Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On 10 Apr 2007 19:09:52 -0700, "Chuck Gould"
wrote:

On Apr 10, 5:07?pm, Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On 10 Apr 2007 16:36:15 -0700, "Chuck Gould"

wrote:
ower boaters and bass boaters say gas prices would have to reach
$3.26 and $3.17 respectively before they would use their boats less
often. That's 50 cents more per gallon than they said last year.
Horse feathers.

I'm already hearing bass tournement types saying they are cutting back
on the number of tourneys they will be attending this year and will
only be doing local and state tourneys rather than out of state
tourneys.

And my club is starting a share a ride program for fishing this year
becaue of fuel prices.

Everybody will have a different individual perspective. I thought
perhaps the survey results would stir up discussion, and they
have. :-)

I don't have an enormous fuel bill, primarily because I only burn
about 2 gph.
As we begin considering options for our "retirement" boat (purchase is
still several years away) I have been wrestling with the prospect of
perhaps burning a lot more fuel at a future price of a lot more per
gallon.

I keep coming back around to this line of reasoning, (and I don't know
whether it makes any sense to people who are burning a lot of fuel-
because I can't say I've been there, done that):

When you've got maybe $100k- $150k invested in a walkaround fishboat
and outboard, or perhaps $200k -$1mm or more invested in a somewhat
larger cruising boat- would the fact that fuel costs increased from
(for example) $2500 for a summer to (for example) $5000 be sufficient
reason to curtail the use of the boat?

The old adage, "Fuel is the least expensive thing you will ever put
into a boat" may not be as true as it once was, but when all of the
other costs associated with boating are factored in it doesn't seem
like it should be a deal breaker in a lot of cases.

I understand your point and to an extent, agree with it. For those
who own boats of that class, it's probably true to some extent.

For the average schmuck, that just isn't true. It's a little tougher
to drop $150 bucks of gas in the family runabout on a weekend when it
costs you $150 bucks a week in gas to get the parents to work.

Maybe I'm over estimating, or under estimating, the ability of the
average boating consumer, but from what I'm hearing from my club
members and other sources, the average joe just ain't gonna use his
boat all that much.


Fortunately, I have three buddies who like to go fishing almost every
week, and are more than willing to kick in $20 each for gasoline. At 10
gallons an hour at cruising speed, that helps defray the fuel costs
considerably. Anyone who claims high fuel prices aren't going to put a
crimp in boating is smoking dope.