Ten Little Chances to be Free (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tenlittlebullets) wrote2012-04-15 02:41 pm
tenlittlebullets) wrote2012-04-15 02:41 pm
WTF
So this afternoon my dad called me up and said "Hey, do you want a free powerboat?"
To which I said, "...whaaaa?!"
There is a story behind this. Apparently it was abandoned at a marina in a moderately crappy part of town after the owner got stationed overseas and couldn't get rid of it, and by some arcane city salvage law the marina now owns it. And they aren't happy about having an entire slip that they can't rent out because this boat is there, so they are offering it free to anyone who wants it, on the condition of docking it at that marina for a year and paying the slip fees.
Apparently this is a perennial problem for marinas in Washington DC, because there are so many people who can get transferred somewhere else and buy boats without considering what a pain in the ass it is to resell them and how much they depreciate.
The story behind the story is that my dad is a ridiculous lawyer with a ridiculous string of midlife crises, the latest of which is a ridiculous power catamaran, and the marina in question is where he keeps it. So I guess this is one subtle way that socioeconomic privilege propagates itself re: luxury items? Lawyer has boat, knows marina owner, hears about a way to get a free boat, calls children to pass on the info. None of which makes it any less hilarious and absurd when my dad calls me up to say "Hey, do you want a free powerboat?"
Of course, "free" means "nothing up front, but between slip fees, insurance, maintenance, and fuel, it'll end up costing you $300-400 a month." And that's $400 that would have to come off my range of acceptable rent on a new apartment, so yeah, I really don't think so, I don't feel like ending up in a shithole just so I can maintain this thing.
But! If anyone wants a free boat, here's your tipoff: chat up marina owners in Washington DC.
To which I said, "...whaaaa?!"
There is a story behind this. Apparently it was abandoned at a marina in a moderately crappy part of town after the owner got stationed overseas and couldn't get rid of it, and by some arcane city salvage law the marina now owns it. And they aren't happy about having an entire slip that they can't rent out because this boat is there, so they are offering it free to anyone who wants it, on the condition of docking it at that marina for a year and paying the slip fees.
Apparently this is a perennial problem for marinas in Washington DC, because there are so many people who can get transferred somewhere else and buy boats without considering what a pain in the ass it is to resell them and how much they depreciate.
The story behind the story is that my dad is a ridiculous lawyer with a ridiculous string of midlife crises, the latest of which is a ridiculous power catamaran, and the marina in question is where he keeps it. So I guess this is one subtle way that socioeconomic privilege propagates itself re: luxury items? Lawyer has boat, knows marina owner, hears about a way to get a free boat, calls children to pass on the info. None of which makes it any less hilarious and absurd when my dad calls me up to say "Hey, do you want a free powerboat?"
Of course, "free" means "nothing up front, but between slip fees, insurance, maintenance, and fuel, it'll end up costing you $300-400 a month." And that's $400 that would have to come off my range of acceptable rent on a new apartment, so yeah, I really don't think so, I don't feel like ending up in a shithole just so I can maintain this thing.
But! If anyone wants a free boat, here's your tipoff: chat up marina owners in Washington DC.