Fuel costs

[Fisher of Men]

This was posted as a topic a while back, but gas was still under $2 a gallon then.  I've not taken my big bass boat out this year (it's an older carbeurated 150 Mercury and burns about a half a tank of gas just running short distances).  I'm doing most of my fishing from my jonboat on smaller bodies of water.  I've talked to a few buddies of mine who are running their big boats and they say they don't run at full speed or run all over the lake anymore due to the price of gas.  I was interested in the following:

#1- What's the price of gas where you live?

#2-  Is it (the price) changing your boating habits?

#3-  Do you think the price of gas has/will affected the sales of boats? or the buying habits of customers (i.e. buying lower HP, 4 strokes, etc.)?

Just curious how this issue is affecting the rest of you.

P.S.  Gas prices have seemed to have dropped about 8 cents or so in the last week to ten days.  I wonder if this is due to the Exxon/Mobile "boycott" e-mail that many of us received. (If you didn't receive it, I'll forward it to you, it sounds like it might work)

Gas here in North Texas is now around $2.09 a gallon down from around 2.17-2.19 a couple of weeks ago.  

Thanks for any replies,

Fisher

[gamblerOH]

our gas is falling also, its $1.94 as of today.  The price of gas has not affected how much I run my boat, or my truck. My boat holds 50 gallons of fuel and if empty it would cost  $97.00 to fill up. According to last years lower prices of $1.69 it would cost $84.50 to fill up, thats only $12.50 difference . I usually fish with a partner so if we split the gas then its only $6.25 each more than last year.I would say thats a bargain considering how much everything else has went up in the past year.A boat I recently looked at went up $8,000 from last year, now theres something to worry about. I also got the exxon mobil email and it is a good idea and I think it could help a lot. I buy citgo since they support BASS.

[Muddpuppy]

Our fuel prices are the same as yours except that I burn diesel and that is around $2.20 gal. last time I filled up. It probably will not directly effect my boating nor most of the people that I fish with.  If anything my time on the water may increase, if there is reduced lake traffic.  My boat burns very little fuel and most of the lakes that I fish are only around 2,000 or so acres.  And on the larger ones we usually put in at the general area that we fish.  Now the younger families with kids and several activeties requireing travel all going on at once, I am sure will feel the pinch.  The problem with long term riseing oil prices is it does not stop at the pump.  It affects shipping, manufactureing costs, wages and just about every sector of the market.  Even though a lot of the power generators have switched to natural gas its prices seems to rise along with oil.  I will defenetly feel any increase, it just wont be all at the lake, but in food and everything else.  Just about everything on a new bass boat is made from oil byproducts so I don't see how it can not effect their sales.  The carpet, glues, paint the thing has opec stamped all over it.  Then when you look at line, lures, ect, it adds up fast.  Looking around in this area I wonder if boat sales are not already hurting.  So any significant climb could cause major harm.  

[JT Bagwell]

#1- What's the price of gas where you live?

#2- Is it (the price) changing your boating habits?

#3- Do you think the price of gas has/will affected the sales of boats? or the buying habits of customers (i.e. buying lower HP, 4 strokes, etc.)?

#1 - Gas in my area is $2.19 - $2.29 per gallon.

#2 - This price increase is not affecting my boating habits at all. My boat holds 56 gallons of gas plus another 2-3 gallons of Optimax Oil ($23-$25 per gallon) and I hate seeing the price at the pump, but it's like paying taxes, you just do it and get on with life.

#3- I do not think that the higher fuel costs are going to be a factor in the consumer buying habits. People that can afford boats can more likely than not, afford that gas it takes to run them. That would be similar to buying a car based on what the insurance premium would be.

JT Bagwell

Ps: I really doubt the decrease in gas prices has anything to do with a boycot email.

[jayhc2]

Today it dropped down to $1.99 a gallon. My boat has two speeds on and off. I do limit the miles I drive to a lake. But living here in north texas there is nothing closer than an hour or hour an a half a way. I paying for my toys so therefore I am going to enjoy them to the max. Just my .02