Do we sometimes overreact to higher fuel prices?


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Probably.

Considering that the average guy who isn't independently wealthy will
be lucky to boat for much over 100 engine hours a year in most
climates.

Figure some guy running twin 454's, hard, into the secondaries, and
burning maybe 40- 50 gallons an hour for 100 hours. Worst case scenario
would be 4,000 to 5,000 gallons fuel burn, and since the boater won't
be running hard all the time reality is probably down under 2500
gallons for almost everybody.

At $3 a gallon, that's $7500 for fuel for a year, and even at $4 that's
$10,000. Most people should be spending far, far, less. And you are
right, by the time people spend $200,000 for a boat, $75,000 for a
diesel truck to tow it with, and $25,000 on electronics, gear,
supplies, and accessories, what difference does it really make if the
fuel costs are $5,000 a year, or $10k?

Love my diesel trawler. Visit the fuel dock twice each year (doing
120-150 engine hours of boating in our all-season climate), "whether we
need to, or not".