Thoughts on this video

Don S/V ILLusion · Sunday at 9:12 AM

Not just fuel. Generally, power boaters are more dependent on marina staff to maintain or repair their boats than are sailboat owners plus sailboat owners often use outside services, e.g., riggers, sailmakers, etc… most marinas lack. Plus, their market is larger as there are more power boaters and that trend is growing.

The market research I’ve read also shows a net growth of power boaters over sailors in retail sales from manufacturing to consumer products. Just look at the disparity in inventory at any West Marine store.

Ralph Johnstone · Sunday at 9:45 AM

Fortunately, I haven't seen any of that here but I can definitely see why a marina owner would think that way. Marina owners recognize an easy source of money and those are the people they want.

Don S/V ILLusion said:
Generally, power boaters are more dependent on marina staff to maintain or repair their boats

Pure and simple, they haven't a clue as to how a boat works. The bigger the boat, the less inclined they are to know how they work.

I will always remember one power boat a few slips down fom me who, one afternoon, kept his starter grinding away for several minutes without letting up. He finally went up and came back with one of the marina mechanics who spent less than one minute on board before the engine was purring. Useless idiot.

dlochner · Sunday at 10:38 AM

Years ago a marina owner told me he would rather have sailboats in the marina than powerboats, but sailors don't spend money and powerboats do. He also mentioned transients, he preferred sailors because they were better behaved than powerboats, but they didn't spend any money. He wanted to stay in business.

Note, there are well behaved power boaters and poorly behaved sailors, both of those are outliers to the populations.

shemandr · Sunday at 11:11 AM

Ralph Johnstone said:
...Useless idiot.

shemandr · Sunday at 11:23 AM

Years ago my marina on the East End of LI was trying to get more powerboats for the reasons given in the video. Then fuel prices exploded and they became more friendly to sailboats. I'm sure they would love to sell more fuel but the powerboats were limiting their use and weren't buying that much fuel anyway. And DIY pretty much went away. Now it's prolly flipped back.
The Walmart analogy is off the wall! But I'd rather live in a town with no Walmart.

capta · Sunday at 11:51 AM

From my observations over the last 20 years or so, it appears that "yachting", whether on power boats or sailboats, is once again becoming a pleasure activity of the wealthy. The middle class and its disposable income from the mid to late 1900s is quickly disappearing, leaving all aspects of pleasure boating beyond the reach of many Americans. There are thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of abandoned boats around the nation that aren't even worth the cost of scrapping them, and even repaired, are too old to insure or find a slip for.
Personally, as the cost of having a liveaboard slip has exceeded my retirement income, and my physical condition has deteriorated, a mooring, especially up here in NE, has become an impossibility. So, after 6 decades of nearly full time living aboard, I have been forced to become a dirt dweller.
Not exactly the last chapter I had envisioned for myself.

Ralph Johnstone · Sunday at 12:01 PM

capta said:
So, after 6 decades of nearly full time living aboard, I have been forced to become a dirt dweller.

My condolances.

So sorry to hear that after a life of wandering this planet.

shemandr · Sunday at 12:26 PM

Ditto from here.

Don S/V ILLusion · Sunday at 1:06 PM

Ralph Johnstone said:
I will always remember one power boat a few slips down fom me who, one afternoon, kept his starter grinding away for several minutes without letting up. He finally went up and came back with one of the marina mechanics who spent less than one minute on board before the engine was purring. Useless idiot.

I heard a power boater who tied up at the fuel dock call a friend via radio to ask him “does my boat take diesel or gas?”. Truth is often absurd.

shemandr · Sunday at 1:10 PM

dLj said:
Kind of a related question - does anyone know how marinas are taxed? Have their taxes substantially increased as other waterfront properties have...

I assume their property taxes are linked to assessed property valuation. Therefore I assume that their taxes have gone up substantially over the years. Different localities have different formulas for converting assessed value to tax dollars. And localities differ on when re-assessments are done. Some only at the time of sale. Others more frequently.
Marinas also pay income taxes on any profit they have, payroll taxes, and collect sales taxes and resort type taxes. Fees for permits, licenses and for other non-ad valorem fees.

Stu Jackson · Sunday at 2:16 PM

dLj said:
how marinas are taxed

Dunno, but it may well depend on jurisdiction. Lake Champlain is different than Alameda, California. Just before I left SF in 2016, the local Alameda government was giving the venerable Alameda Marina a really bad time by pursuing condo development to replace the marina services. I recalled discussing it here, this is from January 2016, I left on August 8. Same length on the water, more taxes with bigger buildings and more "suckers." in them. A big sail loft covers as much ground as a few apartments/condos just on one level, add floors...

Plans To Redevelop Alameda Marina In The Works

And at a community meeting last night, the developer showed 4 or 5 iterations of the plan, none of which included ANY marine businesses. The boatyard, chandlery, sailmakers, metalshop, electricians etc.- all gone. 100% mixed retail and residential. Good info, discussion and links here...

forums.sailboatowners.com

IIRC things got worse. Latitude 38 will have covered it I'm sure.

Svendsen's Boat Works in Alameda — the End of an Era?

Alameda Marina was home to Svendsen's, Island Yacht Club, Doyle Sails, Hogin Sails, LTD Marine, Carl Schumacher's design studio and many dry-sailed boats.

www.latitude38.com