In Reply to: Re: looking for good catalina boat posted by UB88Poltergeist on July 21, 2005 at 11:11:24:

Yeah, commercial boats are a rip-off at $100 for 4 dives plus food.

Save some money and get your own boat! Let me show you the savings :-)

First Year (assume older used boat in decent condition that can carry 4 divers)

Used boat $16K
upgrade electronics $2.5K
Outdrive breaks, fix it yourself $1K
it breaks again, try again $500
it breaks again, take it to the pro's, ditch the POS OMC and go with a reman Volvo-Penta DP-SX & new transom shield $7K
get a bottom liner to protect new outdrive $1K

Cash outlay 1st year = $28K

Figure about $2K/year for general maintenance stuff

put it in a slip $260/mo
Fuel: $3.75 gal * 13 gal/hr * 2.5 h trip = $122 trip

Yeah, those commercial boats are a rip-off ;-)

As a side note, I have zero regrets. The freedom and adventure that one can have with their own boat is worth it to me. Plus, if you figure 6 diving days/month (one weekend off each mo) and ignore the initial purchase price, it's almost as cheap as a commercial boat (gotta somehow justify it in my mind). On the plus side, I can much more easily do the kinky sort of diving that I like from my own boat. On the minus side, I barely have the range to hit Nic & Cortez and I can only sleep 2 (which makes the trip really expensive even when we're splitting gas).

Ross-O

• If You Survive, It's an Education You Won't Get Anywhere Else... Patrick Smith 17:08:57 07/22/05 (1)
  • Re: If You Survive, It's an Education You Won't Get Anywhere Else... Max Bottomtime 19:36:14 07/22/05 (0)
• Your own boat... Chuck Tribolet 17:34:13 07/21/05 (0)
• Just a thought Elaine 14:58:38 07/21/05 (0)
• On the plus side... Max Bottomtime 14:48:00 07/21/05 (0)