Is boating dying

[CliffA]

for the admiral and I at this point the $$$ isn't the issue
it's having the time left over to boat after working for the $$$
(we are both in management in a retail setting)
new plan for 2013 though :wink:

i have the same problem...we just welcomed two new grandchildern to our extended family within the past couple months....one to my daughter's family and one to my son's family....we now have a total of 4 grandchildren......my daughter and family live 3 hours away in one direction and my son and family live 3 hours away in another direction....my parents are aging and live 1.5 hours away and my mother-in-law is in a nursing home 3 hours away.....when you add in work, yard maintenance, birthdays, weddings, showers, graduations, etc for other family members and friends it doesn't leave much time for boating....don't get me wrong, i am grateful we have family and friends to share time with, but i'm just saying......

cliff

 

[BritLady]

We have one or two boat brokers who come into our business and they all say that they are doing better now than they have for years. We are even receiving solicitations in the mail to sell our boat. I know of three folk at our yacht club who listed and sold their boats (priced fairly) within two or three weeks.....so perhaps it's just location as it's not too bad in SW FL. Admittedly folk don't seem to cruise as far or often as they once did because of fuel prices. Just hope the fuel costs don't get much higher but I am not holding my breath

 

[sbw1]

We had lots of boats go by our house this summer. In fact, it picked up quite a bit from two years ago when we sometimes saw no boats when we went for rides in the Spring and early summer. We had trouble getting into Leland harbor this year but did get a slip after hanging out for a while. Leland filled every day we were there in July for 14 days. Harbor Springs was not full, but was busy for the two weeks we were there. We needed a reservation to get into Jacobson's in Frankfort and John filled up the few days we were there. We saw boats running off shore on radar although there were more sailboats than powerboats. The powerboats tended to be larger ones (40-60 feet) and we did not see many boats 30 feet or less.

I believe a bigger issue is going to be water levels in 2013 unless we get lots of rain and snow. Many people on our lake had trouble getting boats off lifts and some were stuck in the mud. I've not ever seen levels this low in 34 years of living on this lake. We are now at the 1964 all time low level and it's not a pretty sight. We are fortunate that our slip is located on the site of a lumber mill that was operating about 110 years ago. The commercial dock was where my slip is. We still have 4' of water at our anchor and 13' feet at the back of the boat. I'm going to need a ladder to get on and off the boat next year unless levels improve.

 

[sbw1]

Had this discussion many times past summer. "I'm not going by boat to the restaurant for lunch and drinks and spend $220 for the crab cake sandwich". Of course there was a few times we did that...

You could switch to flying. We used to do $100 burgers. I'm amazed by how little fuel the Cherokees burned "back in the day."

 

[Phlorida]

If December continues to be in the 70's we will have more than 125 hours on our boat in 2012. I get right at 2mpg at cruise.

 

[giff1]

Has it been three years since I started this thread?

Well boating is not dead but it has changed.
In the past three years:
-The price of gas is a $1.25 more at the dock.
-Hours running the boat is 40% less, 40% more rafting up around the corner.
-No weeklong boat trips since 2010. (Use to do it every year)
-Slip fees up 10%.
-Boat yard is filling slips with sailboats, five years ago sailboats were on moorings
and only powerboats in the slips.
-Some long time boating friends have sold their boats.
-Yacht club is more of a drinking club then a boating club.
-The State of Maryland has a lot more anti-boat laws.
-Maryland sales tax is higher and even higher tax on boat drinks.
-And then there was Hurricane Sandy.

STILL I AM A BOATER AND FOR ME BOATING IS NOT DEAD.
Just changed.