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Would you buy your college age son a brand new ski boat?

3,578 Views | 67 Replies | Last: 5 yr ago by highvelocity
Ag97
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AG
I took my boat out to Lake Bryan today and was astounded at the number of college students with 20 to 30 thousand dollar ski boats out there. There must have been 12 of them on the lake today. I haven't been out to Lake Bryan on a boat this time of year since I was in school in the mid 90's. When I was in school you rarely saw college students with much more than a small, older run about or bass boat. I do admit there was some nice scenery out there on those boats but I just can't imagine forking over that much money for my son to have a boat like that when he gets to that age.
Brush Country Ag
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AG
NO
35chililights
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AG
you obviously dont know the type of students at aggieland now-a-days.

lots of new crop ags on old ags dime.
powerbiscuit
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I doubt I would buy myself a $20K boat and I sure as hell wouldn't even let my kid even borrow it.
Ag97
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AG
I guess the amount of money some of these kids have now a days is a little shocking. The ultra rich kids were just starting to show up as I was getting out of school. I remember thinking that the kids living at University Towers were ridiculous to pay what they were to live there. I think my last year in school the Calloway House or something of that sort opened up and I had heard rumors that to live there was around 10 grand a semester. Outside of tuition and fees I was living off of about $5,000 to $7,000 a year depending on how much I worked over the summer. I think I'm gonna make my kids live in a trailer house of maybe Doux Chene just to give them some perspective.

Ag97
Ag97
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AG
I did feel a little conspicuous out there in my mid 80's run-a-bout. Especially since I hadn't run it in 2 years and that sucker smoked, choked and sputtered pretty bad with that 2 year old gas in the tank. All those college students up around the dock must have been snickering pretty good under their breath watching the old man trying to get his antique out of the dock.
35chililights
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AG
eh, let em laugh.

the current state of the economy is proof enough most people were living way past their means. their fathers are most likely hoping junior will total his boat so he can collect insurance.


(this is my attempt at calling the grapes sour)
Señor Chang
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AG
My friends and I are always out there on our 1982 VIP. We're also jealous of all the kids with the expensive boats.
Urban Ag
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AG
When I was at A&M, my uncle had won a 20' (or so) bass boat but it had a nice Merc outboard that could tow two skiers. My cousin would talk his dad out of it all the time, tow it up from Houston and we'd hit Conroe, Somerville and Bryan regularly.

Get up Sat morning with a hangover. head to Somerville. Raid all the drop lines for cats. Re-bait their lines of course. Fish a few hours for bass. Get drunk. Go swimming. Sober up and go tubing, skiing and boarding. Head back to CS in early afternoon. Nap a little, hydrate up and get the fish fryers cranking. Start drinking beer again and cooking fish. Hope some teets would look your way. What a life.
WhoopN06
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No. Go make them work a winter on the Bering Sea and buy their own.
clobby
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AG
the few people that i know that frequent lake bryan pay for their own boats, but they work in the oil/gas biz
88agswin
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AG
I am paying for their college education IF and ONLY IF they go to ATM...cars, boats and toys are all on their own dime!!
Apache
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AG
quote:
I just can't imagine forking over that much money for my son to have a boat like that when he gets to that age


I agree. But I also think that many of these kids might just be borrowing the family boat for the weekend... especially if their parents lived close to B/CS.
MasterAggie
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AG
^
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You should see how many stay parked in drivewayss/ backyards of college kids houses all semester these days. Its pathetic.
Vero143
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quote:
But I also think that many of these kids might just be borrowing the family boat for the weekend

You would be surprised as to how many of these kids actually keep the boat in storage up there and are not just borrowing it. However, there are a few I am sure that are borrowing daddy's boat. I was a TA for 2 years and I think I had 4 or 5 of these students that had these high dollar boats. We would do field work at Lake Somerville alot. After the lab at the lake, they would all hop in thier boats and ride around the rest of the day. Blew my mind.

I lived with a guy in school that had a real nice VIP we used sometimes. However, he actually paid for it in high school and college. This guy cut a lot of yards, but he made an obvious killing to pay for that boat. However, it was always funny pulling up to the launch with a 79 Chevy towing a brand new boat. Got a lot of odd looks.

[This message has been edited by geogaggie (edited 4/30/2008 7:35a).]
Maverick2603
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If you are talking about the really nice boats that are out there, $20-30,000 is an extremely low estimate. Some of those boats are more in the $60-75,000 range.
Vero143
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^
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Correct. A baseline Mastercraft X-series these days is probably around $40K
WATER TOWER
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apparently you havent seen my parking lot recently, many students pull up in their brand new escalades or their bmws or mercedes....and this is why theres a credit problem
Sean98
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AG
quote:
Raid all the drop lines for cats.


Now I know where all my fish were going!!

Sunsa*****es!!
BusterAg
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AG
Um, this is just proof that some Ags from the class of '75 or so are having some great financial success.

If I had $40k laying around, and my high-school son asked me to buy a boat for him, I could see promising him a boat if he graduated in the top 10 of his class, earning a scholorship.
agwrangler2001
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AG
Yeah membership is high in the Lucky $perm club lately....the fun part is watching these folks try to trailer their $50k+ boats. The not fun part is trying fish the city lake when they are out in full force, complete with the annoying music.
Vero143
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quote:
If I had $40k laying around, and my high-school son asked me to buy a boat for him, I could see promising him a boat if he graduated in the top 10 of his class, earning a scholorship.

No way, not me. Very few 18 year olds are responsible enough to handle what goes with owning/maintaining a boat. I agree with the above, it is pretty damn funny to see some of them trailer a boat on Lake Bryan or Sommerville.
Vero143
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dp

[This message has been edited by geogaggie (edited 4/30/2008 9:22a).]
SWCBonfire
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AG
Maybe they live in Hart and took the money they saved and bought a boat?

Not likely. Small-town farm kids are a distinct minority.

Old Army died when they tore down Law & Puryear and put A/C units in Hart & Walton.
confucius_ag
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AG
quote:
I do admit there was some nice scenery out there on those boats



Stymied
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AG
quote:
If I had $40k laying around, and my high-school son asked me to buy a boat for him, I could see promising him a boat if he graduated in the top 10 of his class, earning a scholorship.
People wonder why many of the young 20 somethings have such over-inflated expectations in the job market.
Ag97
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AG
I've learned it's not best to ogle the young college lasses when my wife is around. If I would have whipped out the camera I may have been swimming back to the dock instead of driving the boat back.
MouthBQ98
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AG
I see those types on Conroe and Somerville all the time, with brand new 50K or 100K cruisers or deckboats or wakeboard specials (those REALLY are annoying), loaded to the gills with teenagers to twenty somethings...blaring out loud annoying much and churning up the lake. I don't know how they buy them either, but LOTS of Aggies these days seem to have deep pocketed parents.

When I was there in the mid 90's, most of the student cars were still hand-me-down cars or used cars or economy jobs that the kids got as graduation gifts from their parents or bought themselves. Only the occasional new car, and seldom a very expensive one. A lot of people drove total POS's, or were even carless and bumming rides from friends. LOTS of poeple had part time jobs, most people, in fact.

Take a drive through the parking lot today. New 30K plus cars are a lot more common. Mommy and Daddy are doing quite well, and a lot of Mommy and Daddy's money goes to indulge their children, or to allow their children to keep up with the Joneses' children to keep up appearances of wealth and prosperity. I ran into a bunch of people as I was graduating that had ALL KINDS of free time because THEY HAD NO JOB in college! I can't even contemplate that. Most of my friends worked 15-30 hours a week, and many of us were trying to get more hours.

Credit is an amazing thing.

My problem is the wakeboarders seemed to have discovered in the last 3-5 years that is is easier to run in the same protected coves that I used to fish all the time. The scenery is nice, but it KILLS the fishing. Get ur lazy asses out there on the main lake and ride around the chop you are stirring up! I have NO IDEA how you can afford to run for hours at 2mpg.....

On the other hand, it does look like fun. My econo-skiff can barely pull a kneeboarder or tube with a well tuned 40HP 2 stroke...
spaceag07
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AG
quote:
Yeah membership is high in the Lucky $perm club lately....the fun part is watching these folks try to trailer their $50k+ boats. The not fun part is trying fish the city lake when they are out in full force, complete with the annoying music.


Try sailing around the 'tards. Yes - I do have right-of-way, and no - next time I'm not going to tack to avoid hitting your toy (after you blew by me at full throttle and decided to stop in the middle of the lake).
35chililights
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AG
quote:
A/C units in Hart & Walton

i was in walton when the switch was made.

grandfathered into 600 a semester rent sure was nice.
the bad thing about it was that everyone then shut their doors and the atmosphere stopped. well that and what happened at stack...
Pasadena Ag
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AG
when my two boys get to that age, if they are good kids making good grades, and i can afford it, i will buy them a boat if that is what they like to do. my parents gave me a champion bass boat while i was in school. even paid for repairs when i screwed it up. i think that if you have good kids and can afford it, give them nice things. but in no way would i go into debt to buy them a boat.
txaggie02
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AG
There are tons of Ags out there making $1M+ per year. $50K is a drop in the bucket. This is not 1960 anymore. And no, my parents never bought me anything near that expensive. That is just reality.
guadalupeag
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If their Dad is going to buy them a nice boat, fine. I just wish someone would teach them how to respect other boaters on the lake. Leave the fisherman alone, don’t follow a boat pulling a skier on a jet ski, and don’t fool around on the slip. Get your boat on the trailer and get out of the way, you can pull the plug, get the trash out and put the straps on in the parking lot.
Sean98
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AG
I'm going to help my sons anyway I can to get as much tail as they can while they are in college.

...because THAT boys and girls (but mostly boys) is what college is all about.
Vero143
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quote:
I just wish someone would teach them how to respect other boaters on the lake. Leave the fisherman alone, don’t follow a boat pulling a skier on a jet ski, and don’t fool around on the slip. Get your boat on the trailer and get out of the way, you can pull the plug, get the trash out and put the straps on in the parking lot.

Good luck with that one.
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