I am not ashamed to say that we financed both of our boats because we couldn't afford it otherwise. Our first boat we ended up paying off early thru various means. The second boat we paid off early and it only cost me one dead father (sad... but true). Still, even without his help, we would still be very willing to keep paying on a loan to stay in the lifestyle.
And for the record... for those of us that go after our dreams like this (meaning: financing fun stuff), it does feel a little degrading for some of you to loft the idea that we shouldn't be able have "toys" unless we can pay cash up front. Yea, we get it... y'all are far more well off they we are. There is no benefit to rubbing our noses in it.
I hope we're not giving you the impression that you're bad for financing your toys. However, I could argue that financing toys is "generally" very poor financial planning and has the potential of high risk.
I've seen this time and time again, where young folks just "gotta have it now", go into debt and live their whole life that way. They typically start with a new car right out of school (or worse, during school). Then the car is worth less than the load balance so sell it and add the balance to the next car. Then some other toy comes along... boat, second car, plane, etc.
Of the young folks that I've talked out of this strategy early on or after a few mistakes, 100% of them have thanked me later on and ended up with some assets without the liabilities. The others are just broke several years later. And the real tragedy hits when they loose part or all of their income stream, and that does happen.... even with the wealthy.
Now, having said that, before you shoot me, let me offer the financing techniques that "can" work and could be reasonable solutions:
First is to have the discipline to borrow smart. One was is to borrow for an absolute KILLER deal, the one that just doesn't come around very often. Especially where the savings well exceeds the cost of money.
Another one is where you are expecting a generous income down the road that's pretty secure and the buying climate is really good.
Still another one is where you can offset the cost of boat money with another investment asset that pays for the boat.
And there is an argument that the cost of money is very cheap today, so borrow for the boat with cheap money, and invest your cash into something that gives a greater return.
But all in all, seems like the vast majority of the folks here believe that the the risk of consumer debt is not worth the risk which is totally understandable.
We all have our risk tolerance for debt. And, personally, I love debt, and invest in debt often.... but only for an asset that creates income that well exceeds the debt.
So.... it all depends.