WOW Did you just bring back some memories...I had a Boss 302 and a built Ford 460 and did it all in my parents driveway. Changing cams, heads, carburetors, etc.Those cars burned and smelled like gas but were absolutely a kick to drive. I used to love a good burnout!! "Can your car get 2nd gear rubber?" And the stereos - how many of those did I insttall!!! Is that why I/we like boats? Because we can still work on them? We have a problem with this new generation! We have to teach them to have physical fun especially outdoors like boating, fishing, camping and such. Even bike riding is a great sport. We do the MS 150 bike ride from Houston to Austin every year and that is about 180 miles! :coolcowboy:

UD,
You have some very valid points, but with a heated pool in the back yard, a dock that has boats on it, and fishing is just a fishing pole away, my kids have all kinds of outdoor opportunities and yet would seem to be happier inside. And I have to make more of an effort to get in the pool with them, I'm usually busy working on something, (boats, cars, truck, rental property, etc....) BUT I've got to make time for them OUTSIDE!
Dean

Im 27 I dont know if Im the next generation but let me say this. Every generation has it easier, you had it better than your dad and so forth. I will agree that kids born late 80's and 90's definitely lack something that people in their late 20's early 30's have. I would agree kids these days are coddled compared to the past but most of these kids are the children of people that are posting here, so whos fault is it? Second in todays world the factory life is gone jobs are tech jobs and computer realated things. So doing the things in the past maybe doesnt benefit people like it used to, like teaching your kid to build a car well chances are he wont work in a factory or even ever build a car or anything else for that matter because he will have work more hours and not have time to do it.
Let me say this the most decked out camaro in 1969 cost around 4 grand in todays money thats like 18-20. Today you cant get into a decked camaro for under 35 and on top of it you can work on it anymore unless you have computer knowledge. Things just cost more money these days

I would agree with you on some of this to a point, but times do change and let me remind you there are people in my generation including my self have been fighting in wars for 10 years now and let me tell you some of this next generation isnt so bad. This next generation might not have as great of a work ethic or like to be hands on but we are smarter, more tolerant, and willing to learn new things than older generations.

With any generation your going to have rich the poor and then the rest of us. Im sure there are a lot of hard working people in here but I bet theres a lot of people in here that are old money and at some point in time some have received money or big paying job from a parent or other family member. Will all of this everything is relative.

Theres a good batch in every mix and you sound lik one of em...

UD

Some interesting stuff here, especially the comments about yearning. I'm 33 and became addicted to boats when I was around 10. Everything I've accomplish both school and career wise usually was because I was trying to figure out how to afford nice boats. When other people were dropping out of engineering and switching to general studies, I was thinking about how much a 38 Formula cost and knew I had to stick it out. Even today I'm constantly trying to take that next step so I can afford bigger and better. I know people who are happy just sitting on their asses every day and have no desire for anything and I just don't understand it. Hopefully I can pass on the same desire to my kids when the time comes.

Yep. Same here and Im 27.

There ya have it there is hope ! :party-smiley-020:











Now go buy a bigger boat :party-smiley-004::eek:

How about a nice 40 Skater I know of one!

This seems to be the problem with America right now.
While the fed's, of course, reserve the right to enforce legislation against discharging firearms and offroading on public land they've started trying it with property owners here in Texas too.
A punk ass big talking 22 yr old Sheriff's deputy comes out on my country property and starts telling me that we can't ride or shoot there anymore because the new neighbors have a problem with the noise.
And I'm like "Tell them to get over it, we're only going to be here another 4 or 5 hours" and he's like "NO SIR , you'll stop right now or else." Which threw me into a rage, "What the phuck or else are you telling me is going to happen if I don't"
Then it's "You'll be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law for the laws your currently breaking"
I'd just finished building a pool for the Chief detective in this county about 6 months before and still had his cell# in my phone so I called him told him what we were doing and that we'd be done in a few hours and would he please ask his patrol deputy to go ahead and cite me now or get his ass back to the job of protecting us from the real criminals out there in society and then put him on the phone with the deputy. He got in his unit and left without saying a word.
I didn't go back upcountry for about 3 months and when we were there I'll be damned if another deputy, this time older and nicer, came out and and proceeded to tell us the same thing. I told him "Look we only come here 5 or 6 times a year and this is what me, my friends who are with me, and our kids do when we're out on my property. If you feel the need just go ahead and cite me right now 'cause we're ain't leaving for another few hours or go talk to those new property owners and tell them to get over it. WTF is going on here nowadays??? I can expect this from a forest ranger on public land or a game warden on mine if it was hunting season but not from the sheriffs dept on a Saturday afternoon"
He left to talk to the neighbors and never came back. I haven't been there since November and we were talkng about going up again in the next couple of weeks.
I laughed when I said "Let's see if we can make it a hat trick, LOL!!!

Scott,
Sorry I jumped in on the Off Topic hijacking.
I think you started an awesome thread about where your mindset should be as either a buyer or a seller.
I've used the "Now's the time to buy" closing technique for the past 2 1/2 years. It'll never be any better for buyers, and unfortunately it goes without saying, or worse for sellers than it is currently, and I always make sure to let them know my position. "You won't see my pool at this price level again once the economy somewhat rebounds"

See ya,
Kelly

Everything is worth what someone will pay,
no more
no less..

Yes you and jmeng seem mature for your ages and hopefully many more of your age group out there have your level of maturity. This is really not off topic - in an interesting way we are all talking about the boats we love and yearned for, and the realities we went through to get them. As an example I always wanted a 42 Fountain, and now I have one with 525's, and it is as fun and reliable as I dreamed it would be! It's not as fast as a lot of other boats, but 82-85 depending on load and weather is fast enough for me and it can do it in 2-3 ft waves. Yes times are changing but interest in products runs in cycles and boat sales will rebound at some poiunt not too far off when the economy stabilizes. At Jefferson Yacht they will take your older Marlago and refirb it for a fraction of the cost of new. Fountain could do that too as their models don't change that much from year to year either. I think boat builders could call owners to ask them to consider a refirb until new sales pick up it might be a way to weather the tough times.