Ascarate Fishing Club (a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching kids how to fish) is considering two options for providing a heavily stocked pond for kids who have never caught a fish before.
Option 1 is an above-ground swimming pool made of heavy vinyl plastic that will be assembled and disassembled for each quarterly event. The purchase price will be $400. Leaks from hooks piercing the fabric will be repaired with a vinyl repair kit at a cost of $70 per year, but the pool will have to be replaced when too many repairs have been made.
Option 2 is an in-ground pond that will be excavated by club members at no cost and lined with fabric that costs $1 per square foot. The pond will be 15 ft in diameter and 3 ft deep. Assume 300 ft 2 of liner will be purchased. A chain link fence at $10 per lineal foot will be installed around the pond (100 ft of fence). Maintenance inside the fence is expected to cost $20 per year. The park where the pond will be constructed has committed the land for only 10 years. At an interest rate of 6% per year, how long would the above-ground pool have to last to break even?