The younger generation that are buying new boats are buying wakeboard boats with tower,,10,000 dollars worth of stereo and an LS engine .These wakeboard boats are commonly well over 100 grand for a 22 or so footer.....

Says the guy who puts peanut butter on his ports!

Cash shut me down for awhile. At 22 I had a little baja 18SS with a 327 mated to an (barf) OMC stringer drive and a 21' sea Ray with a 5.7 and about 7 cars. At 23 I had my first kid and my now wife decided we need to remodel the house and buy all new everything and then we have another kid... Yup, no boats and 2 cars. Between the kids basic expenses, daycare (as much as my mortgage), and my wife's college expense, we had zero extra money. Then it was a new truck... Then a Harley.... Finally got back to boats a few years ago.

Gas going thru the roof years ago took the fun out of it for me. Living in Florida you live to boat because as far as I am concerned there is nothing else to do here.
When fuel was affordable we would jump in the boat and go 120 miles round trip for lunch but now that run on my dads 225 single CC is a 300 dollar run . It was fun when it was 100 bucks and i would cover the gas and have everyone else do the food and drinks .
Same with taking the boat on the trailer down to the Keys for a weekend between tow vehicle and boat gas its 600 bucks .
Got to the point where we never went anywhere in the boat anymore except a short run to the beach to sit for the day and even that is 50 bucks for a slow ride there and back.

I know everyone says gas is the cheapest part of boating but if you own a little 19 foot hotrod with fairly mild power there is very minimal extra cost.
Don't know how some of you guys can swallow burning 40 to 50 gallons an hour at cruise .

We will be back to 2.40 gas here very soon but there is all ready a bunch of stupid azzes wanting to impose a 50 cent a gallon carbon tax now that it has came down a little bit

Ya there could be many things-

1. Pussification of America and weak kids that talk mini vans and hybrids.
2. That wakeboard boat is way cheaper to maintain and way easier to actually get financing on and cN be pulled with an Explorer
3. My buddies my age and younger are just not familiar enough with our crazy boats, they are more comfortable with speed on land or non moving surface.
4. Yes the video games
5. Not working on stuff them selfs.
6. Our boats can be intimidating.
7. The wakeboard boats hold more chicks.

I'm 30 and would only own a fun pontoon or a performance boat. I know I'm diffrent. But I was raised on this stuff.

Cash and working on your own stuff which in turn can come back to cash.

I am 32 and went from a 23' single engine CC to a 35' twin Big Block. Now I am wanting to go back down for me and the all around benefits from storage, run cost, and also wanting a CC for more room and friends.

All my buddies love my boat, many make more than me too, none will ever buy a boat like mine though.

Totally agree with this post. Adding - The reason they are scared of this is the "tuner" type typically knows muffler **** cans and air filters on imports.

In our area I blame the man in blue for the decline if "do it yourselfers (is that a word?). We used to have cruise spots and street racing spots in industrial areas that they left alone. (Tower road) Watched with the rest of us. Once they cracked down on street racing my walk in engine business was reduced noticeably. Love em or hate em, the Street Outlaws show has helped the remaining engine shops here. Maybe there's hope around the corner.

JjYou hit the nail on the head my friend. I bought my 311 8 years ago at the age of 24. It's something in my blood I guess that I like the vintage power and speed. Kids these days aren't carrying on in the same way. What is cool has changed in the majority of the publics eye. I have no problem being the minority.

I'm 27, my family has been into pleasure boating my whole life. I just bought a 96' Velocity 280 as my first performance based boat. Sure is a lot of Money to spend, but when you can tie up to the parents yacht after a good day of burning gas in the sunshine and have an amazing dinner and drinks waiting for you, i couldn't think if any better way to spend my $$ haha. also, i went to school and got a trade. saved up for everything i have and enjoy it much more. Currently working waaay too much OT to afford my new 496 stroker being built in time for spring...

Ive owned a few boats, 13' Whaler, 13' Mini Hawk, 23' Chris Craft (never finished). It's alot of money!! Its a recreational hobby, always going to dump money into it, so I got into the 4x4 truck game, ended up being way more successful, and ive gone further than I have with the boats. 21 years old and already buildin the truck up every few weeks to a month. Not gonna buy another boat untill I can afford to run it!