High Gas Prices Spell Opportunity for Some

[Sea Wolf]

Just thought it'd post an opinion I have, based on what I've seen going on with boat, RV and tow vehicle prices.

While the gas price crunch affects us all, it will spell opportunity for those wanting to by a larger boat, RV, or tow vehicle.

Prices on all such vehicles at the gas guzzling end of the spectrum seem to be coming down rapidly, with bargains occurring frequently.

If you're comfortably retired or otherwise able to take advantage of this lower pricing while still controlling your overall gas and usage expenditures, you can move up to a larger boat, RV, or tow vehicle.

Of course, there are a lot of factors to consider besides gas consumption, such as insurance, moorage, and storage fees, but you might be able to turn the situation into an advantageous position for yourself.

This biggest question, at least to me, would be how long to wait before one things the prices have bottomed out to get the best advantaged deal.

Just a passing thought!

Joe. :teeth :thup

 

[C-Bill]

Joe,

Personally, I'm pleased with the boat and truck that would be easy to sell versus all those Hummers and deep vee inboard/outboard gas guzzlers.

I'm in San Diego for a few days and I'd hate to fill a 500 gallon diesel fishing Yacht tank for a day on the ocean. :roll:

Bill

 

[Sneaks]

This biggest question, at least to me, would be how long to wait before one things the prices have bottomed out to get the best advantaged deal.

Just a passing thought!

Joe. :teeth :thup

I hope you're just passing gas, Joe. Like I said elsewhere, the smart owners will have already sold or they'll bite the bullet and press on as usual. The fearful and the financially weak are rushing to sell at precisely the wrong moment and yes, there are some great deals out there for the folks with discretionary income. We just thought it was only a Wall Street phenomena, that's all.

When will it stop? I predict it will stop when the war in Iraq is over and ALL the troops are home. IOW, don't hold yer breath my friend. You and I will be somewhere far less comfortable by then....


Don

 

[Sea Wolf]

Don and Bill-

I'm not talking about going off the deep end in up-sizing, just getting a somewhat bigger tow vehicle if needed, or a more comfortable motor home to replace the existing one. Lord knows I don't need a another, bigger boat with a CD-22, a 24 ft pontoon boat, and a Sea Ray 265 Sedan Bridge, none of which I can use until this new hip gets to working 100%!

Joe. :teeth :thup

 

[jennykatz]

Joe you are right on . If you want that bigger boat ,RV or truck now would be a good time to buy but not to sell. Im so happy that I have a inexspensive c-dory to run instead of my friends twin 454 donzi He has been trying to sell for years, but now I think its to late .He will have to give it away . Down here in florida where we use our boats 10-12 months a yr its great to have a 90 hp or 115 pushing our c-dorys instead of these go fast boats with triple 350 yamahas . We love our c-dorys down here great for skinny water 2ft or less and great economy .

 

[JamesTXSD]

We've been meeting some of our neighbors in the employee RV park; a lot of these folks are full-timers and travel the country, working a season here or there and moving on. They are feeling the pinch. The most startling I heard: a guy with a nice diesel pusher who offered $4,000 for someone to take over the payments. :disgust Many folks who have loans on these rapidly depreciating assets (???) are finding themselves upside down on the loan.

In 1973 (remember that gas "crisis"?), I worked in a car dealership while going to college. Guys were coming in with their muscle cars, trying to trade them for the economical Datsuns we sold. I really felt bad for them when the sales manager would tell them what their car was worth. Muscle cars pretty much died shortly thereafter, and we entered the era of the K-Car. That was a sad time for those of us who appreciated style. Hopefully, we won't be entering an era of K-Boats and K-RVs. :disgust

 

[dotnmarty]

I can understand people with these big mother trucks may need them for work or whatever. What I have a hard time with is watching them tromp on it when the light turns green or they are climbing up a mountain. Maybe they should add a literal 'idiot light ' to the dash. In my little Ford 4 wd hybrid I'm keeping the rpms below 2000 and just squeezing out 30mpg.

 

[captd]

I can understand people with these big mother trucks may need them for work or whatever. What I have a hard time with is watching them tromp on it when the light turns green or they are climbing up a mountain. Maybe they should add a literal 'idiot light ' to the dash. In my little Ford 4 wd hybrid I'm keeping the rpms below 2000 and just squeezing out 30mpg.

With all this hype about hybrids, why is it in 1957 I had a big plymouth that would get 25 miles to a gal. Now we have an old 2000 Lincoln ( Town car) that gets 28 miles per gal. ( at 60 mile per hour) Both big cars , very comfy ride. In between it seems like it took 50 years to screw up fuel economy. For a long period of time they built cars that would get 9 or 10 mpg. I would think for the price of a hybrid they should get 50 mpg.

Thank the stars for C-Dory and Ranger. I shudder to think what fuel would cost for my old Chris Craft. It took 2 to 3 gals per mile with a 600 gal tank. $3000 a fill up, plus. Just think, 300 mile range, that is $10.00 per mile. Those old boats must be getting really cheap about now. Now find a slip to keep them in, and get ready for haulout and maintenance.
It has become a rich mans hobby.

captd

 

[dotnmarty]

With all this hype about hybrids, why is it in 1957 I had a big plymouth that would get 25 miles to a gal. Now we have an old 2000 Lincoln ( Town car) that gets 28 miles per gal. ( at 60 mile per hour) Both big cars , very comfy ride. In between it seems like it took 50 years to screw up fuel economy. For a long period of time they built cars that would get 9 or 10 mpg. I would think for the price of a hybrid they should get 50 mpg.



captd

I sure can't disagree with you. 30mpg with 4wd isn't the total answer to the gas crunch. The $2000 tax credit did help with the price differential. Hey, we do what we can.

 

[thataway]

The folks really in trouble are those with the SUV they drive to work, which has rapidly depreciated, and a fixed income. They cannot afford to take a hit (upside down) on the vehicle, or pay the fuel bill.

I don't see the heavier trucks comming down this much (3/4 ton or one ton pickups). Some RV builders have gone out of business, others have down sized. Definately there are less on the road, and more staying fixed. Some cannot afford to get to the next park--but it has often been this way.

Don't forget that some of the muscle cars at Barett Jackson auctions are selling for many times their origional prices.

I have to disagree that the Iraq war is the reason for gas prices. It is global demand, regulation by the OPEC group, the weak U S dollar and speculators in commodies which keep the price up--mostly the former. If we get a storm which threatens the gulf oil refineries, expect at least another dollar a gallon increase. $6 a gallon is not out of sight, and I would not be surprised to see even more at some point, in at least brief peroids.

My impression at Anacortes was that large boats were not selling well, but that prices were still up. Baring death or other family catestrophies, the people who can afford 35 foot on up size boats will not sell in a panic; at least in the trawler type. Those who financed by appreciating house values, especially in the express cruiser type, will be badly hurt.

 

[Westfield 11]

I don't see the heavier trucks comming down this much (3/4 ton or one ton pickups). Some RV builders have gone out of business, others have down sized. Definately there are less on the road, and more staying fixed. Some cannot afford to get to the next park--but it has often been this way.

Here in AZ, the bottom has fallen out of the truck market, even the diesels are a very hard sell. Just saw a nice low mileage Diesel Excursion on a lot with an 9999 asking price. 2005 chevy Tahoe for 11k ask...

Not to be (too) smug, but 20 months ago we ordered two smart cars and took delivery in January. Now we get over 36mpg in town and over 45mpg on the highway, this with power everything and a convertable top. I can't think we were the only people who saw this coming a looog time ago.

It's the same with boats, CD's and other boats in their class will not drop much if at all, same with single diesel trawlers and even motorsailers. But look out if you have a gas Sea-Ray!!

 

[gljjr]

With all this hype about hybrids, why is it in 1957 I had a big plymouth that would get 25 miles to a gal. Now we have an old 2000 Lincoln ( Town car) that gets 28 miles per gal. ( at 60 mile per hour) Both big cars , very comfy ride. In between it seems like it took 50 years to screw up fuel economy. For a long period of time they built cars that would get 9 or 10 mpg. I would think for the price of a hybrid they should get 50 mpg.

I couldn't agree more. In 1988 Honda made the CR-X HF model that would get 50 mpg on the freeway and 40 in town. That was a naturally aspirated car that was a lot of fun to drive (My sister had one). My sister actually got higher numbers than that with hers. More like 56 mpg on the freeway and 45 in town.

My dad used to have a 1981 VW Rabbit Diesel. It got about the same MPG numbers as the above CR-X. Going to Crystal Mtn we would get about 60 mpg with the Rabbit if we were careful.

So since we've had the technology in the past for better MPG why do we have to go with a hybrid? When you look at the cars available in Europe compared to what is available here in the US you have to wonder why the auto manufacturers don't bring in the more fuel efficient engine packages. For instance VW/Audi has 2 engine packages for the Audi A6 in the US but 8 in Europe. Many of the available engines get far more MPG than the 3.2l V6 or the 4.2L V8 that we have the choices of.

Looking at the Smart car. It looks like they are finally going to be bringing in the diesel version in 2008. That might actually be worth looking at if the prices isn't too high. At an estimated 81 mpg (http://www.greencarcongress.com/2007/06/daimlerchrysler.html) it actually makes me think it would be worth getting one to run on Bio-Diesel.

Looking at truck prices is very depressing right now. My old '93 F250 Diesel 4x4 is now worth half of what it was just a few months ago. I guess I won't be upgrading it any time soon!

 

[Sea Wolf]

With all this hype about hybrids, why is it in 1957 I had a big plymouth that would get 25 miles to a gal. Now we have an old 2000 Lincoln ( Town car) that gets 28 miles per gal. ( at 60 mile per hour) Both big cars , very comfy ride. In between it seems like it took 50 years to screw up fuel economy. For a long period of time they built cars that would get 9 or 10 mpg. I would think for the price of a hybrid they should get 50 mpg.

I think the reason we don't have those older, lower technology, higher mileage cars available anymore is largely because of the emission requirements imposed by the Federal and State governments.

The high mileage, simple cars went out with the forced advent of the low-mileage cars that strived to limit emissions with limited technology. These would up choking themselves with closed recirculating systems and no-lead gas, etc. Clean air at the price of more total gas usage.

It took some time to develop the technology to get cars to perform well and still have clean emissions without using excessive energy and wasting fuel along the way.

Now we're paying a real premium for cars that can get great gas mileage again, usually through high technology development and it's associated cost.

This is over-simplified, of course, but is one aspect of the answer to the stated question.

Where's that 1960's bicycle with the little 2-stroke engine attached like a moped?

Joe. :teeth :thup

 

[DaveS]

Where's that 1960's bicycle with the little 2-stroke engine attached like a moped?
Joe. :teeth :thup

Joe, I had a neighbor buddy in 1960 that had one of those. If my old memory serves me right it was called a "Whizzer". If the engine wasn't adequate power to go up a steep hill, he could pedal as well to augment the power. There was also the Moped at that time that was a bit more "modern" than the Whizzer.

 

[ffheap]

Joe,

This is a great discussion.

My realtor put me on to an interesting site that can be found by Googling AIR POWERED CARS. If you are like me, this site gets one thinking about the future. Either we give in to the Arabs and do nothing, or we do something.

Here is some ideas. If you own a 22' C-dory, and you like boating, you do not have to do anything. The nearest port to Nantucket is Hyannis, about 20 miles. A SeaRay goes about 1/2 mile per gallon, therefor 40 gallons at $5,00/Gallon. That si $200.00. US, we go about 4 miles per gallon. That's 5 gallons. Cost $20.00. Not bad in today's economy. Just be slowing down we can increase fuel economy.

We still have the option of expanding our cruising environment due to trailering. Will be some cost in driving our tow vehicle.

This comes to the big question. How small of a tow vehicle do we need to tow our 22' C-Dory? Can we use, say a Ford Escape Hybrid? Is there a better choice on the near horizon for us to choose? Might it be AIR POWERED? Has anybody built, or going to build a small pickup truck with high MPG (Thinking, Pop Top Slide On Camper.) that can tow our boats?

All these questions and others ought to be thought out in our discussion.

Fred

PS. Then we can talk about how we can improve our home heating costs. Remember the FOX FIRE BOOKS of the nineteen seventies? Maybe Jimmy Carter's greatest contributions that we have already gone through the high gas prices. We are ready for this one.

 

[dotnmarty]

I was watching hearings on C-Span regarding this. While they touched on everything mentioned about alternative energy sources, peak oil, environmental concerns, clean coal, nuclear, drilling, and on and on, the one aspect that struck me was the effect of lack of regulation of market speculators, which they said, accounts for about $40 of the $120 barrel cost. Look under that rock and you'll find Morgan Stanley and the like. Maybe we should think about invading Wall St.

 

[Salmon Slayer]

Up here gas just hit $4.05 per gallon for regular unleaded and thats at the regular gas station. We also got hit with an avalanche in April that took out our hydro electric power and caused us to switch to diesel; electricity went from $.11 per KWH to $.51 per KWH so its been a double whammy. So far this year the harbors have been much less busy and you can pick up a large twin engined boat for a bargain. I just saw a 26' TollyCraft Sedan in good shape for 20K and there are a lot of larger cruisers for sale but not much buying. The impact of the higher fuel prices has been pretty dramatic and I dont know about anyone else but it seemed to happen so quickly.

I dont know if I would want to buy anything bigger or less efficient whether its a boat or a tow vehicle because I dont see the prices coming down for fuel anytime soon if ever. I am still able to go out in my C-Dory without too much financial pain while others sit in yards or tied to the dock and I dont see much gain in trading in my paid off 3/4 ton pickup for a new Toyota Tacoma at 26K a pop.

I didnt buy my C-Dory for the fuel economy but I am glad it is the efficient boat it is and if you look on the bright side, having the waters a little less crowded isnt such a bad thing.

 

[wailedcentipede]

lack of regulation of market speculators, which they said, accounts for about $40 of the $120 barrel cost. Look under that rock and you'll find Morgan Stanley and the like. Maybe we should think about invading Wall St.

the details are not exact as it was a while back i read this article but a couple blocks over from the world trade centre lot is a (oil market exchange?) ... the US imports 54 million barrels a day and the exchange trades about 213 million barrels a day they don't really own anything its all on paper .. theirs a small retail store on the way out that carrys expensive watches and on a good day where we may pick up a coffee and donut, they pick out a expensive watch sort of a token for a profitable day .. a good day being as high as 50k the article insinuated it does effect the oil price ... can't think of the name (following the price of a barrel of crude from the oil well to the consumer)