Owning a boat can be very expensive. The joke that “boat” is an acronym for “Break/Bring Out Another Thousand (dollars)” has been cited in print since at least 1995.

Other sayings about boat ownership include “The two happiest days of a man’s life—the day he bought the boat and the day he sold the boat” and “A boat is a hole in the water into which you pour money.”


Urban Dictionary
boat
Acronym:
Bust
Out
Another
Thousand
That Boat just cost me $3,000 to repair.
by Ammon S Apr 21, 2006

Google Groups: rec.boats
Newsgroups: rec.boats
From: ("Raymond Klefstad, Ph.D.")
Date: 1995/05/03
Subject: (none)

I joined Vessel Assist yesterday and the operator asked if I knew what BOAT really stood for: Break Out Another Thousand.

28 April 1996, Charlotte (NC) Observer, pg. 1Y:
“You know what BOAT stands for, don’t you?” he asked. “Break Out Another Thousand.”

Google News Archive
25 March 2000, Sarasota (FL) Herlad-Tribune, “Boating: Time for a spring sling” by Ross Hadley,[g/ 3E, col. 1:
And if you’re into boating, you understand that BOAT stands for Break Out Another Thousand.

Time magazine
The Global Life: Savvy Sailing
By Tim Padgett/Miami Monday, Sept. 02, 2002
(...)
A sailboat, it has often been said, is a hole in the water into which one pours money. Weekend sailors joke that boat is an acronym for Bring Out Another Thousand.

FoxNews.com
Boat Owners Not Likely to Curb Fun Because of Gas Prices
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Associated Press
PEORIA, Ill. — Dick Winkler says most boaters won’t drop anchor this summer despite fuel costs that could top a wallet-squeezing $3.50 a gallon at Illinois marinas.

“You know what boat stands for, don’t you? `Break Out Another Thousand (dollars),’” Winkler joked as he spruced up his houseboat at a Peoria marina. “You gotta fill those puppies up. ... We’ll cut back someplace else.”