I'm cheap, and sometimes cheap things are OK. It cost money to figure out which is worth it. Anchor and Line, Covers, Inflatables. Hardware (Buy Stainless on brass, everything else rusts eventually) It's balance between high end that wears out anyway and cheap things that don't last. I usually buy cheap first, and if/when it breaks I make the decision to replace based on how the item wore and how much I used it.
You can spend a LOT of money on the boat. (There's been a boat in my house since I was 5, so I saw and experienced most of the things in this thread first hand.)
One phrase I use sometimes when I make people inconvenience themselves over the well being of my property
I'd rather you be angry than me.
When I ask them to take shoes off, or eat their staining foods on the swim platform, (and they always comply and sometimes apologize, because I only invite nice people over...) I tell them, no need to apologize, it's no sweat at all, you didn't know, thanks for complying, but if you do X then likely Y will happen and I will get mad, so I'd rather make you mad right now asking you to not do X, over me being mad later because Y happened.
Boating is a lot of fun, but it's expensive, but it's all worth it, giant grin most boating days, most all the time!