Boat prices and Gas.

[HURRICANEBOB]

Gas got high, car prices dropped, darn near giving away pickups with rebates to $10,000 and better. We stopped buying trucks cause the gas got high and zippo-zappo, the prices took the dumper. Boats that eat far more gas per mile, stayed the same price. Man, have the boat builders got us pegged. They kinda knew we'd still spend too much for a boat. Now gas has dropped and I doubt the boat folks would even consider incentives, after all it even costs less to tow their stuff to the water now.

Makes me kinda wonder what would hapen if we all just stop buying boats, and motors for that matter. Say for a year or 2. Just wonder if that $34,000 bass boat that takes far less to build than a Pickup wouldn't drop some.

Or do the boat building guys just got us all addicted?

[18'stratos]

Boats are a luxury and thats the way it is. Either buy one or get out of the way so someoneelse can step up. I don't think that the cost of diamonds dropped either. Again LUXURY. They don't have to sell 1000 boats a day nationally to stay in business. I think its a load of crap myself and was hoping that they would drop but this is the blunt reality the way I see it.

[HURRICANEBOB]

this is the blunt reality the way I see it.

Good thoughts. Remember, reality is what we make it. We stop buying, and when they **** wind for a while, they will realize boats ain't a "have to have" luxury, they are discretionary spending. Do ya think flat panel TV prices have dropped because they really are that much easier to make? Or do ya think the days of $12,000 prices of the late 90's kinda gave way to the "huh-oh, they ain't buying these things" mentality.

Luxury? For a bass boat to be that to me, its gonna have to have a hartop, A/C, heater, power seats, windshiled wipers, 7:1 hi-fi sound, and a pretty serious nav system built into the dash. Ya know, something like a "Stratos-illlac", or a "Mercedesketter"

[18'stratos]

In my business I am pricing things lower now than I was 2-3 years ago. Construction has slowed down and people don't want to spend the extra for Custom Wood Work. I would rather make a "little" money on several jobs and stay busy than to make no money cause I'm too stubborn to be flexible with my pricing. What I meant by luxury was a "have to have" item, like a vehicle or a house.
Caller: Hello, On-star, we are fishing today and cant find the 5 pounders.
On-star: Thank you for calling, We can help you with that. We are sending GPS coordinates to you now, follow them and the instrustions provided on your nav screen.
Caller: Oh crap! A school of 5 and 6 pounders, Thank you On-star.

Your luxury brand boats should have On-star for those bad days on the water.

[gocards40]

It does seem like the price of used boats has dropped some or is it that I am paying more attention to it this year.