Boating and fuel costs. (Yarmouth, Freeport: for sale, 2014, home)

[Maineah]

I realize it's hard to muster sympathy for the boating industry here in Maine. Boating along the coast and to a lesser degree on the lakes had always been associated with people who have plenty of money therefore the cost of fuel would not be an issue with them. True, the people who can afford a big cabin cruiser can certainly afford to put diesel in it no matter what the cost. The same is not true for the averege weekend boater. The bulk of the boats you see tied up in marinas or these days sitting on trailers are bay boats or runabouts. These are the boats island folks keep to run over to the mainland for food and supplies, and sport fishermen and bay cruisers use for weekend recreation. A great many of these medium sized boats are sitting in brokerages yards or boat yards never seeing the water. The cost of filling up one of these medium sized boats has become prohibitive. Our boat which we sold in 2001 was 19 feet long, had a 115 HP Yamaha, and a 66 gallon fuel tank. In 2000 it cost about $99.00 to fill that tank. This summer that same tank will cost over three hundred dollars to fill and it will last just about a weekend of striper or blue fish fishing. 66 gallons on a medium sized boat is a small tank with the average sized tank running around 100 or more gallons. Imagine paying $450.00 for gas enough to run around the bay for the weekend! Is it any wonder there are so many boats sitting on trailers and for sale? Like I said many will find it hard to find sympathy for the coastal boat industry. It really is too bad to see it get hit so hard but I guess they can just take their place in line behind the gas guzzler cars and trucks, R/V's and other fossil fuel consuming vehicles which may soon be a thing of the past.

[Mainer61]

We have kayaks and canoes...no fuel costs. We used to have a sailboat with a diesel engine...talk about a money pit.

[wordsmith680]

I sold a 35' Chris Craft Roemer w/ Detroit 6V53's in '91. 300 gal diesel was a strech then, but I am glad I won't be filling it up this summer.......$1200+? unfortunatly I will buy some back-up #2 for home. I now have a canoe.

Resale on boats has taken a hit. If the season were longer I still might be tempted...

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by Mainer61

We have kayaks and canoes...no fuel costs. We used to have a sailboat with a diesel engine...talk about a money pit.

We've gone the same route. We have 2 canoes now. I have small electric trolling motors for them because I'm just too lazy to paddle them. We don't get to go out in Casco Bay chasing the stripers anymore but we have just as much fun on the inland ponds and rivers we have visited over the past several years. I'm thinking of getting a Rangely type canoe with the square transom for a small motor. The little 2-3 hp motors will run all day long on a quart of gas. Plus I can put on the electric motor for poking in and out of little tributaries when fishing.

[AustinB]

The boating industry is more than just those marinas and small outboard dealers that you see. I work in the boating industry and Maine has one of the largest boat building industries in the country. All along the coast of Maine there are boat builders, large and small who pay very good wages. This is all without help from the state, thank you very much. George Mitchell tried to kill us with his luxury tax in the 80's. Turns out that the rich people didn't have to buy American made yachts.
At our yard, we are currently building a 90' sailboat for launch next year. Also we are rebuilding a 50' glass sailboat that will be launched this June. There is all kinds of repair work being done on boats at our yard that range in size from 12' to 76'.

The 74' powerboat that we are doing some repairs and painting has two 1000 horsepower diesel engines in it. I forget the fuel burn per hour, but to run it up and down Eggemoggin Reach at 45mph it was costing about $450 three years ago.

I feel sorry for the people that have to pay the high fuel prices for their bit of relaxation though. I work in the business so I also feel sorry for the loss of work for some people because of the high prices.

By the way, it is quite rewarding to be able to work on some of these yachts. They are like large pieces of furniture.

I only own plastic kayaks and a couple of plastic sail boats(which I don't use). I don't want to work on boats on my days off.

[Bydand]

Not all boats are gas hogs though. I have a semi-restored (don't want to put the cabin back on right now) 1958 Lone Star ElDorado that is 18' long not counting the 2' setback bracket. 7' wide. I can fish all day running a 60HP Johnson on about 6 gallons of gas. I don't go blasting across lakes, or pull tubers, and sure don't have the max HP the boat can handle. I can get from end to end of the lakes I fish in not bad time (30 MPH by GPS loaded, 34 just me and gear) but generally don't. The motor is about 20 years old so it isn't one of the newer more fuel efficient ones either. Cannot tell you how many MPG I get, I'm not out there to drive around in a 50 year old boat, but to enjoy myself fishing, so for an 8 or 10 hour day I don't think around $20 is too bad.

I also have canoes, and smaller watercraft that is strictly oar powered.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by AustinB

The boating industry is more than just those marinas and small outboard dealers that you see. I work in the boating industry and Maine has one of the largest boat building industries in the country. All along the coast of Maine there are boat builders, large and small who pay very good wages. This is all without help from the state, thank you very much. George Mitchell tried to kill us with his luxury tax in the 80's. Turns out that the rich people didn't have to buy American made yachts.
At our yard, we are currently bilding a 90' sailboat for launch next year. Also we are rebuilding a 50' glass sailboat that will be launched this June. There is all kinds of repair work being done on boats at our yard that range in size from 12' to 76'.

The 74' powerboat that we are doing some repairs and painting has two 1000 horsepower diesel engines in it. I forget the fuel burn per hour, but to run it up and down eggemoggin Reach at 45mph it was costing about $450 three years ago.

by the way, it is quite rewarding to be able to work on some of these yachts. They are like large pieces of furniture.

It may not sound like it in my original post but I am a big fan of all facets of the boating industry in Maine. I worked for years in two different yards in Yarmouth and a my brother-in-law is a boat broker. It's just that I had posted in the past about the industry and received luke warm sympathy from folks who either have nothing to do with it or can't relate to the type of people who keep the industry afloat so to speak. They don't like wealthy people. If you're a boat builder you'll no doubt agree it takes someone with considerable wealth to afford the larger types of boats you work on. The Maine boat building community is filled with incredible craftsmen like yourself who take pride in doing the job right the first time and that is why the area continues to have a steady stream of re-fit, repair and new contracts. Because of it's independent nature and the fact it is such a specialized industry, boatbuilding and repair are fairly immune to the fluctuations in the economy. Such is not the case for small mass produced boats in the 90-200 hp range.
The smaller boats are taking a big hit with this fuel cost hike and this is the point of the original post.

[AustinB]

"The smaller boats are taking a big hit with this fuel cost hike and this is the point of the original post"

I realized what you were getting at just as I was ready to post, but I was too lazy to purge and write more after such a long stand on the soap box.

The larger yacht buyers can buy when there is a raging depression going on. The deparity in incomes is quite startling at times.

[Maineah]

Originally Posted by Bydand

Not all boats are gas hogs though. I have a semi-restored (don't want to put the cabin back on right now) 1958 Lone Star ElDorado that is 18' long not counting the 2' setback bracket. 7' wide. I can fish all day running a 60HP Johnson on about 6 gallons of gas. I don't go blasting across lakes, or pull tubers, and sure don't have the max HP the boat can handle. I can get from end to end of the lakes I fish in not bad time (30 MPH by GPS loaded, 34 just me and gear) but generally don't. The motor is about 20 years old so it isn't one of the newer more fuel efficient ones either. Cannot tell you how many MPG I get, I'm not out there to drive around in a 50 year old boat, but to enjoy myself fishing, so for an 8 or 10 hour day I don't think around $20 is too bad.

I also have canoes, and smaller watercraft that is strictly oar powered.

Nothing wrong with that setup and the lakes are loaded with them. You're right if you don't run them hard they will troll all day long on a few gallons of gas.
The boats I see sitting around the brokerages are usually above 90 hp and have at least a 50 gallon built in fuel tank. You need a beamy boat with a good sized motor out on the ocean as you never know when you may need that power to get you through some rollers or out run a thunderstorm. There are folks with boats like yours who "pick their days" and go out in the bay quite a lot. We had a Corson (made in Maine) 15 ft, Runabout with a 35 HP on it that we took all over the place. It was good on gas and if it wasn't too rough we could take it from Freeport to Boothbay Harbor in about an hour and a half. Getting back home could take a while if the wind picked up though. I also ran a 16 foot aluminum open boat with a 25 hp on that. I used that for lobstering and we fished for stripers from it on calm days. That boat would go all weekend on 5 gallons of gas but I wouldn't take it outside the bay! Even the 19 footer with the 8 foot beam and the 115 was considered pretty small for the ocean and on some days it was.

[desertsun41]

The price of gas will affect us in everything we do. I was an avid boater and fisherman when I lived back in the north east. I complained about Marinas charging 75 cents a gallon more then gas stations then.

Like others said......trolling dont use much. Just being out on the water is almost as good as driving fast on the water. When you are driving fast then you are not fishing. And fishing was my game.

A marine mechanic once told me instead of pushing the throttle all the way, just back off about 300RPM from max. You only loose about 1-2 MPH top end but gain considerable gas mileage.

Living in the desert now I no longer have a boat. But I do have a gas guzzling Motor Home. RVing is my passion. We still go very often but we have since shortened our trips.

We have a lake front property in South Texas and later this year when we move permantly we will once again have to own a boat. So I will have a boat and an RV to put gas into.

I hope I hit that lottery soon.............