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View Full Version : Gas. at what point do you cut back



moombadaze
04-14-2011, 10:49 AM
Just wondering at what price everyone will slow down going out-maybe skip a day type thing.

Vacations dont count.

rdlangston13
04-14-2011, 11:11 AM
skip days on the lake? no
not drive as much around town and spend more time at the house on planned non lake days, oh yes

viking
04-14-2011, 11:12 AM
Hell, up here I will go as much as I can just like every year. If I can get out 12-15 times I'm lucky. $8 a gallon won't change my boating much :)

pickle311
04-14-2011, 11:16 AM
I started cutting back when gas hit $1.00 a gallon. I've now cut back as much as I'm going to.

sandm
04-14-2011, 11:19 AM
won't cut back at days on the lake, but will def. cut back on the recreating once it's over $4.50. more days heading up and just chillin on the dock.
hate to say it, but the last couple of years, I have not had an issue entertaining peeps at the lake and not expecting much in return, but those days are over this summer. you want to go, then pay a fair share.

to quote an old bumper sticker I saw years ago: gas, grass or a$$, no one rides for free :)

ian ashton
04-14-2011, 11:29 AM
Like everyone else, we'll just grin and bear it. Fortuntely buying on the water the price is pretty stable, I think we were around $4/gal all year last year, $5 the year before.

New Guy
04-14-2011, 12:26 PM
I didn't buy a boat to keep it in the garage :???: But I am hoping that the guest start bringing a little more gas money.

kaneboats
04-14-2011, 01:22 PM
Over $4 I quit cutting my grass but not going in the boat.

deerfield
04-14-2011, 01:36 PM
Just wondering at what price everyone will slow down going out

I'll spend less on groceries, take fewer hot showers, and stop buying newpapers if that's what it takes to keep fuel in my boat. Man, I just love being on the water with family and friends. No intention of letting price slow me down.

newty
04-14-2011, 02:03 PM
I'd conserve beer before I cut back on boat gas. Things would have to get really bad before that would ever happen because I loves me some beer!

wolfeman131
04-14-2011, 02:25 PM
I'd conserve beer before I cut back on boat gas.

Good God, that is a sign of the apocalypse!

I say let the kids & dogs start to fend more for themselves.

kaneboats
04-14-2011, 02:43 PM
Definitely quit feeding the cat before cutting back on beer.

skylar18
04-14-2011, 02:48 PM
Not cut out anytime with family and close friends.

Will be less inclined this year to pull a bunch of kids I hardly know on the tube or burn gas trying to teach newbies how to wakeboard or surf.....(Though I say that now then do it anyways because it is fun seeing people faces the first time they get up once I am on the lake)

ian ashton
04-14-2011, 02:53 PM
I think its a sanity thing - Laura and I were talking about the money spent on the boat the other day. Its like therapy, I'll gladly pay a few thousand to keep the boat at a marina, and whatever it costs to put gas in, because if I didn't have that outlet I'm sure I'd go nuts, and who needs money when you are in a looney bin?

zabooda
04-14-2011, 03:44 PM
I don't cut back at any cost. I have one car, two SUVs, a motor home, a boat and a motorcycle and I use them as much as I always had. I burn less gas than most people as I live a mile from work and usually walk, I split time in my boat with others who have ski boats and the camping areas for boating are all within 90 miles of home. I used to go to Idaho once a year but since they charge out of staters $20 for an invasive sticker I quit going but it had nothing to do with the price of gas. I usually bring home 25 gallons of gas from Costco when I go there and I have an electric pump that fuels my boat and vehicles.

rdlangston13
04-14-2011, 03:48 PM
Someone was telling me the other day that you can buy dyed tax free off road gas much like red diesel. has anyone every heard of this? if i can fill the boat up with off road fuel and save 40-50 cents a gallon this may be worth looking into

maxpower220
04-14-2011, 03:54 PM
Fortunately, I am out of shape and skiing wears me out quickly, so I can go weeks on a tank of gas.

c.rix
04-14-2011, 03:57 PM
boat lives on a lift so I can save gas by driving the car to the lake but we are leaving a truck up this summer so no 400+ miles at 17mpg per week for muskie fishing

Ian Brantford
04-14-2011, 04:27 PM
If it was worth, say, $1000 in fuel last year, is it still worth $1300 this year to do the same amount of boating?

It's more like $2000 here in Canada. I just agreed to get my Marina's "launch on demand" service so that I can squeeze an extra 15-20 minutes on the water out of each trip.

We already car-pool to get to the marina. I'm going to insulate the attic and replace the old windows in my house this year to save energy. I already take the bus or work from home during the week. I usually walk to the store. Passengers who have the means already chip in for fuel, so the per-person cost is really not that much.

Teaching beginners uses much less fuel than towing the experts! Explainations, practice off-water pull, positioning boat at idle (repeatedly after they fall)... these things don't use fuel. Pulling an experienced rider for 20 minutes straight, especially with the ballast full, burns fuel. Oh yes, tubing burns lots of fuel too, but we don't do a lot of it.

SEARK
04-14-2011, 05:01 PM
I am unfamiliar with this "cutting back on boating" that you speak of. That sounds like crazy talk to me.
No way I cut out any of my time on the lake. The yard just may have to suffer this year.

moombadaze
04-14-2011, 08:00 PM
What a relief to read some of the replys. just making sure Im not the only one. The kidos tube rides are going to be shorter this year!

Dogs and cat are all overweight so they will be helping too :D



Newty-cut back on beer, you get knocked on the head or something?

harmsway
04-14-2011, 08:46 PM
If you have toys and can't afford to use them, then there is no use in having them.

$4.00 dollars a gallon to have some valuble family time is inexpensive. Your children grow up once and those memories last for ever and hopefully creates family values later in life for them.

jmvotto
04-14-2011, 08:47 PM
October.....:p

DOCDRS
04-14-2011, 08:48 PM
The more I spend on gas the more fun I have. I go to the pump with my cans and get about 160 ltrs a time(40 us gal). People who see me cringe while I just smile and tell them you can't put a price on fun.

skiyaker
04-14-2011, 08:52 PM
at $4.50 I would probably cut back on testing the limits of my machine though I'm sure I'll still go for a few hot laps here and there. I won't cut back on skiing.

I spent the last 3 nights cutting and splitting up by hand a huge ash tree that the city cut down in my front yard. This past winter I cut my heating bill by more than half by burning in my wood burner so I figure I'll put that savings in the boat gas tank.

PS I do like when gas gets high enough that the tubers and bass boats stop running around like crazy

Hoopskier
04-14-2011, 08:56 PM
Its hard to cut back in WI, with as short as the season is. Cutting back would mean not going at all. Cutting back not really, more efficent yes. Let the tubing kids spend more time swiming instead. It won't really change much. I will crinch at the gas pump but forget in minutes when I get to the boat landing.

Moseley618
04-14-2011, 09:05 PM
If you buy gas at the lake in Missouri you can deduct a portion of it from your taxes. Gas carries a tax for road use, so by using it on water you get to deduct it.

zabooda
04-15-2011, 02:00 AM
You can send in a form in Washington state to get a refund on the state road tax but then they keep the sales tax equivalent so there isn't much savings unless you do a lot of boating.

BensonWdby
04-15-2011, 07:17 AM
Cut back on tubing - no problem.

For all the surfers/wakeboarders - start slalom - you will use less gas and get better conditioning.

cbboarder
04-15-2011, 07:35 AM
Thank God for company gas cards!

mmandley
04-15-2011, 09:05 AM
We are luckily enough that the new house is 30 miles closer to the lake. So that saves 60 miles round trip and at 4.50 a gallon Diesel right now thats nearly 20 bucks a trip cheaper just towing. So that can now be added to the Boat fuel expense.

Another nice way to look at this is RAISE that fuel price to about 4.50 a gallon and all the weekenders disappear, and all the youngsters out there just trashing the smooth water will be gone as well. They arnt going to pay that kinda fuel price to boat if there not serious boaters.

Also my crew plans to camp out at our new house when we go out Mondays and Tuesdays so that saves them travel fuel also which = more money for boat fuel LOL.

It was a well calculated decision to buy where we did lol.

bergermaister
04-15-2011, 09:41 AM
Cut back? How about "Visa, it's everywhere you want to be..."


Few years ago when fuel was way up there we had some friends who took the stance of "ok, we'll go out but everybody only gets one turn". They'd go out, sit and float around, say no 100 times to the kids to do anything fun (wakeboarding, skiing or tubing) and then come home with everyone pretty much upset or bummed. Talk about a miserable way to spend your time.

They could afford gas just fine - it was a matter of principle or something for them... After witnessing that a few times I was just blown away. We're out here to have fun. Sometimes it cost more, sometimes it cost less. But that's why we're here!

KG's Supra24
04-15-2011, 10:27 AM
Cut back? We're out here to have fun. Sometimes it cost more, sometimes it cost less. But that's why we're here!

Well put. No intentions of cutting back here.

rdlangston13
04-26-2011, 08:01 PM
my girl and i are looking to get a house that is about 35 miles closer to the lake. problem is it 35 miles farther from her work lol. but being a nurse she really only has to go to work 3 days a week and the savings in a lower cost of living i think would make up for it.

cham
04-26-2011, 08:05 PM
When gas peaks like it has I start asking friends/family that I've been taking out to chip in for the fuel.

It's still a smoking deal for them, I still had to pay for and maintain the boat which can easily be as much or more than fuel.


The only thing better than owning a boat is a friend that owns a boat.

bashton
04-26-2011, 09:15 PM
I am sure I will complain about the price of a gallon of gas, whether it is going into the boat or my slightly thirsty Hemi powered Magnum, but there is no way I am cutting back on grabbing every possible opportunity to be on the water.

There is no way I could put a price on the pleasure I get from spending relaxing time on the water, and especially "pulling rope."

Bashton

mmandley
04-26-2011, 09:48 PM
my girl and i are looking to get a house that is about 35 miles closer to the lake. problem is it 35 miles farther from her work lol. but being a nurse she really only has to go to work 3 days a week and the savings in a lower cost of living i think would make up for it.

This is the same issue we are having but decided even though it was a slightly longer commute, about 15 extra minutes for Claudia we would still pay it because the extra 1 hour travel time per day to the lake is an extra hour per day we can be on the lake.

The other thing we really like is the fact the area we moved to is much smaller and quieter then where we are now.

It will actualy cost me the most in change of commute as right now im 1/2 a mile from work and now ill be 30 miles but im ok with it since i only work 3 day then 4 days a week most.

moombadaze
04-27-2011, 07:22 AM
i only work 3 day then 4 days a week most.


Lucky duck

mmandley
04-27-2011, 09:10 AM
Lucky duck

Yea thats how it sounds till you think about i work 12.5 hour days, add the time to get up before work and the time to drive to and from work then a little time at home after and you end up with 3 or 4 days a week that all you do it work.

I personally like 4 10hr days myself. The 4 days a week off are nice but the 4 days i work like this week really do wear you down.

moombadaze
04-27-2011, 09:54 AM
^^^still a lucky duck.

myself-6 days 11hrs most days--sundays(dayoff) sometimes to tired to do diddley

rdlangston13
04-27-2011, 09:56 AM
Yeah my girl does 3 12 hour shifts a week, its nice but now she just started nights which is going to make boating trips a pain since the day before you work you have to sleep and the day after you work you sleep. its really going to cut into our boating time.

KSmith
04-27-2011, 10:12 AM
^^^still a lucky duck.

myself-6 days 11hrs most days--sundays(dayoff) sometimes to tired to do diddley

^^^ I second the long hours and most saturdays to boot. 1hr commute each way, 9 hours in the office, back online when I get home often until it is time to hit the hay... and the Sunday off... same as daze, sometimes to dang tired to do anything fun...