ownership

[sweeper]

When asked by non-canoeing friends 'Why do you have so many canoes?'

My reply is, "Do you play golf with one club?"

 

[UCanoe_2]

Canoe rentals in this area run $65-80 per day. For that, you get an Old Town Discovery 158 which paddles like a barge. In most cases use is restricted to the outfitter's home river.

A brand new $1800 Esquif used only 10 times per year pays for itself in three years. It provides a much higher quality paddling experience, and you can go whenever and wherever you want. Payback is even quicker if you invest in a quality used canoe.

 

[jdeerfoot]

simple, over the last 60 years I've probably spent no more than $6-7000 on gear, that's about $100 a year, and gets me as many as 25-30 paddling opportunities yearly for the price of a 7 day rental.
AND it's my gear- I know every quirk or issue with it, never have to settle for that last tent on the shelf or last boat on the rack, and there's no worry about damaging something that isn't mine...

Bought my first canoe, paddles and life jackets in 1970. Since then I have bought 2 other new canoes and 3 used. All other tripping gear and camping equipment purchased as needed, most new, some used. So I would guess my total expenditures are similar or somewhat more. I have always tried to buy gear on sale. So I figure I have gotten a good return on my investment for over 50 years of trips. Lastly, I generally keep my gear for a long time. My first 2 canoes were kept for 12 years and the other about 30.

 

[Tryin']

Once I spent the equivalent of a used Disco on canoe rentals in less than three months, I decided to buy my first canoe. Cost analysis drove me to that purchase.

As you mention full outfitting, I purchased all of my canoe camping gear as the result of a cancelled trip. I had a crew all set for the BWCA in 2021. Fully outfitted; food, tents, bags, the whole ball of wax. And then the fires started. And kept burning. And closed the BWCA. What were we to do? All of us are professionals in fields not bent to giving time off, and that week away was hard to come by. So we took the rental money and bought all our own gear so we could go somewhere with less drought but no outfitters. One spendthrift actually managed to spend less money on his stuff than his portion of the outfitting fee. And now we all have our own gear to take on whatever trips we can fit into our schedules.

 

[devils son in law]

.....for that matter, why own a car or a home when you can rent one?

 

[Gamma1214]

...why own both when you can sleep in your car?

(wow, now I've got visions of roasting the Thanksgiving turkey over a trash can fire... time to work)