Hi, I think what may not be being considered is the state of the US and world economy. People who used to be able to buy a sailboat are now trying to figure out how to avoid the foreclose on their homes. When you can't buy fuel to get to work you aren't in the market for a sailboat.
Casey --- On Tue, 7/1/08, Arild Jensen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > From: Arild Jensen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [Liveaboard] Future of boating ( was : US to Canada transport) > To: [email protected] > Date: Tuesday, July 1, 2008, 1:47 PM > Doc Turner wrote: > > I remember that everyone was getting into the sailboat > marker after the gas > > crunch of the mid-70s. Even Bayliner. A lot of > people dumped their power > > boats and purchased sailboats. I figure that > something like that will > > happen again, but this time, people will be looking > for used boats. Mainly > > because even small sailboats cost a small fortune! > > Doc > REPLY > A lot of things have changed since the seventies. I too > bought my > sail boat back then. > However, today's boaters are not of the same mind set > as they were > back then. > I do not see a large scale shift into sailboats by > today's power boat > crowd. They are not going to be willing to put up with > displacement > speeds, and less roomy space compared to their power > boats. In the > past there was still a lot of disposable investment > income which > seems to have evaporated this time around. > Demographics have changed. The people who moved into sail > back in the > seventies have shifted to trawlers now because of their > age. Somehow I > don't see many of them going back to sail. > The much younger generation are more into going fast in > power boats. > If fuel costs prohibit that, they are more apt to find a > less expensive > recreational pastime, > > Concerning today's boats. By now people are accustomed > to having > freezers, fridges, ice makers, and air conditioning on > board. Even > when a sailboat is equipped with all these things, it is > going to be > expensive just to run a genset to drive these things when > at anchor. > Its been my observation that many of the existing > sailboats do not have > as quiet a genset installation as power boats do. > And because of rising fuel costs everywhere, it takes away > from > disposable income that might otherwise have been spent on > boating. > > What boating that does continue will be very different > compared to > what we have been accustomed to. > > regards > Arild > > _______________________________________________ > Liveaboard mailing list > [email protected] > To adjust your membership settings over the web > http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard > To subscribe send an email to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To unsubscribe send an email to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > The archives are at > http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ > > To search the archives > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] > > The Mailman Users Guide can be found here > http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
