Winni boating article
 

Interesting article in this morning's Citizen that attempts to analyze this year's lighter boating activity on the big Lake. Includes some interesting statistics from the NHMP and perspective from those officials and a number of local business owners.

Good read, and can be found by clicking HERE!

sounds right
 

The article sums it up pretty well I would say. The weather is the biggest factor (sounds like the bike week story as well).

Let's hope for good weather this WE.

No really ...
 

And in another stunning article the Citizen reveals that boating numbers drop off drastically each Jan and Feb when compared to July and Aug of the same year. Reporters are working right now to solve this mystery !


Just kidding. The article is interesting and basically states what anyone on the lake knows, "It the weather stupid" {to paraphrase a former president}. I see more empty slips for rent and houses for rent this year vs last (when it was also exceptionally rainy) and I attribute this more to the economy than the weather as these are usually committed to before the weather shows it's hand.

Weather versus economy
 

I agree with you wholeheartedly.

As some of you know, I sold my bowrider and my Camp up Ossipee way. Between my regular job and my new business I found little time to trailer or make it to camp, opting to buy a Larson Cabrio cruiser which I now have in place at the marina I grew up on down the street from my home. I have now gone back to my roots and spend the weekends and overnighting on the Piscatiqua Basin, Great Bay and off the coast of NH & southern Maine.

What's that got to do with anything?

We are seeing all the same issues down here along the coast as you are on Winni. A drastic decrease in recreational boating, especially on the weekends. Empty slips and mooring balls at the marinas up and down this area's coastline. Many boats still sit at various marinas wearing the same shrink wrap, in some cases for several seasons now.

At my marina the wife and I get down to the boat any night that the weather is good. We try to have supper on it several times a week. Even on some of the glorious evenings we are starting to have now, we sit and dine while looking at empty boats & empty slips. While the quiet is good it is also disturbing in many respects.

So yes, the weather has had a factor the last several seasons. But the empty sites that are usually reserved many months or sometimes years in advance (as with coastal moorings and many seasonal dock slips) are definitely more related to the downturn in the economy vice the weather we've been experiencing, IMHO.

My work load is about 50% higher than I ever expected it to be this summer. I installed some things like a new GPS, new prop, hoping for longer ventures and overnights. We've spent one night on the boat so far, and I believe I logged 12 hours total this summer. In 2007, I put 70 plus hours on the boat without even trying.

It's good to see boat dealers stabilize, but there's a downside. Boat prices will be trending up starting next year, and there will be less selection as brands vanish, and fewer dealers will be stocking floor-planned inventory. I guess the upside will be higher used boat values.

I was trying to do the same switch you did Skip, going more to a stay-aboard boat this year. It almost came true, but fell apart when used values went to nothing. I should have looked at it differently, and seen that the drop in the new boat price more than offset the decline on my boat. That's the trouble with being too conservative I guess.

Our marinas and moorings are all full, but that's more of a supply problem than anything else. Champlain is basically your own private lake weekdays, and venturing out in the main lake it's all yours :D

Just hoping for a better half of summer, then fall.

Skip:

Thanks for the update. It's too bad you're not out and about the Winnipesaukee area any longer. Hopefully, you don't lose interest in this site as you always have insightful comments.

Thanks secondcurve!

Oh, my summer cruises may not be for some time now, but Winni is still stomping grounds for me every snowmobile season, and I have a new sled coming this fall and can't wait to take it over the Ossipees and down to the Lake.

Plus I travel from Dover to Tilton via 11 up the west side of the Lake a lot now, as I am a recently appointed Assistant County Director for the New Hampshire Snowmobile Association...a great bunch of folks working all year for the betterment of the snowmobiling community. So I always have an excuse to stop in Alton Bay for a snack and a few moments to drink in the ambiance.

Finally I truly admire the hard work Don does to keep this site as interesting as it is, plus where else can I chat away with some of the funniest, wittiest and most interesting characters this side of the internet?!

Nope, I'm like a tick on a hound...burrowed in for the long haul! :)

Besides that,I believe Skip actually spent most of his boating time the last few years on Ossipee .And...He is as he says one the funniest and wittiest a member we have.

Which marina are you in? we are looking to do the same thing- become ocean boaters again. We are close to selling the island property and are going to consolidate back to one larger and hopefully waterfront home on the Cocheco. Being Dover residents as well, we are not sure if we are going to do George's or Great Bay Marina in the interim. We will probably still keep a day boat on the lake for a change of scenery. The infamous yellow pontoon/rocket may not leave the lake just yet.

George's.

We grew up together just up the street from the Marina, which his dad owned and built when we were kids. They have long since sold the family home, but we are still here...fourth generation!

If you go with George tell him Skip sent ya...and if you see a red EZGO Sport golf cart tooling around the Marina, that's me....:)

My wife's grandmother owned the brick house at the top of the hill on Cocheco St. where it meets Atlantic Ave/Gulf Road. Back when my wife was a child it was all undeveloped land, Fairway Drive was just a field.

I used to keep a boat at Georges. Is there any transient docking for access to Castaways or just rental slips?