Quote:
Originally Posted by Mee-n-Mac
...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...
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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.