Wonder Where The Boats Went?

[Rick D]

In 2007, we moved our boat from SoCal's Marina del Rey to Long Beach. Long Beach had a three year waiting list despite MdR having lots of vacancies. Today, there are vacancies in Long Beach too. Even Catalina Island's moorings are going unleased; when I got mine in 2000, I had waited 14 years. Maybe more boats are being cut up than sold but that would be, if correct, a modest contributor. Brokers are begging for listings and there are few repos out there. Slip availability in Socal used to be a big problem; certainly not now. no new marinas either. The prospect for that happening is almost laughable.

So, it seems obvious these boats migrated somewhere. I know some were purchased by folks from out of the country owing to SoCal's lower transaction rates and a weaker US dollar. But that too couldn't have been a big factor.

Anyhow, I have no clue but it is a curiosity. In the 80's recession, I was told 40% of the boats sold went out of state. That was a surprise since moving them isn't cheap!

 

[caguy]

I suspect that many are being cut up. I have a friend who buys boats at auctions and removes the leaded keel and cuts them up. He was in Needles a couple of months ago and they cut up 11 boats in 5 days. He did not bring them back to Calf because off the mussel quarantine hassle, so they cut them up on the spot and brought back the keels. The keels weigh about 3000#s and he gets 85 cents a pound for the lead. He also resold 5 boats while he was there. He was telling me that when they go to San Diego for auction there are about 15 other guys doing the same thing.
I know in MDR they have managed to price out a lot of the older and smaller boats. They are currently replacing the old slips with new ones to accommodate larger boats. The original intent of MDR being a working mans marina has given way to developers who want to create an upscale marina capable of handling some of the mega yachts. As the income gap keeps getting bigger you will probably find larger but fewer boats in the future.

 

[Navicula]

I agree with both of you.....at the toronto boat show.....there where alot of yacht clubs looking for people to join.......I had a friend mention to me the other day...that lake ontario had alot more traffic 20 years ago than today

kind of interesting

 

[higgs]

Young people are not buying boats, perhaps because they were hit hard in the recession. At the same time, the boating population is aging and those people re getting out.

 

[higgs]

Sounds like a song to me: Where Have All the Sailboats Gone, Long time passing...

 

[finding41]

All my friends think it's too expensive to own a boat.
In my day to day activities I bet I've met more people that used to sail than that do sail now. That includes all the 100 people at our yacht club.

 

[PaulK]

Maybe what we're seeing is the price of fuel decimating the powerboat market. There may still be as many sailboats as there ever were. Powerboats may be sitting on trailers in driveways because they're too expensive to run. Would you like to blow $500 or more to fill your tanks every weekend? Sailboats are a small part of the boating crowd, but a $1.00 per gallon price hike will cost me $40 -- for a tank that will last me almost all season. We tried to get powerboats to join us on our club cruise last year. People balked at the idea of shelling out $5000 for fuel for a one-week run from CT to MA. We had more than a dozen sailboats enjoy the trip without them.

 

[Ray Bowles]

Trailer sailed boats are having the same problem. Since about 1985 there has been a much lower number of manufactures. With new boats under 25 feet costing 25 to 30k and up few can afford the expense. Other than Catalina 22's there are few other trailered boats on the market and they are usually under $5,000.
The new high performance boats under 20 feet are not for the new sailor's ability so there are few of them on the open market.

 

[Jackdaw]

This graph showing the number of sailors in the USA says it all. It's off 80% for our peak when we were making all these boats. Now, we need less boats. 40, 30 year old boats? The lead is worth more than their value as a watercraft. Cut 'um up.

 

[kappykaplan]

Yeah - not gonna cut up my 31 yr-old Pearson! Wait a minute, I'm one of those old farts!! All good stuff in this thread. Hope my work with the Scouts and sailing gets us some more folks on the water in sailboats.

 

[Pilgrimtex]

Turn the helm into a Game Boy console to attract the young. LOL. People with money are leaving states like California for places like TX. Google Clear Lake on Galveston Bay and you'll be hard pressed to find empty slips. All industries are cyclical as well. Cutting up old boats is like culling a dear population. Keeps them healthy. The up side is fewer boats means more room for us and empty moorings and more competition for our money. Remember a half full glass is half full not half empty.

 

[MrBill_FLL]

fwiw, my trailer sailor Insurance went from 600/yr to 1000/yr in 10 years, on a 7k boat.
-for how little I'm using it, it has me thinking of getting out...

 

[azguy]

fwiw, my trailer sailor Insurance went from 600/yr to 1000/yr in 10 years, on a 7k boat.
-for how little I'm using it, it has me thinking of getting out...

Is that because of your location..???

I pay $200 a year for my Catalina 22 including the trailer...

 

[Skipper]

People who earn a decent living are punished in California. So they leave.

Boats are looked upon as "wealth" indicators.

We sold our boat in Dana Point, and it was shipped by the buyer up to Oregon, and then we left. Few opportunities, huge taxes, high slip fees, and any other taxes\fees they can dream up, like the property taxes levied on slip renters, for the slips! That was a good one. Didn't own the slip, but had to pay the property tax.

We moved to Northern VA, where the economy is still good, and the libs aren't attacking us for working hard, yet. Although Maryland has tried. I hate winter, and miss California (the area, not the culture), but at least I can own a boat without being targeted.

 

[justsomeguy]

I was awaitin' on an explanation like that.

Thanks, Skipper, and MrBill_FLL.

 

[MrBill_FLL]

I'm not sure why its so expensive, but it is, what it is. (law suits?)

I had boats-us, and state farm quote on it, both were very close so I went with state farm that has everything else.


Car insurance is higher here too...
lots of uninsured, and unlicensed drivers... (cough, Immigrants, cough)

 

[caguy]

Only Thing That Keeps Me Coming Back is My Sailing Addiction

At MDR my mast up storage fees have tripled over the last 6 years. They used to be $49.25/mo and are now $150.10. Property taxes have also gone up from $60 to $90 (Cat 27 in mast-up) and $90 to $130 (Lugar project boat in driveway.) Insurance has stayed about the same. The price of gas over the last 6 years has more than doubled and at one point nearly tripled.
Thank goodness they haven't figured out how to tax the wind.

 

[justsomeguy]

I'm not sure why its so expensive, but it is, what it is. (law suits?)

I had boats-us, and state farm quote on it, both were very close so I went with state farm that has everything else.

Maybe they took a huge loss recently?

Car insurance is higher here too...
lots of uninsured, and unlicensed drivers... (cough, Immigrants, cough)

Yah, we pay for them, too.

Mast-up storage in Puerto Penasco, MX has risen 6% this year. I don't have much history to recount, but the now $128.00/month seems reasonable, I guess.

 

[reworb]

People who earn a decent living are punished in California. So they leave.

Boats are looked upon as "wealth" indicators.

We sold our boat in Dana Point, and it was shipped by the buyer up to Oregon, and then we left. Few opportunities, huge taxes, high slip fees, and any other taxes\fees they can dream up, like the property taxes levied on slip renters, for the slips! That was a good one. Didn't own the slip, but had to pay the property tax.

We moved to Northern VA, where the economy is still good, and the libs aren't attacking us for working hard, yet. Although Maryland has tried. I hate winter, and miss California (the area, not the culture), but at least I can own a boat without being targeted.

Same reason why we left California. I lived there for over 25 years and my wife is a native Californian. I miss the So Cal summers and Catalina Island Summer here in Florida aint as nice what with the afternoon thunder storms. I don't miss the the high taxes the annual 1% personal property tax on the boat and slip fees that were $18.00 a foot a month 9 years ago (Newport Beach). Here I have a house on the water with the boat behind the house (zero slip fees) something I could only dream of in So. Cal.

 

[redhead78]

Didn,t I read we lost some 65,000 pleasure craft to "Sandy" in the northeast?? Red