With the demise of the housing market due to profligate lending and with the demise of the 2nd mortgage, there is REALLY a whole lot less cash available for us boaty types to go out and buy an expensive new boat. I wouldn't be able to buy my boat today for precisely that reason. The good news is that I sold the house to pay off the boat and don't have a monthly nut to keep it going. But there's a whole bunch of others out there who are either upside down on their homes and/or aren't able to access the (borrowed) cash to go buy a boat. Many of those who also had the cash, now have less of it. It makes the whole likelihood of someone spending the little they have left, on a declining value boat, even less likely to buy a boat.

I'm suspicious that if I were to really 'need' to sell my boat, I'd be lucky to only get half of what I paid for it. Ouch (and that's in just 6 years!)! Fortunately, if I'm in that much 'need' I can give notice on my rented house and reduce my housing costs 100% by moving back aboard full time.