Some one accused me the other day of having traded up into a higher standard of living. I choose to think of it as judicious exercise of opportunity.
They were referring to a boat we keep down in the harbor during the summer. It’s a family size cabin cruiser in decent shape with solid mechanicals. I don’t consider it anything fancy, but I am very grateful to have it. The manner of acquisition is a bit tortured and it is this to which the trade up comment referred.
Once upon a time I picked up a large lathe from Cicero, IL. I had been on Ebay, but didn’t sell. I contacted the person after the listing expired and arranged to buy it for a few hundred dollars. It was huge. It weighed about 6,000 pounds, was 11’ long and about 7’ high. It was awesome. To this day I don’t know how I got it home safely.
I actually never used it. I did, however, move it again. Twice. Each time was more frustrating than the last. Eventually, while I had intended on using it as a low speed lathe for finishing small boat spars and paddle shafts, I decided to get rid of it. I listed it on Craigslist.
I generated some modest interest until a high school shop teacher contacted me. He was interested but wanted to trade instead of buy. We worked out a deal wherein he traded me a 20’ enclosed utility trailer for the lathe. I put the trailer on Craigslist and sold it a few days later. I then took some of the money and bought an older Ford 4x4. A couple of weeks after I bought it I realized it wasn’t really what I wanted and so I put it on Craigslist.
Quite promptly I got an email from a guy who really needed a truck like that. He offered, and I accepted, to trade a Roland pro-grade piano with monitors, a 50” lcd tv, and a Remington 30-06 for the truck. I decided to keep the tv and get rid of the piano and rifle. I sold the piano through Craigslist and ended up trading the gun for an ’82 Volvo Sedan which didn’t like to shift properly. I hauled the car home and found out that the shift problem was related to a transmission bushing so worn out that the transmission no longer extended straight behind the motor but instead tipped down, changing the angle of the shifter and causing the shifter to bump against the floor pan.
I replaced the $12 bushing and drove the car for the summer.
Some months before the gun/car trade, Lars decided to get rid of a couple extra vehicles he had. In an effort to help him, I bought one of them from him at a profit (to him) of 22,500%. I put the truck on Craigslist and traded it for a Marlin model 1894 .44 rifle and a Ford Ranger. I kept the gun for a while and traded the Ranger for a snowblower. A while later I traded the gun for a boat hull and trailer and a Polaris snowmobile. I gave away the hull and when the guy came to get the hull he bought the trailer.
A few years ago, Brynn bought herself a horse. It was modestly priced but a decent horse. She rode it quite a bit but, once in college, realized that the utility of the horse was quite limited. In an effort to help, I agreed to market it for her and either give her the selling price or the price she had originally paid if I traded it. She ended up getting her money back as I traded it for a 2-horse trailer.
I didn’t mind owning the car, snowmobile, and trailer, but also didn’t really need them. I did need a boat, however (the demise of our last boat will be another story). I noticed that a family in a lifestyle transition had a Bayliner Cierra listed on Craigslist. Their kids were getting a little older and they had moved to the country to take advantage of other opportunities. What they really needed was a horse trailer, a car for their oldest who just got her license, and anything else that would allow them to enjoy the space they now had.
They now have a decent car, a nice horse trailer for their donkey, and a snowmobile to fly around on. I now have a boat to enjoy the waters of Door County. Life is good.
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