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Lake Cabin vs. Living on the Lake


Arctic Slalom

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just curious....

i'm kinda wondering how many more hours folks put on their boats when they have moved to the lake.

the past (2) summers we have put on 300 hours on our boat 150/season (living about 2 hours from lake).

i'm wondering how many more hours we would we put on if we lived on a lake and the BU was on the dock???

have others doubled or tripled their hours when they moved to a lake home?

....just curious what others have experienced?

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for us it really isn't an increase in boat hours, but better hours. We have become snobs for glass. We don't even consider going out on a holiday or a weekend afternoon. Only a few all day trips, but lots of 2 hour runs.

Also I've noticed most people that move to the lake seem to use it less each year. The first couple of years here there docks are always full of water toys and busy then after a few years the docks are full of spider webs.

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I'm guessing you will actually put a lot FEWER hours on the boat. We tend to use the boat for boating, and spend more time hanging out on the pier, our beach, etc. So the boat hours are minimal, you do your sessions and park it. A couple more sessions hours later. A little cruisin at night. The focus leaves the boat when you have it available 24/7, depending on our set-up (nice beach versus weedy, etc.)

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300 hrs per year is like 3 times the average. So I don't know that you will increase the hours of usage by living on or closer to the lake.

What it does for us is allow us to go out for as short a time as possible. We can get up, roll out of bed, hit the lake for an hour or two, then come back in & do something else. Thats nice in the summer when the lake gets blown out by wind or tubers. We'll spend as much or as little time on the lake as we need to satisfy the itch. It's not uncommon for us to only be out for an hour or two. Which is perfect for riding before/after work all summer. Allows us to ride 4 or 5 days a week if our bodies can hack it. Thumbup.gif

That said, we put about 90 hrs on the Vride last year.

Edited by Bill_AirJunky
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but better hours. We have become snobs for glass. We don't even consider going out on a holiday or a weekend afternoon. Only a few all day trips, but lots of 2 hour runs.

Exactly.

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but better hours. We have become snobs for glass. We don't even consider going out on a holiday or a weekend afternoon. Only a few all day trips, but lots of 2 hour runs.

Exactly.

Plus1.gif Living on the lake means fewer hours but better hours. We too are snobs for glass. If there's any chop, I'm not even thinking of going out. We go on the boat from 8AM till the glass is gone (usually around 10). That's it. If there's lots of friends visiting, we may do some surfing later on, and then wakeboarding in the evenings, at dusk if it's calm enough. But that's it.

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I find the above comments are right on the money. If the lake looks good I get the wife to pull me. run an hour or two and go back home. I spend more time when we have Friends or the guys go skiing but all in all the ski boat gets less time. When we boat well the lake is busy it is done more often the pontoon.

I built a nearly 1,000 sq ft. porch on my house overlooking the lake and that gets a lot of hours. It is in closed screened in the summer glass in the off season. It has a natural fireplace and we are just steps away from fridge tuns oh ya bathroom.

Lake living is heaven!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I bought a cottage with enough land so when we retired we could build our dream home.

I am living in a dream!! OH YA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Biggrin.gif

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just curious....

i'm kinda wondering how many more hours folks put on their boats when they have moved to the lake.

the past (2) summers we have put on 300 hours on our boat 150/season (living about 2 hours from lake).

i'm wondering how many more hours we would we put on if we lived on a lake and the BU was on the dock???

have others doubled or tripled their hours when they moved to a lake home?

....just curious what others have experienced?

I guess the question was if you will boat more? Not sure because you are probably focusing solely on boating right now. If you have a place on a lake, there is a lot more to do beyond just boating and your time is spread out.

For us its two things: 1) convenience and 2) quality of time

Our lake house is waterfront, but not our full time residence. So for us, it's all about convenience not how much we use the boats. Our usage has grown over the years but in different ways. We now have two boats and a jet ski so our enjoyment has grown from different aspects of being on the water. Plus it's nice to have three choices just a boat lift switch away. No towing issues, no worries/hassles at boat ramps, can stay out late when everyone else has packed up to go home, can stay out 5 min or 5 hours, food/showers/bathroom is always near, do not have to take as much stuff with you when boating, house is always there with everything we might have forgotten, takes minutes to put the boat back up, no road damages to the boats, etc.

But I think when you live on the lake or have a vacation home on a lake, what we like most goes beyond the actual "boating". A lake house gives a great place to congregate with friends/family. For example many of our neighbors end up on each other's docks at the end of a day swapping stories, drinks, cranking up the grills, breaking out the acoustic guitars, etc. We often are out there pretty late most nights.

We are already swapping emails about what we are doing this Saturday night.

Just my thoughts.

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We used to rent a place on the same waterway that we currently live on. Used to rent for the stretch from 4th of July until the kids went back to school about Labor day and we'd put on about 100 hours a summer. Now we still put on that same 100 hours or maybe a little more but I agree with others that the type of runs are much better because of timing and options since the runs are short but very sweet! Much better that there is no commute anymore for boating too. :)

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do not have to take as much stuff with you when boating,

This is also a good point. I took the wakeboard racks off the boat, and have never used the built-in cooler. Ski locker is empty. No tools on the boat, if I'm in trouble a neighbor will notice and haul me in or I pick up the cell phone for a tow.

The down side, gassing up is a pain. Lots of lugging 5 gallons at a time, leaning over the back of the boat while it's on the lift.

Edited by Michigan boarder
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There is a down side to being on the lake too. There seems to be more maintenance with a dock and lift and boat and all the toys. Its great to have all your friends and family come visit, but can also be a lot of work. There is always a lot of prep time to get ready for people and clean up time when they leave. I'm not complaining everyone is willing to help, but most of the time its just easier to do it yourself than explain where everything goes and how to do things. When we have visitors they are usually on vacation and forget that we are not and have to do regular stuff too.

I don't want to sound ungreatful, I know I am very fortunate to live where we live, just don't want to paint too rosey of a picture. All in all I still wouldn't want to live anywhere else!!

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but better hours. We have become snobs for glass. We don't even consider going out on a holiday or a weekend afternoon. Only a few all day trips, but lots of 2 hour runs.

Exactly.

Plus1.gif Living on the lake means fewer hours but better hours. We too are snobs for glass. If there's any chop, I'm not even thinking of going out. We go on the boat from 8AM till the glass is gone (usually around 10). That's it. If there's lots of friends visiting, we may do some surfing later on, and then wakeboarding in the evenings, at dusk if it's calm enough. But that's it.

I don't have a lake home but I have a houseboat and the same seems to apply.

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There is a down side to being on the lake too. There seems to be more maintenance with a dock and lift and boat and all the toys. Its great to have all your friends and family come visit, but can also be a lot of work. There is always a lot of prep time to get ready for people and clean up time when they leave. I'm not complaining everyone is willing to help, but most of the time its just easier to do it yourself than explain where everything goes and how to do things. When we have visitors they are usually on vacation and forget that we are not and have to do regular stuff too.

I don't want to sound ungreatful, I know I am very fortunate to live where we live, just don't want to paint too rosey of a picture. All in all I still wouldn't want to live anywhere else!!

Yes definitely different types of maintenance for sure but apart from typical home ownership we do not see much other maintenance specific to the lake. We have done zero to the dock or lifts in six years of ownership but most of our dock is covered and we have the overhead boathouse lifts which are pretty simple. I understand the other type lifts to be more moving parts.

We have a lot of friends and family with us almost every weekend, but we don't do big dinners and planned events except sometimes on July 4th. Most of our stuff is out on the dock with a neighbor might say "you want to cook some burgers later 2nite?" then it starts from there and several houses will get together. Hardly anyone ever goes inside the house except the bathroom and many times we end up at someone else' boat dock anyway.

Guess there are many pros, cons and perspectives but having lived both bringing a boat to the lake by trailer or having a lake house... no comparison that the lake house wins our family's pros list by a mile. But same shoe doesn't fit everyone. For example, my brother loves to take his boat to many different lakes and not be tied to one lake.

So the OP's question probably has a lot of sidebar influences. Boat is there for the taking anytime you are home so I assume if you make it the priority you will use it more than you do now because you can replace the travel time with boat usage.

Enjoy!

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do not have to take as much stuff with you when boating,

This is also a good point. I took the wakeboard racks off the boat, and have never used the built-in cooler. Ski locker is empty. No tools on the boat, if I'm in trouble a neighbor will notice and haul me in or I pick up the cell phone for a tow.

The down side, gassing up is a pain. Lots of lugging 5 gallons at a time, leaning over the back of the boat while it's on the lift.

Get a large portable tank with a hand crank pump. That is what we use and it has wheels on it like this. We use a golf cart with turned down back seat to haul it. Just make sure to upgrade to the hand cranked pump or you'll be waiting a long time for the gravity fed system to unload. And we have the smaller 20 gallon version which is a little easier to handle.

Once in a while we get gas at several marinas but pricey and not sure what kind of gas you are getting.

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as others have said, we don't put nearly as many hours on the BU because we only use it when we ski (and yes, sometimes tubing, argh). the course is right in front of my house, so there is no travel time at all there. the best part is I also work from home, so we only go out when it is glass, we are really picky now.

the other boat is used for cruising up and down the river, trips to the beach and bay, and tubing too.

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I live on the lake in the summer working from home really helps! We put less hours on just like everyone else since we can hit the glass and then come back and dock it. Beer.gif

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Two thumbs up for lake living! Thumbup.gif

(Until I get my tax bill) Cry.gif

Thats about the only benefit of having secondary waterfront. We have the beach, the dock, the boat slip, the ramp, and the view if I stand upstairs on my tip toes. But no more taxes than any other homeowner.

Thumbup.gif

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Had a lake home and a home in town for 13 years.

Sold the house in town last Fall and live full time at the lake.

No real difference in regards to hours on the boats.

However my oldest son is now legal to drive the boats and I suspect that my hours and gas bill will be going up :( ..

Living full time year round at the lake is awesome.

It is like being on vacation everyday.

Pick a season..Snowmobiles,fishing,watersports etc...

During the week it is like a private lake Thumbup.gif

Scott

Edited by steemin
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