"Everyone is buying boats'"during the pandemic, and it's causing a short supply

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

Apparently sailing and skiing makes a person happy.

As does being well off.

b.

You could probably add bicycling to that list.

[barnakiel]

Originally Posted by Lake-Effect

You could probably add bicycling to that list.

Yes. Having a passion beats anything else when it comes to home brew drugs.


Yesterday I got a shocker discovering a sky runner is traversing our island right now in an attempt to cover 1000 kilometers while climbing the total of 5 Mount Everests. he has already done 25% of his challenge in some 50 hours.


Live passionately ... as Webb Chiles likes to say!


Cheers,
b.

[sailjumanji]

Originally Posted by smj

Don’t tell anyone but the socialist countries appear to have the happiest populations.

Bernie Sanders never seems to be happy, to me?

[smj]

Originally Posted by sailjumanji

Bernie Sanders never seems to be happy, to me?

Yes, but he doesn’t live in a socialist country?

[Singularity]

Originally Posted by sailjumanji

Bernie Sanders never seems to be happy, to me?

He doesn't own a boat.

[tomfl]

Originally Posted by DeValency

Right. Unfortunately, most of us at this side of the pond have no idea what’s the Western European socialism is. But as a (local) hint, Medicare is a kind of (screwed up... ) socialism, the present tenants eviction ban through 12/2020 is another type of socialism, but some people are not interested in being confused with the facts.

Anyway, that’s from Forbes Magazine (not exactly a radical communist media) ranking the 20 happiest countries in the world (2019):

Finland


SNIP

Back in grad school in a class about taking surveys to determine public attitudes the five hundred pound elephant in the room was to concept of voting with your feet.

[a64pilot]

You know guys it’s not the 1%ers that’s buying all these used boats and RV’s.
It almost all middle class folks, many are Retired middle class, but we aren’t talking about Mega Yachts and Gulfstream Jets here.

Yes the income inequality has since the 70’s has become greater and greater, but a middle class working slob can accumulate wealth, just they can’t do it with new cars every three years and a half million dollar house and paying others to mow their grass while they play golf at the Country club, and just because you can barely make min. Payments does not mean you can afford it.

Most anyone can save, there was a Janitor at a school I attended many years ago, he was called “copperhead” because he would pick up pennies off of the floor.
Well the story is that Copperhead saved enough to send his son all the way through College, and Copperhead JR doesn’t sweep floors.

Now of course no one saves to go to school, the goal now is to have a nice car, the latest cell phones, nice clothes and not work while you go to school, just to run up a massive student debt getting that art appreciation degree, and then whine that the Government should have paid for your education, while you wait tables after graduation and default on your loan.

[Lake-Effect]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

You know guys it’s not the 1%ers that’s buying all these used boats and RV’s.
It almost all middle class folks, many are Retired middle class, but we aren’t talking about Mega Yachts and Gulfstream Jets here.

No, you're right about that; the 1%ers are buying more property and updating their fencing and security systems.

[Icarus]

I noticed the same is happening regarding sales of exotic and collectable cars.
Prices advertised increased by as much as 50 to 70% and people buying.
I talk to boating suppliers and the like they all say it's never been so good...go figure.

[wolfgal]

Originally Posted by smj

No doubt if someone works harder, works longer hours or takes risks they deserve a better pay than those that don’t. But there is so much more to income inequality than that.

agreed. came across this:


"In 1971, you could buy a new Ford F-150 for $2,500. At $4 an hour, it took 625 hours to buy the truck.

Today’s model costs $30,000, and the average hourly wage is $26. So the wage earner has to work for 1,154 hours to get a standard F-150. Put another way, he has to sell almost twice as much of his time to get a set of wheels.

But it is not only the F-150 owner who has lost the value of his dearest commodity — time:

You can do the same calculation for housing. An average man paid about $24,000 for the average house in 1971. Today, he pays $371,000. Priced in time, the house cost 6,000 hours in 1971 and 14,269 hours today… It takes more than seven years of work for the average guy to buy the average house today – four years more than it took in 1971." (Bill Bonner)




and i'd like to add that, if one's job (in manufacture and other services, some of which require a masters or whatever, like translating) has gone to china or india over the last 20 years, folks have basically had the choice of either going back to school (which usually incurs more debt) or settling for something lower paying and usually less interesting. (someone above said that there is still equal opportunity in the states, more than elsewhere... but i would not be so sure...)



so, back to topic, who is buying a boat these days?

it seems to me that there has been an uptick in new boat buyers or prospective buyers here on CF. they introduce themselves regularly, but, lately, it seems there are a lot more... (has anyone else noticed?). and from what i have seen, not all that many have deep pockets.


this has been suggested already but, yes, confinement may have a whole lot to do with the surge in boat (and other, like nice cars) buying.

maybe confinement simply provided an opportunity (a somewhat equal opportunity) to think, to reflect upon where-one-is and where-one-would-like-to-be in life and then even granted the time to determine how much time/money/health there is to do it.



wolfie

[Chief Brody]

I contacted a broker last week about a boat I’m interested in, I’m in the U.K. I asked how business was with this Covid stuff and he said that sales ticked over fine during the lockdown but have boomed since June and the right boats sell within a few weeks. That might all be bluster, or what I’d call “Estate Agent” talk.

However, he did say that the “money” seems to mostly come from an inheritance or house sale and that the lockdown has caused people to rethink their lives. I replied that millions were furloughed for 3 months at least, so it’s possible that some may have discovered sailing vlogs on YT. I’m not sure if he agreed with that lol

[MicHughV]

boating......generally speaking...is an outdoor activity...and I wonder if that plays into the equation here..here in the US this weekend is Labor Day weekend....the boaters are out en masse...but powerboats mostly....saw only one sailboat on the move...

[Woodland Hills]

Have you ever seen a sailboat in a Trump boat parade? If you think that everything is going just great now, you are more likely to buy something expensive like a boat and that boat will probably be a powerboat.

[Carl-T705]

Originally Posted by smj

Same with resort housing, demand and pricing is way up.
What bad economy? To me this shows the income inequality problem we are having? The rich seem to get richer and poor/lower middle class have record unemployment and evictions.

Here we go ...the rich and the poor. I travel the entire USA, everywhere I go I see help wanted bill boards and signs in front of buildings. Who are the "rich" anyway??? Income inequality . Who's to blame for that? If less people crowded colleges and got real educations in how to succeed in life and learn a skill they would be marketable. If demand is up, prices go up, so what, that is what drives an economy. That isn't news to many people.

[smj]

Originally Posted by Carl-T705

Here we go ...the rich and the poor. I travel the entire USA, everywhere I go I see help wanted bill boards and signs in front of buildings. Who are the "rich" anyway??? Income inequality . Who's to blame for that? If less people crowded colleges and got real educations in how to succeed in life and learn a skill they would be marketable. If demand is up, prices go up, so what, that is what drives an economy. That isn't news to many people.

Yes, and if only the waves would go up, that would help the working class.