What ever happened to the good ole days on here ???

[Bodhi]

I believe it has to do with we are getting older and with that prioritizes change. Outboards have been getting bigger/heavier, everything is getting more expensive and the younger generation doesn't seem to care about fast small boats. I believe one of the reasons for the lack of interest goes back to no new lightweight outboards.

Kids spending more time on computers instead of outside. That creates more things boats have to compete with for the attention of the young generation.

I spent a couple of thousand dollars about 10 years ago helping my brother restore his pontoon. I did it thinking his teenage kids would jump at the opportunity to take it out on the weekends. I even installed a 500 watt stereo in it. Him and his wife took their kids out now and then. His three kids took it out ZERO TIMES.
I remember taking out my dads little 12' aluminum boat every chance I got when I was their age. They were more interested in playing video games and the internet.

Look at how hot rodding took a big hit in the 70's until the late 80's when American manufacturers started making fast affordable muscle cars again.

I believe Cdave hit the nail on the head with all this new equipment out there. I have a very close buddy on LI who was teaching his kid to drive go fast v hulls, problem was its not like it used to be...when parts broke on the motor it was getting harder and harder to find them. Other than the fishing crowd, I don't know anyone who "dreams" of buying a $45k 4 stroke that can't be worked on and trying to hang it on the small boats we all love.
Now the politics....of course it affects all of us, many here have the same problem I have......GAS. my merc gets feet per gallon not miles, due to our current crap administration, gas is pretty damn expensive and that is just one example of how politics enters a boating conversation.
If people don't like the politics section....stay out of it....don't whine about it like the few asswipes we have on here do.

[LakeFever]

For a few months???? I did for YEARS.

your still one of the most helpful supporters on here. I certainly wasn’t thinking of you when I typed that this am after driving all day yesterday sleeping on a crap air mattress on a porch with wildlife gnawing at my cooler all night. Got two hrs sleep, tops. So I let fly I little at the complaints. I’m over it

scream and fly is still awesome

[Riverratt]

Oil, "dock boy", the 3 liter on a Valero, the infamous "Flipper" threads were all hilarious.

What REALLY drives people off is guys with TONS of knowledge getting told by inexperienced "experts" that they don't know what they're talking about.

Pete I miss the good old days. I might have stirred the pot a time or two.

[mrichartz]

Pretty much everyone here knows this but

Yea as Xstream said $650 for a boat his first boat...
Hell i can't fill my tank twice for that.. thanks biden sorry wont go there.. just trying to joke abit.
But seriously really how far does $650 go now even just parts..even if you want to adjust for inflation... How much does merc get for a 250hp..let alone find a boat..

[mr fun]

most of the old original members here remember the 70's , 80's and when performance boats more often were raced as we observed from shore. later more people bought some of those same design boats did most of the assembly. rigging and trouble shooting themselves. now in this era of instant gratification new particpants simply buy a high end rig and WALA, their somebody whether they have the skillset to safely operate them. it kept going on and on and when merc kept pumping out higher and higher powerful motors , I remember thinking to myself for the price of a 280 was equel to the price of a new Harley,,, which would be a better investment? the Harley can be put in the garage and on a moments notice you could go fire it up and go for a spin and park it with a resale value for years and years. the 280 had to be re built after something like 350hrs and as many motors as I've had to rebuild I had no interest. move foreward to all the new high powered complete rigs and people buying an instant identy looking down on the old way of doing things , and the kind of runs where most of the rigs fall short in the bling factor. not to mention the number of people who went out and offed themselves trying to outperform the next guy got pretty high at a point. gone are the days of everybody getting together at alligator lake or east lake or hang at Jungle Den or similar mom and pop places and having to have first class accomidations to keep the old lady's yap shut just killed the roots of how this whole site got going in the first place. I never had the fastest , prettyest or most over the top anything , much less a boat. but we had some good parking lot covered dish or grill parties I can remember. times change. fun out

[moatorbotin]

What are the pics of/about would depend too but
Post a thread in the photos and video section... Starting an album too..

Was posting some pics of a new to me boat and the build/resurrection.

Transomstand was able to help and I started a thread in general discussion, thought not all the pics uploaded and half of them rotated lol.

[Trikki1010]

Speaking of stirring the pot

[transomstand]

Speaking of stirring the pot

Oh MY GOD!!!!! He lives!!!!!!!

[johnboy 88 vegas]

I joined in 2009 and I really used to enjoy bs'ing and talking tech on this site but the people have really changed since then. I still see some of the good old guys posting that were here from the early days before me but there are far too many self inflicted retards that post now. Thanks for making a great site Greg but just need to add a new section of 10+years so we don't have to deal with the bs.

[Capt.Insane-o]

Spend more time boating and less time internetting.