I can go with this opinion, I will do less traveling with my boat to Havasu except for the poker runs and regattas and such. It does seriously bum me out though as i feel my pocket is being picked and I cant do a damn thing about it.

Good point.
Can you send a little money my way?
I'm not a big shot like the "most" of you "guys with big boats and big horsepower."

But if as many guys pull back on the throttles as they say they are gonna, manufacturers should step away from the speed records and go for more economy.

Maybe insurance would be more reasonable too.

It seems like eventually the boaters will be separated from the world speed record attempters.

BINGO.

That's the feeling that is bringing me down and freaking me out.

I was on vacation last week in Northern Michigan it cost me about $200 a day to run the boat if you dont just tie up....I think I spent about as much in one week as I did all year last year Its getting close to the end for me, heck I work for a living have a wife and kids a mortgage and things that I have to pay for first, I may get a Zodiac with a 4 stroke outboard or get out all together. I never thought I would say it but its just too much cash total for the time I get to enjoy my boat.

The stock efi outboard (3liter) seems to burn more fuel than a stock efi big block (8 liter)......also consider oil....Im paying $150 for 2.5 gallons and it goes fast Im burning 30-32 GPH at WOT according to my smartcraft gauges (per side)
So as far as fuel goes Id have to put it on a spread sheet which I really dont even want to know

If you want to go fast......than I think the outboard cat IS the way to go. To go 100+ mph in a 30+ V bottom you are going to need around 800+ HP (per side) to move it. To maintain motors and drives in that horse power range is going to cost you alot more than maintaining stock outboard power and pay the insurance.

Stock 496 H.O. At cruise burns about 35 gph @ 4,000 rpm, at WOT, 5,000 rpms it burns about 45-50

Oh yeah....
If I own it Im gonna run it. If I run it Im gonna run it hard
I think the smaller boats are going to take a bigger hit on resale than the bigger high end boats....the guys running the big exotic stuff tend to be in a whole other "net worth" catagory than the most of us here. As long as the desire to boat for this small group of people is there they will pay whatever it takes.
The fuel prices do take a bit of fun out of it though.

My 560hp 502 did better than that. Are those the numbers you are seeing??

I don't think the problem is gas prices. I think it's the fact that people don't stop and figure it in when doing thier budget. If you can afford "X" amount of dollars per month then figure out how much gas will cost(and rise to in the future) for you to totally enjoy a boat. Take the money left over and decide what you can afford to buy with that money. If people would stop buying boats bigger than they can afford then they wouldn't have to worry about gas prices. I drive a cheap boat. And every time I go to the pump I don't even bat an eye. Cuz I know I can afford to put as much gas in my boat as I want, because I don't need the cash to pay for the boat. Any way that's how I look at it.

How can you budget gas prices and what they will be in the future?