Sharp Decline in long trips/says Skipperbuds

boltman

boltman

Active Member
Dec 28, 2005
1,507
Flint/Swartz Creek MI, Ported in Whitehall/Montagu
Boat Info
480 Sedan Bridge
"Sea Ray's Best Boat Ever Made"
Engines
700 hp MANS Diesels Thundering Cathedrals of Torque!!
Talking with an agent from Skipperbuds Coopersville today, he reported to me that Rendevous are being cancelled due to high fuel prices and people are preferring to stay close to home.
And summer hasn't even began here in the Great Lakes region.
 
Robert- Have heard same on this side of pond. In fact our group cut one of our trips short to help cut costs. For us we budget for fuel as we do a Christmas Club account. It sure evens out the cost of having fun. So far we have not cut back our using the boat and I dont see anything holding us back this summer. I will take note of cheaper gas at other marinas and take advantage. Some web sites have current gas listing. When taking 90+ gallons and .25 cheaper per gallon. That will offset few beverages!
 
Could you provide the URL for the web site(s) that post marina gas prices? I have been looking for this kind of site for months with no luck :huh:

Thanks,

Mike
 
I rarely go to the north end of the lake anymore(25 min ride @ 35mph) Last summer I spent every weekend at a raft up up there, but this year we started our own b/c our marina is on the south end of the lake. I cruise for about 10 min, drop anchor and chill for the whole day. 10 min back to the marina and I still have plenty of gas.

I see people in our marina that don't even leave the dock. It looks like a tailgate pary at the dock behind their boats.

I wont ever be that cheap.
 
Fuel prices may spoil a few vacations but that is a trivial issue compared to what the folks in Wisconsin and Iowa are having cope with as we speak.
 
I sadly have to admit that we have reduced our cruising as well. We will still go on a destination cruise; spend the night and come back, but we aren't just going out for a "ride" anymore unless we have out of town guests or something.

We are in covered slips at our marina and we have a great guest dock that is uncovered. There is a lot of us that just go out to the guest dock for the weekend and party.

I am kind of looking for a 18-20 ft runabout that needs some restoration. I am looking for something unique like a classic Sea Ray or Cobalt. We will use that for day cruises to mess up the hair.
 
I'll admit that my wife and I have had serious discussions about our New England trip this year and just doing something more local like the Carolinas. This is a 1500 NM trip and that's about 2300 gallons of diesel... If it wasn't for the fact I have a huge deposit amount out there at various marinas and six tickets to a Broadway play, we would probably not do it. The weather damn well better not suck.

That fourth child didn't need to go to college anyway.
 
When we went to Beaufort a couple of weeks ago we were the only little boat on the trip. Most of the boats were 42 to 53 feet burning huge amounts of diesel per hour. In years past there were lots of little boats.

There also were fewer boats that made the trip.

We are going to Hilton Head next weekend and it will be intersting to see how many boats come and what sizes they are.

Gary: We just made reservations today at Barefoot Landing in Myrtle Beach for the weekend of July 11. Art took my name and no deposit money. He said it would be no problem getting dockage this year. Hard to believe as usually they are full.

It kills me now that my kids are old enough to fend for themseleves, and I have a little free time for fuel to go up as it has. I know my fuel bill is nothing compared to yours but I still hate to watch the dial go round and round. Oh well give me another 50 gallons and hope the weather cooperates.
 
We haven't really cut down on our boating, but we have cut down on other expenses (eating out...that's the main one) We have a family of six so eating out can get pricey.

We also have a lot of people on our dock who never seem to leave the dock, EVER!! That's crazy and I hope I never have to do that, but if it comes down to the point where I can still make the payment on the boat and not buy gas. I will spend the night at the dock if neccesary!
 
Four Suns said:
I'll admit that my wife and I have had serious discussions about our New England trip this year and just doing something more local like the Carolinas. This is a 1500 NM trip and that's about 2300 gallons of diesel... If it wasn't for the fact I have a huge deposit amount out there at various marinas and six tickets to a Broadway play, we would probably not do it. The weather damn well better not suck.

That fourth child didn't need to go to college anyway.
Click to expand...

I'm curious, what do you figure your average cost per gallon will be for your trip?
 
As I sit here at my bar stool, I think...Just how many people are going to sit at the dock this year? Simply put this is an expensive sport or past time, but that said every past time needs to have money behind it. We here at the Chapman household are making cut backs as well, it helps that our food bill has went down considerabley, reason is ..18 year old is moving out, that makes 4 now Yeahhhhh
Also We ride together to work and manage our gas expenses closely. We have put money aside for or Norht Channel Trip, and are making provisions everyday to pay down long term Debt.
Parking the F350 is something that is hard for me to do..but if it gets me more time on the water,What the Hell I'll do it.
 
Hey Boltman-

Where the heck are you? We've got Miss T here in Elk Rapids and thought for sure we'd run into you and the Mrs. Your absence here this weekend isn't directly related the cutbacks in the Chapman household is it?

BTW - beautiful here yesterday and today. Not a cloud in the sky.
 
In our case so far this year it's not the price of fuel so much as it is the weather and high water. Although the price of fuel is always at the back of my mind. When it's time for vacation though, we will splurge and go where we have planned to go. For our normal weekend outings we will probably not do quite as much lets see who's out here and there cruising, we will have more destination cruises and call it good.

MM has a couple of longer cruises set up this year for our area. I will be curious to see the turn out they have for those.
 
No more Filet mignion or prime rib, its spam and vienna sausages for the summer.

damn economy.
 
Jeff, we're here in Swartz Creek, our boat is up near ELk Rapids though,dry dock in a barn now... We're coming up this coming weekend, had to take care of a daughter graduation, and open house...Hope too see you next weekend though... let me know if you'll be there with the Mrs as well
 
I was chatting this weekend with a fellow boater here - more of our problem is not the fuel price - it's the weather! Any nice warm day - it's been either raining or 4 footers on the lake... Any calm lake day - rain or it's been so cold, its not fun!

Finally this weekend was nice weather - but then with the storms - we have had so much stuff float out of the rivers on to the lakes - it's like dodge-ball on water avoiding all the tree logs / stumps / who knows what. The current on our river is crazy...

But - this week is looking nice all week!
 
Here on the Columbia River (WA, OR) we'll cut back this year on most longer jaunts in favor of shorter favorite destinations, but we're still boating. Aside from high fuel costs, the biggest impediment to staying overnight on the boat this year has been lousy weekend weather and high river levels (the beaches that our kids love are underwater). $5.00/gal gas isn’t going to keep our family from enjoying the water. If gas moves to $10/gal, we'll tie up at our marina's public dock on weekends, as a previous poster suggested.
 
we are boating more this year than last year so far and at the same time not buying as much gas. We moved the boat to the sound and have a lot more close destinations to choose from. Last year we would have to cruise 3 hours to "get somewhere". Rain or shine we are out there.
 
Four Suns said:
I'll admit that my wife and I have had serious discussions about our New England trip this year and just doing something more local like the Carolinas. This is a 1500 NM trip and that's about 2300 gallons of diesel... If it wasn't for the fact I have a huge deposit amount out there at various marinas and six tickets to a Broadway play, we would probably not do it. The weather damn well better not suck.

That fourth child didn't need to go to college anyway.
Click to expand...

Paper Route, cut grass in the summers, wash boats, doggy sit...put that 4th child to work!:grin:

My wife's father told her last night they have canceled quite a few of the trips they had planned out of NYC as diesel fuel is over $5 a gallon now in NYC.

I was talking to my dad in Baltimore last night. Told him we decided to drive up to BIH instead of boating. He said "yeah, you were looking at $200 - $300 in fuel for the boat"...I said "Guess again". I think he fell out of his chair when I told him how much the fuel bill would be and how much we have already spent in fuel this year.
 
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