HOW IS THE ECONOMY EFFECTING BOATING

Ron, Bill and El have put it in perspective.

We slow down, cruise locally, spend more time at anchor enjoying the piece and quiet because there will be less boats around. Maybe, those of us who are not fishermen should learn. A very enjoyable hobby, and great savings on our food bill with healthy food. Boston Harbor is the flounder capital of the USA. Taste great when lightly fried in oil after dusting with flour of breadcrumbs.

Yes, it will be a good year for all of us in C-Dory's.

As has been mentioned, maybe we should sharpen our navigation skills, and use the current more.

Happy Sailing.

Fred
 
Yup with the weak $, the US export economy is going gang busters yet domestically we're in the crapper.

I'm in protracted negotiations with a Canadian to sell my Met - see my album - In the past year or so he's raised his price 10% and it hasn't cost him a loonie! :sad
 
There was an interesting story on NPR today that reminded me of this thread. See this link to a story on how the economy is affecting boating and boat sales. To me the most interesting statistic is that in 2007 few boats were sold than any year in the past 40 years.
 
Our impression in the Broughtons and Northern Part of BC off Vanvouver Island was that boating was down at least 50%. This even seemed to be true when we got to the Gulf Islands. We were able to get a slip on a Friday or Saturday night in "high Season"--the end of July.

Certainly we have heard of several more boat builders going out of business in the last week. We notice far fewer RV's on the road--no lines at the Flying J's gas or diesel pumps, and even less cars on the road. Trucks are driving slower on I 10 than we have ever seen on the trans continental route.
 
i have a boat/motor,trailer package worth about $2,500 that i cant get an offer over 2,000 for, two years ago, a guy wanted to pay me $4,500 for it, but it was my only boat and wouldnt let it go, so there has definately been a shift in peoples mental value of owning a baot, there is pics in my album of it, the old catch 22, now that i got my c-dory i just want it gone, i dont know if i should sell it cheap, or wait and try and sell it later.
 
Well, we are about two weeks away or so from a week long cruise in the Gulf Islands, it will be interesting to see the difference from last year. From Bellingham of course the Gulf Islands are just as close as the San Juans, and I can guarantee we will be going slow this year, distances are short and we have no schedule. This will still be a fairly economical cruise at 6 knots, even with the high price of gas. The ironic thing this year will be trying to get Catman to slow down, after 2005 in Desolation Sound trying to get him to speed up!



thataway":27vwfaf6 said:
Our impression in the Broughtons and Northern Part of BC off Vanvouver Island was that boating was down at least 50%. This even seemed to be true when we got to the Gulf Islands. We were able to get a slip on a Friday or Saturday night in "high Season"--the end of July.
 
We've all got to admit that with our "boaterhomes", we really have an economical means for a vacation. How else can a person have such a great monetarily frugal vacation. Our C-Dorys are our transportation, lodging (complete with a bedroom, kitchen, dining room, and porta potti...."air head" in Pat and Patty's case..... and certainly not the least of a positive outlook, an ever changing "water front property" view). Additionally, if you divide the total cost by the number of souls on board, the economy is even better (we had 4 of us on board on our 3 day, 2 night cruise 2 weeks ago).....cheap, cheap, cheap per individual! :lol:
 
for many years i maintained a fleet of three boats. several years ago i reduced that to two and most recently dropped that to one. the c-dory remains and most probably will be the last. yeah, i know, the last one!
well, also recently purchased a new 35' land yacht. it's not bad, averaging 8 mpg, press several buttons and it self levels and slide pops out on it's own. initially 8 mpg sounds bad but when compared to our (since sold) carver's twin 454's averaging 1.9 gals per mile, 8 doesn't seem hateful.
overall, i think the land yacht will enhanced our boating pleasure. over the past several years boating has steadily become more work than pleasure so with this split between land and water, i'll look forward to the pleasure side rather than the work side of each.
dr. bob states, motor homes are seen less on the highways. that may be so, but for linda and i, we now notice them all over the place, and most of them are either towing another vehicle or boat, which will be the case for us as well!
best regards to all
pat
 
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