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Lake Weekend
A boat, a cooler, and nowhere to be until Sunday.
What this trip actually costs
$503 to $1,809 per head, three nights
Lake trips are the cheapest way to get eight guys out of town. The boat is the one big line item, so split it before anyone backs out.
The destinations, ranked
Two of our cities are built around a lake. Anywhere else and you are just near water.
Best first. This is an opinion, not a spreadsheet. If the top pick fits your dates and budget, stop scrolling.
Who is allowed to drive the boat
This is the one that ends trips at the dock, and the answer is different in the two places on this list.
At Lake Tahoe, California has required a Boater Card for every motorized vessel operator since January 2025, but a person operating a rental vessel is exempt. Out of state visitors are also exempt for stays under sixty days if they meet their own state's requirements. So if you are renting at Tahoe, nobody in your group needs a card.
Austin is the opposite. Texas requires boater education for anyone born on or after September 1, 1993 operating a motor over fifteen horsepower, and renting does not get you out of it. In a group of guys in their twenties and early thirties, that is most of them. The escape hatch is a one time fifteen day deferral, ten dollars, sold anywhere fishing licenses are sold. Buy it before you drive down, not at the ramp.
Rental companies also set their own rules on top of the law. A minimum operator age, a named operator on the contract and a credit card hold are all normal. Ask when you book, not when you arrive.
Split the boat first
The boat is the only line item big enough to start an argument. Everything else on a lake weekend is groceries and gas.
The day rate is the number people quote each other. It is not the number. Fuel is usually billed separately on return, and there is a security deposit hold sitting on somebody's card that does not come off for a few days after. That guy should not also be the one fronting the house.
Work out the per head number before anyone books anything, and put it somewhere all eight can see it. The cost splitter on this site does the arithmetic if you would rather not.
The one thing everyone screws up
Assuming the guy who volunteered to drive is allowed to.
Somebody says he grew up on boats. Everyone believes him. Then the rental desk asks for a boater education number and it turns out he was born in 1996 and has never taken the course.
Sort the driver before you sort anything else. It takes an evening online and it is the difference between a lake weekend and a very expensive day at a picnic table.
Want the short version?
Answer four questions and the trip builder picks the destination for you. Launching soon.