Your Thoughts.......

[Cobra190]

Hit on a topic of conversation with the wife the other night and wondered what others thoughts may be. Say you have a $30,000 bass boat. which would be easier for you to do? Loan it to a friend or to a family member? My stance was as follows...It would be easier for me to loan it to a friend than a family member. If something,regardless,would happen to the boat, a friend would do whatever it took to make it right. "My" family members would say Oops, sorry and that would be it. What our your thoughts, no arguments intended.

[Dave Stewart]

In my opinion it depends on the person in question..not friend or family. If the person is a responsible type individual and I know they will try their best to take care of whatever I lend them then I have no problem lending them whatever. As far as a boat...I have loaned my boat out before to close friends that needed it to fish a tourney when theirs was down. I have borrowed boats when I needed one to keep my business running when mine was down...actually have borrowed three boats in the last three weeks because mine is still awaiting a new powerhead to come in. When I loaned my boat did anything ever happen to it...sure but small things like trolling motor cables etc....and my friends replaced what happened to it every time or tried to but at times I would not let them because it was problems that would have happened if I had the boat that day and not them anyway. Have I had things go wrong with boats that I have borrowed...yep...small things again but I have always gotten them taken care of because I felt that I should whether it was something that would have happened anyway.
Thankfully, neither I with someone else's boat or they with mine have ever had an accident...but if it ever does happen..that is why we buy insurance. Accidents happen...when you loan something that is part of the risk you take...question is do you think enough of the person you are loaning it to, to take the chance...I can only give you my answer...my friends and family are more important to me than my boat.

[Hogwild]

NEITHER! I DONT LEND VEHICLES TO ANYONE PERIOD!

[mhall]

MooseIam is on it, like a fly on a hotdog at a picnic.

[Moose1am]

I loan a lot of tools to my next door neighbor and have to have his wife remind him to return them. Between me and his wife he has got the message that if he returns it as soon as he is finished with it then I will loan him a tool the next time. But if he fails to return it in a timely manner he may get cut off from my tools. As long as he takes care of my tools and doesn't break them I will continue to loan some of my tools to him. But I would never let anyone borrow my boat or my fishing rods or reels. Period. Here's why:

When I was a young man I use to let my friends use my stuff. Once I let a friend drive my brand new sport car. We were on a scuba diving trip to the Panhandle of Florida and to visit his girlfriend. We spend the weekend there diving and partying. I drove all the way there but when it was time to leave I was dead tire. The night before we left the baseball team had visited our room and kept us awake into the wee hours of the morning. I only had my Datsun 240Z for about a month and had to wait 4 months on a waiting list to get it brand new from the Dealer back in 1973. This was my first car that I ever owned and it was my prize possession. So on the way back home I drove it from Florida to Selma Alabama. The entire trip was marred by steady rain. After I reached Alabama I was so tired and in need of sleep that I reluctantly turned the wheels over to my good friend. I jumped into the passenger seat and tried to shut my eyes. Within 5 minute he had run into the back of another car and we were hit from behind by a third vehicle. My new 240Z was sandwiched in between two other cars and the car in front of us has gone up over my hood and I could see the gas tank right in front of my face.

My friend never offered to even pay my deductible. We remained friends even after that for about 20 years. But to this day I will never let another person drive, borrow or use any of my treasured boats or vehicles. I did let my step daughter drive my truck when she was learning how to drive a stick shift. And once I let her take the family car out while we were on vacation in Florida. But that would never have happened if here mom had not insisted that she get to dive the minivan to the bars down in Panama City Florida. We lucked out and she got the Van back in one piece. But on the way home the van's belt busted and we got stuck in Alabama again for the night. Spent the nigh in an unheated garage waiting for the parts dept to open the next day, Monday. Never travel on Sundays when everything is closed down.

Bottom line is this. If you let a friend take your boat out you may have to pay for the repairs and be without your boat or lose it entirely. Friends or relatives won't take as good of care of your stuff as you do. And they are not familiar with the operation of your stuff either which can cause great harm to it.



Regards,

Moose1am

[mfishyboy]

sounds like to me some people just need to use some common sense. if some one wont pay for the damage if they tear it up then dont let them use it but if you know they will take care of it and will pay for it if something happens and you trust them well then let them use it. there are VERY FEW people like maybe 2 that could barrow by boat and that is only because they have let me borrow theirs

[Gregory]

Good question

It would depend on a few thinks for both, how much time they have had driving a boat, what there plans are for the boat, how many people are going with them and who, and where they are taking the boat. Just say Ky Lake at winter pool, unless I know they know that lake.

$30.000 Bass Boat is not a toy and took years to get the wife to let me buy it in the first place.

God Bless you all,
Greg Paschal

[stratosjoe]

give them both the boat and your wife and the payment book they would never ask again!!!!!!!!!!

[MrSplitshot]

I've got friends...some of them met through websites just like this one...that I'd toss the keys to my boat without hesitation.

The list of family members aint that long though. LOL


Splitshot
www.thecreekbank.com

Take a Fish Boating!

[Grumpy]

Loaning anything to anyone, especially money to family, CAUSES AMNESIA!!

[dcbasser]

Definitely loan it to a friend. Like you said friends would make right if anything went wrong and would probably be more cautious with it , relatives seem to take it for granted in most cases.But you are talking about a 30,000 dollar bass boat not a cup of sugar. LOL

[MsgMills]

Me I wouldn't loan anything to any family member....They don't respect your stuff and are jealous of the fact you have it in the first place....

My brother in law went fishing with me the first day I got my new boat, stepped up onto the back deck via the seat cushion and split the seems with his big feet and weight, right after I told him it wasn't a step to be used to climb to the back of the boat.... Have asked him not to use the bathroom off the back of the boat, but to use a bottle and dispose of teh waste when we get to the docks and port-a-potty, what's he do urinates off the back of the boat and I have to smell urine thru out the day while it's 90 degree's outside. No respect, won't obey rules...

Friend's who have fishing boats or have had them in the past, know the cost and effort that goes into owning a boat and will respect everything you ask and do what ever they can to help out with gas money and not take or expect a free ride out each time.....

my 2 cents....