Boat EconomicsKeep, Repair, Upgrade, Resale, and Review
What Does Keeping Your Current Boat Actually Cost From Here?
Separate what you already spent on the boat from what keeping it will genuinely cost going forward, so a sunk cost doesn't quietly distort a keep-or-sell decision.
What you paid is not what keeping the boat costs next
A common trap in a keep-or-sell decision is anchoring to the original purchase price, "I paid $40,000, I can't sell for less than that," when the original price has no bearing on what the boat will actually cost to keep or is actually worth today. This engine deliberately excludes what's already spent and focuses only on the forward-looking numbers: recurring costs, any known repair, and what you expect back at resale.
How this is calculated
Annual fixed cost, variable cost, and your maintenance reserve are added together and multiplied by your planning horizon to get forward recurring cost. Any known near-term repair is added on top, and your expected resale value at the end of the horizon is subtracted, since that's cash you'd get back. The current market value if sold today is shown as a separate reference point, not folded into that math.
Worked example
A boat worth $18,000 if sold today, with $2,400 in annual fixed cost, $400 in variable cost, and a $1,200 reserve, and no known repairs or resale assumption, comes to $20,000 in forward recurring cost over five years ($4,000 a year times five), for a $20,000 five-year forward total and $4,000 a year, or $200 a day at 20 use days a year.
Common mistakes
Subtracting the current sale value from the forward cost to get a "true" number is the most common mistake, it conflates two different decisions into one figure that answers neither cleanly. The other is ignoring a repair you already know is coming because it hasn't happened yet; a known repair belongs in this model now, not after it's paid for.
Frequently asked questions
Why doesn't this subtract what I originally paid for the boat?
Because that money is already spent regardless of what you decide next. The question this engine answers is what keeping the boat costs from today forward, and the price you paid years ago has no bearing on that forward number, even though it obviously mattered at the time.
Why is the sale-now value shown but not subtracted from the forward cost?
Selling now and keeping the boat are two different paths, not one number you can net against the other. Selling now gets you that cash today; keeping the boat means spending the forward cost and eventually getting the resale value back at the end of your horizon. Showing both lets you compare the paths without collapsing them into a single misleading figure.
What if I don't know what a repair will cost yet?
Enter your best estimate, or leave it at zero and treat the result as the cost of ordinary ownership without that repair. Repair or Replace Boat and Maximum Repair Cost Before Replacing Boat are built specifically for a known repair quote once you have one.
How is this different from Five-Year Boat Ownership Cost?
That engine is built around a purchase decision, acquisition, financing, and resale all matter there. This one is built around a boat you already own, so acquisition is treated as sunk and left out entirely; only the forward-looking numbers count.