I *might* have mentioned on here before, I’ve got a 2003 Nautique. It’s a wakeboarding boat. I think it’s pretty sweet. Backing up a second to the world of most people don’t actually have boats it really, really is a nice boat. I can take my family out in comfort for a day of whatever it is we do out there on the lake. We are very lucky to have it.
I spend a fair bit of time on the Nautique forums because, for one, I have learned a TON from them, and I enjoy giving back to the community that gave me so much. People come on there all the time asking silly questions, or complicated questions, and I’m happy to help. I’ve also worked in the industry, so I’m not going to recite the manual to you, I’m able to give practical advice.
So I’ve worked in the industry, I have a “Super Air Nautique,” even though it’s 17 years old. I have a family house on a lake, some of our lake friends are billionaires, okay I get it. Boats are expensive and blah blah blah.
Still, I kind of don’t understand modern wake boats.
I’m talking about this:
This boat is 23' long. My boat is 21' long.
Notice, mine is on a single axle. Its dry (no pun intended) weight is about 2,800lbs, (take note of this number) let’s just call it 3,000 with accessories. 3,500 with gear. With ballast filled and a few people, it’s pushing 5,000 lbs in the water.
The G23 pictured above, on the other hand, is more than double that. I haven’t even talked (lately) about how they cost $150k and mine was ~$50k new in 2003. Someone recently pulled their G23 onto a scale and found it to be 6,858 lbs with gear and fuel, not counting the trailer.
The Nautique website says the G23 comes with a maximum 2,850lbs (remember what else is 2,800 lbs?) of factory ballast, so that’s 9,708lbs before anyone gets in, or brings a cooler or anything like that. You better believe they’re bringing a Yeti or two and by the way it’s rated for 16 people. SIXTEEN. You’re over 11,000 lbs even with just the same number of people I might have in my boat, about 6. ELEVEN. THOUSAND. POUNDS. It’s only 2 feet longer, and 10" wider. That’s it. Freeboard is the term to describe how much of the boat is out of the water, and it must have double that. I can lean over from the driver’s seat, and if I lift up my butt a little, I can touch the water. No way in hell in the G23.
By the way the base engine is just 370hp, which, for comparison, mine is 330hp and it’s not overpowered under a full load. I actually feel bad for someone who buys the base engine, it would be awful.
I mean, I understand boats in a general sense. The money just scales up and your neighbor has 10x more than you and the next guy has 10x more than that, and he’s buying this insane $150k boat that does the same for his family that my $20-something-thousand boat does for mine. But then I look at these numbers and think WHAT IN HOLY HELL?! Why is that boat 10,000 lbs? They’re just cruising around and wakeboarding sometimes!?
I think of a thought experiment I do sometimes, to understand money: for me, going out for lunch for a $10 sandwich is no big deal, just not what I’d do every day, or for every meal. Someone with 10x of my means would think the same of a $100 meal, perhaps. Or a $100 bottle of wine. No big deal, just not maybe every single day or every meal, right? Well keep going, so if someone has 100x my means, now $1,000 is the same to them as my $10 sandwich. No big deal, just not money you’d let go freely 3x per day every day. Another 10x and it’s $10,000. No big deal, just 10 grand. My sister has a friend who doesn’t think much of buying another $5m house, if he feels like it. Just not every day.
It’s like if you have a VW Vanagon, then you see a kitted-out 4wd Econoline and think “wow neat” and then this appears:
I get it. But I don’t. What are you doing with a 10,000 pound boat when a few years ago you would have loved a 21 footer like mine?