Costs of Small Boats Survey
Clearing the fog surrounding small boat costs to help grow our community
Article by Sean Grealish
“You’re really doing it right” the cruising sailor said to me as he stepped back into his dinghy on a pebbled beach in the northern San Juan Islands. His fiberglass thirty-something-foot sailboat had been the only one sharing the cove with LAZYDOG (a Haven 12 ½) the previous night and we’d gotten to chatting as I prepared to depart for the day. He was surprised to hear that I’d come from Bellingham the day before, crossing Rosario Strait with a tragic lack of wind, without a motor, and was impressed that I’d managed to squeeze my 6’2” frame into the cockpit for the night.
On nearby Sucia Island I’d been asked questions about LAZYDOG by inquisitive kayakers before I’d even had a chance to step ashore. They expressed interest in a more seaworthy vessel than their sea kayaks, and they peppered me with what I did and didn’t like about my sail-and-oar cruiser.
These conversations are not unique within our community. Everywhere we take our adventurous little crafts there are people who are inspired to dip a toe into the hobby (perhaps some might call it an addiction). Yet in almost every interaction I have, if the talk turns to their own purchasing ambitions, whoever I’m speaking with, especially younger people like myself, seem to consider small boats far beyond the realm of affordability.
Based on encounters like these, it appears that one of the biggest barriers to growing the small boat community is that many would-be boaters are unaware of the true costs surrounding small boats. This can manifest itself in a number of ways: Firstly I find that many of the newbies who join me onboard LAZYDOG express interest in owning their own boat in the future. However, they are immediately deterred by the assumption that it costs more than it actually does. I am the first to admit that LAZYDOG is a very poor example of a “budget” small boat, yet my guests are often surprised to hear that many wonderful small boats can be purchased for less than their cherished mountain bike or winter sporting equipment. Secondly, I don’t believe that new boaters entering into their first vessel purchase have a realistic understanding of the year-to-year upkeep costs associated with small boat ownership, as small boat maintenance requires more dedicated indoor space and is inherently more complex than the gear upkeep associated with many types of outdoor recreation.
With the goal of increasing the transparency around the purchase and use costs of small boats, I am pleased to unveil the Costs of Small Boats Survey!
This five minute questionnaire aims to collect information from small-boat owners regarding the purchase price of their vessels and the year-to-year costs they incur from maintenance and storage. It is my hope that by arming ourselves with more tangible facts, rather than personal observations, existing small boat owners can better inform their interested friends and family about the realistic costs of small boat ownership. Additionally, I hope that the results will serve as a useful tool for anyone who has just taken their first rowing or sailing class and wonders if they can afford to continue their newfound hobby through vessel ownership.
The survey collects zero identifying or personal information, not even your name, but has the potential to answer a laundry list of boat cost questions that may be unknown to first time buyers, such as:
How much do small boats cost on average to buy?
Does it differ significantly based on the Length, Weight or Hull Material?
Where do small boat owners store their vessels?
How do the average costs vary based on storage facility type?
If I’m buying a small boat how much should I expect to spend year-to-year?
On sails and other gear?
On upkeep of the vessel itself?
How do these costs vary based on Length, Weight and Hull Material?
There are also questions that may be interesting to existing boat owners such as:
How has the purchase price of small boats varied over the last 30 years?
Adjusted for inflation, has the valuation of small boats changed?
What are the trends based on Length, Weight and Hull Material?
And of course the perhaps misleading but still interesting metric of days on the water per dollar spent on the vessel.
Why should you trust me with this information?
The results from this survey will be published in full here on Small Craft Advisor and will not be published or used by anyone else. I have zero connections financial or otherwise to anyone in the small-boat sales business (no builders, no kit sellers, no brokerages, no advertisers). Thirdly, small boats aren’t even my “real” career, I am an Environmental Science Masters Student who is also getting a graduate certificate in data science. I am simply invested in growing the small boat community, and now find myself with the data-wrangling abilities to properly answer the questions outlined above with the goal of promoting the growth and accessibility of our community.
FAQ:
What counts as a “small” boat?
For the purposes of this survey, anything under 25’ in length on deck and under 2,000 lb in total displacement. If you feel you own an exception to that rule, feel free to throw it in the survey and we’ll make a final judgment when reviewing the submissions.
What if I own multiple small boats?
Feel free to submit a separate survey for as much of your fleet as you like! But please limit the info in each submission to a single vessel.
What if I don’t currently own the boat?
You are more than welcome to submit boats that you have previously owned as long as you can remember all the required information about it.
What if I live outside the US?
We accept survey submissions from all countries, but please convert all prices to US dollars when entering your answers.
What if I’m not sure about one of the answers for a required question?
Your best guess is more than sufficient and is far better than no guess at all. The goal here is to understand averages and trends, not drill down into fine details.
What if I want to share this survey with my small boat owning friends?
We highly encourage you to send this article, or simply the survey link, to friends and family. If you are a part of any online community invested in small boats feel free to post about it there too!
If there are any more questions, I will do my best to answer them in the comments below.
In conclusion, please consider adding your own vessel to the survey at this link (https://forms.gle/a24sDxNc2CCFuBzQ8), and fair weather and a following breeze until we next cross tacks, by the wind and over the water. -SWG •SCA•
If you have trouble with first survey link, please use second one at end of article or this one: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdDdTzJnsRQgZGsXWsa1skHATY8lF-3WpfGWzGq2PAUYA0djw/viewform
For people looking to buy their first boat, I try to steer them towards an older o'day mariner or day sailor. These boats are plentiful, well built, forgiving, cheap to buy, and yet have a pedigree. It helps that anything larger than a Honda Civic can tow one with ease.
The biggest issue with getting people into sailing, at least here at the Jersey Shore, is the lack of places to keep them. Most of our marinas were long ago replaced by condominiums. Some towns do not allow boats to be stored where they can be seen, so no on street storage, no driveway storage, and if your house is on the corner, no backyard storage (looking at you, Ocean City, NJ). Even if you can store your boat on it's trailer, many of the shore towns lack even the space to leave one, the houses are so tightly packed together, only one car or maybe two can park in front.
Sailing also has an elitist problem. Unlike a powerboat, that most anybody who can drive a car and get the feel for, sailing seems powered by pixie dust and black magic. It has arcane terms spoken in a foreign language, and none of it is intuitive.