Kind of hard to haul the 32' converted Novi lobster boat around.
not mine:
Posted on 04/09/2006 5:58:02 PM PDT by Capt. Tom
Another working man's boating disaster is on the way.
The economy is good; but the high prices of marina fuel, marina slips, boat insurance, maintenance, is going to kill boating for a lot of working people starting this coming season.
I see a repeat of the early 1990s, when I moved from the Boston area to Boston's south shore. I went to a local marina and asked to get on a waiting list for a boat slip, I knew it would take years to get in. I was laughed at, the marina operator told me he had a waiting list for slips equal to all the boats in the marina and I was wasting my time-two years later in a bad economy, they had several empty slips for the entire season.
I see this happening again. When the people in the marinas bail out for economic reasons, as I expect will start this season, many people on the waiting lists will find out they can't afford the slips,and the fuel prices either.
Non-boat owners can't relate to filling up a boat fuel tank and spending between $100 and in the case of big twin diesels in a sportfisherman a thousand dollars a fillup.
I brought a 45 Cabo, twin 800 hp diesels up from the Bahamas last spring with the owner onboard. He put $8,700 of diesel into the tanks. Now most working men don't have boats that big, and with that much horsepower,or that kind of money for fuel. I am talking about working class boaters who don't have a lot of money left over each week to pay those really high fuel bills that started last season.
Boats use a lot of fuel (1-3 mpg). If you have $3.00/gallon to deal with ashore, the boat owner has $3.30 - $3.80 to deal with in the marina.
It's not just the fuel, the rising slip fees are another factor. In my area now, they are from $100/foot to $175/foot for a boat in a slip for the season. Usually May thru Mid October.
Last season was the economic handwriting on the wall, but most boaters toughed it out. The reality of economics will take its toll this season.
I see ancedotes indicating the boating problem right now. The boat I use on charter has been in the water since the end of March; at a year round, ice free marina, that usually has 30 or so boats there this time of year. I counted 13 today. We will move out of this marina to our regular marina in mid May when it opens for the season.
I just don't see fuel prices going down. China and India need more fuel. The mideast is shaky. Hugo Chavez (Venezuela) is a lose cannon. - tom
I have a friend with a boat on Cape Cod and have travelled to the Vineyard/nantucket on the twin engine boat. I could buy him dinner every night we were there and still not pay half a much as he did for the gas.
Maybe this year we'll use the high speed ferry, or fly over, rent a nice car and eat expensively knowing how much we saved. .
10 gallons of Jim Beam?
For the past two years I've had a small 19-footer in a marina. It was only last year that the gas prices got a little rough. I'm about to put a new, bigger boat in next week. If gas prices get too high I can still enjoy sitting on the water at the marina, which is a like a pleasant little community with some very nice people.
That is an accurate assessment of the type of boater I am talking about.
People with plenty of money can afford boating.
Working pleasure boat people will find it more difficult now with the higher costs of fuel and marina slips.
These pleasure boaters will face a tough 2006 season. If the high price of fuel continues into 2007 the boating scene will look a lot different than now.
This problem isn't of interest to most people, but it is to people who own boats. - Tom
Hatteras, while I agree with what you say about commercial fishermen, the fellows who run charter boats to take out guys who want a day of fishing are equally legitimate working class fishermen. 'Course I don't need to tell you that - the Hatteras captains are some of the most famous there are, even down here in Florida. I've met a few running charters out in the Bahamas too.
Yes, the charter captain's clients are "merely" those who are pursuing pleasure, but the commercial fishermen's clients, after the fish houses and restaurants anyway, are very often people having a night out on the town. Or alternately, people shopping the seafood market or supermarket who decided it might be nice to have fish or lobster for dinner. So the end result is that they are providing a product that doesn't "have to exist."
Beyond that, I wouldn't want to be the one to say that the "working" boat driver has more "right" to be out on the water than the man who is pursuing pleasure. Pursuing happiness, as the Declaration says. And from an economic point of view, there are probably a lot more people whose jobs depend on supplying the needs of the weekend warriors and pleasure boaters (boat manufacturing, fishing tackle, bait houses, marine supplies, hotels and restaurants, it goes on and on) than there are whose jobs depend on the commercial men.
As to what will happen to the "working" fishermen, when property values drive them away from the seaboard, my opinion is that the seafood prices will rise like hell, and there'll be a buck to be made, same as before. Probably a better one.
All this ground usually gets covered in some detail by those concerned when fishing stocks begin to be depleted, something that generally occurs well before property values go out of sight.
Completely bizarre shark fishing story posted over here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1611813/posts
The shrimpers down Miss/LA are having a tough time this years - less shrimp, higher fuel costs. Oysters don't look to good either. Shrimpers back on Gulf Coast but uncertain of industry's future.
Another article indicates clam harvest is unaffected by the 2005 hurricane season in Cedar Key - good news for those boys.
And that is not a long run either.
Just be glad you are fueling up on Cape Cod and not on Martha's Vineyard. The fuel prices there would knock your socks off. - Tom
I've been lobbying for years to get the government to do for the upper-middle class what they are all too quick to do for the poor Democrats and that is to impose slip rental control and affordable yacht ownership programs. I think that would go a long way to get the disgruntled GOP voter to finally vote Democrat.
What gets me is the BS developers are pushing that their Super Yatch dockage is really "public" because anyone with the money can use it.
It is no different than taking a public roadway and giving it to a private individual who is going to charge a private toll as a means of exclusion.
A boat is a hole in the water you pour money into. I know I have poured money into quite a few holes.
I thought that little saying was about marriage.
The problem is that the public launch points are being bought out at a rapid pace.
Developers are cutting deals to keep public lauch points "public" in name only so they can have the developement rights.
It is like housing developers who agree to install a public park next to their high end developement HOWEVER the park has no parking spaces. (so only the people of the developement can really use the publicly maintained park)
C-Hawk make a nice "civilian" version of that syle of workboat.
Kind of hard to haul the 32' converted Novi lobster boat around.
not mine:
If you are chartering offshore, you can't ignore the increased cost of fuel that really started last year. Unless you are willing to take the hit in the profit area.
Chartering is a very competive business and the profit margin isn't high to start with. Offshore cod charter boats in my area have lost about half of their charters in the last 3 years because of restrictions on the taking of cod. Now the fuel price increases will make matters worse. - Tom
What are the guys getting in the Keys for a day offshore now?
Developers are developing these waterfront properties and selling people on the romanticism and beauty of the seaside community. The daily activity of the fishing industry is as much a part of the romantic landscape they are selling as the pelicans sunning on the pier. Heck, the pelicans wouldn't even be sitting on the end of that pier if not for the fishermen. Whether it be Hatteras Island, Ocracoke, Charleston, quite a few places up in the Chesapeake Bay area or even the fellow up in the northeast that was losing his place to developers. It's one thing to incur added expense to your business which can easily be deflected by raising your price off goods and services. That's supply and demand, I understand that. But to take away a family's business completely because it just so happens that the waterfront where they have toiled with blood, sweat and tears for generations has suddenly become a "hip" place to have a vacation home? I'm having real trouble with that one.
To be fair and honest, it's not just the waterfront issues that concerns me here, I had a great deal of trouble reading a story about the proposed new stadiums in different cities and what they were initially offering the local long-time residents of those areas to vacate their homes so the developers can make a large fortune.
My perspective on this issue can be summed up by the following article. I am not the author but it sums up my concerns and the concerns of many on the island as well as, I'm sure, many of the residents of seaside communities and other new "resorts" through out the country.
Offhore is running about $800-900 for a day. I paid $600-700 the past few years.
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