Owning a boat vs charter

Also factor you’ll get (at least some) money back when (If) you sell the boat

Also consider the non-monetary aggravation of dealing with all maintenance yourself. Got a weird wiring problem that's unexplainable? Prepare to spend two weeks on the internet trying to figure it out before finally hauling it out of the slip, then letting it sit at the repair shop for a month, watching everyone else post pictures of their fun boats on the internet.

My rule is if it's a small boat, like a jonboat, own it all day, I own two!

If it's a big boat, rent/charter/make friends until I retire and have nothing better to do except own a boat and live on the coast/lake where I would use it more than once a week.

Let the downvotes rain down upon me.

To me owning a boat is a hobby in itself. Charter's are great but going out on your own, finding the fish, going when you want etc is worth the price of admission.

For the most part owning a boat never makes financial sense. But i enjoy most aspects involved with it.

IF, It F***s, Floats or Flys it’s almost always cheaper to rent it.
My guys Friday sold their boats because they were always down when they wanted to use them. Find a good guide and buy x # of trips from him upfront and become his annual annuity. He will treat you like the golden goose which in turn will make everyone happy.

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Gas+bait for a day: $150

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- Low by half

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Annual maintenance: ~$2k/yr+

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- Probably high by $1500' depending on the boat though.

The slip rent is probably low also but again it all has to do with location.

If you enjoy the charter experience there is no comparison from a cost stand point....it take a lot of charters to pay for a boat alone.....but the timing is the thing....hard to go on a charter at a moments notice or go for a few hours when you have the opportunity....plus, the difference in satisfaction of doing it yourself is the draw for me...I will do charters but I generally stay away from them because I can catch just as many fish and do so on my own knowledge and experience...the only time I do any charters now is offshore because I do not have access to an area which would make sense for me to own an offshore boat but, if I was in a decent part of the world instead of the panhandle of British Columbia (Washington State) and there was anything offshore here worth catching other than Salmon and Halibut (to be fair there is some Tuna to be caught but billfish are unheard of) I would own an offshore boat....If I were less than 8 hours from the gulf or the gulf stream I would own an offshore boat and would not think about it for more time than it took to find the right one and get it ready for fishing. I don't care for chartering....

Is my boat worth the note I pay every month? Probably not, but having the freedom to hookup and go fishing or pulling the kids in the tube whenever I feel like it is freeing to me.

well for what its worth, I have a good friend wanting to do the opposite. He wants to sell his boat and just hire charters. Doesn't use boat enough to justify slip, maintenance, etc.

If you have to ask the question you already have the answer.

I couldn’t imagine the day I didn’t have a boat. I fish a lot at times, others not so much. My truck stays hooked to my boat 90% of the time, batteries charged, gassed up. All I need is decent weather, an itch to scratch.

Bill fishing charters are boring to me. Everyone lets the deck hands pitch the baits or set the hook and then you get handed a rod with a hooked fish. That is not fishing. The captain and mate caught that fish period.

Part of the fun is shopping for tackle, rigging it, then seeing it all come together in that magic moment.