The dark side turns out to be more dollar signs than darkness. When we made the move from sail to power, the idea was that it would be less work, more fun, less timing getting someplace, more time enjoying the boat. This giddy foolishness took place when several others at our club also purchased new to them powerboats in the 30'+ range.

Reality check then took place. First, it turned out we had no real place to go in a day except Canada. That is a total PITA with customs on both sides. There are no destinations around here, a couple of YC's within half day's powering distance. That would be a $200 weekend in fuel to go from a slip in one small city to a slip in another smaller city with less to do. The nearest islands are 140 miles away. Most of the other power boaters would head to the beach to anchor and drink. Although that is a 15 minute trip, it isn't on our to do list. There are people that traveled via their cruisers around our lake and to a few others. Those two-three week trips involved outrageous fuel bills. Maintenance is anther issue that totally suprised me. Taking an automotive engine, making it marine and putting it in a boat works fine but actually requires a ton more maintenance than that same engine in a car or truck. Add the outdrives, transmissions and the props to that list. I was amazed, the hardcore powerboaters accept it as a cost of "doing business". $3-5,000 a season for fuel and maintenance seems pretty average based on what I have been told. Our 30 footer had a single 105 gallon fuel tank, not becuase they had a bunch of them laying around and put one in. At cruising speed of 26mph, we used about 10 gallons per hour. One of our friends has twin 140 gallon tanks for the motors and a single 65 gal tank for his genset. i helped another fuel up his 32' Carver prior to haul out, that was a $600 bill. He is looking for a smaller boat with an outboard to take fishing because he can't afford to run his flybridge fishing boat. The big boat will become his "cottage on the water".

Powering a sailboat is still a bargain. It also seems that we like the ride. It requires work of sorts, but that keeps the ride interesting. Having any boat doesn't have to equate to camping out 24/7 either. Comforts are good, they're better when you get older.