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This is a boat group?

russellp wrote:
I don't think so.

Do you have a boating related question? I'm sorry, but I couldn't help
but notice that your post has absolutely nothing to do with boats.

I don't think so.

Geez, I was wondering.

But now that you pointed out that it isn't, I'm completely clear on it.

Thanks!

the boating market itself has been heading downward for twenty years, with a
bump up between 1994 and 1999, due in large part to pwc's, and a secondary part
from baby boomers trying to be young forever by buying "cruising" boats. bb's
found sailing to be a lot of physical effort, and powerboats to be jarring.

ng's on sailing/boating exploded with the internet, then fell off when it was
realized there is only just so much info regarding anchors, "right size" boats,
radar, Caribbean ports, watermakers, and chart plotters, and once it has been
discussed the first few hundred times, no one cares any more. so, ng's fade,
to be replaced by newbies with google. faster, easier, more reliable.

All ng's I monitor, except one, are going downhill. All, except one, filled
its bandwidth in the last 12 months almost exclusively with political trash.
The election is over, the political trashers exhausted and the thing continues
to decline.

1985 was the high point in boat ownership in terms of units in the US of A.
kids, now in their early 40's at the top side, are not taking up
sailing/boating. One yacht club I know of has just two members under 50.

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.

Jaxashby wrote:

1985 was the high point in boat ownership in terms of units in the US
of A.
kids, now in their early 40's at the top side, are not taking up
sailing/boating. One yacht club I know of has just two members under
50.

*********

You may have confused boat ownership with boat sales. A lot more people
now *own* boats than did in 1985, but there may be some reason that
1985 was a "boom" year for unit sales.

The nature of boating is changing. I agree that sailing is pretty well
on its butt, new boat sales wise.There are plenty of good used
sailboats out there, and a very slowly diminshing but still significant
number of people enjoying them. Kayaks are booming, and you have to
consider a kayak a boat. Fewer people buy a boat just to get out on the
lake and buzz around in a circle than may have in the past, and unless
one buys a big SUV or diesel pickup, (with payments that then make boat
ownership almost impossible on many middle class incomes), there are
few vehicles sold that are suitable tow rigs for a trailerable boat.

More people today buy a boat to enhance another aspect of their
lifestyle. They may buy a boat for fishing, for skiing or tubing, for
camping and exploring, etc.

You are correct that we need to get younger people into boating, but
that will be a challenge with much of generation X. A lot of these
"kids" are in their mid 30's, with little desire to own anything that
will tie them down, little desire to marry or start a
family.....(average age of first marriages is now close to 30 YO,
compared to early 20's a generation ago)....and many of them
don't have enough disposable income to contemplate spending the
$1000/month and more it usually takes to own, insure, maintain, and
operate even a modest boat. These kids have done the jet-ski thing and
crossed "boating" off the list of things to do, or are eating tofu
snacks on a remote island with a kayak beached nearby.

Well said mr. Gould.!

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.

Again, very well said Gould.

I could not agree with you more. It appears that a good portion of the
comments in this newsgroup are political bantering and childish debates.
When someone mentions this they are often given the standard options/reasons
that they have a choice to read OT topics and debates.

I wonder if I was to go to a politcal newsgroup how would I be received if I
insisted on posting boating concerns.

I have received some very good replies to my questions and I thank those
that have helped me.. Jim