How long do you stay on the water a day?

[KissMyDrums]

How long do you stay on the water a day?

We are newbies and trying to decide between buying an SX195 or joining a boat club.

The boat club sounds great to me except for the times you can have a boat. During summer you can have a boat out from 8am-130pm or 230pm-8pm (5 1/2 hours at a time).

My question is, is this long enough? As in by this time we would be so tired we would come in if we owned the boat also. Is this enough time or would we regret the club idea? Though, they do say it is very possible if the boat is not reserved for the next time slot you just can keep it for the next or if there is another boat open you can just move over to it.

Please advise...

 

[Babin Farms]

For us 5.5hrs is usually long enough. We’ll get on the water between 10:30-11am for watersports before too much traffic and head in around 5pm. This all depends on if we’re boating in fresh or saltwater. Fresh water requires a LOT less cleanup after an outing. Load it on the trailer, wipe it down, put the cover on it and go home. Saltwater is more labor after an outing. Load it up, take it home, rinse the trailer & boat down, spray salt away on everything then rinse again, flush both engines with salt away, spray corrosive inhibitor on a few things, wipe the boat down, cover it and done. With that much work after an outing I typically don’t stay on the water too late.

 

[WiskyDan]

We usually push away from the dock at about 10 and are usually back to the dock by 5.

The boat club thingy is an interesting idea but how far in advance do you need to reserve and how often can you make a reservation?

 

[DiggerPA]

My 2 cents when I looked into it, the price was about the same if not more than my 195s cost me a month in payments. And you have nothing to show for it. But not having to clean up, and just show up and go, sounded really nice. But if you rent in the morning and it is cloudy or raining, but beautiful in the afternoon, you are out of luck if there is no boat for the afternoon. So we opted for the 195s, we can go whenever we please, and go out at the last minute if plans change or weather conditions permit. But, like above, you have clean up duty and storage, which may or may not be a problem for you? Again just my 2 cents.

 

[FSH 210 Sport]

I would suggest doing the boat club thing first to see if you really like boating. If you do then go buy the boat and go when and as long as you want.

How long you stay out on the water is dependent on you… I see wake boaters show up at my local lake and they are there for a few hours then they leave, there are others that are there when I get there and still there after I leave. Myself, in the height of summer I’ll put in around 0600-0700 in the morning and wont get off the water until 2030 (8:30 PM) or there abouts, typical day for me is 10 hours on the water but sometimes I’ll stay as long as 14. When there is 16 hours of “day” and only 3:38 of “night” you can have long days on the water.

 

[mtudb24]

Typically we head out around noon and stay til 4-5. Some times we'll go for a 2nd run around 8ish for a hour or so to do a sunset cruise. We keep the boat at our dock all summer (freshwater) so we're not limited by having to launch, retrieve, and clean after every trip.

 

[Noko]

How long do you stay on the water a day?

We are newbies and trying to decide between buying an SX195 or joining a boat club.

The boat club sounds great to me except for the times you can have a boat. During summer you can have a boat out from 8am-130pm or 230pm-8pm (5 1/2 hours at a time).

My question is, is this long enough? As in by this time we would be so tired we would come in if we owned the boat also. Is this enough time or would we regret the club idea? Though, they do say it is very possible if the boat is not reserved for the next time slot you just can keep it for the next or if there is another boat open you can just move over to it.

Please advise...

It depends on whether you live on the lake or not. We are on the lake and spend about 2hrs just cruising a 2,300 acre lake. We don't have young kids. It depends on the day. Sometimes the wife and I just sit in the boat and have coffee and enjoy the day.

 

[Acard7]

When we go to our home lake, on the water by 11am and off around 5pm. If we are staying somewhere and have our own wet slip like LOTO or Red Rock then we really stay on the lake as long as we can. We try to get on the water by 0930-10am and off by 5-6pm. Sometimes we will get out real early like 0630-0700 and cruise to a local breakfast place, head back to the VRBO, then go back out again. Did take a night cruise one time on LOTO, which is cool because they usually have fireworks on the weekends and people have Christmas lights up year round. We still really wanna get on our home lake for a Fourth of July night one of these years too.

Boat club kinda sounds like leasing a vehicle to me, you pay everything but gain no equity, which has its benefits like not worrying about resale and maintenance and then having different locations to choose from.

 

[zipper]

6 hours is our usual time out sailing or fishing. We go out and set a course, make a tack or two back to the beach where we grill lunch, swim, clean the hull, paddleboard, etc. The sun, wind and waves can make you tired by that amount of time, atleast for some. We do go out for longer times, like the 9 day trip, on the water, bringing the boat up here, weekend trips and overnighters.
You stated you are newbies to boating, so maybe the boat club is a good first step towards owner(ship). Although owning is much more than what the boat club will offer you.
As a first step...Do you have any friends with boats that are willing to share, take you out and teach you other aspects of ownership that the boat club won't? Maintenance, care, docking, catching a cleat, putting fuel in the boat, bilge blowers and pumps, trailering, backing a trailer, navigational rules on the water, no wake zones etc. I could go on.
Your decision to ask here was a good one. There is a lot of experienced, knowledgeable boaters here that will point you in the right direction. The member map may show some that are willing to take you out on the water.

 

[2kwik4u]

When we were trailering a lot, we would be on the water by 10am or so. Depending on the day we would either come off around sunset, or we would come off around 6-ish. Solid 8hrs on the water, per day.

When we had the camper near the lake, it got to be less water time and more camper time. One of the reasons we sold the camper, honestly.

 

[KissMyDrums]

We usually push away from the dock at about 10 and are usually back to the dock by 5.

The boat club thingy is an interesting idea but how far in advance do you need to reserve and how often can you make a reservation?

They say a couple weeks out to make sure you have a boat but can call anytime and get a boat if there is one on the dock.

 

[biffdotorg]

For the same reason anyone who asks what time we will be coming back are left on the dock. Don't let someone else decide when and how long. That's the biggest thing that makes boating relaxing. Doing it on your schedule.

But the best piece of advice I saw above was rent one year to see how much you enjoy it, and how much the schedule is or is not a hindrance.

 

[WiskyDan]

They say a couple weeks out to make sure you have a boat but can call anytime and get a boat if there is one on the dock.

It sounds more feasible if you can get the boat when you want it without booking it out a couple weeks in advance. Have you had a chance to talk with anyone who has been in this boat club for a couple of years to get some real-world feedback?

I did dry-stack the first few years I had a boat and they advertised that they will put the boat in and take it out when you want but that did not end up being the case.

 

[kgower]

We typically boat on Thursdays or Fridays. our boat is stored about 35 minutes from the house and the ramp is another 7-8 minutes. It usually takes us about 75- 90 minutes to get to the boat, load it, hook up, pull it out of the storage, put the tower up drive to the ramp and launch. If we have to gas up that's another 10-15 minutes.

Fortunately, my wife can back the boat in which saves a little time.

We tend to leave the house by 11:00 and come off the water between 5 & 6.

 

[Ribs77]

We considered a boat club before getting a 195. The biggest factor for us was storage, but I was able to secure a wet slip during the season for a reasonable price which makes boating really convenient.

Because of that, we sometimes do really short outings of just a few hours. It's awesome to just show up at the boat with your stuff and head out. There's limited clean-up I can do in the wet slip, but I do wipe things down and put the cover on every time.

Other times, we'll be out for 4-5 hours. Haven't been out longer than that, but I'm only one season in.

 

[KissMyDrums]

6 hours is our usual time out sailing or fishing. We go out and set a course, make a tack or two back to the beach where we grill lunch, swim, clean the hull, paddleboard, etc. The sun, wind and waves can make you tired by that amount of time, atleast for some. We do go out for longer times, like the 9 day trip, on the water, bringing the boat up here, weekend trips and overnighters.
You stated you are newbies to boating, so maybe the boat club is a good first step towards owner(ship). Although owning is much more than what the boat club will offer you.
As a first step...Do you have any friends with boats that are willing to share, take you out and teach you other aspects of ownership that the boat club won't? Maintenance, care, docking, catching a cleat, putting fuel in the boat, bilge blowers and pumps, trailering, backing a trailer, navigational rules on the water, no wake zones etc. I could go on.
Your decision to ask here was a good one. There is a lot of experienced, knowledgeable boaters here that will point you in the right direction. The member map may show some that are willing to take you out on the water.

Don't any friends that currently have a boat...

 

[KissMyDrums]

We considered a boat club before getting a 195. The biggest factor for us was storage, but I was able to secure a wet slip during the season for a reasonable price which makes boating really convenient.

Because of that, we sometimes do really short outings of just a few hours. It's awesome to just show up at the boat with your stuff and head out. There's limited clean-up I can do in the wet slip, but I do wipe things down and put the cover on every time.

Other times, we'll be out for 4-5 hours. Haven't been out longer than that, but I'm only one season in.

If we buy we will use a wet slip on the lake as storage.

 

[KissMyDrums]

For the same reason anyone who asks what time we will be coming are left on the dock. Don't let someone else decide when and how long. That's the biggest thing that makes boating relaxing. Doing it on your schedule.

But the best piece of advice I saw above was rent one year to see how much you enjoy it, and how much the schedule is or is not a hindrance.

My wife mentioned the same thing, to join for a year first to test things out...

 

[CastawayRK]

5-1/2 hours is probably enough but I wouldn’t like adhering to their time slots. Renting for a while does make sense to see if you like it. But if you like to fish or some kind of water sports I think you’ll find available rentals just aren’t set up the way you want. I’ve rented occasionally on vacation and the boats worked as transportation but I couldn’t fish very well. If all you want to do are cruise, sit and chill or pull kids on a tube (not that those are bad things to do!) a rental is ok. More than that I think you’ll want to outfit your own boat.
Cheers

 

[Speedling]

Midway summer we get out asap. Like 7 am with a 45 minute drive. We pack breakfast and usually grill lunch. Sometimes we travel by boat up to an hour to get dinner. Usually try to get back to the dock as sun is disappearing. Have stayed out on Lake Michigan a few times but makes food the following day a little rough.