As a new member of the Carefree Boat Club – my family and I have already enjoyed several outings on the local tri-cities lakes. One such outing, on South Holston Lake, was particularly “spur of the moment” and I wanted to write a quick guest post about it, as it really stood out as a key piece of the Carefree Boat Club advantage. You simply can’t beat the fantastic selection of boats in the fleet, or the convenience of knowing that all you have to do is show up and have fun, while others tend to the maintenance. However, for a busy family, the convenience of time is, perhaps, one of the greatest advantages of the club. After all, their slogan is “it’s about TIME”, and they mean it! Here is our story.

We had been out a couple of times already for some quick runs, and the kids were begging to go again. That’s what happens with a boat, regardless of what you may feel like – your kids are ALWAYS ready to get out there. The problem was, it was raining pretty hard, and had been all morning. We told them it probably wouldn’t happen. Then, I looked at the radar and it looked like the rain was going to pass over fairly quickly. It still “looked” awful, but the forecast predicted we would have a few hours of dry conditions so we decided to go for it. We called up the South Holston location, and there was a boat available. We headed on out and got there just as the rain let up and the sun started to shine. Perfect timing! We ended up being able to spend a good 4-5 hours on the lake and what started out as a dreary day ended up being a lot of fun for the whole family.

Here is where we really felt that the Boat Club offered us a huge advantage. If I owned a boat at the marina, i would have had to arrived early to get the boat off the lift, go gas it up, and take care of any other maintenance issues before we got on the water. If I had a boat at home on a trailer – i would have had to load it up, haul it there, launch it, find a parking place and meet the family back at the dock. In both of those scenarios – i would have said “no way”. Too much risk to go through all that trouble only to find that we might still be rained out. With the boat club – the only risk taken is driving to the lake! if it was still raining, we could have just gone to a restaurant or something.

The lesson in all of this is that with membership in Carefree Boat Club, we were able to enjoy the luxury of taking a chance on a trip to the lake, even though we weren’t sure how it would turn out. That kind of availability means you can do something that the whole family really loves, and be spontaneous about it. If a trip to the lake is a chore, how many times do you think you’ll say “no” when the kids ask to go. It takes to much planning and prep. With the Boat Club, what is there to lose? Just head on out to the lake.

We are looking forward to this kind of fun and relaxation all summer long!

Thanks!

Marcus Ledbetter & Family

2013 Carefree Boat Club Members

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