Gofirstclass
Well-Known Member
Re: How old were you when you bought your first boat? The young are not buying boats
I'm not a bit surprised by the changing demographics. Look at the dates of the two years compared in the graph.....
In 2007 (10 years after the first stats) we entered "The Great Recession". Many of the young people who bought those boats in the late 90's and early 2000's were in hock up to their eyeballs. When the feathers hit the fan many of those young people had to give back their toys and their homes. Now fast forward to the second set of stats in the graph. The older guys (I'm in that group) survived the recession and were/are headed to retirement. They want something to do in their "golden years" so they turn to boating.
In response to the original question....
I was 5 when I got my first rowboat. A 7.5hp Evinrude was attached to the stern when I was 7. I got a blow boat when I was 13, then went through a long dry spell (bad pun there, but it's appropriate) until I was my 40's (1990) before I bought a 20' bowrider. I kept that until 2000 when I bought my first 330 Sundancer. Upsized in 2010 to our current boat.
It's in my blood.
I'm not a bit surprised by the changing demographics. Look at the dates of the two years compared in the graph.....
In 2007 (10 years after the first stats) we entered "The Great Recession". Many of the young people who bought those boats in the late 90's and early 2000's were in hock up to their eyeballs. When the feathers hit the fan many of those young people had to give back their toys and their homes. Now fast forward to the second set of stats in the graph. The older guys (I'm in that group) survived the recession and were/are headed to retirement. They want something to do in their "golden years" so they turn to boating.
In response to the original question....
I was 5 when I got my first rowboat. A 7.5hp Evinrude was attached to the stern when I was 7. I got a blow boat when I was 13, then went through a long dry spell (bad pun there, but it's appropriate) until I was my 40's (1990) before I bought a 20' bowrider. I kept that until 2000 when I bought my first 330 Sundancer. Upsized in 2010 to our current boat.
It's in my blood.