^^^ Tango, agree 100%. I was a South Florida boat show nut for years. We would always do either Ft Lauderdale or Miami, switched off each year, was a great Winter get away. Then all the local shows. Cool to look at the monster yachts and all the bling in the performance boat world. My deal was to walk the vendors to look and touch all the new stuff to add to, modify or build your own ideas. Brought many of those ideas home and helped friends and myself fix and remodel their rides. The pricing has totally put a lot of people with families out of the boating world. But if you got the dough why not flaunt it and enjoy the ride. My guy group that meets up every Tuesday has this discussion yesterday. Property taxes, PP taxes, sales taxes, insurance rates, labor costs have all gone through the roof. At what point do you just say enough already

Hey you guys keep it down on LOTO lol, some of us like it just fine now, last thing we need is a bunch off new owners rolling in here on oversized tubs and don't have clue while wearing $300 designer sweat suits in June. The ICW is made for that!!!

You know what I want to know is why is all the costs going up. I know of NO ONE that has seen the type of income increase we have had since say 2010.

I go back that far when I think about it. That is with friends at all levels, where are the increases coming from if no one supposedly is making more money?

Wages, nope not at the same level.
Profits within the company that go to the owners/ shareholders? You hear it all the time no one is getting rich building boats.
Profits to supplier companies making the items?

Theres nothing stopping most commenters here from running a 10-60k Baja and towing it with a $20k truck, except your pride.

I have always waited to buy at the boat show, manyfacturers always do "boat show specials" and they are worth the wait.

I think the point was about 20 years ago you could get a brand new 33' Outlaw for ~$100k.... nothing close to that price point now!...except a pontoon....

There hasn't been a new, 60K Baja in many many years. If you can afford a million dollar boat that's awesome. Unfortunately some of us can only dream of a new Performance boat.

If you’re careful with your budget you could put together a new rage or phantom for $200k. This is 25 years later after all.

I had something typed up be deleted it, figured a few would have the same thought... Correct, the point is 20-25 years ago you could get a 33 OL or Fountain or whatever in the 1-teen range etc. (or so when i sold them back in the late 90's/early 2000's. Now that is a 20-25 year old boat. By the time you do stringers, transoms, update/rebuild power, interior, trailer etc. you are into an older boat for what, another $100K that you won't see when selling it. Of course you can leave it the way it is but as with all of us, they get older and need work. Hell, I saw a 04 33 OL listed (22 years old) I believe for around 70-75K, that boat back then could have been bought like I said in the 1-teens, a super duty was 40-50K. Now to do the same thing you will drop a few hundred on the boat and roughly 100K on the truck (I work for Ford).

So let's say we aren't talking $500K new entry level. Let's say we are talking pre-enjoyed....5-8, 10 year old boats. All the production build boats are gone so you are left with OL, CIG, Cat's, CC's etc. so you're still dropping 2-300K on a used boat with no warranty and a truck to pull it, man, I love old school but not many 20K trucks left out there with that kind of life in them.

So this brings you to quality of life. Do you want to wrench and fork out thousands on repairs and down time or do you want new(er) with warranties? Now enters the $500K plus the $100K truck. I think that is what the pricing us out of the market is.

Hell, I'd still rock a 33 OL, no pride shame here lol. Wish I still had my 2000 7.3 to pull one with but 26 years later that just isn't in many peoples cards. It's a different buyer now. The guys with the cash will always have the cash, AWESOME FOR THEM!!! No jealousy here, I get it!. But the rest of us have become dinosaurs like the thread says.

I think the missed point is that people aren't shopping for a 33 Outlaw equivalent today. Back then it was something to have. Baja released a nice Outlaw a few years ago pretty loaded for $300k...no one bought them. Everyone wants a 100+mph boat and something flashy. The dollar to dollar isn't apples to apples on the equipment we are comparing to of yesterday.

Same thing happened to cars. People used to buy a Mustang GT with a 5 speed and maybe a radio in it to roll up to their local car spot. Car guys aren't buying that now...its 1 up, 1 up, 1 up to keep up with the Joneses and be Instagram cool....now you gotta have a half million $ supercar to think you have something. As consumers our expectations have changed. The homes we live in, the cars we drive, the idea of success in America has shifted.