Boat U.S. - May 2008 - (Page 18) memberforum LettersToEditor@BoatUS.com 60 Years of Inflation After reading some of your recent editorials along with a group of member letters about the boating crunch and some of your reasons for the slump, it kind of made me think about boating and the boating business over the past 60 years or so. My first boat as a youngster was a 14-foot Tomahawk, a fiberglass-covered wood boat, the latest in high-tech boatbuilding at the time. The boat cost $450 and a Johnson 10-hp outboard was $250. The cost came to $50 per foot. I had more fun with that boat and eventually paid my father back over a number of years delivering newspapers, shoveling snow and doing many odd jobs. In 2004, I purchased a new 26-foot Century walk around with a couple of fourstroke, 200-hp Yamahas, a trailer and some electronic stuff. After painting the bottom and launching the boat, the cost came to $3,269 per foot. I recently thought I would upgrade to a 30-foot Pursuit with a pair of 250-hp Yamaha four-strokes with similar amenities, maybe a couple of extras and, of course, a bit bigger. With just about everything the 26-foot Century had as amenities, the price shook me, $6,666 per foot. Let’s call the slump what it really is; boating is downright expensive. Fifty hours on the water a summer in the Northeast with a $4,000-per-foot boat in the 25-foot range over four years is close to $500 per hour and that’s if all goes well. I really enjoy reading my BoatU.S. Magazine. Safety issues related to good boating are essential and can’t be emphasized enough. And your electronic version of the issue allows me to capture key articles and send them on. Elbert Burr Salem, CT exponentially. The average skill level, and worse, the average attitude on the waters today is nothing short of appalling. And it just keeps getting worse. Since the government could never effectively handle a serious licensing program, the only reasonable solution is fewer boats. George Wilson Egg Harbor, WI designated by the **, you must stay at the Marriott hotel in order to have access to that private course. One of my things I'd love to do when I retire is to cruise the ICW all the way to Florida and play golf along the way. There should be a boating/golfing guide that someone should do. I suspect I'm not the only one with this interest. George Kreis Crownsville, MD Education Required While I agree with Mr. Tabone that too many boaters do not know or heed the Rules of the Road and common-sense safety procedures, his solution is off the mark. If we and the local governments let the shorelines, boatyards and marinas all get turned into high-rise condos, we will have no place to keep our boats, and the only people who will get forced out are the larger boat owners who have boats too large to safely trailer. The solution is education of new boat owners. I don't like the licensing idea; some type of mandatory education before you take the keys to a 20+ knot capable boat would be much more desirable. Jim Campbell Easton, MD Better Towing at What Cost? Tees by the Sea The Silent Majority? My hats off to Paul Tabone for his letter in the March '08 issue. My experience as a former Coast Guard search and rescue specialist, longtime delivery captain and lifetime boat owner has convinced me that he is correct. I'm surprised you printed it, but congratulations for doing so. Mr. Tabone points out correctly that the primary problem is too many so-called boaters. They consistently refuse to educate themselves and their numbers are growing 18 BoatU.S. Magazine May 2008 For many years I have been combining golfing and boating. There are numerous places where you can dock your boat and tee it up. In fact, when I was looking to buy my boat years ago, one of the main criteria was that it have a good place for golf bag stowage. The following are my favorite places that have golf as part of the marina experience. Most of the places are somewhere on the Chesapeake Bay, but a couple are further north: Tides Inn, Irvington, VA; Kingsmill, Williamsburg, VA; Hyatt Resort, Cambridge, MD; Swan Point Yacht & CC, Issue, MD; Bay Creek Resort and Club, Cape Charles, VA; Cavalier Golf & CC*, Virginia Beach, VA; Chestertown Yacht & CC*, Chestertown, MD; Gibson Island Club*, Gibson Island, MD; Wentworth by the Sea**, New Castle, NH; Samoset Resort, Rockland, ME. Every one of the above has excellent golf suitable for mid to low handicappers. The places designated with * are private clubs that can be accessed by reciprocity from your home yacht club. At Wentworth, In your January 2008 issue, the article on “Towing with New Diesels,” by Michael Vatalaro, there are some shortcomings. The advocacy in the article’s focus seems to be that diesel trucks do much better at towing your boat. That may be correct in the torque and pulling sense, but at what price over gasoline-powered vehicles? With the very large cost premium to get started with a diesel, and the 15-30% premium for fuel purchases for diesel over gasoline at most stations, it appears that some long-term cost of ownership numbers would be very useful to a reader who is considering their next purchase of a boat towing vehicle. Hybrid technologies also bait the costper-mile issue because they carry such a premium “first cost.” Consumer Reports had an article awhile back indicating that based on overall costs, hybrids are not cost effective at their present, much higher frontend costs. I would expect the same sort of number crunching would be useful when applied to tow vehicles. Diesels and hybrids do achieve better miles per gallon than gasoline-powered vehicles, but, in the bigger picture of total ownership costs, are they a winner? Jim Locke Lodi, CA Hitch Up the Hearse Why spend thousands of dollars for a vehicle that may not tow very well and whose fuel efficiency ceases to exist when towing? It is far less expensive to purchase an older, heavy vehicle for towing and have a comfortable, safe ride. The ‘70s and ‘80s models had the horsepower, the room, the weight and the frame to tow most boats economically and safely. Of course, I am biased since I tow with a 1970 Cadillac hearse. With air shocks in the back, an aux-
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