Joe Lipira has experienced what some say are the two best days in a boater’s life — the day he bought his boat and the day he sold it.

This summer, when Lipira wants to go boating on Wisconsin’s Geneva Lake, he will choose from about 10 new watercraft at the Lake Geneva Boat Club and let someone else worry about cleanup, maintenance and insurance.

“I like that aspect of it,” said Lipira, from Bloomingdale, Ill. “And with two kids in college, it was a little hard to justify spending $40,000 on a new boat.”

The club, based at M.J.’s Lake Geneva Marine of Fontana, opens this month. Lipira says he likes the way the club is expected to work. For annual fees that range from $4,500 to $6,000, members can use any of the club’s boats up to 20 times a year.

The only additional cost to members is the gas they use. There are no per-use fees and no fees associated with maintenance, trailering, slip rentals or insurance.

“We think this is an idea whose time has come,” said M.J.’s president Mike Johnston. “We have such a short season here that many people don’t use their boats more than a dozen times a summer. Unless you go out on a fairly frequent basis, or actually live on a lake, the time and costs associated with boat ownership … often aren’t worth it.”

Wisconsin has non-profit boat clubs in which members pay as little as $45 a year for the use of several types of watercraft like small sailboats on public beaches.

For-profit boat clubs have become popular in Florida and other southern states but are still a novelty in the Midwest, according to marine trade associations.

“In the current economy, especially, it’s a unique approach that might bring some people into boating,” said Phil Keeter, president of the Marine Retailers Association of America, based in Chicago.

Lake Geneva Boat Club members will be able to choose from 2003-model Ebbtide boats including 23-foot bow riders that carry about 10 people, a fiberglass version of a pontoon boat, a water ski boat and a wake-board boat.

Each of the watercraft falls into a retail price range of about $40,000 to $55,000, Johnston said, adding that he plans to replace the boats with new models every year.

Johnston said he expected that many club members would be like Lipira — former boat owners who grew weary of the cost and hassle of ownership, yet want to entertain their families and business associates on the water.