The 20-30 YO buyers are a tough group. Most cannot purchase a NEW boat that costs 60-70K. This is for several reasons. They have little or no credit history on big dollar items,they are maxed out on the credit cards or have poor credit report scores, they are trying to buy a home/condo/apt, they have DWI/accident history and cannot get insured. SO....they look at pre owned for less money. That age market was strong in the late 90's when the FUN MONEY from stock brokers was plentyful. That has since gone away. If they are in that age bracket and doing well with a clean driving history they have more money available to them and and go bigger with twin engines.

Mike: (OLE BUDDY)

I would have to disagree w/ you on this one. I did the car/ track thing and it was fun for a while. My roots go far back to boating as a kid , not tracking cars. I think the die hard boaters wil always be around , something about the party coves , palm trees , lakes and oceans that keep us diehards in the game. The single engine boat market is strong now. Less fuel , insurance , maintenance and the smaller boats will flat out run alot of bigger boats. We built our first boat that runs over 100 mph , look at Activator , Super Boat , etc. Single engine , affordable , rides great in the rough and fast. The last time I was in your CC all you could talk about was getting a new 42 Fountain. Come back to the dark side Carter , it's where you belong!

PS.

When you slide that bad boy Porsche off the track and do some damage , you'll re-think that high performance boating is expensive!

I see lots of 30 and under boats but I'm on the San Juaquene Delta waters and it's pretty friendly for small boats. I think there are lots of builders with offerings in the 21-35 range. Problem is that a new boat runs upward of $100k. Pretty steep for most 20 somethings to jump into. That's one big reason I try to get people to fix up the older boats. When rigged with modern equipment they can make excellent boats at a fraction of the cost of new. We've been re-working older (00' and older) offshores now and selling them to folks who just can't or don't want to afford new. I think this is a great way to get people interested in the sport without braking the bank.

I was in to drag racing about 4 years ago and would spend every penny and every hour working on my car just to squeeze out a few tenths more in the 1/4... And sit at the track on hot days baking in the sun sweating and waiting in line for an hour just to make one pass down the track. I would have to beg girls just to come with. Then there was the race drama.

I ended up selling my drag car in the middle of summer because I was frustrated with all the drama involved in racing. I bought a 14 foot jet boat for $2k and ended up having a blast the rest of summer. You could always find more than enough freinds and girls to come along- an always new places to go and explore. Boat people are generally good people and I have made more freinds boating than I ever did at the track. Good freinds too, no drama. I'm now 25 years old on my 4rth year of boating and am going from a 24 foot single to a 30 foot twin for next season. We may even boat the entire length of the Mississippi next summer. My only regret is that I wasted all that time working on race cars and didn't get involved with perfromance boats sooner.

I was hoping the "Miami Vice" movie would do to boating what "Fast and the Furious" did to drag racing. If they would have kept all the high performance boating footage in the movie I think it really would have boosted the sport.

I understand what you are saying and I feel a guy like you could do well with your boat in the 25-35 year old or so crowd if you can keep the cost down and still make a buck. I am just speaking my thoughts and what I feel and see out loud here on OSO. So the comments are what I am looking for and thank you for yours. No harm done! Maybe it's just me but I just do not see younger boaters buying 24-29 foot performance boats like I use to. At least in my area so maybe Lake Lanier is crawling with this type of boater and boats.

When I go to track days I see all the 20-30 somethings (lots and lots) of them there tracking there new Vette, 2-3 year old Viper, WRX, mid 90's Porsche, Honda, Mazda, Nissan 350Z and so forth. Just an observation that I see happening and the fact that due to the popularity of track days is going out of site it's hard for my Porsche Club to book track days.

I don't sell or talk to younger boaters. Most of my calls are from people around 30-40 years old. The " exotic" boater will always have the sick cat or v , but I feel that the single engine crowd is where it's at. The technology today with engines , drives and composite materials makes the single engine boats run speeds unheard of in the past. There's also issues w/ trailering ,fuel costs, insurance , financing and upkeep that keeps us in the game. I know you Mike , you'll have that new "go fast" soon. Respectfully debating you sir!

I just thought how this would have applied to me 10 years ago when I was 25. I bought a 3/2 house in Boca 1 mile from the beach and had just bought a 95 M3. The house was 94K (2006 price 400K, same house) and the car was 29K (used, a one year old M3 today is 40-43K) so I didn't have the cash for an offshore back then and certainly wouldn't have it today to have the same things at 25 today. House/ Car payment was 1400 month total and now in 2006 the M3 payment would be almost 1,000 month by itself! I wanted an offshore boat back then but it wasn't a priority. I could have bought a single engine CC but I didn't want one.

I think that a boat is a luxury item that most 20-30 somethings just don't care to pay for/ take care of when other priorities such as housing/ school loans/ cars are seen as more necessities.

EXACTLY.......Now we do have clients that fall into that age range and did purchase 25-30 foot single engine boats BUT..... Interestingly enough they already paid off their loans and owned a home so the boat was next in line as a major purchase once the other "NECESSITIES" as you spoke of were satisfied. BTW there are not many of those clients around these days

Brian, I think you are misunderstanding me. I am not saying the single engine performance boat is bad, wrong or not were it's at.

I gotta' agree with Mike...for whatever reason, the 24 -29 foot range of potential performance boat buyers are definitely doing something else with their leisure time and money.
Hugh