"Chuck Gould" wrote in message
oups.com...


Down thread, somebody comments about the market returning to smaller
boats. I'm not sure that will be the result of this third straight
year of gas gouging. From what I can see, the small boat builders are
hurting even worse than the yacht manufacturers.

The guys in the big boats? They can afford the fuel.


Fuel prices affect everybody and I don't think the popularity of larger
boats is necessarily due to the ability to pay for the higher fuel costs.
In fact, I could argue a case that in these days of high prices, the larger
boat makes more sense to own .... and I say that having
experience owning small boats, bigger boats and everything in between. My
reasoning follows, but first a couple of definition stipulations.

What's a "small" boat? To me, (at the risk of a debate) a small boat is an
outboard or I/O
powered (single or twins) vessel of about 25 feet LOA or less. A "large"
boat to me is a diesel powered boat with an LOA of 40-50 feet or more. The
rest are "in betweens". (not discussing sailboats)

My reasoning:

1. In general, smaller boats are used more for fishing, skiing, tubing and
other single day boating activities. They usually are "go fast" boats and
burn quite a bit of fuel at or near WOT. So, other than the few that
putt-putt around for an afternoon, a weekend of typical boating activities
on a smaller boat
that require high throttle settings can be quite expensive at today's fuel
prices.

2. With the exception of some high performance sportsfish type boats, bigger
boats are more efficient in their fuel usage. They can carry more
people, more equipment, more overall "stuff" and the gallons burned per hour
won't change much due to load changes. Furthermore, big boats typically
aren't used for "go fast" afternoon recreational activities. A leisurely
cruise to a favorite port can be an all day pleasure trip for a number of
people at a relatively low fuel burn rate.

For example, at cruise speed (19 knots) our Navigator burns about 25 gallons
of diesel fuel per hour. This is on a boat that, loaded with fuel, water and
all our "stuff" probably displaces around 40,000 lbs. or more. If I drop
that speed down to 10-12 knots, I'll bet it burns less than half that.
Also, it holds 500 gallons of fuel, so we can go quite a while without
worrying about
where to get fuel.

3. My final point. A smaller boat is used, then hauled or tied up at a
slip until the next usage. There's not much else to do on it. It can be
washed quickly, maybe the owner can hang out for a while, but usually it's a
day event. A bigger boat has more to offer in terms of function, in my
opinion. I still enjoy spending 3 or 4 days or more at a time, several
times during the summer, "living" aboard the boat, either at the slip or
occasionally swinging on a mooring. I don't necessarily need to burn fuel
to enjoy it.

Often, I simply putter around doing maintenance chores during the day and
enjoying the occasional visits of others with boats at the marina or other
visiting friends. Then, when all but a few leave for home, the rest of us
enjoy the evening cool air shooting the
breeze or in quiet solitude if we choose. When it's time for sleep,
there's a very comfortable queen size bed awaiting. And .... in my opinion
..... there's nothing better than a cup of coffee in the morning while
watching the sun rise.

Then ... there's the fun of riding out the occasional storms.

Eisboch