Closer to port

With fuel fill-ups hitting $1,000, boaters go out less, or not at all

Local boaters, including the owners of vessels moored on the Back River, have faced rising costs this summer, leading many to cut down on trips. (photos by Sonja Wallgren for the boston globe)

Email|Print|Single Page| Text size – + By Christine Legere

Globe Correspondent / August 7, 2008

The cost of boating in a slumping economy has kept many boaters off the water, or changed the way they use their crafts, as they adjust to a reality that can mean spending $1,000 to fill the tank.

Take Duxbury resident Larra Sumner, who is selling his 20-foot fishing boat, a center console Sea Chaser, and buying a smaller craft. The boat is out of the water this season, and on the market.

Sumner said he was motivated to sell by the economy, but that he would never give up boating.

"I take my children out on the boat to catch stripers, and my father used to do the same thing with me," he said.

So to trim his costs, he decided to replace his current boat with one he can store in his garage - and haul on a trailer - rather than moor it in Duxbury Harbor. The immediate savings: $450 in mooring fees.

More importantly, Sumner's plan would eliminate the $1,000 he spends each year for others to scour his brine-covered boat at the close of the season, and to winterize and store it.

"We're going to cut costs wherever we can," Sumner said.

In Massachusetts, sales of new boats, trailers, motors, and accessories fell 22 percent last year compared with 2006, according to the National Marine Manufacturers' Association, a trade group in Chicago.

Mike Farias, owner of Eagle Marine in Sagamore Beach, just beyond the Plymouth border, said his business is suffering even more this year.

"It's a lot slower than last year," Farias said. "The medium large boats, that run 25 to 30 feet, are where I'm taking the worst beating. My sales are off by about 40 percent."

Is anything selling? "Single-engine boats will sell before something with twin engines," Farias added. And, just as with cars, better technology and less fuel consumption are high priorities for prospective buyers. Sports fishing boats are selling far better than luxury trip boats.

"But not as many as you'd think are getting rid of their boats," Farias said. "They're just taking fewer trips."

Eric Jesse, owner of Jesse Marine on the Plymouth Waterfront, agreed. "People are still going to boat," Jesse said. "They just won't go as far."

That describes Bob Tufts and his wife, Elaine, who own a Weymouth home overlooking the Back River. In a nod to gas prices, longer trips, such as to Newport and Gloucester, are less likely now, he says, and "I probably won't take it up to Boothbay anymore."

They are also selling their 28-foot Bayliner, and will replace it with a smaller craft - primarily because their children are grown and they no longer need a boat that sleeps six.

Boaters, he said, must accept that buying gas is simply part of the cost of boating. "If you want to drive your car, you need fuel," Tufts said. "It's the same with a boat. The price of gas has become a concern for me, but not a problem."

Oscar Wikstrom, who lives on White Horse Beach in Plymouth, decided to sell both his boats this summer. One sold on Memorial Day and the other is still for sale, he said.

"It's just too expensive to run them," Wikstrom said. He added he had to pay $100 per foot for a slip for his 30-foot boat.

"You can't have fun in the water when it costs you twice as much as you make to run the boat," Wikstrom said.

The gas cost crisis has, predictably, been tougher on boaters of lesser means.

"I tell my customers gas is about $1 more a gallon than it was last year, so they can expect to pay about $1,000 more to boat this season," said Brian Dwight, co-owner of South Shore Dry Dock. "The people we deal with, $1,000 isn't enough to complain about."

His business, run with Captain Buck Berry, operates in Plymouth, Marshfield, and Westport, and has 300 boats for sale. "We're still selling a lot of boats to middle-income families, but people with big boats are using smaller boats to take their big trips," Berry said.

Motorists who experience sticker shock at the gas pump should know that it is nothing compared with what boaters experience.

Erin Bradley, who works for Captain John Boats in Plymouth, said the company sells gas for $4.75 a gallon from its float in the harbor, and noncommercial diesel at $4.90. Boats that remain in the water for the season fuel up at the float.

Boats running from 19 to 25 feet in size can have tanks with capacities that range from 18 to 180 gallons, Farias said, so for those on the larger end, filling the tank with regular gas could cost between $800 and $900. For any boat larger than 25 feet, the cost for a single fill-up can exceed $1,000.

Hingham resident Pat Uhlar, who refurbishes boats and works at Steamship Wharf in Hull, said many boat owners never leave the harbor.

"You see a lot of boats," said Uhlar, "but you also see a lot of people just sitting on them rather than taking them out."

Christine Legere can be reached at christinelegere@yahoo.com.