On May 16, 2:06 pm, "JimH" wrote:


There are going to be a lot of large boats sitting mainly idle this summer.

Depends how you define "large", I think.

The guys with the low HP cartoppers won't care what happens to fuel
prices as they can use a boat a lot and not burn more than 40-50
gallons in a season.

The guys with $xxx,xxx or $x,xxx,xxx invested in a boat are
probably running somewhat more efficient diesels
and can more often afford the fuel. When somebody is paying $30,000 a
year to keep, operate, and maintain a boat (and can afford to do so)
it won't matter all that much if the cost goes to $34,000 because fuel
expenses went from
$3000 to $7000 for the year.

I'd guess it's the medium size speedboats that are in a heap of
trouble with the fuel price situation. Folks who stretched their
financial resources to buy a used 28-30 footer for maybe $40-50,000
and in many cases needed or chose to finance the purchase are
typically using a boat built back when fuel was relatively "cheap". A
couple of very thirsty, big-block gas engines could cost $250-$300 or
more per hour to run at current fuel dock prices.
The dropouts will be those who 1) literally cannot afford it or 2)
choose not to afford it.

My own medium size boat only burns a couple of gallons an hour. I've
always taken a lot of teasing crap from folks who think the only way
to boat is up on plane and who criticize my boat's lack of speed. I
guess I'll be going 8.5 knots faster than a lot of those people will
this year. Even so, that's too bad. Rather than feel "vindicated at
last" for choosing a very fuel efficient boat it's a shame that so
many people will be using their boats less or in some cases not at all
due to the costs of fuel.