I don't get it! Help me to understand. .!?!?!
 

Hey guys, help me out! *Why have a boat?*

It seems lately no-one wants to boat together any more! *Here it is *- basically 1/2 way through the summer and no one can make plans to get together and boat! These are folks that kids are out on their own, folks that have plenty of time and disposable income and folks that talk each winter about how they can't wait till boating season.*

This weekend in our neck of the woods is a big festival on the James River. Everyone talks about it for a year as a don't miss event. That event was this past Saturday, and virtually everyone in our area was planning on going.*
There were a bunch of great folks from Richmond........ And it was great to see them! But out of 15-25 boats planning on going from our local area, maybe 5 boats / groups made it! No reason as to why - most just didn't show. I understand things come up - ESP work, but to just not show???
There are 2 major poker runs in the area (one that I help put on) - the majority of local boaters don't attend!

I tried to get a group on my boat at my expense to go to lunch Sunday (granted at last minute) and no one would/could go. Heard - just gonna stay home; going to do dogs on the grill; got to clean the bilge; got to do some work, gonna go to pool, waiting to hear from XXX and see what he is doing; the kids want to stay home and so on.

Thus I am wondering - no one seems to want to boat anymore. Why have a boat, why put up with the expense and head aches?

Again, here it s 1/2 way thru summer; and the majority of local boaters / friends have yet to get together.*The rare time when a bunch can gather - it is a top notch time and everyone talks about the fun for days.*

What Is up? Fuel too much? Getting too old? Loss of interest? Too obsessed with maintenance (that was my problem till I bought a cheapo boat) or???????
Help me out - I do not understand.

Kinda dealing with same thing Bill. Kids would rather ride the jetski or just jump/swim from our dock.....to the point I'm looking for another jetski to ride with my oldest (Yamaha 1200). I've also started taking driving lessons in a racecar and starting to debate diverting boating funds to that instead.......whether they want to go or not doesn't matter when your driving by yourself.

BTW: We were less than 5 miles from where you were sat...but with 3 boys staying away seemed like the better idea!!!

maybe you just need to find new friends, I went to a friends pool today, gotta say with a little one a pool is a lot easier then a boat.

don't worry about them , go out and have fun on your own or with the family , once you raft up some where you will meet new people that are out having fun ,
that's the one thing i can say about boating most people are friendly .
it's always hard to make plan's , just go at your own pace and have fun

mike

what area are you talking about,,ie where do you do your boating???seems normal in southeast mich.:drink:

Boating
 

Hey Bill, I think all the reasons you listed for NOT wanting to go boating are very true. I know myself and my family use many if not all those excuses many times throughout the summer... Boating's super fun, but it's alot of work too.

I know most of the time, my families boat is so clean, top to bottom, that I don't wanna have to clean it up again, so I make an excuse not to launch. LOL..:drink:

I think we have used our boat 5 times in the last 3 years. Basically just sits in an RV garage all year. Some of that was do to a family medical issue, but so far this year, basically just been too lazy to take it out. Boat hasn't been in the water one time. Sounds amazing, considering how much I love boats....

For the last two years it's been work.
Last summer, it was work 100's of hours of OT to get job done. I told the boss I won't do that again this year during boating season. Instead, he decided to send my ass out of town for a month. :angry-smiley-038:

Unfortunately, now doesn't seem like the time to go toe to toe with the boss. We've already laid off 50% of our guys this year. I'll suck it up and hope to be back on the water before summer is over.

But as others have said, it just doesn't seem like the top priority for the family like it was a few years ago to be out on the lake. I'd sell the dang thing if I could get even close to a fair sale on it. Not gonna happen on a nearly new high dollar pontoon though. :lolhit:

Why do you need other people to boat with?????

Thats kinda were I'm at oldest is in college other 3 kids are almost 15,not really the wifes thing.I am fine with going out alone its fun to run with other guys but it seems to happen less and less.
What ticks me off is all winter customers and friends beg me to take them out but call and they always have an excuse.

You don't.

I think the point here is in the past it was pretty common for a group of like minded, in this case perf minded, boaters to get together and spend a day on the water. Little high speed fun, not WOT all day, but enough to get the juices going. Lately this seems to be missing. Could be the price of fuel, could be the times, but this deal is shrinking and becoming a little out of reach for many. I love this chit, and spend a lot of hours just dick chittin' around on the water. A little blast still makes me smile. I will admit it is not like it was just a few short years ago. It is more fun when you have a group.

I think the sport of boating will never be the same as it was the last 10-15 years. I absolutley love to be on the water but I find myself working my a$$ off instead. To date I have been out two (2) times this year. It feels like I'm working harder to make less. Five years ago I wouldn't blink an eye when filling up. Today the same fill-up cost double if not triple. Also, at least in our area, guys just get sick of the BS that goes on. It wasn't long ago I wouldn't think twice about having a few beers and running all over the place. Now we have marine patrol up our a$$ not only for BUI but also for noise. People seem to be a bit more apprehensive about their spending habits. Even if you have it $$$$, you just don't feel good about spending it.

I'll agree that big groups are usually more fun, but I had a GREAT day on the Ohio river today w/ just my future wife & 1 of her good friends... Had another buddy bring his boat and some friends just stopped @ a couple bars, had some nice runs, tied up & enjoyed the day!! I used to really like the party aspect of a lot people w/ me & partying but today was 1 of the best days on the water in quite a while even having some engine/electrical issues. Starting to enjoy days like this more & more... Not many things I've found that put a bigger smile on my face than running WOT right by downtown cincy!!!!!

Because they are my friends and I enjoy spending time with everyone one the water. It is always a good time.

Heres my take with it. Number one is kids and performance boats are not fun for kids, what can you do drive fast for 10mins park it. Not fun for a kid. Second off people dont have the money to pay 4 bucks a gallon right now. Not to mention a lot of people cant afford these boats to start then add in 500 buck fuel tanks alot of people are going to rethink their boating. Thats why there are more of these boats for sale than ever right now and at good prices.

It's getting to be a dark time for lots of people big thing is the fuel you pay double for your boat and your truck to tow it. Just towing your boat an hour is going to cost you 40 bucks. If gas and the economy stays like this for 2-3 more years the life of boating we know is going to change. Its even going to get to the point for most of us that we might have to downgrade to 25-27fters with smaller engines which suck less fuel and takes less fuel to get them somewhere.

But it all boils down to money fellas, some of us had it and now dont, some of us never had it but acted like they did, and some of us will always have it.

Have to disagree there. My kids love haulin azz, catching air, etc. etc.

I can see where a perf. boat would be boring on a small lake. A typical day on the water for me is usually running anywhere between 50-100 miles. Where I boat, I can go somewhere different every time and not run out of places to go.

If I had to worry about the $$ every time I went to the gas station, I would just get out of boating, or downsize.

Yeah,
Most of the time I we just go by ourselves, don't really plan anything with anyone. I'm really busy most of the time, even on the weekends, (Hectic running you own business!) and when I'm done with my weekend projects, most of the time we just drop the boat in water and go out even if it's just for 2-3 hours. As long as I get to spend some time on the water, with my family, that's all that really matters to me.....
Dean

I think you've touched on a good point here. This is a different world in the Good 'Ol USofA these days. There are tons of unemployed or if they're not unemployed they're doing jobs for a fraction of the pay to get by and basically working their butts off to get by.

Those who have jobs have seen their hours go up and up to make up for the loss of those who where layed off. I see this with my own family and friends. Everybody seems tired and "frazzeled" these days. Before I sold my PowerPlay my hours were going through the roof, and for somebody who spent most of the summer on the water I went out just 4 times my last summer with it.

Why?...because it was a huge pain...drive to the boat, uncover it, put the props on, set it up for the day, trailer it to the ramp, wait for the retards to launch their boats, park the trailer and finally go out. When you're done you have to wait for the retards, get the trailer, load the boat, drive it to the lot, wash it, wash the trailer, flush the engine, take off the props, unload the day's crap, cover it. Sheesh...working more hours because of a bad economy then going through all that basically killed it. Same with my friends who used to go out all the time with us...they had to spend their time dealing with life's chores since they had less free time than before.

Next boat will be a rack stored outboard without question. So even though it seems like people have the time, they might, but they might be too run down to deal with it as much as they used to.

You may be right but there will come a point when they would rather being tubing, riding a jet ski or have 2-3 friends on board.

Plus I taught my youngst how to drive the Hustler yesterday, it was just idling thru the manatee zones. She drove right past the marine patrol, we waved, they waved, and we keep on idling. :)
Dean

I have found that I have 50 people that want to go boating with me when I don't have plans to go, but when I call and invite them, they can never actually go.

I feel your pain. We used to have a large core group of offshores here that would do runs and hangout pretty much every weekend. Now its down to maybe 3-4 on a good day. It's frustrating. I actually am using it more this year and doing more pokerruns. Meeting new people and going to new places.

All valid reasons for why it seems so many have either lost interest, or don't have the energy, or don't have the funds, or whatever. That said, it's those that continue to engage the lifestyle, meet new people to it (yes, there are still some new entries) -- and promote it overall -- who will keep it going.

I think that's the way it always is. I ask ONCE, after that I dont bother again. I hate to be fed BS. Honestly, waiting around for people or working around their issues/schedules is sometimes more hassle than it's worth... then again, I'm not a patient person, haha. :lolhit:

This isnt new. Look at the sports car fad. It was big in the sixties and 70's but the cars got more expensive and so did the fuel and the sports car market was dead for 20 years until 2-3 years ago when the mustang, challenger and camaro all came back out. Granted there were models still being made but the whole sport or activity of it all was slow. It came down to money, and Fuel. On a good day to trailer and even drive your boat out and park it, your out at least hundred bucks probably more by the time you pay launch fees, beer, food, etc. Everybody is hurting these days, even those that make good money either lost a little pay or are working more to keep that pay. Just not a whole lot of people that can go out and burn through a whole tank anymore.

I think people just get burned out or bored with it. It's alot of work and a commitment. I like to go out without having to plan stuff, that way I'm never dissapointed. I actually stopped inviting people to go boating because it's such a PITA. I'd rather be stress free while I boat, that is the point of all of this, isn't it?

It is allot of work, but that doesn't really bother me. My problem is.... None of my friends are boaters and aren't compelled to go out on the lake and tear azz. Kids, nieces, nephews, and the like are grown up now and starting families of their own, so no time, or no desire to go out on the boat like they/we used to. I turned 60 in February and still love to get out on Oneida Lake and haul azz, jump wakes, or just shut'r down and drift and watch the other boats go by. Good for me my GF still likes boating. If she stops liking it, I'll still get out on the water when I can.

It is a big commitment, even with a little boat. And dealing with all of the hassles and expense that go along with it can suck the fun out of it real quick. I was questioning whether it was worth it earlier this year myself.

Went back to the rack and store instead of trailering and even tho it's expensive the ease of use still outweighs the cost and alleviated a lot of the hassle and made things fun again. Sure it's fun to go with other people, but I usually just plan things on a whim and most of my friends need a 10 page itinerary.

Bingo...with life pulling in many different directions ease of use is now priority for us (once my business recovers, if it ever does). We used to go out after work during the week with the rack, never did it once when we were trailering it. Closed cooling helped too since we'd have to leave it in the water until the next day when the rack opened up again. Wouldn't have been possible without closed cooling.

Totally agree. It's such a pain in the ass trying to schedule around all my friends BS to take them out on a free boat ride! The most fun really is w/ friends out on the water, which is why I bought it, but I would expect more flexibility or gratitude from everyone. Sometimes people act like they're doing you the favor to come out.....

Also, like Griff said, 50 people want to go when you're out of town, but when you call they're always way too busy w/ plans that can not be disturbed.

Bill,

It's a shame we aren't closer - kelli and I are on the water any chance we get. Is it a lot of work - yes. Is it worth it? In my opinion, YES!!

We were on the boat from 6PM Friday until after midnight, and then on the water from 1pm to 12:30 am Saturday night.

We, however spend most of our time rafting up with friends, a lot of which are friends SOLELY from the raft up. Of course we normally make a lunch run in the middle of the day somewhere.

People are strange in their priorities Bill. I've heard just about every excuse one can make up.

The ones that humor me the most are having to mow the yard or clean out the garage. It doesn't get anymore lame than that for me. I've NEVER in my entire life seen a dirty garage that disappeared while I'm at the lake nor have I seen a tall yard that wasn't still waiting on me when I got home. In short, that's what the weeknights are for. Weekends are for fun.

We have friends asking us all the time to do things with them on weekends during the summer. We respectfully decline with the same answer to everyone. "We will be at the lake EVERY Saturday and Sunday from Memorial Day until Labor Day if you want to spend time with us".

As for the kids not enjoying boating, or specifically performance boating, I must have missed something on this one. My kids wouldn't trade it for the world. Give them the choice of riding on the Cig or a tower boat towing all the toys and they'll be in the Cig every time. One of our boating friend's daughter asked my daughter yesterday if we liked our boat. My daughter chuckled and said yes, why wouldn't we? I think the other girl felt sorry for her because we didn't have a lot of room and storage like they did. My two wouldn't trade for any amount of money.

Give my kids a chance to spend a weekend long slumber party with all their best friends or one day at the lake with us and they will choose the lake every time.

Life is too short. Chores can be done anytime. If one can't play why bother?

Buck

Think a lot of people are brain dead from work and family commitments by the weekend and just can't make a decision so they sit home and recharge for the following weeks agenda.

I like your attitude Buck, but the world of today is different than it was even 5 years ago. I was at LOTO this weekend and spent about 1 hour conducting business on the phone while rafted up. When you and I met at the lake about 10 years ago, we both had cell phones - but we probably only used them to call our wives or call each other to arrange a get-together.

My work switch is 'ON' long after I get home from the office. My house has gone to heck, and I have given up other hobbies as well. The honey-do list is now a book. It is hard to enjoy boating down time when there is so much work to get caught up on at home. :(

A sad state of affairs, but I am betting a lot of others are in the same boat. (pun un-intended when typed - but fitting). :)

We need to keep in touch - I am game to go out anytime as long as the wind isn't howling (non Cig - smaller boat). Love to raft and socialize......


Everyone above - you guys have hit the nail on the head. One day we are all gonna wake up and realize life has passed us by. Don't get me wrong, I too have passed up many opportunities to hang with friends and usually with out any good reason. :lolhit:

As always you have a valid point to make. I too have that list, but choose to let the little things sit until time permits. I have two daughters that are far more important to me and my time than a garage or any other chore will ever be.

Work is important and it's what gives us the ability to enjoy the hobbies that we enjoy. I would agree that it does take priority at times. I also know that if we can't enjoy ourselves a little bit there's almost no point in doing it. I guess it's almost a fine line one has to walk.

Keep me in check. I need it every now and then. :) It's just so dang easy for me to say the heck with it and spend the day at the lake with no worries. Keep in mind, we spent the last six years without a boat and that was VERY tough for us. Probably the most miserable I've been in my life. Going without makes one appreciate it in a big way.

Buck

YEP - and what really grinds my gears is when people have the audacity to schedule weddings during boating season. PISSES ME OFF.

This year one of our good friends we have known for about 25 years is scheduling their wedding on the same weekend as Bay Days (a big boat festival party down here). Needless to say I am not going to the wedding.

BINGO! Pisses me off to no end when friends and family get ticked when THEY plan something on a weekend that I plan on boating and I simply say "Nope, going to the lake!". It's mostly my Mom, but others do it too. I explain to them, that I went to the expense of BUYING the boat, MAINTAINING the boat, and FUELING the boat, by damn, I'm gonna USE the boat. My time is limited, theirs not so much, so I always invite them, but going to the mall, watching a movie (ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON!!!) comes first for them. NOT ME! Weddings are for NON-BOATING season!!

I know why nobody wants 2 hang w/ ya!!! DA!!!!!:party-smiley-004::grinser010:

Boating is not a priority in the grand scheme of things, but it is fun and is a high priority for a lot of us. Others make good points, people work harder and just want to relax on the weekend. I know some weeks get busy my self and I have to take the weekend off to get stuff done. Even when asking friends out it probably comes down to money or time. For one they have to spend money in gas getting to your location money on food and drinks, that alone could be 100 bucks or more. Not to mention whether you ask for it or not most people figure boats like these they better offer some cash up for gas, and to be frank if a buddy gave me 20 bucks I would tell him dont worry about it. Everything is time and money and as fun as boating is it cost a lot of money to participate in and people either dont have money or saving money because they are scared of the economy right now.

By the time people gave up some money in gas, food& drink, and getting themselves there they could easily drop 200 bucks and for some thats alot of money to go for a boat ride

Bill, we don't get to boat as much as we used to, either! last year we spent a lot of time with my Mom. Her health wasn't good and she passed away. This year we are spending time with Carol's Mom. She is the only parent we have left.
I will say though, that we do still enjoy boating with friends and meeting new ones every chance we get. Looking forward to your event coming up! :drink: