the ten or twenty who post here most often wouldn't know an RDF from an RDA
from a USDA from a BABA. a couple of them actually brag (in apparent
seriousness) they knew everything there is to know about how sailboats work by
the time they were thirteen years old.

Sometimes, but not often.

The majority of regular posters here don't even own a boat- or at least
have never posted anything concerning boating. You will find personal
grudges that have graduated to all out flame wars, politically
motivated personal attacks, and no end of general nastiness. Sometimes
a boating topic will appear, and often it will generate 4-5 comments or
responses. Start a thread called "Bush Sucks" or "Liberal Traitors Wet
the Bed", and it will take on a life of its own with up to a few
hundred responses. After the first half dozen, however, it will
degenerate to the same ten kids calling one another names, making
uncollectible bets about net worth, education, or IQ, and (lately)
threatening to track other people down and beat them up.

Right now the group doesn't have much to recommend it. It will get
better (?) in the spring when the "how do I start my outboard" posts
begin again. There are some serious boating NG's out there, but
rec.boats is not among them and has not been for several years. Right
now there are fewer than 20 regular posters and a few lukers who hang
in the shadows waiting for an opportunity to dart in, post an insulting
personal comment, and then disappear again. It's beyond repair so enjoy
it for what it is, or not.