always that way, years ago I (we were) just like everyone else, spending to make myself happy, to make spouse and me happy. It is commonly called living paycheck to paycheck. Finally we (spouse and me) made this massive lifestyle change which didn't go unnoticed by my co-workers. Some took it as me becoming anti-social or maybe a member of some religious cult, others thought of us as aspiring millionaire want-a-be's. I have noticed that across the income and age spectrum where I work many will approach me to ask questions about the company 401K or budgeting tips. I'm not an expert but know a few things. From those encounters I have come to conclude several things and of course I don't know everyone's financial situation in detail but many I know are living on the financial ragged edge. Not a city where I want to visit because all of the motels there have lumpy mattresses, and I personally cannot get a good night's sleep there. But many seem to not be bothered. As Darth-Baiter so eloquently states we are best served by worrying about ourselves. This I agree with. I'm sure he would also agree though that when someone asks a question we answer as truthfully as possible. Speaking for me, it's time to walk away on this one. The correct answers have been stated over and over again, nothing new left to say. I say this is all sincerity, the degree of maturity here is well above average. I really mean this.

It really looks like this is the only possible treatment for this particular rash.

60% of US households, and that includes singles, married couples, couples with children, single heads of households, married with and/or without kids, single parents with kids and single/married/kids with pets, do not have $500 on hand to cover a $500 emergency expense. Many many many of that 60% cannot pay for that $500 emergency out of savings because in their personal lives they have not figured out the difference between wants and needs. I can say with absolute certainty that I do not need a boat, I do not need a Tacoma, I do not need a collection of fishing poles and tackle, a collection of competition ready handguns and that my wife does not need her dog, chickens, pigeons, and a new living room sofa, and we as a couple do not need a 2 week vacation together. These are all wants. We do however need a roof over our heads, oil in the tank, food on the table, clothes on our backs and transportation to our place of employment. To cover our wants we are putting off retirement, spouse is working to 69, I'm working to 74 or 75, not because we need to but rather because we want to. I recognize that I cannot own certain things because in my younger years, in our (spouse and me) early days together, we made some poor money decisions and that is the reason why we don't have a bigger boat tied up at a dock at a vacation home on Lake Gitchie Gumee. I have learned that I'm not entitled to, or owed anything, that I don't deserve anything, but I need as an adult to look past the tip of my nose and do things today that my older self 5 years from today will thank me for. If things were to go sideways for us financially speaking, the first thing to go is my boat, the second thing to go is my truck. The second to last thing is our home, the last thing is our cash emergency fund because we will need that to procure replacement shelter. The fact that the question is being asked speaks volumes as to the feasibility of this project but if you can somehow move a want into the needs category then the decision is easy. You may be asking yourself why all the ranting from little old me? This is simple, we had a huge cash flow scare about 10 years ago and that forced us into a fight with reality. We discovered, and that by the Grace of God, that we could fix the bulk of our mistakes and get our finances under control. This was a lot of hard work and was exhausting but it taught us a valuable lesson, actually several lessons. 10 years ago I was a competitive handgun shooter classified as a Master in open revolver class, shooting 2 matches per week plus practice. At that time I was of the opinion that I would be shooting competitive matches up to the day I died. Finally, the day came when I realized that shooting was a want not a need. My life did not end and my social structure did not crumble, hard to believe but true. I'm very passionate about personal finances.

Speaking about cars or trucks not to change the subject but to the OPs feeling about driving an SUV when you are a pickup kind of guy. A few weeks ago we had a family get together at my sisters place. My brothers and sisters and in-laws are good people but there is a tinge of dysfunction somewhere because I haven't seen one of my brothers and a few other family members in over 20 years. So my truck is a 2020 Tacoma (nice truck) my wife's car is a 2012 Ford Escape (SUV), this car has just under 200K miles and a bit of rust in the wheel wells. My wife is uncomfortable in my Taco so we took the Escape because this is about 300 miles of driving. I was feeling a bit defeated because I'm the only one of my siblings that is not retired (I'm 65) and it looks like I'm poor because our daily driver is a bit ragged in the margins, but we commute together 100 miles/day. But the truth of the matter is we are not poor, we have a decent household income and savings and paid assets and are in good shape financially, so really I don't to be honest care what cars or trucks other people have, all I want is something that gets us from point A to point B and we have enough cash on hand to buy a brand new car tomorrow but our priorities are more focused on getting our nest egg as big as possible. When my wife retires in Dec 2025 we will get her a new car but we will also have 6 figures just in our cash in savings account to pay for it and since I'm probably going to work a few years more will drive the Escape to work rather than kill the Taco. And why 70 or longer? Because the difference between SS at 62 and 70 is for me is north of about $1,500/month and if I wanted to buy some new toy I don't want to be in agony for months about how to pay for it. So it's partly due to us being blessed by the Lord Jesus but we also do our part and are mindful of solid management and decision making with what we do have. So to sum up my feelings on things we want to own. On the day we closed on our home we felt happy but nothing compared to the happiness when 12 years later we walked out of the bank after making the last mortgage payment. On the day I brought my Taco home it was all smiles but 26 months later when I paid it off the there were literal tears of joy. Never had any debt on my boat, saved up and paid for it in cash. I would personally feel like a real chump if I couldn't make a car payment or fill the heating oil tank or frig because I had to have a boat or didn't want to be seen driving an SUV but that is a personal decision we need to make for ourselves. My wife and I act like we are broke, we spend money like we are broke, people think we are broke, we budget, we eat at home and we do for ourselves everything we can do for ourselves rather than pay someone else and we don't buy luxury items willy nilly and that is the reason why we are not actually broke.

I also remember the first post. It's not because I'm mean or anything like that, but a boat is something you get when literally everything that costs money is covered, you have a cash emergency fund in hand and then the boat comes out of excess. The most joy I get from my little boat comes from the fact that we have zero debt, a paid off home, a paid for truck, money in the bank. If it were not for that I would not own the stupid thing. But to the subject at hand, you are an adult and it's your money, do what you want, you don't need our permission.

Looking Good!

I have a Taco and was thinking about getting an old school truck cap. The Leer fiberglass cap painted to match the truck with a hinged window is about $2300.00 You can get this with roof racks I think that is a few hundred extra. That would give you a place to tie your boat and secure extra storage.

When faced with such a dilemma such as should I buy a fiberglass or aluminum boat, I usually settle that internal argument with a compromise. Get one of each!

As a kid we went out in the Atlantic Ocean in our 14' wood skiff with 14 HP many times. Only on nice days and that boat had considerably more freeboard than most 12' Jon boats. Still, I wouldn't do it on a dare today.

This reminds me of years ago when we lived in southern NJ. Sue and I had (still have it) a canoe, a classic Grumman 15' silver bullet, this is basically a tank on water. When our kids were little we would take them with us on short river trips, they sat on the floor between us. Sue and I were fairly experienced and the rivers gentle. And yes before anyone asks, they both wore pfd and we took zero chances although I doubt if we were in the same situation today we would do that. Most of the little rivers in the pine barons have canoe and kayak rentals and unguided trips. I have lost count of how many times Tom and Sue with two little kids in the family truckster passed solo 20 something males that were inexperienced kayaking the rivers. Such fun. My point: it's not as easy as it looks.

I'm not trying to pile on here just adding my 2 cents. I urge you to find out exactly what motor you have please stop assuming or trusting in what other people say. As I mentioned and others have also, it is a great idea to get the factory service manual for this motor. It is not going to cost that much and being stuck 5 miles from the boat ramp sucks under any conditions so for me at least having my motor running at the peak is my way of reducing the odds this will happen to me. In simple terms, the water pump is an impellor inside a metal housing. To access it you probably have to drop the outdrive (lower unit), remove a few screws then remove the impellor, replace, put back together. As long as there are no score marks on the housing replacing the impeller should be enough. The impellor itself usually is not expensive. A few comments. First the vanes of the impellor must be pointed in the correct direction. Second, you will probably have to disconnect the shift linkage to remove the outdrive so this is something that you need to understand (correct adjustment). And just given the information presented in this thread even of the person who sold you the boat swore on his mothers grave that he replaced the water pump I would go ahead and replace it again because this is so vital and if it fails can be a very costly situation and inconvenient to remedy. Beyond the water pump if it were my motor I would also do a compression check, rebuild the carbs, adjust and sync the carbs and ignition timing, replace the sparks plugs, verify the oil injector and drain and replace the lower gear oil. For me, my boat is a hobby, it is a want, not a need. If I have any questions or doubts in my mind about the safety or reliability, I fix the problem before my next fishing trip, I'm quite conservative in that regard. Part of this goes back to when I was a kid, we lived at the Jersey Shore where everyone has a boat. We were about 2 miles off shore in the Atlantic Ocean off Belmar when we couldn't get our motor to start. After much hair pulling we got it to limp back but the experience left a scar. Even in my little home lake and after 50+ years since I do not play footsy with my boat motor. I see people all the time and you will also, people at the ramp (as an example) with the cover off manually priming with a squirt bottle just to get away from the dock. This is not something I personally would do because it indicates that there is something that needs to be fixed.

Have you checked that your battery is fully charged? It should read about 13 maybe 13.5 volts. Next check to see if you have 13 volts or so at the starter. If it's 12 volts or less it is probably the battery but have a garage do a battery check before you buy a new one they are getting expensive. The problem could then be the starter or the starter switch which is under the motor cover near the starter. It is also possible that there is a wiring problem between the starter (key) switch and the previously mentioned starter switch. Check (carefully) for lose and/or corroded wire connections. In summary there are a lot of things it can be so it might take a while to figure out just don't go throwing money at it willy nilly. This is one of the reasons having the service manual for your specific motor is a good idea. It should walk you through troubleshooting the problem. Make sure you use safe practices there is probably 600+ amps available from your battery that can be a real safety problem if you don't know what you are doing.

You can buy the hub seals, bearings and the bearing races in kit form, they are not all that expensive. You will need to pound the old races out, i use a small cold chisel and hold the hub in a big bench vise. There are two races (inner and outer) on each hub same number of bearings. The inner and outer are probably different sizes. To reinstall you will need a tool to drive the race home. Your friend the home mechanic probably has one ask nicely. If you go that route remove both hubs at the same time but keep one available as a model to get a visual so that you know that the new races are set in properly. They are a tight fit. This is a messy job and requires a tube of marine grease. There are a bunch of youtubes on this. You should be able to clean up the old bearing buddies and reuse. If you don't reuse them you will need new dust caps for the hubs. Those might come with the new bearing kit. The bearing buddy is basically a plunger on a spring that keeps the grease under constant pressure to avoid grease voids in the hub assy. Watch a few youtubes to see if this job is for you. I don't replace every year but I do check the bearing buddies every time I take my boat out. I also check the trailer tire pressure. Just good practice.

For my boat, my yard machines and gasoline for our emergency generator we put in Seafoam just as a matter of habit. I have pump gasoline that is over a year old still works and has no unusual odors. I purchase a can at WM whenever I'm in the auto section.

Sweet ride!@ Best of luck with her!

I'm truly sorry to hear about your wife. I'm not against RVs and the camping life, my point was there is a cost to owning campers and boats that you find out about only after you get them. That is how I tie my comments to the OP. And I'm not about telling people what to do with their time and money it's none of my business. But we all know people with these items that have become slaves to them because it can become a big cost factor and consumer of free time and there is always the unexpected hick-up. My wife and I talk about getting a camper from time to time so there is the draw I get this. But even with our kids on their own and us having a degree of financial security we are still finding it difficult to block out time to go fishing together and using our boat that is not a financial burden to us. Part of problem is weekends are crowded so we want to spend that time on Fridays to avoid the crowds, this gives us limited opportunity to do this activity together. That will obviously change when we retire in a few years.

It's like owing a camper or RV my friend has a $65K 5th wheel camper and diesel PU to haul it around for the money he has in this rig he can pay for a lot of hotel rooms and avoid barking dogs all night long and he spends a ton of money on the upkeep and storage and so forth on this thing. If he ever sat down and actually tracked his true expenses to own this hardware I'm certain he would proceed to check himself into a facility for observation and possibly treatment. Most of the time and expense of owning this thing turned out to be a surprise and not anticipated, he only found out the true scope of the investment after he brought his mobile living room home.

Not sarcasm actually it is on my to do list to shop this i have used this policy for 9 years (Boat US/GEICO) and in my mind it really isn't worth worrying about because my boat is 18 years old a lot of people try to get insurance on a boat that is not seaworthy in the hope of getting a payout when the transom falls off I just want to make sure I have insurance saving a few dollars doesn't really matter but GEICO did raise the rate I have no claims and a my FICO score is +/- 825 it's hard to micromanage literally everything in life but most of my friends and co-workers accuse me of just that. My real point in my original comments was to express that boats, even a simple craft are more expensive and time consuming than we think or imagine there is always something that needs attention and costs money.

This is a 12 month policy and you are correct I'm overpaying and getting ripped off but in the grand scheme of things we (spouse and me) are decent stewards of our money we put 25% of our income into retirement accounts, 18% into regular (HYSA) savings (saving just for the sake of saving), have 8 months of expenses in our emergency fund, have no CC, auto, truck, boat, personal, kids college or mortgage debt, pay cash for everything and keep a written budget so my overpaying insurance for the SS Minnow which insurance is actually optional because I own the stupid thing free and clear isn't causing the few remaining strands of my hair to auto-combust but you are correct my boat insurance policy sucks it does cause me much stress but it is more to protect me from liability not the actual boat because I don't co-own it with a bank and there are a lot of boating idiots around here if I weren't so lazy I would shop around and save save save me some boat bux.