Uploaded September 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Camping at out favorite site at Nolin Lake, Kentucky with my wife and our bigger camper. We decided it was the perfect weekend to rent a boat and test out our new solar generator. We had a great couple of days on the lake and also gather some good info as to if a rental boat is preferable to buying a boat and how well out solar generator works. Note, I know there are cheaper boats out there to rent, but I wanted a fare comparison to a boat that I might purchase.
Our conclusions are:
*Solar generators: They are great if you do not like gas generators and you do some boon docking and have other uses for it. They can be pricy but if you take into account that a electric site at this park cost $36 and a site without electric cost $18 and the fact that you can go to places that you otherwise would not go.
* Rental Boat: We found that at our age that a boat purchase is just not feasible for us. The cheapest deluxe boat (pontoon)cost $30000 and 5 years of insurance could cost $3000. This does not cover the cost of annual maintenance, storage and the hassle of getting the boat in and out of the water.
At the rate of 2 trips out every year, it would take 33 years to recoup our investment.
The cons are that you do not have the boat when you might want it, be it late evenings unless you rented 2 back to back days. Have to purchase the docks expensive gas.
Pros, no hassle, step into the boat and go. Nothing to do after that.
Camping at out favorite site at Nolin Lake, Kentucky with my wife and our bigger camper. We decided it was the perfect weekend to rent a boat and test out our new solar generator. We had a great couple of days on the lake and also gather some good info as to if a rental boat is preferable to buying a boat and how well out solar generator works. Note, I know there are cheaper boats out there to rent, but I wanted a fare comparison to a boat that I might purchase.
Our conclusions are:
*Solar generators: They are great if you do not like gas generators and you do some boon docking and have other uses for it. They can be pricy but if you take into account that a electric site at this park cost $36 and a site without electric cost $18 and the fact that you can go to places that you otherwise would not go.
* Rental Boat: We found that at our age that a boat purchase is just not feasible for us. The cheapest deluxe boat (pontoon)cost $30000 and 5 years of insurance could cost $3000. This does not cover the cost of annual maintenance, storage and the hassle of getting the boat in and out of the water.
At the rate of 2 trips out every year, it would take 33 years to recoup our investment.
The cons are that you do not have the boat when you might want it, be it late evenings unless you rented 2 back to back days. Have to purchase the docks expensive gas.
Pros, no hassle, step into the boat and go. Nothing to do after that.
