I wrote in a post this last summer that I was beginning to realize that owning an ATV was as much a hobby as it was a social activity. Well, it's been a while now and a lot has happened to reinforce that thought. As you read this, keep in mind that as a cheap Scotsman, my intent was to keep the spend below $8K total for this hobby. It didn't happen quite the way I planned.
My wife and I originally thought to buy a C800 ($6K) but as I thought on it, I figured my wife would not be happy riding behind me with our helmets banging at every bump on the trail, so I decided to buy the Z8 SxS with the encouragement of both my wife and brother last June.
Over the budget straight out of the gate with $10K spent .
I quickly purchased a windshield, back soft window, and trunk box. Another $400 spent.
I thought the Z would fit on my existing trailer when I bought it, and soon learned otherwise as you can see in my personal picture/icon. The trailer was too small and not as safe as I would have liked. In addition to this, I knew my Sport Trac, with almost 200K miles on it, wasn't really up to the task of towing a lot of weight up and down the northern NH hills and mountains and the brakes really didn't like the extra weight either, so I went shopping for a lightweight 10 x 6 aluminum trailer that could be left outside. More money for aluminum, but it was necessary. Found a great deal on craigslist on a hardly used 1 year old unit (used twice) with lots of extras added by the owner. Another $1350 spent.
Sold the old trailer for $650, so that helped limit the hit. So far, not too bad.
I really wanted an enclosed trailer, but again the weight factor, the truck, and my wallet negated that choice.
Well, all the towing over the summer/fall apparently took its toll on the old Sport Trac a little quicker than I had expected, and the transmission failed at 200,015 miles. This happened over the Xmas holiday week as my wife was driving it to work. Ford wanted $4K to fix it. No way that was gonna happen and I needed a vehicle quick.
I had been shopping the used truck market for a while, but the prices were so high that I could not justify a purchase. Last time I bought new vehicle was in 1981, but my wife said "Get the one you want; you've earned it" :-)
Three days of non-stop truck shopping later and I was the proud owner of a 2018 GMC Sierra, loaded.
Another $45,000 spent.
One would think the hemorrhaging of my wallet would have stopped at this point, but no.
Truck accessories (tonneau cover, tie downs, weathertech floor mats). Another $600.
Now I have my old (2005) truck with a bad transmission that I can't sell and won't scrap because other than the tranny, it is in great shape. So I decide to perform a transmission transplant and over the course of several evenings and weekends, the job is finally finished and the old girl is now better than ever! Another $600 spent.
And now that I own a proper truck for towing, I can justify that enclosed trailer I wanted. I'm guessing such a thing will cost somewhere in the $6K range. Perhaps I can sell the Sport Trac (I will hate to part with it) and the aluminum trailer and break even.
As you can see, this hobby has triggered the spending of roughly $58K!!! All this, just so I can go trail riding with family and friends. I shake my head thinking back on it.
So for folks considering getting into this hobby, beware the potential for unintended and unplanned consequences and their resulting expenditures :-) They can sneak up on you fast.
I can't wait to see what this year brings ...