Frugal fun for our family of seven!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Frugal fun for our family of seven!
4
Mon, 08-18-2008 - 8:45am
My DH dragged this boat home out of someone's yard last year and I just groaned and figured we'd never afford to put it together. I like my water chlorinated and I don't like fish at ALL. Little did I know, LOL. He was a mechanic before he was promoted to service manager, so he knows his way around an engine. Long story short, less than $500 later (including registration and new life jackets) and we're on the water. I love it, too! I know $500 isn't exactly cheap, but to get a boat on the water, it's just ONE of those "easy monthly payments" you see w/ the new ones! He's repainting it and redoing the interior over the winter, but it's not that bad (even for my taste) and best of all, we're just 15 minutes from the boat ramp. We live on the coast so there are tons of rivers and bays and waterways to play on, and all we pay is gas for the boat. Literally, for less than $10 yesterday we had a cooler full of drinks and four solid hours of family entertainment. Nothing takes you further away from your worries that sitting there w/o a house, car, or anything else in sight. Just a few other boats and jet skis, the sun dropping in the sky, and the calls of birds. You can't beat that for entertaining seven people all day!

Here are pics of three of the kids and DH on the water. (The sky was getting dark...the bottom fell out as we pulled into our driveway). The dates on the pics are wrong.

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket

Photobucket


Photobucket

Avatar for sohappilyme
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Mon, 08-18-2008 - 8:53am
OMGosh, guys, I'm so sorry I forgot to take my hat off! I apologize for the cl tag! =c(
Photobucket

Goal: Debt free by January 2010 so we can build our dream home!

Sarah
Community Leader
Registered: 07-26-1999
Mon, 08-18-2008 - 10:35am
That is wonderful.
Photobucket
Avatar for inmommyworld
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-27-2003
Sat, 08-23-2008 - 9:01pm

I can realte to your story. We bought a cheapy boat 2 years ago--paid cash. It's a little 19 foot speed boat and we love it. You are so right about it being frugal fun. Our boat is good on gas, plus we never go too far. We live in a big boating community, so our boat is quite small compared to a lot of people we know, but it is so enjoyable. We could care less that it isn't a luxurious, huge boat. We are close to the lake, so we can go out for an hour boat ride in the evening after dinner, we take it out swimming on the weekends, bring sandwiches--my boys

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-22-2008
Sat, 08-23-2008 - 10:31pm
Looks like an absolute blast!