Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 5 ~ Feb. 24, 2012 ~ Effects of the Economy on Boating

[ImProudToBeAnAmerican]

Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 5 ~ Feb. 24, 2012 ~ Effects of the Economy on Boating

If the boating market is a barometer of the economy - perhaps we are currently in the eye of the storm..

When the economy heads south, boating is one of the first things people stop doing, and one of the last things people start doing again when the economy warms up.

If you listed things from need to not need; food, water, clothing, shelter would be at the beginning the list, and boating would be second to last, right before owning property on the Moon, perhaps.

This duly noted, not much beats a day on the water, regardless of the current state of the turmoil on land.

As pResident Fail is apparently hell bent on running the economy aground while gleefully giggling as the cost of fuel skyrockets - I ask you, which does he despise more – our country or boaters?

While working at a boating dot com back in the day, we could not figure out why we would get tons of orders one day, and almost none the next. Up, down, up, down – not regional, weather or news related – we finally figured out our orders (mostly online) marched lockstep to the stock market – almost to the hour. When the market ticked up, people checked their investment account balance – the ‘up’ was their boat money to spend. When their account balanced dipped – no boat money.

Apparently a rising tide lifts...the boating market.

While whole fleets of boats bought on the bubble have been repo'd and marinas have more empty slips than they prefer, people are still buying and enjoying their boats.

How is the economy influencing your boating adventures?

"Twenty years from now you will be more disppointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." ~ Mark Twain

Launching ~ Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 1 ~ Jan. 27, 2012

Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 2 ~ Feb 3, 2012 ~ “Off Season”

Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 3 ~ Feb. 10, 2012 ~ Boat Transportation

Weekly FR Boating Thread ~ Vol. 4 ~ Feb. 17, 2012 ~ Spring Projects

Please let me know how I can help you with your boating adventures, and if you would like to be added to the Weekly FR Boating Thread.

[vetvetdoug]

I totally restored the Sea Ray SRV 220 Cuddy 1972 model. I have spent over $28K from 2005-2009 putting it back into Good condition. I tried selling it over the past two years for $5K and hadn't even had a looker. The trailer alone is worth $2K. It sleeps four comfortably, has a kitchen and a head along with many of the additions seen in larger boats. Why did I restore it? Well, the fiberglass was hand laid and not poured and is almost 4” thick at the hull/deck interface. It weighs a bunch but is steady as a rock in rough water. I had fun with it.

[TampaDiver]

Ping me for the boating thread

[Eye of Unk]

I would love to have a sizable vessel that is mostly wind driven but also has a powerplant for getting around in tricky places, the trick is to get something that will cost you virtually nothing to spend on. Could be electric with a battery bank much like a golf cart motor or motors, charging can be wind generator and solar panel.

Optional is the propane powered diesel engine when you need serious power for against currents or such.

But here is the big picture, when America totally goes bad and Obama has a statue a mile high in every state the best place to be is offshore, beyond the territorial limits.

If you gave a cabin up in the hills google earth will find you and so can anyone, being mobile in an RV can work as long as you can get fuel.

Or just Escape from America, get far away and buy a truckload of popcorn and just watch from a safe distance.

My bolt hole is in Australia, already prepared, just have to endure the long plane trip.

[ImProudToBeAnAmerican]

You’re describing a sailing catamaran - with lots of solar panels and a couple wind generators.

Electric drives are available, but you still need some form of fossil fuel power plant to charge your batteries.

You can live off of solar and wind, but they are not quite enough to move boat when the wind dies.

We joke about watching ‘Rome burn’ from a boat...I hope this does not come to pass.

The problem is, if America goes down, so does the rest of the world.

Until then, might as well enjoy messing around on boats.. =)