Our declining hobby...sad days
 

It's been a few years since I sold the PP and I'm having a hard time not being on the water, but I'll get back to it in the not too distant future hopefully. I go down to the beach fairly often to get a water "fix" and look at all the boats and dream. Over the years I've noticed a lack of boats out on the water, by a good measure, unscientific observation I'd say there's less than half as many out there as there was before Wall Street, gov't, and globalization shattered dreams. It's really depressing...I can look out at the Sound (Long Island Sound) and count on one hand how many boats I see out there whereas before it was an active boating paradise.

In the paper today there was an article on how the state of CT is down 14,000 registrations since the recession (out of 100k+) and how marinas are disappearing because of lack of slip rentals. It cites the average age of the boater in CT is 55 and it goes up 6 months every year, and the younger generations aren't making up for the shortfall. Having a 26 ft center console going for $100k + doesn't help, in fact it's killing the newer first timer industry. I get the expense of the boat building industry, but having a new little sh!tbox going for over $100K is pathetic.

I know personally my next boat won't be a stern drive, I fit the average age statistic and I've done my time in the bilge and will have none of that anymore. Maybe a 25ft PP with outboards to bomb around in but for sure it's not going to be as expensive to own as the last few boats.

To me, there's nothing like the water, it puts me into a different state of mind the second I'm there. I don't even have to be out on it, I used to go down to the marina after work and fiddle around on the boat for a couple of hours and it took me into a different world. I can't imagine not being back on it and it makes me sad that there are many boaters that have been forced out of the hobby for various reasons, much of them economic.

Has anybody else noticed this decline over the years? Statistics aside, just looking out at the Sound and it's dead out there...very sad.

Absolutely noticed it. The economy is in the crapper. The local lake is dead when it used to be crowded. Also dead in the winter when it used to be full of sleds and ATVs. Still plenty of sweet go-fasts on the Great Lakes waters though.

Volvo Penta and Mercruiser for the year ending 2015 only sold combined together 16 to 17 k engines packages (total combined sales for I/O engine packages). Thats not even close for either one to break even. Real estate, insurance, electric, water, advertising, employee salaries, taxes, R & D and so on costs would require IMO at the very least 50 K engine sales volume for each one. Ten years ago their sales were 70 to 80 K in engine packages for Mercruiser alone.

Merc sister to Mercruiser has fairly good outboard sales but Volvo has no outboards to even sell period.

I heard this but was hear say from actually a very good source - if within 5 years the I/O market does not pick up with increase sales steadily year after year that the I/O 's might just go away. Again hear say at this point.

The EPA has put a huge monkey wrench in all of this as well. Huge costs and R & D costs has just about killed both of these 2 - I/O manu's and there is more on the way for emission standard requirements. Think about the millions that is required for testing and meeting all the current EPA requirements.

If that day ever comes emissions EPA mandated to Merc racing side for all boats 500 hp and over - I can not picture Merc racing manu anything but race engines with no warranties only or who knows what will happen with them.

Well just maybe come November we can all take back control of this great country of ours...

In our area I'd actually say the activity is UP, but it's all small stuff. Jet Skis, small jet boats, modest center consoles. Admittedly, that stuff is easy to own/tow/operate and that is the new generation. If it isn't easy, they aren't interested.

I don't think they have the money, the economy is in the crapper regardless of what our gov't says, kids out of college are loaded with debt, and they have...smart phones, Facebook, IG, and other time wasters. I don't even think half of them would know what to do out doors anymore.

Just saw this yesterday out on my local lake. Places where raft ups used to be huge were non exaistant. It's the 2nd weekend in June for crying out loud. In NorCal where it's been 90-100 for weeks. Not like you have to wait on the weather here. Everyone knows what June 11th in Nor Cal will be! Lol

I do minor mechanical in my driveway (oil change, tire rotation, wheel bearings on trailers etc). Neighbor and his kid (sophomore in college) were driving 1200+ miles in a beater so the kid could play summer baseball (kid got drafted out of high school by MLB, chose college instead and won college world series as a freshman).....kid has talent on the field. So I ask did you do a once over on the 15 yr old, 180K mile beater?......nope. Could have been a bad road trip starting off.....Spare....dead flat. Front passenger tire 22 lbs, oil a quart low. So as I am going over the car, I tell the dad it would be good if Jr. learned a few things. He didn't know how to work a tire gauge! Oil/tranny fluid check was easy enough but not sure he could locate both. This kid is not mechanical at all, my guess is he would never own any type of I/O and if he did own an OB then it would be used like a car (turn the key and go, call someone if it doesn't start).

I noticed that this forum seems to be dying a slow death with activity getting less and less, but down here in Miami everybody and their brother has a boat, I am looking forward to things softening up again so it isn't so crazy on the weekends.

Correct on all points, especially the first one.
I wouldn't say the economy is in the crapper, but it is not on rock solid ground.

The answer is simple- globalization... there's no real middle class any more and boating is an expensive hobby.
Without access to good paying jobs, boating is only a dream for many.
Corporations rule, and they know that to improve their bottom line jobs need to be done in other countries by people willing to work for much less.
If the jobs are done here they are mostly automated.

There's still opportunity for those with motivation and smarts, but the competition is no longer just within our borders.
No easy answers- it's the world we live in.

One word- Facebook.
I predicted 5 years ago that it would be the death of small forums. I was wrong- nobody is safe.

Plus, people are aging out- and new, young members aren't joining for the reasons listed above.

Offshore powerboats are expensive and selfish.
I love 'em but they keep going up in price and most of them can carry 5-6 people with little room to move around on board. Truthfully, all they are good for is motoring around, often at high speed, burning fuel.

Every other style of boat has a more useful purpose. Cruisers carry a few more people slowly with loads of luxurious amenities for entertaining. Sports boats for wake boarding and water sports. Toons for relaxing in groups and meandering around the river. Centre consoles for fishing and now adapting to a cross-over role.

The offshore stuff has the most expensive power plants with more expertise required on costly maintenance. Love them or hate them, they are the most impractical of all. Couple that to the younger generations having more interest in hi-tech phones, social media, throw in the anti cancer brigade (I am a minor victim of skin cancer), add the number of jobless, allow for the general state of the economy worldwide, it's not surprising boat numbers are going south with offshore performance stuff hardest hit.

The forum will either adapt or get smaller. My bet, it will adapt and I think the first stage will be sections for centre consoles. Every CC related thread on here reveals more and more CC owners coming out of the woodwork.

Times are changing, practical low maintenance boats are taking the market share.

My 2 cents worth....

RR

Correct...totally.

It has to be scary for young people these days.

Not just for young people try to be a over 50 white guy. Companies hate us.

Can a moderator delete this thread ? Too damn depressing.:bunnydance::party-smiley-004::lolhit:

One would think if the hobby is so depressed, nice clean boats would be at "giveaway" prices. The exact opposite is the case as far as I can tell.
We see this downturn of interest in the musclecar hobby talked about on a weekly basis, but.so far nobody is giving those away either.
Weird.

While I'm not 50 I do feel that the black on white racism I saw in high school has reached the professional world also. Just today a black guy walk into the restraunt I was in with a shirt on that read "caution: educated black man". Now if I wore that shirt that read white instead of black I would be the biggest fu!king racist prick around. But because of how out of control this country is that is "hilarious" for a black man to
Wear that. If I was black and saw another one of "my" people wearing that I would tell them what a fu!k they were. I can't imagine what it would feel like to be at my prime, have put on a ton of good years to a company only to watch a under qualified minority take my job because the white vs minority ratio was "off".

I've yet to comprehend paying a half million dollars for a boat that has a porta potty and cannot be kept in the water for fear of transom or stringer failure.

I hate life without being on the water. I have contemplated buying a small something or other just to get me out there. Heck, even thought about an inflatable fishing boat from Academy. I think people would like to be able to boat, but having to work multiple jobs or the type of jobs that pay enough, well there is just no time. Only time will tell where things go. I like the CCs, but the wife does not. Care to guess what I won't be buying?

If only we can get rid of this bad monkey on our back. No influence on you.

Hell anything remotely affordable by the average young to learn how to work on boats and get his feet wet is being snatched up and cannibalized for parts

The only reason I can even think of having a boat is the fact that I can work on them myself. There's no way I could afford to pay someone to do the repairs or maintenance. That's my hold up on the Pachanga, it needs fiberglass work and I do not like it nor is it my specialty. It's been frustrating to the point I'd rather sell it but it gets no interest even priced well below part value. I'd love to to get it done and run it but if it ends up going it will prolly be replaced with a 22-24 ft dual engine Vortex jetboat. Lifetime hull and 5 year power train warranty sound really nice right about now. But even that is in the 60-70k range. I love the look and fun of a powerboat but like others have said they are a lot of money for a small function. If I had looked more before I got into the Pachanga I prolly would have tried to find a MCOB as it adds some function to a go fast style. There's not many entry level options around unless you are willing to take on a project that most people can't handle or don't want to. It is true that the younger generation just isn't interested in turning a wrench or doing anything more than turning a key and adding gas.

1. Can't give away something and then walk into the dealership and pay top dollar for something new or new to them.
2. On hot rods, guys value them as the sum of the parts invested rather than the total package. If you take a Pinto and put 5K in paint, 5K in motor, 5K in wheels/suspension then it has to be worth 15-20K right? Nobody is going to spend 15-20K on a hot rod Pinto! Boats have the same problem. The auction/car shows don't help valuations either. Guy sees a 57 Chevy sell for 200K on tv and suddenly his 75 Chevy Impala has to be worth half that (after all it's 18 years newer!).

Our marina on lake st clair is packed .. the lake seems not as busy as it was 20 years ago but its still early.

but high gas might not help.. i think $2,00 would help....

I think may first timers are going the Pontoon route ...i am not a big fan of pontoons.. unless you are 80 years old. They just look like something that a couple of cheap engineers put together with leftover parts so they could go boating over the 2 week shutdown.

Is it me or has the Govt has assisted in killing off anything that was fun ? Boating Snowmobing... look how expensive they both have gotten.

The collage i Graduated from 17k a year ? WTF ?

Saw a pontoon on Lake Erie last Friday. Even the wife said, "what are they thinking?"

Im talking about market value declining, not the sum of building a boat or car. Dreamers will always think they have gold bullion.

Good clean boats and cars are holding their own.

If the hobby is "dead", one would think the market value of the boats would reflect that. Maybe guys with big dollar boats are losing their shirts on them? I'm not privy to that as I'm a small fry.

Plenty of "bleeders" in the classifieds. 51 OL, listed for 269K and seller notes this boat was over 1 million new. The guy that built the 2mm 47 Apache got about 1/5 of his money back. Check out the quad 1075 50 Nortech.....asking 399K on a 50 hour boat that was a million new. Even at asking price that boat cost the owner $12,000 an hour plus fuel, plus insurance, plus misc. costs......Sounds like fun losing $200+ a minute! :picard1:

I have a neighbor that bought a chopper in the height of that craze. I think the bike is butt ugly and it definitely runs like sh1t but he still owns it....WHY? He wants to get his 80K back so he figures when the market returns he will have a mint low mileage chopper ready to go. I think he will be lucky to find a sucker that wants to pay 1/3 of that.

'Toons are everywhere. Lake Huron, Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair, the Rivers. Our local lake gets so clogged up with toons idling around on week-ends that the boats that want to run the lake's perimeter can't even run their boats. I hate toons more than I hate sailboats and PWCs jumping my wake. They aren't even boats. Aren't they technically "rafts"?

General aviation has been in the same situation for years.

Why say that? At least they are on the water and enjoying the day.

If anything the newer ones coming out these days look half decent and are loaded with features and comforts.

Where I boat, sadly, it is busier than ever. Lower gas prices this summer will add to it. Bow riders, deck boats, cruisers dominate. Manufacturers are pricing themselves out of the mkt. With student debt and welfare being the biggest "employer" thanks to our current "leadership" it is hard for youngers to get involved..

I would disagree.

My boat was super clean and very documented and sat for damn near a year on the market. People are just asking crazy prices (my self included) and not getting them.

But they're a great boat for playing Euçhre.

Seems like its picking up around the Midwest, I'm about 30 minutes from the Mississippi river and the 3 sandbars in the pool I boat in are packed every weekend and fairly buisy some weeknights. LOTO is a couple hours away and there is no shortage of powerboats or monster cruisers there!

Where I live performance boats have disappeared, replaced by center consoles. Boating in the area overall remains strong, just a different type of boat.

Is that your old PP for sale at Ocean Performance? If not, there is a nice one there..

Must have been those damn black motors again! :D

While I agree a stronger economy would definitely help our sport grow I also think there are just less and less young people that want to walk away from they're computer or tv and go outdoors and do something and out of the ones that do want to get out of the house there is a smaller percentage that are mechanically inclined enough to own a boat. Just my $0.02

+1..... at one point we had a 47 GTX OL in town, a couple of Apaches, a mix of TG's (old and new) and some Formulas/Sunsations/Powerplays and a lone Skater with ASD's.

Today the only boat I see running around is a 38 Powerquest and occasionally a classic Donzi......the rest are 2-3-4 engine CC's

Might as well be two hamsters

Does seem like the cc's are taking over. I know a number of people that have either sold they're go fast and bought a cc or just bought a cc as a second boat which they wind up using as they're primary boat.