He ran them off with his charismatic attitude before he reached 30. :drink:

BTW....All my 50+ YO friends can out party your young whippersnapper a$$ and we have the $$$$$$ to do it. :angry-smiley-038:

LoL, not to mention, what you kids think is cool, we did over a decade ago.

Lots of good points here but also remember the thread I started a few months back along the line of 500K to spend on a boat. Buy it, run/insure/maintain it for 5 years and then you get to keep the change left over when you sold it............it was a decent length thread and not one person picked buying a new boat (not even with free money!).

I guess you are right but eventually you will get back the broke and wanted by the law Beiber.

Also consider, places like LOTO are hot for offshore boats right now........kind of like S. FL in the 80's. Then noise restrictions, slower speeds were enacted, costs to insure/store those boats in S. FL got ridiculous and suddenly "go fast sightings" (outside of a poker run) have become like UFO's/Bigfoot sightings!

I was out on the ICW yesterday, area was having a boat parade that night so lots of boat traffic. Saw a really clean 24 Pantera (w/single Yamaha OB) and a 34 Sunsation CC.......that was it for performance boats.

Sounds like the Chicago boat show except without the Pantera and Sunsation lol

http://www.fishcamphunthike.com/imag...urion-Surf.jpg

Count the body's in that tub..actually it's a very nice boat..Today that's the way they roll. After 40 yrs on the water ive seen many changes in habit's..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsYlU-fGx3M That vid pretty sum's up the game the party's still there it just changing.

all about the money . i got my first boat at 21 first fast boat at 26 i think . boats were high on my priority list though.

The boat parade here in Port Orange ( South of Daytona ) had No performance boats

I had a house in Ormond Beach and never saw performance boats unless it was a holiday weekend or poker run!

We have been talking about starting a run up here again

After looking at the variation in salaries in the areas and knowing what real estate/housing asking prices are in several of the cities, I feel strongly that they are not adjusted for living costs.

Let's just say it's all about money. I'm 24 yrs old and I have 2 boats. And only one is water worthy. Let's just say I'm self employed and at my age I'm still living pay check to pay check when it comes to boating.

I spent over 5k in fuel last yr at 135 hrs of run time on my boat. It adds up quick.

Also I just pulled motors to rebuilt on my PQ and there 3k a peace to rebuild.

My big block for my 24ft was almost 12k. 3 yrs ago to rebuild.
So can u emagin being single and working for company only making $15 an hr won't be enough to go boating all that much.

I would also disagree with #2, I have a few older friends, and quite frankly, they are almost more fun to hang out with than some people in their 20-30s.

A. They have miney and don't mooch
B. They can party all night long, and then some
C. They have cool boats. I only have one friend with a boat, and he fishes all the time, not much partying at the islands.

My bad J, forgot you had a boat. When are you moving back? Maybe by 2018 I'll have a boat that floats!

Hah, no biggie.. I agree with ya on the comment above.

As for moving back. We are seriously thinking about it. I am looking to make some traction come spring/summer. We got #2 on the way so kinda have to wait a little. Going to use the winter time to update the resume and make some contacts.

As for the original question of the thread, I would say....
1.Money
2. Practicality
3. Entry level boat

I just got to jump onto this one. I owned a boat since I was 17, and always had one since. The older I get the faster I go.. and the faster my boats got, and the younger I feel. As far as friends.. lol How many of your (or mine) friends in the 20's 30's would let you borrow their car? let alone friends I see half a doz times a year, willing to give me their lock codes for their yard/shop full of boats and just say bring your boat, store it work on it any time? or just drop pretty much everything to help you fix something or offer their boat for a weekend? I would allow many to take mine. I trust these 50+ year ole' buds more than my 20's -30's long gone friends. (except my best friend we know each other since collage) How many friends in 20-30 would offer your outdrive for an event if his is shot? Friends only get better with age.
For the younger gen and boating, performance that is, yes $ is one, but the "generation gap" and the video games are close second. You not "only young once" you as young as you feel as long as you live, and offshore boating surely keeps me young. ( and broke lmao )

Work hard, play hard! thats how ya do it!!

just wanted to say about the marine business overall. One is the engines are becoming so technology advance that your do it yourselfer is going to be lost nor has the proper tools to fix them. It is expensive buy in these days to buy marine related tools for every engine app or even the popular ones. The end user is going to NEED the advance marine tech to fix and work on his app. If the end user can not get his app properly fixed and or in a timely manner his perception is the product he bought is junk and pretty much non usable plus will never buy that product (boat / engine again). The Marine OEM's are starting to look deeply into how do we fix this and how do we prevent this.

Next is the marine OEM's engine manu's and the OEM dealers are having problems with the current pool of techs to replace the aging techs of today. the aging techs are stepping down plus its getting harder to have access to work on these darn boats because of the way they are laid out. Aging techs can not bend like they use to. Another reason to retire.

The younger generation is not interested in learning this field nor becoming an advance tech. They, OEM's in the past have not look at this deeply until now. There is going to be a real shortage of very good marine techs coming up here soon. You can not take the aging tech that is retiring and replace him with another aging tech. Will not work so the OEM's are struggling with how to find and or get trained the younger generation to professionally work on boats correctly and keep focused in that field for years down the road. It is going to be a huge problem. They younger crowd is not interested plus somewhat lack the mechanical skills of the past generations.

More info on this down the road soon.
.

As a younger worker looking to be a mechanic I would think learning the "hybrid car" trade would be way way more viable than fixing boats as far as future career viability....

^^^^ Totally agree but sometimes you pick a career path of the things you like and hold a huge interest for especially growing up. I really can not say currently that the younger generation are really into hot rodding or working on hybrid auto's but this could be held true if was hot rodding their little Asian 4 banger car or pick up truck. I totally agree about a career path for hybid or alternative fuel(s) auto or energy efficient related technology.

When I was young, I worked on my own stuff. Now in my 30's, my free time is too valuable to spend time spinning wrenches and I hire it out to PBC. Young guys can't afford a new boat with new technology plain and simple. The buy an older boat that can be wrenched on easily so there is no need for manufacturers to start going backwards. Young blood interested in boating should buy something smaller, cheaper, and turnkey reliable so they can spend more time working and investing in their future like going to school.

I was talking about professional marine techs being of a young generation not owning a boat. They are not interested in working on boats making it their career choice like past generations, So the big problem for the OEM marine engine manu's - were are the new marine techs going to come from as the aging ones retire or quit.

Also some of this boat buying is wrong as wakeboard boats sell and are selling point blank, The number one age range for buying wakeboard boats BRAND NEW are 25 thru 40. the age bracket numbers span out 25 to 50 years of age but the mass come from 25 to 40.

The new wakeboard boats sell for 80K to 150k and the used wakeboard market is off the charts. Ask dealers who sell them. How do I know, I sold wakeboard boats new and used up till about 3 years ago. My youngest buyer for these new wakeboard boats was 20 and my oldest was 45. Everyone else was in between that age bracket.

I can look at the sales number as whole or by boat manufacturer daily if I choose to.

next 6500 brand new wakeboard boats sold this year and they are from 12 main builders with 20 to 24 foot in size mainly. Sportboat / Performance boats would be lucky to have sold 200 brand new boats and what maybe 3000 used for the whole year.

To further this statement sportboats would be lucky to have sold a 1000 brand new boats in the last 7 years combined, Wakeboard boats have sold around 40,000 brand new boats in the past 7 years total, Again the bulk of this buyer is 25 to 40 year old and their is only 12 main manufacturers making wakeboard boats in the size range of 20 to 24 feet. .

The fact of the matter is Sportsboats are very dead for new sales and poor for used boat sales especially compared to other models of being sold on the used market. Family rec / pleasure boats are dead to,

Truth....I know a guy who owns a Ski Nautique dealership....Wife and the kids were bored on Saturday so we went in and checked them out....They are nice boats, especially on the inside, but not my cup of tea...His sales are insane from what I have seen on the lake...He wanted me to buy one and said I could get on the spot financing if I wanted it, but again, its not my thing...Here's a video...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IryOQfEmgtQ

Cause the kids today would not be happy or stimulated enough to head with their dad over to the ramp, sit around and watch the boats getting launched. Its too "boring". Thats what i used to do with my dad as a kid and first saw how cool the SOB's looked. We eventually talked to people at the ramp and bought our first boat, a Checkmate Enchanter with a big 225 Merc on the back. I wish he was around to head over to the ramp now.

Most people my age or around it 27 don't know how to work on crap. Most don't have a trade or know how to build anything. The generation will be in trouble with all the worthless digrees that have been pushed on us. Took the rute of leaning 2 trades and has been great for me. Also while not redoing my boat by my self I have learned a lot.

no one wants to be a tech because after 2 years plus 30000 worth of schooling and 10 thousand in tools marinas around her only want to pay 18 bucks an hour when they are charging the customer 110 to 130.

It's all the trades. I was in flooring for 25 years. The money I have in education, tools, truck, insurance, workers comp, etc, etc.... After 5 years of taking losses I'm done. In my area its foreign nationals that have destroyed the industry. The guy that gets the check has to be legal. And for his 12 helpers .....as long as the guy who gets the check is legal is what I herd over and over. BS! I thought with the economy being bad a lot of them would go home and things would get better but with Obamas recent actions is the final nail is in the coffin. Hope all the people and companies around here that support these actions have kids without jobs and if they can scrape together enough for a new floor they get the guy that's has less experience then what would train our helpers and when the warranty work comes up they went home with their money and leave the POS company to pay for it.

Spent the day at my ex wifes overseeing the installation of a new granite kitchen counter and new bar counter.I had the new cabinets set and ready for the granite to be set on .

4 guys show up from 3 different countries 1 barely speaks english. They set the top and it is off by a 1/2 inch from the back splash and if i didn't catch them they would have set it that way.They gouged the front door coming in,dripped epoxy all over the old wood floor and tracked it onto the condos freshly painted entry where they wiped it up with Acetone and cut the paint.
If I wasn't tearing up the old wood floor next and replacing it they would have done the job for free plus owed me a some money.

Off subject and thread, but all my subcontracts have a clause that only English speaking, legal workers may work on my jobsites. If I can't explain my and OSHA safety rules, and it needs to be interpreted, you not stepping on the site, Period. All the "outsourcing" etc. Obamasucka put this country in the toilet. Young kids have a tough time getting a job because some AH, foreigner willing to work for less and the Gov. gives them subsidized $. BBBBbbeee ESSssss..

NOPE absolutely not! Take this for whatever you will but a political dilution concept, such as alternate fuels/energy/ etc is not going to become a sizeable market to base a career on. Auto in general yes; specialized hybrids belong to engineers not mechanics/techs.

I'm in the forklift biz, everything you say is strikingly similar....I'm looking for tech's right now, getting no interest from the community colleges, or trade schools.

Our business isn't seasonal, no flat rate, excellent product with a ever expanding market, so it isn't like there's a risk of stability.

***Disclaimer. No offense if you are young and lazy.

Of the young guys I have had work for me in the last 3-5 years all except one could check the oil in my trucks. I had to have a fuking training class for my techs to show a group of 20 somethings how to check the oil. Since then, I sub contract more business but keep in touch with a few of them if they occasionally text me for a reference or something. The one thing I noticed is that they all want to be the next billionaire but creating an app, the next Google online type biz or opening a marijuana store. While I can appreciate their enthusiasm, none of them could program and pot isnt legal in Florida....

Soooo, I guess what I am saying is my personal view is they have unrealistic expectations without ever actually working for it.

And what kind of money would a tech make a year working for you?

You, my friend, have it all figured out. Sounds familiar to me. My first "real" boat was a 24x7 Condor. I wish I still had it! How do we teach this stuff? That Baja has always been a favorite of some of the guys around here. Best of luck.

This right here! I am 27 and went through a cheaper tech boat school (thank god) but was originally going to MMI/UTI for a cool $25k for 9 months of school. Then add in living expenses tools etc you are really looking at $50k + just to start. In my area they start you $8-$12 its flat out not worth it. Like you said the Marina is charging $110 I get they have overhead and all that but I'm not going to work at a Marina for 5-10 years just to break $20 but the market is also very saturated in LOTO.

It is all about $$ I am the only one of my friends who owns a boat but I also have things on my side. Went to tech school for boats so I know my way around them pretty well can do all the oil changes drive lube etc. My parents own a house at the Ozarks with two slips. They were generous enough to let me have a slip but everything else is on me. In the summer the boat costs at minimum $600 a month and that's just for the boat payment and some gas money. I do realize that is chump change and lots of you spend that before your lunch stop lol but for me that's a lot of money. I have a lot to offer around me on the water so I never really eat up too much gas money. Now you factor in gas to get to the lake, food, booze etc its expensive. It is a passion of mine so I make other sacrifices in my life to make this work. Hard to justify to others when you have over 6 months of lay up time. If I did not have the help of my parents house and dock I would probably not have what I do today. Enough rambling that's my .02.

$20-$30/hr

When I retire from Automotive OEM Engineering, I may have to go into Hi-Lo work in Iowa :):) That is great money :):) Hope you find a good trainable person ............................................

It's pitiful what the garages and marinas want to pay techs these days compared to what they charge and what they make on markup on parts.

Working on any mechanicals these days is twice as hard as far as multiple dianostics and than access on most autos ans marine apps is a total nightmare.

It will be the next job the Mexicans will be taking since any body with half a brain is avoiding this field of work .

Plus the Mexicans are small and have little hands , they were born mechanics.

Depending on what?