When I was young....

[Wansworth]

I could only dream of a glassfibre boat my father bought a Halcyon 27 with an inheritance and those young boatless had a choice of old wooden gaffers in need of attention,theses days the market is full of cheap ready to go small yachts,those very boats that were out of reachin the late sixties

 

[johnalison]

I used to go to the Boat Show with my father, mainly to look and dinghies and absorb the boaty ambience, but it never occurred to me to think of ever owning a cruiser, in spite of the fact that my father had ordered one from Mitchell's boatyard in Portmellon before the war. Quite what he intended to do with it I've no idea, since lived in Hertfordshire and his free time as a GP in those days was limited. Hertfordshire is not well endowed with sea-ports, so my dreams were purely dinghy, with the odd week terrifying the natives on the Broads.

 

[Wansworth]

Yes used to go with my father I remember filling out completion forms to wn a yacht the questions basically amounted to putting yacht amenities in order very exciting atmosphere with queues to get on a Marcon Trident!Whilst working at David Hillyards,wooden boatbuilder I came across their display models for the exhibition which was under a different name in the 1950s.

 

[Mei Mac]

In the late 1970s, when I was around 14 years old, I would derive great pleasure in sending off for boat interiors/specs and then 'designing' my own boat. I did this a lot. One day I received a letter telling me that a particular 32' boat that I had shown a very keen interested in, had been deiivered to our local boatyard for me to have a look at 'prior to purchase'. My father wasn't too impressed.

 

[bitbaltic]

I could only dream of a glassfibre boat theses days the market is full of cheap ready to go small yachts,those very boats that were out of reachin the late sixties

yeah, now the kids can buy fifty year old boats. Houses, no chance, but look at the old boats they can choose from.

they don’t know how good they’ve got it.

 

[Wansworth]

yeah, now the kids can buy fifty year old boats. Houses, no chance, but look at the old boats they can choose from.

they don’t know how good they’ve got it.

Such is the world of finance,my dad bought his house in 1964 for six thousand pounds,sold it in 2012 for two hundred and eighty thousand....

 

[LONG_KEELER]

Let's all get together, stand still, and bow our heads.

Thank you for giving us the means to invent glass fibre....................................

p.s. Thanks for the wood too.............

 

[Buck Turgidson]

Some of us dared not even dream of boats.
I spent 3 years saving my paper round money to buy a bicycle.

As for kids not affording houses, when could they ever? Not in my world they couldn't.

 

[johnalison]

Some of us dared not even dream of boats.
I spent 3 years saving my paper round money to buy a bicycle.

As for kids not affording houses, when could they ever? Not in my world they couldn't.

You are right. There was no golden age. There was, though, a period when young women could go out to work and joint incomes could buy a house, with only a small deposit. Not surprisingly, house prices have now adjusted to this and it has become supply and demand. In earlier times, young couples would either rent or live with the parents of one, often for many years.

 

[capnsensible]

....ships were wood, men were steel.

 

[Wansworth]

The home is the very basis of our consumer lifestyle that drives our economy the sooner young people can get a place of their own they can start consuming big time .....

 

[LONG_KEELER]

The home is the very basis of our consumer lifestyle that drives our economy the sooner young people can get a place of their own they can start consuming big time .....

I think you will find that it also applies to boats

 

[Stemar]

men were steel.

I still am. Just a shame it isn't stainless...

 

[STATUE]

Sometime in the '80s I was despondently wandering through the avenues of the Earls Court (aaah those were the days - packed, loud, crushed (bar) ... ) boatshow passing 24 footers at a ridiculous £1,000 per foot with sales staff looking bored .
Then turning a corner, a queue of hopefuls pouring over a 24 footer at £11,000 ! ... the MacGregors had arrived .

 

[Carib]

There are some lovely videos of boatshows gone by on Youtube: see for example Boat Show 70

 

[dom]

There are some lovely videos of boatshows gone by on Youtube: see for example Boat Show 70

Wow, love the babe hiking technique in that Cadet(?) at 1:00 minutes, and the exotic looking girl immediately afterwards.

I learned in Mirrors and never encountered an instructor like that ???

And the girl from 2:18 onward - I see moboers haven't changed their ways!!

 

[Blueboatman]

As I grow older I see perhaps a tad more truth in the adage that all boats will cost the same to own over their lifespan: Buy new, 10 ‘ free years’ ...
Buy the same model at 10 years old, start replacing stuff?! Same financial opportunity costs. Maybe. Of course in youth you getto use some of that excess energy in fixing up manky auld boats and gain skills too, maybe.

As to owning houses and a safe passage through through the perils of inflation or years of capital sapping renting..
When I were at college ooh argh, abacus and wax tablets aside, in my early 20s, as a so called mature student on a grant ( remember them?) I was financially able to buy a new build house and rent out one room to fellow students... I did not ACTUALLY do this and jolly glad I am too. Too tying down , too isolating , too early on in life . ( in my personal review)

 

[dunedin]

There are some lovely videos of boatshows gone by on Youtube: see for example Boat Show 70

Men in suits, girls in bikinis. How did anybody think that was appropriate even then

Some nice nostalgic old boats, though shows how much most boats have improved since then.

 

[roblpm]

Such is the world of finance,my dad bought his house in 1964 for six thousand pounds,sold it in 2012 for two hundred and eighty thousand....

Yes its a brilliant system. Really it just allows more debt as no economic activity has happened. Just unearned untaxed asset inflation. (BTW no criticism of your father as everyone is up to it)

Obviously this is a much better system that innovating and making things like maybe Germany. But who would want to be European..........................

 

[Wansworth]

Interesting that the Europeans rent more than buy their homes