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Ice yachting is also very much a sport that demands a desire to work on and improve the boat during spare time. Unlike snowmobiles, skies and hockey skates; ice yachts are not seen on display in stores. If someone stumbles upon ice yachting and becomes interested in it, their purchasing options are limited: they can try to find a used ice yacht through the ice yachters grape vine, buy a new one through the few places that specialize in ice yacht equipment, or build their own. The first option is usually taken by those new to ice yachting, and the latter is the most popular with experienced ice yachters who have outgrown their used boat. There are a few places that do sell complete ice yachts. These can be found through ice yachting associations, but that is the most expensive route.
James Thieler’s experience in buying his first boat is typical in the ice yachting community: getting excited about the sport after seeing an ice yacht racing, then trying find one that is affordable. "I searched all over Maine for an ice boat and couldn’t find one for sale. Eventually I stumbled upon one completely by accident in Edgewater, Maryland, south of Annapolis, in the back of the guy’s barn. I wrote him a check on the spot for six hundred bucks. I cobbled together all the bits and pieces and got back to Maine just in time for the ice to melt. All summer long I was dying for winter. I finally got it on the ice on Megunticook Lake near Camden, Maine. I got the thing together, pushed off and jumped in, and within five seconds I said ‘Holly Moley, my life has just changed: This is cool.’" Eben Whitcomb was also similarly effected when he discovered ice yacht racing. "I was really interested in it for a long time, my grandfather even had a homemade ice boat. But I really didn’t get involved in it all until I first saw a DN ice boat when I started working at a boat yard where my boss at the time had one. He sailed with a bunch of guys down here in Connecticut. I went and sailed with them one weekend and decided to build one after that."
 The cost of an ice yacht can range from next to nothing on the low end, while on the high end they can approach the cost of a good snowmobile. The amount that someone will spend depends upon what type of ice yachting they want to do. Casual racers or cruisers can get into it on the low end, while serious racers can expect to spend a good deal more. Thieler says that a low budget ice yacht doesn’t mean that ice yacht racers, especially those new to the sport, can’t have fun without a top-notch boat. "Just stick with the basics and go out and just try to sail as best you can….I’ve seen people show up on the ice with boats that they’ve dug out of somebody’s basement or whatever for three or four hundred bucks. The wood is cracked, and you can see where the mice have been chewing away at the sail while it was stored in the attic for thirty years. They’re flying around the ice screaming and yelling and having a ball for three or four or five hundred bucks." The price of a boat starts to go up if one decides to get involved in serious racing, says Doug Sharp. " Obviously the more you do yourself, the less you pay. You can buy a used boat for probably in the $500.00 to $4000.00 range. For $4000.00 you’re going to get a pretty hot boat. For about anywhere from five to twenty-five hundred dollars you can buy a boat that you can have a good time in. If you want to race, you’re going to spend twenty-five to five. Basically you can buy a very nice boat for three or four or five thousand dollars."
Building or finding a first ice yacht is made a great deal easier, and possibly cheaper, by networking and befriending those in a regional ice yachting community. The ice yachting community seems to bend over backwards to help out new people getting into sport. Sharing their knowledge and helping out with the construction of their boats is typical. This knowledge is especially important to those building their first ice yacht. While the basic design of ice yachts has remained unchanged since the 1930s, the materials used to build them have changed extensively. "The 1950s, 1960s boats were made out of pretty much lumber yard materials," says Doug Sharp, who has built several ice yachts. "Gradually we’ve involved into a more sophisticated boat that used carbon fiber and composites for the masts. The boats are now being made with eighth inch plywood and epoxy. Some of these egg crates are real fragile, but boy are they fast."
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