How Much Does It Cost to Own a Boat?
How much does it really cost to own a boat? In today’s blog, we’ll go over everything you need to know as a boat owner.
A boat is one of the most exciting things you can buy - but it’s important to understand just what you’ll be paying aside from its initial purchase cost. Let’s get right into it. There are many things to consider when calculating the cost of a boat. We’ve got good news though - it’s relatively easy to calculate.
Purchase Price
The most obvious, and often the largest cost is the sale price of the boat. This cost ranges tremendously, from $500 pre-owned fixer-uppers to luxury boats that are over $100,000. From here, you can go two directions: paying for the boat in full or financing the boat - which over 70% of boaters do! There are many great online loan calculators that show you the average cost per month of financing a boat. Check them out here:
State Taxes
You may also need to pay state sales taxes. Some states don’t have a sales tax on boats, such as Rhode Island and Delaware. Here in North Carolina, we have a 3% tax on boat sales, but it’s capped at $1,500. Other states, such as South Carolina with 10.5% have even higher tax rates. Now, South Carolina’s tax on boats is capped at $500 - but they have a much higher annual luxury tax. So, tax rates largely vary from state to state.
Property Taxes
You’ll likely have to pay personal property taxes for boats, just as you would for an RV or plane. Personal property taxes are often dependent on which county you live in. Our county’s personal property tax sits at around 0.695% and is incurred yearly.
Insurance
According to Forbes, the average cost of a boat insurance policy is generally $200 to $500 a year - or around 1-5% of your boat’s value. Several factors may also affect your insurance rates, including where you live, the type of boat, its horsepower, its age, your boating history, and whether or not you have completed a boating safety course.
Storage
Many boat owners will store their boats at marinas and other storage facilities during the offseason. The typical price for boat storage is $50 to $200 per foot of boat length. For example, if you have a 20 foot long boat and the storage rate is $100/foot, look at paying $2,000 for storage. Of course, if you have the ability to store your boat on your own property, this is not an expense that will apply to you.
Trailer
Many boats come with a trailer at the point of purchase. If yours does not, then you likely need one so you can safely store and transport your boat. Trailer prices are entirely a function of the boat size. The average boat size in our particular market is around 20-22ft. An average, tandem axle trailer for that size boat is about $5,500. Of course smaller trailers, with only one axle can be substantially less, and larger trailers can be substantially more.
Registration
Registration expenses are relatively inexpensive, but it’s worth noting. As you may have guessed, registration fees vary from state to state. In North Carolina, it costs $130 to register a boat less than 26 feet long for 3 years.
Maintenance + Service
Your boat - and trailer - require regular annual maintenance to ensure its longevity and performance. Some boaters may not need to winterize their boat, as it is intended for areas where the temperature dips below 30 degrees in the winter. Here are the biggest maintenance items that need to be addressed and their typical cost:
Winterization: $200-$500
Annual Engine service: $200-$500
Gas
64% of boaters say they purchase less than 50 gallons of gas per boating season. However, pro anglers burn around 20 gallons of gas per day. So gas consumption amongst boat owners varies, thus do the costs. With the price of gas at around $4 per gallon in 2022, this means you’d be spending around $800 if you go through 200 gallons per season.
Boat Essentials
Other essentials, such as life jackets, first aid supplies, fishing gear, coolers, and more will add a little to your yearly cost as well. These tools help keep you and your family safe and enhance your experience on the water.
Total
So - what’s the total yearly cost of owning a boat? As you may have guessed - it depends on what you boat on and how you choose to boat.
But let’s use a SunTracker Party Barge 22 as an example. The total purchase price, including an optional trailer and sales tax, is around $47,000. With an average boat loan, you can expect to pay around $500 a month, or $6000 a year. If you live where we’re based, you can expect to pay $300 in personal property taxes every year. It’s about $40 per year to register your boat too. Let’s assume you’ll also pay around $300 a year to insure your boat. Fortunately, the boat already comes with a trailer and you don’t have to worry about paying for storage, which would have been around $2,000. Now, you can’t forget about routine maintenance and servicing. That’s around $800 per year, which includes winterization (if needed), engine service, and regular cleaning of the boat - inside and out. Let’s assume you love to be out on the water and use about 200 gallons of gas, which sets you back approximately $800. Finally, factor in any essentials and you’re ready to sum everything up! Drumroll please…
Aside from your annual boat finances, you can expect to pay around $2,200 a year for yearly maintenance, gas, registration, and insurance - or around $4,200 if you also need to pay for storage. But as we’ve stated, prices largely depend on which boat you have and what kind of lifestyle you have on the water, so this figure could be higher - or lower.
As we said, it’s important to have an idea of how much time and money you will have to dedicate to your boat per year, and we hope that this blog has helped with that! Regardless, buying a boat is one of the most exciting purchases you can make, and at Foothills Marine, we’re here to make that process as fun, fast, and stress-free as possible. Contact us here and be on the water with your dream boat in no time!
Thanks for reading and supporting the Foothills Marine Learning Hub! We’ll see you in the next post.