On 20 Mar 2007 09:30:17 -0700, "Chuck Gould"
wrote:

It's easy enough to drive by all those boats for sale on the front
lawns of neighborhoods across the country and think, "They should have
made better choices." That's certainly one valid way to look at it. By
the same token, it's a shame that through no fault of their own the
economic dynamics shifted and left them without any reasonable
options.

In one way I agree with you. However, people shouldn't reasonably
expect that economies will stay static forever. There are economic
cycles and "stuff" happens. Reasonable precautions in terms of
tomorrow isn't a hallmark of the personal American economic model.

It's easy enough to blame the oil companies and politicians (from both
parties) for the fact that boating is getting farther out of sight as
a recreational option for many families, but the boating industry has
to bear a large share of blame as well. It seems like every single
boat builder is chasing the same narrow spectrum of the market. Nobody
even thinks it's unusual when a new 30-foot powerboat sells for as
much as a new 3000 sq foot house in a decent or better neighborhood-
and that (IMO) represents a problem. By the time most of these boats
depreciate enough to be affordable by ordinary working class Americans
they're far too expensive to maintain (or, in many cases, fuel).

I totally agree with you on that point. A center console is a center
console - a walk around is a walk around. There is so much similarity
even in terms of pricing. Evrybody makes a bay boat, bass boat,
center console, walkaround - it's ridiculous.