Granite

I’m not sure granite countertops in a boat are as big a selling point as people think.

Because I don’t have what many people would consider an actual life, I often spend evenings with my feet up, sort of switching between watching TV and checking out various items on the internet. For instance, I now know we could rent an apartment in Dublin for a month for around $3,000.00, depending on how close we want to be to the Temple Bar. I know there’s a banana plantation for sale on the island of Dominica and a cruise to Antarctica (the only continent I haven’t visited) would cost about half as much as a new pickup. If I wanted to fly first class, it would be an entire new pickup, plus a Prius to haul around in the truck bed, just in case I got a flat tire.

You may have noticed a theme here...I’m checking into things I’m probably not going to do.

So then you won’t be surprised to find out that lately I’ve been looking at yachts. Something I’ve noticed is that in yachts longer than 100 feet, there seem to be lots of granite countertops.

Now, I’m no geologist, but I do live in Big Stone County, and many of those big stones are granite, which I know from experience is heavy. It would not occur to me that it’s the kind of material to put in a boat.

There’s a chance I’m not the demographic they’re trying to reach. If you’re trying to sell someone a boat for $7.3 million, having a guy going, “But is that really practical?” isn’t going to help seal the deal. I couldn’t help but notice in the fine print that the yacht that caught my eye use about 500 gallons of diesel fuel per hour. I did the math and that amounted to around .05 mpg. I don’t suppose the granite countertops hurt the mileage that much – at least compared to the helicopter sitting on the roof - but they certainly don’t help.

I’m not against all options. I do like the idea of the helicopter on the roof, and the little boat on the back seems like a good idea, but I don’t get the whole swimming pool on a boat thing. You’re on an ocean, people. Why would you take something floating in the water, then fill it with water? It doesn’t seem safe, when you could just put on some floaties and jump over the side.

I looked a little further and I found one yacht that was a sailboat. Sailboats seem practical. The one I found is 171 feet long and has a Caterpillar auxiliary engine. I’m a fan of Cat engines. Our semi had one, as did our Challenger tractor. I could probably do the maintenance myself, which I bet not every yacht owner can say. It’s a little pricey, at $19.5 million, but you don’t have to be ready to write a check. The website does the math for you in case you want to finance. This particular boat would have a monthly payment of $143,898.00 for a twenty-year loan. Keep in mind, I could change oil myself, so that’s a plus.

But I looked at all the pictures carefully, and even though they try to hide them, it does have granite countertops.

So, no deal. I’m no sucker.

Copyright 2026 Brent Olson