Boat owners say high gas prices won't keep them off the water this summer. But they will ease off the throttle more often, according to a survey by Nationwide Mutual Insurance.
"When talking with our customers about boating we learned that while they're concerned about rising fuel prices, the passion they have for their boats overrides those concerns," said Greg Blanchard, Nationwide's vice president of specialty products, in a statement. "What they say is that they'll look to cut costs elsewhere."
Nationwide's survey of 2,544 powerboat, bass boat, motorcycle and ATV owners shows that two-thirds of boat owners indicated high fuel prices would not cause them to use their boats less often. In fact, boat owners are willing to pay about $2.70 more per gallon for fuel before they will consider docking their boats.
According to the survey, boat owners will be on the water just as often as last summer -- about 20 times -- but expect to run their engines about 25 minutes less per trip. Boat owners spend 28 percent of their total leisure time on the water, and 36 percent consider boating more important than all other leisure time.
See the June issue of Soundings Trade Only magazine for a more in-depth report on the effect of high gas prices on the industry.
