Nick and Cody were too poor to live on that boat and own a chopper

You know, I loved this show when it was new and I was a HS kid, and still do. Bought the DVDs when it was released. But one thing I realize nowadays, as self-supporting adult: there’s no way Nick and Cody would have been able to afford to own and maintain that boat and that helicopter. They were always shown as dodging bill collectors and being desperate for clients (yet often helping people in dire need who had no money to pay them). A 1939 wood motor yacht like the Riptide is pretty maintenance intensive; you’re always fighting rot – figure 200-300 hours maintenance per year, minimum, and anywhere from $10-20 grand per year if you’re paying to have it done (today’s money – mid ‘80s, dollar amount would have been about half today's, but so would income).

I wouldn’t be surprised if the helicopter didn’t require just as much money either. As it was depicted in the show – a broken down old wreck that wouldn’t always start and whose engine sometimes quit in flight -- there’s no way in hell the FAA would have certified that thing as airworthy. And if it were just a private aircraft it would have to be inspected every year. Since Nick was shown to give paying passengers rides in it, that means a commercial certification, and I think that means inspection every 100 flight hours. Anything found defective in the inspection gets fixed (by an FAA licensed mechanic) or it doesn’t fly.

Having their own classic yacht and private helicopter (not to mention classic Corvette) definitely upped Nick’s and Cody’s cool factor, but honestly, they simply would never have been able to pay the bills on these things. I think Murray was supposed to have some money from his inventions, maybe he could have helped, but they had the yacht and the chopper long before they brought him in as a partner.