biggest mistakes and best investments

[festivus]

I was out on some nice, rare, glassy water last Friday when I opened my rear storage compartment and remembered that I had purchased a huge fat sac last summer.  I thought to myself "what a waste of money."  I never have time to fill it and the pump only worked one time.  I think it got clogged up with sand.  I think I spent about $400 on two sacs and a "great" pump.  I already replaced the pump once, after it stopped working, and the new one doesn't work either.  I have only inflated both sacs one time, not because it takes so long to fill them, but draining them is a pain.  So I thought I'd throw out the question- what have you all purchased that has been a waste of money, and what has been a good investment?
Those sacs were a huge waste, but I really love my stereo upgrades.  Music on the water is nice. 

[dawsonr]

The best and the worst investment I made was the permanent boat lift.  It greatly simplified getting my boat in and out of the water, but at $10,000 for the lift and deck I put on top of it, I am told by real estate agents that it added very little value to the property value or it's saleability.  No matter, I would do it again and recommend it.  My picture is of my grandaughter jumping off the top, about a 12 foot drop into 13 feet of water.  The views from atop the deck at sunset are something to see. . .
 

[Bitzco]

I would say the tower lights and the ballast. Rarely ever use either. However, when used at Powell the lights are great to have. I have also questioned the wisdom of the wakesurfer I got for Christmas last year. We never used it until a couple of weeks ago at Powell. It is a fun ride and can be used in fairly choppy water; however, it requires a lot of weight and kills the gas mileage. Maybe I'll like it better when I'm better at it.

As for the most useless thing I have ever purchased, it has to be my wife's wedding ring. It was a lot of cash at the time and it has sat dormant in a jewelry box for about  ten years. I love my wife, but tiny rocks for thousands of dollars is just plain stupid.

[dudebro22]

Well I think the best is Flyhigh's pro x series fat sacs with the tsunami pump it fills and drains in under a few mins I think I timed myself once to fill both of my v-drive sacs both weighing 400 each and it filled them in about 2 mins a piece now thats fast.  As for the bad investment i think it would be the toyota boat cover i think i should of just had one costom made.

[highflyn]

I use to think the worst investmetn I ever made was this super cool bike that had all the sweet gizmos so you could do cool  tricks. Like front and rear pegs and that thing that allows you to spin your handelbars around with out messin up your brake cables. But all I could ever do was go off jumps and stand on the rear pegs while coasting down the road.  Then about two years ago I bought this expensive boat and loaded up with all this cool stuff so I could do tricks. But the only tricked I really got good at was launching the damn thing while I was drunk. I guess i'll always be a dumb kid at heart.
Number three: Wedding ring

Highflyn

[blueplastic]

Best investment for the boat: LG Dehumidifier. Now I don't have to run over to my friend's house where I keep the boat every day to uncover and recover the boat to let it dry out. I also don't have to worry about mildew anymore.

Worst investment? Hmm...not sure.

[toyotafreak]

See tattoo thread.

[festivus]

highflyn, did you ever take that bike off any sweet jumps?
I don't regret my wifes rock...dust particle.  I got married so young, I got away with a miniature diamond, and now that we can afford a better one, she just isn't too interested.  SHe'd rather have curtains or some new shoes.  Nice........
Of course, she may disagree, but she doesn't harp about it, so I'm happy, she seems happy, and we have new curtains.
I do like my lights, but don't use them much, they do come in handy when needed.
I also think inflatables are a bad investment.  I think we go through about one per year.  Once you inflate them, they are like a bad committment, and you have to invest more time deflating it and putting it away.  Then it gets everything wet and smelly and....just wish I could have one small one, instead we have the Sevylor Manta Ray, which, by the way, doesn't fly so well.  My kids are mostly just scared of it.  And don't even think of inflating it if it a little windy.  It is like an overgrown kite posing as a wrecking ball. There, another bad investment- Sevylor Manta Ray-$400.  Waste.

[lesman01]

Best investment: Bimini Top. I didn't realize how badly we(and my bald head) needed this until I got one. Now we can stay on the water all day long without putting 45 sunscreen on every 30 minutes.

Worst investment: I agree with the floatable thing Festivus. I bought a humongous tube thingy that I have enflated once in 3 years. Plus, i never bring the air pump even if i wanted to inflate it. So there it sits, in the rear engine compartment. Plus i never feel like being one of the jack a**es who continuously weave through perfectly good butter messing it all up pulling a screamin kid at 45 mph. I did not pay $400 for it, though, so you got me there.

I checked the video of that Praying Mantus thing you have. that thing is HUGE!
Plus it says it's backordered til 2006! Maybe you could sell it on ebay.

[Lakeside]

Best Investment: A Leatherman all-in-one tool for the glove compartment.  It has saved us several times.  We cut off a tow rope that got hopelessly wound around the prop.  We opened the battery compartment when we had a dead battery (our brass ring to open the compartment was missing when we bought the boat).  It's great.  You can find a good knock off for under $5.00.  Every boat needs one!

Worst Investment: A pair of waterskis with black bottoms.  You drop one and it is invisible when you go back to look for it.  I'm going to paint them with blaze orange paint, I'm so sick of looking for them.  (Note to O'Brien Waterski Company... how about a bright color on the bottom... Connelly seems to have it on some of theirs... I think I'll switch to them next time...)

[UK Exile]

lakeside, easy solution to ski problem, learn to beach or deep water start 

[Lakeside]

You're right.  Sometimes we have guests that prefer to drop a ski.

[Rambling Wreck]

It looks like we are limiting the discussion to "toys and/or accessories" - thankfully! My best investment so far in that catagory has been the Epic. I don't know the ultimate financial outcome of the investment, I am speaking of time well spent! The other possibility will be the tramp or bimini top I hope to acquire before next season. Lesman is right, for us fair skinned beauties with "slightly thinning" masses of reddish blond locks, it is not a luxury but a necessity. Heck, my dermotologist orders a new car everytime I make an appointment. 
 
As to worst, a 2000 Harley Davidson Softail Heritage Classic. Remember the poster with a drop dead georgious girl with the caption something like "Somewhere there is a guy that is sick and tired of her crap"? Yep, that pretty much sums it up!

[festivus]

that's funny you say that about the Harley, I was actually considering a Night Train.  Did anyone see the recent ad that read something like "give me a rear end with some meat on it."  Great ad. So a waste of money though....I wouldn't be able to ride much with our seasonal weather here in Denver....

[Rambling Wreck]

For ME, it was a waste. The technology is 1950's in comparison to the European or Asian bikes. It was a heavy 800lb cruiser. It was too heavy for zipping around mountain curves fast (I flew sparks from my footrests many times) and yet was squirrelly on the highway. Being the "overboarder" that I am, I wanted the chrome to look GOOD when riding which means the bike had to be at least washed before each ride - that was a process. Sitting on top of a 1450 cc engine was HOT in the summer. Finally, my wife wouldn't ride with me. She said she didn't want us to both die at the same time and leave our kids as orphans. She said for me to either buy a good helmet or more life insurance. She thought about it a second and said "forget the helmet" - true story!!!  I had more invested in that bike than in the Epic. It was occasional fun, by myself. The Epic is family fun every time we are on it. The only thing you can never duplicate is the SOUND - put about 200 bikes together (some of the rallies) and it is deafening but out of this world!!

IMO, there are better bikes no matter what you want to do. BMW for cross country, crotch rockets for fast back road fun or something like an American Ironhorse when you know that what you really want to do is wake up every neighbor within a mile while struggling to hold on for a 20 mile RT through the entertainment district in your town.