Re: WOOHOO!! CHEAP GAS!! Are you still concerned about fuel economy??
When most of us got into boating, gas was far less per gallon, the increase in cost has no doubt made a huge impact on where, when, and how we boat.
When it costs more than most people make to take out a boat, that hobby is pretty much done for. While normal inflation and rising fuel costs are pretty much a fact of life, most people's incomes haven't increase accordingly.
If you go back say 10 years, gas was in the $1.20 per gallon range. My boat back then was a V8 powered inboard which on a good day burned about 35 gallons per hour. Back then it was a stretch to pay for, and it still took several guys to pool together to be able to make a day out fishing happen. Today, that boat would be out of the question. Back then a normal day out fishing cost about $150 in fuel, split three or four ways was doable and within most guy's budgets. Add in a day's worth of bait, food, and drinks, back then it made for roughly a $250 day.
Today, with gas still over $3.50 at the dock, the fuel bill for that same day on the water would be closer to $700 or more. Not only has the cost of fuel itself gone out of sight, the cost of bait, food and everything else has too.
I sold that boat when fuel hit $1.65, at that point we couldn't afford to run it, I'm glad I did, it would be about impossible to sell a boat like that today.
I currently stick to smaller boats and go out less mostly due the boat's size.
A day on the water in one of my smaller boats still costs over $150, and that can now only be split between two guys due to lack of space, and it's even hard to find anyone that will pitch in now. Back when gas was more reasonable, I had no shortage of fishing partners. Now, most guys simply can't afford to put out $75 or so dollars every week to go fishing.
Another thing that adds to the weekly cost is the cost of trailering the smaller boat to the water, with the larger boat, it stayed in the water and the truck stayed home. My full size truck rarely leaves the yard these days.
As far as outboard economy, most of us here are most likely running older motors, no being able to afford the cost of the newer more efficient motors.
Any effect of an improvement in fuel usage may not reach many of us for many years, when that motor has dropped in value enough for the average user to afford.
I priced several 115 HP motors and a few smaller motors this summer, I ended up buying used. A $300 10 year old Merc in good running shape was a lot easier to swallow than a $7800 price tag on a new one. If new was the only option, I guess I wouldn't be boating.
I priced around several brands, all are similar, all are way out of reach in my opinion. I looked at several 15 to 25 hp motors too, they aren't as bad but still too pricey. My options were to either rebuild my 1974 25 hp, buy a new motor, or find a used motor that would serve my needs that was in better shape. I ended up buying a mint clean used Mercury 400 which maxed out the boats rating and moves a lot nicer on the water. I gave only $250 for that motor and it was money well spent. A new 40 hp would have been way more than I would have spent on that boat. Even the new Tohatsu 18 and 25 hp motors I priced were well over $2500 for a plain tiller motor.
The increase in fuel usage was about $10 per day in that boat, about double what it burned with it's old 25 HP Johnson outboard. I do now have to carry a second spare tank along to get home but I rarely have to use it. With the old 25 hp, I only burned about three quarters of one 6 gallon tank, now I kill about 7 gallons on a comparable river run, sometimes more if its windy. The boat runs a lot faster now though and I do save lots of time.
Motor efficiency on that boat is obviously far less of a concern than on a larger boat. The bottom line is the cost of a day on the water, the limit for me is about $100 out of pocket, and at that I can't do it every week. That's mainly why I have several boats, on the off weeks I run the smaller boat which is much cheaper. None of my boats now handle more than two guys comfortably, so the cost is never divided by more than two.
For a new motor to be worth the cost, it would have to save me more than the cost of a new one over the length of a season. If for instance, buying a new 115 HP motor would cut my daily cost by 50 to 75%, then I'd have to look seriously at a new motor providing that they stay at the $7800 mark.
That's just not a very likely scenario, so most likely I and many others will continue to run what ever we can find in our price range. New motors are those that we walk past in the showrooms when buying parts to keep out old one's going.
Another factor that keeps me running an older motor is the ability to repair and diagnose it myself. A new, injected motor would most likely require dealer service at some point, or require me to buy some expensive tools. That could easily offset any fuel savings in the long run. A few $500 trips the the dealer once it's out of warranty quickly eats up any fuel savings over the 10 year old motor I could have fixed myself.
How will this reduction in fuel cost affect the importance of fuel economy in your opinion?
