JimH wrote:
On Jun 7, 1:59 am, "Calif Bill" wrote:
"JimH" wrote in message

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On Jun 6, 12:33 am, "Calif Bill" wrote:
"JimH" wrote in message
...
On Jun 5, 1:35 pm, wrote:
On Jun 5, 12:36 pm, "
wrote:
On Jun 4, 5:47 pm, JimH wrote:
Folks are also apparently baling out of the 32' to 45' used power
boat
market due to increased fuel prices.
From the May 2008 edition of Boat/US power trade or sale:
14 feet to 24 feet - 21 ads
25 feet to 31 feet - 40 ads
32 feet to 45 feet - 157 ads
46+ feet - 10 ads
Although this may not be a true indicator of the market one has to
also consider the drop in stock prices of boat manufacturers.
Notice also that those who can afford the larger yachts are not
baling
out (at least according to the Boat/US ads).
With dockside pump prices expected to exceed $5/gallon will you be
selling or limiting cruising your 32~45 footer?
This is odd to see only a small number of 14-24-ft boats ads while a
much larger number of 32-45-ft ads. The absolute number of 14-24-ft
boats should be far greater than boats in other size-categories
combined. Even if there is a small percentage of 14-24-ft boats are
on sales, the total number of ads for this size boats should still
be
very large. May be Boat/US ads site is mainly for larger boats like
those in 32-45-ft class? Therefore, we should also compare this
period ads of 2008 with the same period ads from 2007 in order to
see
the trend.
The other possibility is that small boats tend to stay close to
shore
and not go that far. They don't spend that much gas to reach their
fishing ground anyway. Therefore, higher gas price is not as big a
factor as comparing to large boats that tend to go a long distance
to
reach the exciting off-shore fishing ground.
Bingo, in this market the guys who are considered "middle class" used
to be able to scrounge and run a 26 foot Grady. Now it will cost that
guy a couple of hunred bucks a day just for gas, he can no longer
afford his boat. My 16 footer uses 2-3 gallons on a long day maybe 5..
I have no need to sell my boat..
And the larger boats may be mainly for cruising. By definition,
they
will need to travel far to justify their existence. If the gas
price
is too high for cruising around for the current boat owners, they
will
want to sell the boats.
Thanks for posting the interesting statistics.
Jay Chan- Hide quoted text -
- Show quoted text -
If we still had our 32 footer it would cost around $775 to fill it up
at today's marina pump prices!
Glad we sold it when we did and moved into a 20 footer that gets great
gas mileage. ;-)
Just because it is smaller does not reduce the gas costs that much. Or
the
overall cost. I went fishing last week and the boat was near empty and I
only added 42 gallons at Safeway's gas station at $4.029 and still cost
$174. I get about 2 miles per gallon average and a lot of the bigger
cruisers, expecially the diesel trawlers probably get 100% more milage
(knotlage?). Fex-Ex just delivered $105 of parts for the boat and hobby.
Most was except for 4 lures, to get the order over $100 to save the $10
shipping, was to fix the boat and trailer. New LED tail light, Why are
they
only working for a year? The one being replaced may be one of the West
Marine recalled ones. New winch strap, and new mount for the bow
pedestal
seat. The people that try to ski all weekend are going to hurt, cheaper
to
anchor up and drink beer and party.
I take the fuel economy on my single 4.3L 20 footer over my previously
owned 32 footer with 5.7L twins.
We do not water ski or tube unless our kids are with us. I also try to
keep the throttle at an efficient cruising speed when underway.
But most people with the 32' boats are now either partying at the dock or
rafting up at nearby location. So the actual fuel used is probably not that


The 157 owners of those 32' to 45' boats would probably disagree with
you.

Personally I think taking a boat out to raft or anchor up to booze it
up is stupid and dangerous.


I wish the watercops were doing more to spot check boaters for alcohol
blood levels.