Yachting and Boating World forums: Boat over 50 foot

Reading MBY today I was just a little bit fed up to read the same old rubbish argument in letters to the editor:-

"The owners of large powerboats burning 45gal an hour are very wealthy - they will either pay the extra tax and scarcely notice it .." - Robert Stevenson

Mr Stevenson like many will plead a big impact on say the owner of a 30 foot boat - these must not be so wealthy- as the size of your boat seems to be the only measure of wealth for some.

How each individual chooses to spend their money is their concern - I am sure many owners of 30 foot boats are better off than owners of 50 foot boats - its just that each chooses their priorities.

It really gets my back up when others can make remarks like "scarcely notice it" when they know nothing at all about the finances of the person concerned.

So boat owners should work together on this issue and not make assumptions about other boat owners.

I own a 59 footer and choose to spend my money in a certain way - I can assure you that if we go to anything like the full hike in price, I shall move my boat abroad. Ther marginal cost would simply be too high to justify.

In talking last weekend to the proud owner of a Targa 42 - I explained the possible 400% price hike to him (that is what it would be locally where we pay £1.20 gallon in the Marina) - he said his fuel consumption was not bad at 1.5 mpg - when I said that in future it could be the same cost as if he had bought a boat consuming 0.4mpg instead of his 1.5 his complexion changed!

The fact is that the full price hike would have a dramatic effect on all diesel leisure boats regardless of size. Even very large 100 footers arriving from overseas will plan to avoid any filling up over here.

Paul