I switched to an outboard family boat after my funds were drained by an old resin bucket I bought before having kidos. I'd love to switch back, but can't find the money or time for the commitment it takes. It would take a vast sum of money to justify the cost of one of these and for most young families my age, even with both spouses having advanced degrees working full time, the money just isn't there. And even if it was, I wouldn't have the time to take care of it or enjoy it.

Yes, they do the same on some lakes, Torch Lake has the sand bar crowd.

There are allot of good thoughts and comparisons with other industries. Here is my take, when you look in the classifieds you see the major players have the bulk of the listings it is understandably why by sheer production numbers. Here is my belief i have personally owned all styles in the boating segment. I always come back to a large performance offshore style boat. I think that with the continued price increases mercury, they are going to price them selves out of the market. I truly believe there will be a resurgence of restoring the older boats that don't fall into the emission guidelines. Once a gear head always a gear head it is the only way i can responsibly enjoy the sport. crushing some waves is something i personally live for nothing like it i have ever experienced compares

They are not making any more 1970 Hemi Cudas, but the relatively few that remain are highly sought after and prized by people who choose visceral over practicality. I have said since the financial crash that the production of Offshore boats may slow to a trickle, or stop completely, but the remaining Offshore boats will become the Hemi Cudas of the Muscle Car world. There will always be people who are attracted to High Performance, and thus there will always be a market for these awesome HP machines - especially as the number of good examples of offshore boats dwindles over the years. They may not be building many HP boats but attendance at Poker runs has surged over the last few years. Poker runs are the Muscle Car meets of the boating world and they show no signs of going away.

Truth... Coming from a 32 yo with a Top Gun. The only people that want to come out consistently are parents friends (45+). Younger crowd wants to come out on holiday weekends for an hour to cruise through party cove long enough to be seen then they're ready to head back to the dock... Guess you've got to grow up around the lake lifestyle and less are doing that.. I also attribute it to this generation being content with living a "normal" work/home/3kids lifestyle and also who consider toys (boats/bikes/hotrods/etc.) not necessary for their family to be happy. That or their credit card debt/income ratio prevents them from even thinking about owning anything outside of a house and a car... Probably more of the latter.

Nonetheless, as long as pops enjoys riding in the boat and there's gas to burn, there are still good memories to be made on the water!

Corecto! And here I sit with a closed cooled, all new Seacore parted azzend, freshen up in process, close to a 10 Fountain.

My money would be better in that '70 Hemi Cuda convertible, but boats are more fun on a hot summer day.

Used boats certain ones are hot . Pontoon boats sell within a couple of hours to a couple days -- especially the fish N ski pontoons.... Wake boats dealers will pay and or take trade ins at retail price. Name your own high selling price on a used clean turn key wakeboat is the current norm.

Alot of used boats are in need of alot work. So much of the used boat market has not been maintained and or so much mismatched part installs. More than 50 percent of the used boat market, the boats are a total CF. Most boats on Craigslist are a pile of chit. I would say 80 percent min.

Oh forgot in the industry they are never USED boats --- they are PRE OWNED boats. haha

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Alot of used boats are in need of alot work. So much of the used boat market has not been maintained and or so much mismatched part installs. More than 50 percent of the used boat market, the boats are a total CF. Most boats on Craigslist are a pile of chit. I would say 80 percent min.

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One dealer at LOTO seems to be getting strong money for used I/O performance boats (yet offers mechanic positions for $12-15 an hour). Outside of that market, used I/O boats are not ideal trades/used inventory.

So where do the boats go? Sitting on lifts/sides of houses/barns left to rot? Lets say it is a 15-20 yr old Fountain/Baja/Formula, 500 hours on it, dated interior/paint but nice boat overall. Boat isn't going to get a make over, repower. Still a nice boat but if one motor gets hurt does this end up rotting under a cover?

Someone mentioned a 1970 Cuda.....while everyone oohs and ahhs over the hemi stuff or the 3.5mm convertible that sold remember they also offered a whole lot of "slant 6" models in 1970 also. Google indicates they made 48,000 1970 Cudas. How many mint ones are out there? 500? 1000? We are talking 1-2% of the total production, the rest are dead and gone or doing "Joe Dirt" tributes. Look at the 20 ft Cigs, how many made and how many really nice ones are left? Lots of "projects" out there but not too many got the dollars put into them to make them nice. They are small, single engine easy to tow/store so you would think it would be a no brainer to restore one. Now on a bigger scale, the larger boats (twin/triple engines) need even more money to redo and are more hassle to store/use. I would expect very few people will sink the money into older powerboats when there isn't a huge sale price at the end of the project.