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You get an invite to go on a trip with 3 other people, total of 4. Two of them are father and son, however the son is out on his own, makes good money. Here's the deal. Left the marina to get gas, dam that thing to some major $$$. Anyway I figure OK that goes into 4 people reasonable, then add bait and ice, and with 4 people, thats not bad for an offshore trip. Well thats where that all ends. When the day was over, and I asked how much, the response was $$$ I'am thinking, there ain't no way in he!! between 4 people that figure is right. I look at the other guy, and asking him, but not getting a straight answer. The amount I was quoted was for 1/2 the gas alone. When you pump 90 gallons at a marina with the price of gas you do the math. I'am just venting, I was so pissed the whole almost 2 hour drive home. Have you ran into these problems with people you don't know real well ? Or do you not mess with it unless you know up-front.

You have to ask up-front what you will be responsible for! If ya don't ask, it is assumed that you will pay whatever you are ask to pay Just look at it as a learning experiance and not let it bug ya that ya got the big one on this trip

it would only happen once.

Oh I guarantee that ain't happening again.

Don, its best to know the score when the trip is arranged. Don,t wait until you get to the dock.
You may decide you don,t even want to get to the dock.

With four adults on the boat (regarless of relationships), a four way split sounds reasonable.

"Once bitten,twice shy".

I would mention that this sharing expenses deal, only applies to American citizens.
Foreign visitors, especially English ones, should not be expected to contribute financially.
Indeed, it is customary to provide them with lots of diet coke and extremely large slices of chilled home made Key Lime pie.
Boat washing is also not a shared activity.

Did the father and son own the boat? If so, their boat, you and the third guy ate the gas..Not saying its right...Ask up front about how much...I always offer more, but they never take it

Always thought it was customary to charge furiners (dem English type)twice the going rate. The boat is owned by the Dad. So even a three way split would have been less.

For whatever it's worth Don, I agree with you and would have also been miffed. If the owner was expecting anything more than the normal equal shares, I think it was up to him to tell you ahead of time. I believe it's always good for the guest to throw in a little extra if they can but it sounds like you got hit pretty hard on that one.

DS,

I regret that you had this experience. I don't know all the circumstances but the word "invite" apparently doesn't mean the same thing to everyone! Don't blame you a bit for feeling the shock. That was a pretty costly trip. I believe I would have to communicate (as politely as I could) that I appreciated the invitation but that they need not extend any further "invites" in my direction expecting that proportion of cost sharing.

The price of 45 gallons of gas does not seem unreasonable to me for a day of offshore fishing. It does seem like the guy would have said up front that he was expecting the two non-family "guests" to pay for the gas.

Ken. 45 gallons is not the problem, the price for gas at this place $1.95, $180 in gas, $50 bait, $20 ice. Theses are my rough estimates on bait and ice based on what I saw. $250 total. 4 people $60 - $65. That seems very resonable, however $25 more than that seemed very high.

My point was you got a day of offshore fishing for less than a hundred bucks. That is a lot less than hiring a charter, or owning your own offshore boat.

I understand that. I just wont make the same mistake of not knowing ahead of time what the cost will be.

DS may have received a day offshore... but did he get the service that a charter would provide, or get to keep all the fish, did someone else clean em all, did DS leave all his equipment at the house, did he (DS) not have to have a saltwater lic, etc. I'm a firm believer in everybody carrying their own weight and sharing the fair cost of things but there is something not quite right about this picture.

The second guy who went, took the fish and cleaned them, I will pick up some from him. Father and son said they did not want any of the fish. He!! we even helped clean up the boat, like I would think a 4 way would go. If they were considereing this trip a charter I would have never cleaned anything.