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Talk to me about boats and boating

My parents have a boat at SML and use the Marina for winterization but they have a dock at their lake house for storage. We make sure to cover it up anytime we leave and we always turn off the batteries before putting it up.

I love boats and the water.
 
Get the Hurricane with a 4 stroke Yamaha outboard.
Easy to pull and you will not be limited to one lake. Fun in the intercoastal. Eat lunch at the Provision at Holdens Beach.
Chatlee is the place to shop.

Poontoons are awkward to pull.
 
I think those Hurricanes are cool, too. The trailering is a non-starter though. I don't have anywhere to store a trailer and a boat nor do I have a vehicle that can tow one (or any desire to buy such a vehicle). The whole buying a boat idea is crazy enough, the last thing I need is to compound it by trading in my fully-paid-off fuel efficient small car for a $30,000 pickup truck.
 
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My parents have a boat at SML and use the Marina for winterization but they have a dock at their lake house for storage. We make sure to cover it up anytime we leave and we always turn off the batteries before putting it up.

I love boats and the water.

Which marina?
 
How often have you boated in the past? Why not rent one at Norman a few days this season and see how it goes. Buying a boat that is a 2 hour round trip drive away sounds like a fucking disaster
 
Have you considered a boat club? I had a friend that was a member of one for a few years and he loved it.
 
Do you know what you want to use it for? If it's just basic fishing, cruising and water sports, just rent one whenever you want to go to the lake.

Lock thread. Best advice anyone could give. Buy a boat if you have the means to dock it at your HOUSE on the lake or sound. Between insurance, cost of boat, and storage you will never come close to calling this a good investment. Find the same boat you like to rent every time at whatever lake you choose. Lie to your wife and tell her you own it, she will never know the difference. At the end of the year after the total cost for the year come in, take her to Print Works for dinner, slide upstairs for a “stay cation”, give her some pretty earrings while hitting the “soak and Poke” and break the news to her that it was just a rental, and explain to her with the extra cash you saved, the two of you celebrated the evening together.
 
Lock thread. Best advice anyone could give. Buy a boat if you have the means to dock it at your HOUSE on the lake or sound. Between insurance, cost of boat, and storage you will never come close to calling this a good investment. Find the same boat you like to rent every time at whatever lake you choose. Lie to your wife and tell her you own it, she will never know the difference. At the end of the year after the total cost for the year come in, take her to Print Works for dinner, slide upstairs for a “stay cation”, give her some pretty earrings while hitting the “soak and Poke” and break the news to her that it was just a rental, and explain to her with the extra cash you saved, the two of you celebrated the evening together.

I mean this is obviously good advice, but like I said before, assume I know all this and go from there...

Anyway, I am well aware that "investment" and "boat" are not in the same sentence.
 
On the bright side, buying the boat is an automatic justification for buying the obligatory Yeti, which it sounds like will be around long after the boat is gone.
 
Oh she's already talking up the Yeti.

My wife is actually very financially conservative, frugal even. But this boat is a big blind spot.
 
You wouldnt need a Yeti if I could get your blue cooler back to you. That's plenty to hold your liquor, the rest of the family can fend for themselves.

I'm not losing it here am I, the cooler I have does belong to you right?
 
You wouldnt need a Yeti if I could get your blue cooler back to you. That's plenty to hold your liquor, the rest of the family can fend for themselves.

I'm not losing it here am I, the cooler I have does belong to you right?

You are correct! The problem is I no longer have any motivation to attend WFU sporting events, so it's hard to arrange a time to meet up for that $10 cooler... Probably will try to make a couple football games this season.
 
Sounds like a pontoon is perfect for you. Get one with a 250 Yamaha if you want to pull skiers. Get one with a 115 Yamaha if you don't. I know of gently used a tri-toon that will be for sale very soon in Columbia, SC. It will be for a very good price, too.

All modern outboards are four strokes, except for Evinrude E-Tecs.

The Yamahas are known for reliability. The crabbers run them. That's all you need to know.
 
Its a smaller lake, but have you given any thought to Belews Lake? My mom's family is from Stokesdale, and grew up going to Belews. It's less populated, and the size of the lake in comparison to the steam plant makes the water warmer and more suitable for swimming/skiing earlier and later in the season.

We had a pontoon at our lake house on Lake Norman when I was growing up. It was a standard 2 pontoon boat, and had I believe a 100 hp Mercury outboard on it. It was plenty to pull us kids on skis, knee boards, and tubes. It didn't do that well trying to pull adults thought. We mostly used it to cruise the lake playing oldies and hanging out.

I still have your blue cooler that you left at a tailgate btw. I need to arrange getting it back to you somehow.

never responded to this. Everyone in Greensboro tells us that Belews is super-crowded now. Basically everyone in Greensboro who has a boat or a jetski goes up there when it's warm, and there's a lot of drunk redneckery. What you describe is about what we want to do, cruise around, drink, play cards, swim, fish a little, pull the kids on a float a little.
 
You are correct! The problem is I no longer have any motivation to attend WFU sporting events, so it's hard to arrange a time to meet up for that $10 cooler... Probably will try to make a couple football games this season.

Its just been hanging out in my basement for some time. Whereabouts do your inlaws live? Can I swing it by their place or meet them somewhere since they'll probably see you before I will?

never responded to this. Everyone in Greensboro tells us that Belews is super-crowded now. Basically everyone in Greensboro who has a boat or a jetski goes up there when it's warm, and there's a lot of drunk redneckery. What you describe is about what we want to do, cruise around, drink, play cards, swim, fish a little, pull the kids on a float a little.

Another option may be Tuckertown Reservoir. We used to fish there all of the time in bass tournaments, and it was not very crowded.
 
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