Sell or not Sell?

I have a 96 stratos 295xl, garage kept and in good shape, 200 evinrude. I fish my club Tourney 1 time a month and maybe 2 or 3 times a year and thats it. boat is payed for. Have 05 silverado x-cab 4x4 is not payed for. With the price of gas and no end in sight of it going down, I have been thinking of selling both. I live in Lagrange and ususlly fish Rough River and Barren , Nolin. Any suggestions or input greatly appreciated. The thought of giving up something that has provided years of great times is really sad, but when you have spend a 2 or 3 hundred dollar bill is sad to for one day on the lake. Thanks.

Can you sell the Boat and get enough for a slightly used Aluminum Boat with a 4 stroke? Maybe a 17-18ft with 75-115hp? The gas consupmtion will be less for sure and the towing weight will be reduced.
Or do what alot of us did and start fishing a small boat trail. Ours is the "Puddle Jumpers" and we don't spend that kind of money on this trail. Our boats are 14' 6" or smaller.:) Just an idea..

That's going to be tough for anybody to answer except for you. Your boat is paid for, so I say keep it, but I don't know your situation. I don't know how far you drive in a normal week to justify selling your truck for something smaller. Do you fish alone now? If so, maybe try hooking up with a partner to split costs. Good Luck...

I ran all over Rough this weekend (fri, sat & sun) in my BassTracker PT175 and burned less than 10 gallons. It has a 60 merc on it and will run about 38 with just me in it. I also fish a small club and other T's every month and the boat works out great for the lakes around here, including KY/Barkley. Not to mention the better MPG's in the truck running down the road.

The boats paid for and is not eating anything so why not keep it. A smaller boat would probably be fine on Nolin, Rough and Barren but there is now way you'd catch me in a small aluminum boat on Barkley or KY. If it gets as windy and rough like it did this weekend, your gonna get wet. Saw several small boats come in soaked.

Charlie

You're in between a rock and a hard place now. You will not get what each is worth, and keeping the boat with a smaller truck is a chancy option. If you need the truck for your job, that makes it worse. I traded my 97 GMC crew cab, and bought a new chevy 6 truck, and my new boat is a grizzly 17 footer, with a 40, top is only 29mph,but that 4 stroke will run all day on a couple of gallons, plus its a lot lighter. I fish alone, and it was awfully hjard for me to get out of that deep vee hull.Buit even iof gas costs 6 bucks a gal I'll still go fishing at least twice a week.My situation is different, I live about 20 miles from dale and cumberland.Sorry about your predicament, wish you all the luck in the world.

I think you have gotten the best advice that can be given here in the post that says, you have to do what's right for you. Nobody can jump into your shoes and know the "contributing factors" that make up each and every fisherman, we are all different. I believe I would probably go the "puddle jumpers" route given your lack of use, but again, I am not you and do not really know your situation. I wish you the best of luck, because if you DO sell, your never gonna get what either is worth at this point.

The boat is paid for so if it is anyway possible I would keep it. If your looking to free up some money...consider dropping your club tournament fishing. You said you fished one club tournament per month. I have no idea what expense you are out. If you are having to travel great distances to fish in the club or stay over night for any of the tournaments I assume the expense from that could cover 2-3 fun fishing trips verses 1 tournament trip.

I enjoy tournament fishing but in the last 3-4 years I have only fished in a handfull...now if my incoming tournament money was greater than my out going tournamnet money it would be a different story. I know a lot of people that tournament fish and I bet if they kept records very few will break even and less than that actually make a little money.

I am content with just fun fishing and an ocassional tournament that secinario should free up some money for you also.The way I look at it I had two totally different hobbies tournament fishing and fun fishing...I will not give up my fun fishing.

R19

Hi guy,
I agree with thoughts in most threads, and add the following. Just to think about, as decision needs be your own based on your values, $$$situation, desires, etc. If you like your boat, as its paid for, I'd keep it. I say that as resale value for it might mean that you'd have to be out of pocket with another payment again if you sold and replaced it. Unless of course the replacement was a similiar year but small, less HP set up. But would you be happy with less? Before I sold the whole rig, I'd consdier a trade in of the 200 hp motor for a newer (Either newer used or new) SMALLER HP four stroke or even 2 stroke. Seems to me the engines tend to hold their resale value more so then the boat does. Used nada.com for some research.

I'd guess your boat goes about 1700 lbs, trailer 600, motor 400 or so. If total rig is less than 3500 lbs, you might beable to save a little with a trade in on the truck for a V6/non-4X4. But here's how I'd come to that conclusion. First, what is your current monthly truck payment? Is it possible you could get a new truck for a smaller monthly payment, if you traded in your current truck and bought a new one? Example, if a 2008 Nissan Frontier Crew Cab MSRP is about $22,000, and its rated to pull 3500 lbs with a V6 and 3500 lbs with a 4 cyclinder engine. If you got $15,000 trade in, (that's a swag from Nada as I didn't know all options you have or milesage), you'd the balance would be somewhere like $7000-$8000, and at 60 months with zero down, the payment would be about $140 to $160 per month. If that lowered your monthly payments, the amout you saved on monthly payments reduces the cost of your fishing trips. You know what your payment is so only you can answer that. Gas mileage would be better to some small degree in the smaller truck, but you'd have a new truck under warranty that would would help to lower your total cost of ownership. I picked the Nissan just as an example, I don't sell cars. Just a cost drill to show you the thought process. Again, don't know equipment, miles, or condition of your new truck, or what your monthy payment is. Nissan home page has a payment estimater on it for you to do your own what if drills. NADA page can give you a feel for trade-in values on your present truck. Good luck and best wishes. One last thing to think about. Everybody has to have a way to vent steam from work, a recreation that they care about. If fishing is that for you, you'd probably be a heathier and happier person doing some truck swapping, or reducing engine size to reduce total hobby costs, then if you just stopped being a boat owner and fisherman. Again, just a thought.

Thanks for all the responses to my post. And as one person put it I am between a rock and a hard place. Finacially my family is ok, God has blessed me with more than one person deserves, I have a good job as does my wife. I will probably keep the boat, and after looking a little deeper the truck can be paid off by the end of the year. My tourney days however will probably be over after this year and go back to "fun fishing." I do not post or respond on the board very often, but when I do, the respones are always positive, and educating. Thanks.

[QUOTE=stratos295xl;329639]I have a 96 stratos 295xl, garage kept and in good shape, 200 evinrude. I fish my club Tourney 1 time a month and maybe 2 or 3 times a year and thats it. boat is payed for. Have 05 silverado x-cab 4x4 is not payed for. With the price of gas and no end in sight of it going down, I have been thinking of selling both. I live in Lagrange and ususlly fish Rough River and Barren , Nolin. Any suggestions or input greatly appreciated. The thought of giving up something that has provided years of great times is really sad, but when you have spend a 2 or 3 hundred dollar bill is sad to for one day on the lake. Thanks.[/QUOTE]

I live in LaGrange to and I know what you mean on the gas thing. Pretty soon all we are gonna be able to afford is going to work to buy more price GOUGED gasoline. America is now owned by China and Saudi Arabia, and we aren't doing squat to change it.

If I didn't live 5 miles from Barren, I would hardly fish nowdays. I fished one day this year away from Barren, at Cumberland when I went with someone else. It's hard for me to justify the expense of a longer trip, even with my truck and boat paid for. Yesterday I drove 5 miles to the lake, didn't get more than 1 mile from the ramp, and caught 30 bass with 2 keepers in 3 hours time. I'm getting ready to go this morning here in a few minutes.

I guess you need to figure the expenses involved, the money you save, and decide whether it's worth that much for the enjoyment you get from it. If you could go with a freind that has a boat, that may be an option.