Beside the bigger boat social climber the other status symbol is the
inflatable dinghies.
At some Yacht clubs you can see what we call long term parkers. Owners that
insist on having dinghy docks. They park their inflatable and RIB's with a
10 - 15 HP outboards at the dinghy docks for most of the summer without
using them while their big boats are at the slips.
The owners that moored their boats and use a rigid rowing dinghy to get to
and from their boats have no space to tie they rowing dinghies. They have
to pull their rowing dinghies on the beach.
One interesting observation is that club employees and members give priority
to inflatable. If you own an Avon your status goes up. When they get
filled with rain water they run to empty the inflatable. It would be
interesting to learn what is the situation at other clubs and marinas.

"Texan" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 13 Jun 2005 19:34:13 +0100, "Nigel"
wrote:


wrote in message
oups.com...
I wanted to get some idea of boat use as a function of length but it
really isnt clear as there are some extreme outlying data points so the
best I can do is less than 30' and more than. There is no cut-off but
maybe a graay area. Yes, my boat is only 28' and I think it may have
so many systems that time-killers that I need to eliminate some. I
suspect that it isnt the size of the boat as much as the complexity and
size allows more complexity.

Having lived aboard and worked on boats for years this is what I see:
Those who can afford the big boats tend to be so busy making the money
needed that they don't have the time to use the big boats.
I don't know how many times I have been called on a weekend by a big
boat owner angry that his engines wouldn't start after being neglected
for 6 months.
" I paid $200K for this boat, the d** thing should at least start.".
I've heard simular words so many times.
Typicaly the smal boat owner is sacrificeing for his boat. The boat,
The slip, The insurance, etc. If he's not useing the boat, he tends to
sell it or at least put it in the driveway.
Yes I know these are generalizations. But it's just been my
observations over the years.