20 % of new boaters dropping out of boating within 4 years.

[FluffyDog6]

I read an article today that shows boating is declining in popularity, and the greying of the "boating population" is becoming more prevalent. Young people look to other pastimes for the leisure time.



https://www.tradeonlytoday.com/post-...awal-symptoms-

What do you think? What reasons have lead to the decline of boating?

[mmwjr]

I have two daughters, one married and one single. The single on goes boating with me a few times a year while the other typically only goes once with her husband and two sons. Like many families the kids are involved in several sports, scouts and other activities which makes boating a low priority. Add the costs versus costs of living these days and boating is not attractive.

[FluffyDog6]

Originally Posted by mmwjr

Add the costs versus costs of living these days and boating is not attractive.

I've had some of my best memories made on boats my parents owned when I was growing up. We had a small cottage on Sandy Pond just off Lake Ontario (near Pulaski, NY)

In those days, cost was not a big factor. Fuel was also (adjusted for inflation) much less than we pay now. A six-gallon tank with a bottle of two-stroke oil could be had for around $10.

A 14 foot aluminum rowboat with an old Evinrude 9.9 was my passport to explore, and first taste of mechanized freedom as a young teen.

We also had a 23 foot bowrider Grady White that we did lots of skiing, fishing, and exploring of Lake Ontario, the Thousand Islands, and Sandy Pond with. We bought is second hand off an old guy for about $4000 in the early 1980s. That same boat would run $40,000+ brand-new these days.


I hope to make some of these magical moments with my kids and grandkids before I'm too old to manage launching and retrieving the boat from the trailer.

It seems if it doesn't have an LCD touchscreen in it, it doesn't hold people's attention anymore.

Sandy Pond, NY on Labor Day

[shrew]

If the went to college, then their student loans are through the roof. Whether they went to college or not, ENTRY LEVEL jobs are requiring 2-3 yrs experience. The ratio of salary to housing costs if off the charts. Automobile prices are off the charts. When I bought my first house the house was about twice my yearly salary. Now it's 5-6 times.

Boats are expensive to own, expensive to store and expensive to maintain. People in their 20's-30's can't afford a boat. They can barely squeeze by. I was 36 when I bought my first boat. At the time we were the youngest people in the marina. All of our closest boating friends all had kids our age. Fast forward, I'm now almost 54. We're still the youngest people in the marina. Our closest boating friends still have kids that are our age.

The same is occurring at the golf clubs as is occurring at the yacht clubs. Young people don't want to be where their parents and grandparents hang out.

Young people today aren't about things. They are about travel, food and experiences.

[FluffyDog6]

The Baby-Boomers experienced the peak of American Prosperity, and each subsequent generation (I'm Gen X) has had to accept less and less return on their labors.

I grieve for MY children when I see what education, housing and vehicle costs are today, because even my much-maligned generation was able to get a foothold on the Ladder of Success.

As we continue to lower our standard of living to match that of around the world, and the 1% arbitrage those differences, I fear we may have seen the last of the American Dream starting to flicker out.

Leisure activities like boating and the like are just the canary in the coalmine.