a.) rec.boats has become a political trash heap. I am trying to bring boats
back into the ng

You're right, sort of.

1) Rec boats is mostly politics these days.
The majority of new threads are political.
Boating topics get 2-3 responses, "Bush Sucks, Kerry Sucks, This Poster or That
Sucks" threads get 150.

2) It's a trash heap because of the level of discourse, in addition to the
prevailing, political subject matter. Fewer contributors
seem unable to grasp the concept that people with contrasting opinions are not
automatically ignorant miscreants with questionable paternity and incurable
personality disorders. Name calling and flaming are considered standard
procedure, with some posters carrying the same flame war from thread to thread
for several years. Less than adult behavior, by any objective standard.

Take your opening salvo in this thread.

You could have said, "All chain rode is inferior because..............." and
let it go at that. Nope. Didn't happen. Instead, anybody who disagrees with
your opinion is either a "weak old man" or "chicken of the sea."

If your goal is truly to redirect rec.boats from becoming 100% political or
even more of a trash heap, you should consider doing more than introducing a
boating related topic. You might consider a policy under which you don't bring
in additional trash.