Do your friends help ????

[kana12]

Every one knows that with a new boat you get new friends that come with it. Sometimes i bring alot of people out on the boat and i have yet to have anyone help with fuel in the boat or in the truck. Sometimes they will bring drinks and stuff but that is about it. We have logged about 80 hrs or more on the water this year. We even have three different time shares on Lake Conroe here in texas and spend at least three to four weekends a year there and they all come with our family. I know this is gonna sound like a dumb question but how should i go about fixing this this for this comming season. I am kind of a softy and i know they would prob. all help for for stuff but i cant realy bring my self to ask them. I can afford it it just feels like i get the shafty end of the deal with spending time with my buddies.

PS. one of my friends that goes out with us everytime doese help me clean and wife down the boat. he pulls me because i dont realy trust my wife to do so and i always think that it is safer for three people on the boat instead of two just incase someone gets hurt. In his defense.


Do any of you guys ever have to deal with this and what do yall do about it?
i know i could just not invite them but its no fun going out all by yourself???

[dogbert]

It's sort of ettiquette in watersports to give the guy who owns the boat some gas money and bring drinks. If they don't, bring them to the gas station before you go and make them come in with you when you're buying stuff.

As for wiping the boat down and putting stuff away, just start delegating. If they really are your friends, they won't complain a bit.

If someone gives you grief, they'll get voted off the island (so to speak) and no one will want them back.

[chpthril]

Tough call Kena,

I have an adult leader with my scout troop that will not step up and help with meals when we plan and go on campouts. We try to divide the meals up so everyone can pitch in (including cost) and help and no one person is left holding the bag.

If I approach him with the meal sign-up sheet, he will make up an excuse about he may not be going. Sure enough, he shows up and is always the first in line to eat, and then disappears when it's time to clean up

There are about 5 of us that end up picking up all the slack and we don't have an answer. Not much help, but I understand what you're saying.

The best I can say is....when it's time to clean up, start handing out jobs. If you need help with gas, have the group meet you at the gas station before filling up and maybe a little guilt will kick in. Before, ask A to get ice, B to bring drinks, C to bring snacks, etc.

[talltigeguy]

Great advice from Dogbert. When they see you dump $100+ into the boat just for gas, it might make them think a little. Then you say: 'You should have seen the boat price tag!, or You should see my monthly payment'. Can you beleive we used up 30 gallons yesterday?

The problem is that most people just think us Tige owners must be so rich we don't care.

[eks]

Great advice from Dogbert. When they see you dump $100+ into the boat just for gas, it might make them think a little. Then you say: 'You should have seen the boat price tag!, or You should see my monthly payment'. Can you beleive we used up 30 gallons yesterday?

The problem is that most people just think us Tige owners must be so rich we don't care.

I thought I was the only one that had this issue before. I am glad I am not alone. Before I bought my own boat I always wanted to pay full for the gas when someone took me out because I knew that the boat owner had extra expenses, I thought everyone would think the same way.

I've taking friends out before and once the boat is out of the water they say thanks and take off. We got a little smart towards the end of the season last year, when we invite them to come boating we would suggest that we will split the gas at the end of the day. So far everyone was glad to help out and the next time they offer to split.

My wife in the other hand has a hard time inviting and asking them to contribute with the expenses.

[kana12]

see what bothers me is that im the one that invites to to come play and then i feel bad if i ask them to pay also. like i said its not realy the money its just that i feel like they get a free ride out of me and start to expect it.

[dogbert]

see what bothers me is that im the one that invites to to come play and then i feel bad if i ask them to pay also. like i said its not realy the money its just that i feel like they get a free ride out of me and start to expect it.

Ok, so maybe they don't pay for gas, but there's absolutely no excuse for not getting them to help put up the boat. I'd ask them to bring drinks...tell them you don't have time to stop at the store.

[hoopykat]

I always pay for fuel for the boat and the tow rig, whether or not it's my boat. I take people for a good time; not to subsidize my fuel costs. If others bring drinks or food, bonus. I mean, I'm going boating anyways...

-Mike

[kana12]

aw ha..now thats a good idea. !!!!! i think im gonna just say that i have enough gas for a couple of hours but if they want to stay out longer we can stop to put some gas in..

[Lunchbox]

This is a great article on guest etiquette to forward to your friends from the Wake Outlaws site...

I'm not making this up, it's titled: How not to be a douche bag when scoring a ride!



LBX

[sparky216]

I always pay for fuel for the boat and the tow rig, whether or not it's my boat. I take people for a good time; not to subsidize my fuel costs. I others bring drinks or food, bonus.

-Mike

That is the way I handle it too, I mean I'm going out anyway. If you want to bring drinks, gas money....etc, cool......but I'm going whether my friends come or not. I guess it is like expecting someone who always throws parties at his/her house to expect that you pitch in for electricity money.

Lucky for me the boat get's used alot with the extended family and therefore little need to ask for money because they always give in one way or another. When I ask my neighbors or friends to come along and bring their kids I would never think of asking for money for my boat gas, just like I'd never ask for electricity money because we primarily use my house on our court for parties.

It sounds like you want them to pitch in, so ask them to pitch in. There is nothing wrong with that and actually it may relieve them of the ackward feeling. Trust me, a lot of people want to be told to help out, it makes them feel good. They just don't know how to go about it.

If you don't need the money, yet you feel like your getting the shaft then the problem lies within you. Imagine that you had a friend that had an RV and asked you to go camping with you. Would you assume that you would need to pitch in for LPG, Waste, Fuel..... or being a non-RV owner would you assume a bottle of Crown and a case of Bud would be cool? How would you know unless your friend told you what the cost were and what he expected you to contribute to enjoy the RV.

If your expecting money than make that known while you invite your friends boating. Don't expect people to be mind readers. If someone invites me to do something at their house, I'll bring an appetizer or a drink, but not expect to subsidize the gas, electric, or mortage bill for time spent. That is fricking stupid.

[RID22]

It's easy! Have one of your buddies intentionally give you money in front of everyone else. Even if you lend the money to your buddy behind the scenes. I promise the other people will notice if you make it obvious. I had a buddy give me $40 in front of everyone at the fuel pump on the lake. The other people in the boat noticed the gesture and quickly reached for their wallets. I made sure to jokingly point out that $40 only covered 1/3rd of the fill up. I've never had a problem since I did that. It sounds dumb but it totally worked.

[Domsz06]

if they don't help they don't get invited back I always pay for gas I'll post more tomorrow

[Domsz06]

I have some stickers that say this tige runs on gas not thank yous if u would like some

[tessa]

Normally the folks I take out on my boat also have their own boats. Until I bought my 20V if I skied on my Brother in laws Maristar i would split the gas with the crowd who also skied off the boat including my BIL.

When we spent a bunch of time tubing while our older bods recovered from slaloming we would use my boat for tubing and airchairing and again all the people who where actively participating pitched in for fuel. Depending on what we were doing we would rotate boats and will still do season to season.

Since in our case most of us bring boats we would help each other put them up and get them ready for the rides home. The only expense we did not share was tow vehicle gas because most of us tow. Beer and pop expenses where picked up by the non boat owners and everybody brings their own smorgasboard of food. If it's a week trip we split the cost of the cabin by family and not by bed.

This situation is way different than the problem you have because the group that I go with are all enthusiasts who bring their own gear and share the boats for the best application and pitch in to the gas kitty at the end of the weekend or week down at Bullshoals.

For someone to join in with the group they were told that they would be sharing in on cost of gas for the boats they play off of. This was done as part of planning the trip so there was no surprises.

Granted this is not an exact science but most people have no qualms sharing the expenses for the boat gas if they know up front what the plan and distribution is.

If they don't pitch in we have let them know we are dissapointed with them for them pinching their pennies and they silently loose their invite to subsequent outings. It is not worth publically embarrassing the cheapskates in public but again they have to loose subsequent weekends orr they always will sponge off of somebody else.