How do you plan to get to your boat?

Steve Dion · Mar 18, 2008

another view.

Okay, it is also costing me about $60 for a round trip to the boat. (340 miles round trip). If the cost of fuel increases by 10% I need to budget another $6/week and 20% would be $12/week ($50/mo).If I need to start taking Prozac for my mental health that will probably be $250/mo.I have made my decision, when are you going to make yours? I feel that the bubble will pop on the price of oil. This may not be much different than the price of electicity from Enron or the problem with home loans. I believe it is just a matter of time before the specualtors will be out of the equation and the price will settle at something "reasonable".

MoonSailer · Mar 18, 2008

I am thinking Motorcycle

We had a Goldwing for several years a GL1500 when cruising it would get about 45 MPG. Very comfortable and fun. But gas prices is part of the reason that we moved our boat closer to home. We loved the coast 300 miles each way. and with a 35mpg car and gas less than 1.50/gallon no problem except 1200 miles/month on the car!!!! Now the boat is 100 miles away. But we tend to go every weekend so still 800 miles/month. Since we can't get the boat any closer to us we are going to move closer to the boat!!!! Actually we are considering moving on the boat.

Ross · Mar 18, 2008

I am going to have to struggle with the 18 mile trip to the boat

by car. It will take a gallon of gas each way. If I lived 300 miles from the boat I would become a mountain man.

sailortonyb Allied Mis · Mar 18, 2008

Something reasonable?

Right now gas is over $3 per gallon and I guess 2.50 per gallon might be reasonable. However, if gas goes to $5 per gallon and stays there for a year or so, we might consider $3.50 reasonable. To 'commute' to your boat could be quite expensive. In Steve's case maybe a 'low powered' motorcycle might fit the bill but.....weather conditions and cargo (groceries and supplies) carrying capacity could be issues. Move boat closer to home might be another option but not always possible.Less trips to the boat but longer weekends may solve that problem. Moving aboard is possible for some but completely out of the question for others. I live aboard and we have a car, a pick-up truck and a 50cc scooter just to get around in. I use the scotter more than you would suspect. If I am going to my shop and dont have any errands I take the scooter. I average 110 to 120 mpg at 50 mph.Bad Obsession asks a serious question with no real answers. If the recession continues, many will have no choice but to stay at home more often with less trips to the boat. Lets hope it all returns to normal soon.

Ctskip · Mar 18, 2008

I moved

so I can be closer to the boat/water that I love so dearly. The boat is but two miles away. Just on the western side of the lake. I have moved to the eastern side of the lake. I get to watch the sun set over the boat. Developers just sunk about 1.5 billion on this side of the lake and I am loving it. More conveniences than I have time for. I finally have learned what the realtors are always talking about, location, location, location. So I did it.I chose wisely. The best part so far is that there are no declining home prices here.... yet. I have been riding a Harley for near on 40 yrs now. Having just sold my 1960 stepside and got me a fun Wrangler to play with. Insurance and the price of fuel has been my reasoning all along. I enjoy the solo aspect of it, just as I do sailing and playing golf. My suggestion to those who live far from their recreational activity. Move closer and do it more often. Do it as often as you can and as much as you want. Keep it up. Ctskip

sailortonyb Allied Mis · Mar 18, 2008

Car Pool to work?

Maybe if more people car pooled to work they can use the money saved in carpooling to spend driving to the boat. Do some car-pool math, you might be surprised. In the Houston, Tx. area, the dedicated car pool lanes are almost always pretty empty and you only need 2 people to use the HOV lanes. I guess most refuse to car pool. Back in the 1970's when we had the first major price jump and gas shortage, car pooling became pretty popular in the north east.Tony B

Andy1237 · Mar 18, 2008

Justification to stay longer

The price of the commute to the boat is justification to stay longer on the boat and quit going to work! Ha

Steve Dion · Mar 18, 2008

Ross....

Ross:That is precisely the problem. I am a mountain man and the boat is at sea level. Carson City, NV. to Rio Vista, CA. and 170 miles (3 hrs) gets you there. Whether you are there for 1 day or 1 month the round trip is still about $60.00 at the current price. Now consider this. I can purchase a Prius for about $28,000 + tax. This vehicle will maybe get me 50mpg. My current vehicle gets 20mpg. The difference at the current price of $3.50/gal for 15,000 would amount to about $1575 per year. It would take me about 17 years to pay for the difference between my 20 mpg vehicle & my 50 mpg vehicle. I would also loose my AWD capability which would probably lengthen the number of years for the payback, because I would not drive over the mountain any weekend that tire chains are required.

EatDrinkHealthy · Mar 18, 2008

Gas price

What are you complaining about? We Canadian only pay $1.09. The government changed the system to metric years ago to confuse us. BTW, that's $4.12 in Canadaian dollar or US$4.16.The policy makers in the state should smarten up and change the system to metric. When the dust settled, people stop complaining. With globalization, I think our wages will be in line for convertion to metric in the near future too. ;-(Oh by the way, our supermarket labels our food in 100 milligram. May be that's the catalyze to interest more people to take up math. That may be a good thing.

Stu Jackson · Mar 18, 2008

This is "almost" a topic for the

Sails Call Lounge

Anybody care to guess just why these price hikes are happening?If so, I'll bet Phil moves this thread "over there"...

Rich (P303) · Mar 18, 2008

Nothing I can do...

but enjoy the months Maine calls summer. I'll worry this winter.

Phil Herring · Mar 18, 2008

Let's start a pool

On when it gets moved.

Mike1956 · Mar 18, 2008

Look at it this way

I live in Pennsylvania. The price of gas is now $3.29 a gallon. It is 90 miles to my boat one way. My car gets 25 mpg. It takes 3.6 gallons to drive one way, at a cost of $11.84. If gas went up a dollar more a gallon, it would only cost me $3.60 more each way. I ain't staying home because I'm afraid to spend $7.20 more than I was willing to spend earlier. On my death bed, I don't think I'm going to regret sailing my boat.

sailaway78 · Mar 18, 2008

Read and Weap

I hate to rub it in, but just can't resist temptations.

I have to walk about twenty paces, from my back door, to the dock. The more gas goes up, the more I will sail, instead of going off somewhere else in the car.

Stu Jackson · Mar 18, 2008

Car pooling? Good idea

find the good lookin' chick down the street and offer to go food shopping together. Beats barflies every time.And for those of you on the east coast bemoaning gas over $3.00, get used to it, we have, it's been like that here for over two years, or didn't you know? Like right after Enron cleaned the clocks of the stupid CA government and their dumb "deregulation" of energy.

rardiH36 · Mar 18, 2008

Two Wheels and a Bowl of Raisin Bran

Next to live-aboard or having a private dock off the back deck, my boat location situation is not too far behind in convenience. The marina is about five level miles from my home. By bicycle 90% of the distance is traversed on a no stoplight no cars allowed paved ex-railroad right-of-way through tidal marsh land. Energy demand for the 15-minute home to boat bicycle transit might be a cup of coffee and a bowl of raisin bran. And my tank is still mostly full when I arrive at my boat. After returning home in the late afternoon, a beer or two (or something 80 proof on occasion) provides an octane boost when followed by dinner. Sometimes I do use my car for a boat outing to combine with other errands such as a stop at the store when I've run out of cheerios or when its necessary to donate to West Marine some of the money that I'm saving by bicycling. Although my car can do more mph than me and my bicycle, because of several stoplights and a less direct route, driving takes about 12 minutes on average. So I'm not loosing much boat time by bicycling. Going/returning to/from the boat is my exercise program about 5 days per week. Further bonuses -- bicycling exercise saves me gym fees and is a better alternative to jogging which is becoming too tough on the knees as the years go by.

RichH · Mar 18, 2008

4 & 5 day 'weekends' .... until I move aboard, then leave

for some other country, etc. ... until this 'mess' is corrected. I feel very bad for the folks younger than me who cant do this and will soon face a potential ~50% increase in their federal taxes to pay for the impending 'healthcare' and other forced social programs... and then it probably wont matter what the price of fuel will be as the total economy goes even deeper into the dumper. This is the second time in my life that I've seen our US congress sit on its collective dead ass and not make the correct intervention into a fiscal crises that THEY started and allowed to happen and thus are almost totally responsible for. Im going to vote for the restoration of the KING, definitely NOT for one of the current 'three stooges'. The upside of all this is if one makes the 'right' investment moves now when prices are or become cheap it'll pay magnitudes later on ... as this is the time when future fortunes are begun to be made. I hope you all do well during this 'crunch' ... keep your debt low if you can. I 'draft' behind large trucks and try to NOT to buy ethanolated fuel .... to get much better fuel mileage

Rick D · Mar 18, 2008

22.5 MPG for a 200 Mile Round Trip

...for my Subie Turbo AWD. But, it takes 91 Oct. $3.89 now in SoCal. Will be $4.25 by summer. (I'd get much better if I could keep my foot out of it.) So, that's about $34.51 now and $37.78 this summer per week (I go to the boat weekly). I am averaging 15,000 mile / year. For the year, at $3.89 I would spend $2566. At $4.25, I will spend $2833, a difference of $267. So, not reason enough to do anything at all, other than think out my trips (and buy even more on line). Subaru came out with a diesel flat four in Europe. Gets about 15-20% better mileage. However, in CA, diesel is about 10-15% more expensive than premium. Kinda put a disincentive on even those cool diesels. And, like Steve, I am a mountain man. So, I could buy a Phallys (oops, I mean Prius

) and get 25% better mileage, but lousy handling on mountain roads and total shut-down when icy (nanny-drive shuts off the traction). So, why would I? Of course, a lot of the fuel price increases are directly related to our dollar deflation rather than supply, so we have a ways to go on fuel cost inflation before we settle in and perhaps get some price back, IMHO. BTW, I don't mean to minimize the actual or psychological impact on people. In our little mountain resort community, the tourism is way down and the mom and pop businesses are really hurting. Power boats on my dock are hardly moving out of their slips and Catalina Island is expecting business to be way off over a lousy last year. And, I was just talking to a friend who is a boat broker last weekend, and you can just guess the story they told. A lot of this is adjustment, but it takes a couple of years to wash through. I'm old enough to have seen it four or five times. Rick D.

ruedi ross · Mar 18, 2008

I'm wondering

how I'm going to get my boat out of the boat barn this spring. There is 60 inches of snow in my drivway this year and still snowing. I live and work at a ski area in colorado, I don't plow my driveway and snowmobile to and from work. Last year at this time I was driving my pickup home, this year there is 5 feet of snow in my driveway. I am going to trailer my boat to mexico in 3 weeks, I may have to pull it down my driveway behind a snowcat to make it happen. It must be global warming!

How do you plan to get to your boat?

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