Summer Fun… Rent or Buy?

With the summer just getting started I thought now would be a great time to address a question I have had for a while… When recreating is it better to rent or buy? Where is the line? I have often talked back and forth with friends and family about whether or not to buy a trailer or rent one, to purchase a boat or rent one? There are obviously benefits to both but how do you know where the line is?
I took a little time to put together a couple hypothetical situations to help me weigh things out from my perspective. Hopefully this will help you when trying to figure things out on your own. After a little looking online I found that $12,000 could purchase a fairly nice and fairly new camping trailer that anyone would be happy to have, or for $20,000 you could get a nice boat that I would be proud to wakeboard behind. I also found out after a little looking that you could rent that same trailer for $95 a day or boat for about $300 a day. I then created a very simple grid with some costs off the top of my head that would be associated with both and came up with the following. For both examples,

Boat Rental		Owning a $20,000 Used Boat
Average Daily Rental rates	$300	Insurance (Monthly)	$30
		Maintenance (Monthly)	$42
		Monthly Finance/ opportunity cost	$377
Number of daily rentals annually before buying	18	Annual Ownership Costs	$5,393

Trailer Rental		Owning a $12,000 Used Trailer
Average Daily Rental rates	$90	Insurance (Monthly)	$20
		Maintenance (Monthly)	$25
		Monthly Finance/ opportunity cost	$226
Number of daily rentals annually before buying	34	Annual Ownership Costs	$3,257

As you can see I made the assumption that anyone purchasing a boat or trailer would be financing at 5% or sacrificing a 5% return on the money invested in the vehicle rather than in a secure investment. By the way I suggest that you never finance a toy… just my humble opinion. Beyond these simple numbers there are a few benefits to both sides that are not easily measured:
Owning:

1. Although it will have depreciated over time, in the end you will have an object of value that you would not otherwise have if rented.
2. If you own instead of rent you will have a much easier time planning outings on a short notice.
3. Convenience of always having your personal vehicle loaded.

Renting:

1. No hassle of maintenance or storage for the vehicle.
2. You will always have the opportunity to rent new, top of the line equipment.
3. No Guilt for not using your vehicle enough throughout the year.
4. Most rentals offer all the accessories included in the rental price, which you would have to pay for if you purchased the rec. vehicle.

Beyond all this you would have to have a lot more spare time than I do in order to justify buying over renting. I can barely get away for three days a year let alone 30! If you do decide to buy versus rent you could consider renting out your own recreational vehicle on the weekends you are not using it. This would increase your insurance and maintenance costs and could be a little bit of a headache but may be helpful for you to provide some income if you own it.