Boating getting too expensive

[jkust]

Re: Boating getting too expensive

Well Im just a poor broke retired state employee and have to keep my cost down....

State employee...??? You are rolling in pension money.

 

[vintageglass]

Re: Boating getting too expensive

This turned into a rather long read here.
I think for me the straw which will break the camel's back would be not being able to find a free ramps to use.
It completely irks me to pay $4 per gallon for gas, $24 per gallon for oil, and then have to pay $15 to launch or join some 'Conservation Association' every year just to be able to use my boat.
One by one free ramps are going away. I pay over a $100 per year in sportsman's licenses here, what does that money go to?
They can build public parks that I'll never use, baseball fields that do me no good, and all sorts of tax dollars to fund all sorts of programs that don't affect me, yet they want us to pay to access a public waterway?

Its not a matter of being able to afford it, it a matter of principle. They keep saying how the outdoors is here for everyone to enjoy, but they keep raising the price on the right to enjoy it. They charge fees to get on the beach to fish, they charge fees to fish from a pier, they charge fees to park, fees to launch a boat, fishing license fees, bait catching license fees, its all getting out of hand. All of this and they say there's no fish, I wonder if they charge the foreign fishing vessels who net all our fish the same fees?

As far as a $5 hamburger, not for me, won't pay it. McDs lost me when the $2.99 value meal went away, its now hit $8.99 for two greasy cheeseburgers, fries, and a coke just ain't worth $8.99 plus tax. To top that off they no longer supersize, so you even get less for your money. I guess it would be different if everything went up such as income, but that's gone backwards lately while costs go sky high.

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Boating getting too expensive

I will give up boating when I can no longer get the boat on and off the trailer by myself. Or maybe not! It's the reason I live next to the water.

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Boating getting too expensive

This turned into a rather long read here.
I think for me the straw which will break the camel's back would be not being able to find a free ramps to use.
It completely irks me to pay $4 per gallon for gas, $24 per gallon for oil, and then have to pay $15 to launch or join some 'Conservation Association' every year just to be able to use my boat.
One by one free ramps are going away. I pay over a $100 per year in sportsman's licenses here, what does that money go to?
They can build public parks that I'll never use, baseball fields that do me no good, and all sorts of tax dollars to fund all sorts of programs that don't affect me, yet they want us to pay to access a public waterway?

I like user fees, makes sense that they guys who use the launch pay for it. If they can show a revenue stream then it is a lot easier to build/upgrade/maintain launches rather than letting them fall into disrepair because the maint all has to come out of a general fund.

 

[JimS123]

Re: Boating getting too expensive

I like user fees, makes sense that they guys who use the launch pay for it. If they can show a revenue stream then it is a lot easier to build/upgrade/maintain launches rather than letting them fall into disrepair because the maint all has to come out of a general fund.

I agree. All my local ramps were free, now its $30 / year / trailer to use them. Best thing that ever happened! It used to be unmanageble on a Sunday. Cars were parked along the road because the parking lot was full. You had to wait a half hour because the line was that long. Now, the lot is empty and hardly anybody there. The side benefit was all the ramps have been upgraded and are now among the best I've ever seen anywhere.

Its amazing how some people will drive 10 miles to the free ramp just to save $30.

My 4 trailers now cost me $120 a year. I'll gladly pay triple that because of the quality of the facility. I feel that I owe it because I use it and my neighbors don't. Don't use their tax money for my boat ramp.......JUST DON'T USE MY TAXES FOR THAT GD FOOTBALL STADIUM!!!

 

[bgc]

Re: Boating getting too expensive

I like user fees, makes sense that they guys who use the launch pay for it. If they can show a revenue stream then it is a lot easier to build/upgrade/maintain launches rather than letting them fall into disrepair because the maint all has to come out of a general fund.

+1

The state north of me has ramp fees if you have not paid the additional fee when you get your plates...... I don't mind the 8 bucks for the ramp patrol.

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Boating getting too expensive

There are basically no Free ramps left here in Southern Wisconsin. The yearly fishing licsense keeps going up. As for the fees collected I think here anyways it alls goes into the general fund so it's not really a user fee then is it?

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Boating getting too expensive

There are basically no Free ramps left here in Southern Wisconsin. The yearly fishing licsense keeps going up. As for the fees collected I think here anyways it alls goes into the general fund so it's not really a user fee then is it?

Give me a break, a WI fishing licence is $20

 

[kfa4303]

Re: Boating getting too expensive

Ive done a lot of fishing in my youth from a wide bodied canoe.

I wouldn't today just because its too much work LOL. Ive never seen one of those, they are pretty cool!

Canoes are good for fishing in otherwise inaccessible areas......


Craigslist turned up Zero in my area

Yeah, they're very cool. The LT 25 can handle up to a 40 hp 4-stroke and a 2'-3' chop, if need be and the NMZ is light enough for one guy to put into the bed of a truck and will move right along with even a small 3 hp motor. Gheenoes are very popular here in FL and are one the few boat brands that I know of that retain their value overtime. I'm not sure why they aren't more popular outside of FL and the Southeast. They should be. They are definitely a skinny water boat, but lots of folks use them on lakes, rivers, etc... I mostly just posted the links to see what can be done with a small boat. More and more folks around here are converting to smaller, light weight, skiffs with relatively small motors, rather than the big f'glass pleasure boats of the past. They're way more fun and interesting if you ask me. Check out microskiffs.com for lots of other cool/funky skinny water boats.

 

[catfish58]

Re: Boating getting too expensive

There are basically no Free ramps left here in Southern Wisconsin. The yearly fishing licsense keeps going up. As for the fees collected I think here anyways it alls goes into the general fund so it's not really a user fee then is it?

Alabama's state owned ramps are free. All fishing license fees(resident=$12.10) and boat license fees go into a seperate fund that DNR uses to maintain them.

 

[bonz_d]

Re: Boating getting too expensive

Give me a break, a WI fishing licence is $20

So what is it across the river? Ramp fees are $7.00 - $10.00 daily

 

[oldjeep]

Re: Boating getting too expensive

So what is it across the river? Ramp fees are $7.00 - $10.00 daily

MN licence is $17, $22 next year

Ramp fees on Minnetonka are $5 or $35 for the yearly permit
$5 or $25 yearly at our WI place - if you don't just use either of the free launches