Is the RDP aging out, next generation coming up?

[Justsomeguy]

A 21’ boat is barely even considered useable on Havasu anymore

are you telling me to go be poor somewhere else?

 

[WYRD]

I sure didn't start with anything close too $100k stuff but sure had fun

Boat $300

Tent $30

Shower in the river $free

Hotel in Laughlin $40

Beer $20

Fuel to copper canyon $30

(.)(.)

Tying up to a houseboat loaded with titties PRICELESS!

 

[Kachina26]

I sure didn't start with anything close too $100k stuff but sure had fun

View attachment 1323752

Boat $300

View attachment 1323748

Tent $30

View attachment 1323750

Shower in the river $free

View attachment 1323747

Hotel in Laughlin $40

View attachment 1323749

Beer $20




View attachment 1323751

Fuel to copper canyon $30

View attachment 1323753

Tying up to a houseboat loaded with titties PRICELESS!

Pants from the kid’s section, $5.

 

[Deckin Around]

Pants from the kid’s section, $5.
View attachment 1323754

I was thinking he and RD might wear the same size shants.

 

[Kenboat]

In Michigan lakes see lots of young ones on the water. The sand bar on Torch Lake is a smorgasbord for a old dude like myself!

 

[Romans9]

 

[Sportin' Wood]

@RiverDave has enough on his plate, but with his connections in town, it would be fun to see a regular turn of restoration projects of classic boats. Document all the work, pimp the vendors, and then sell them off. Kind of like the car flipper shows do, but with boats. I could see a hell of a series. Talk a little about a builder's history and culture, then bring them up to modern standards. In the end, they run them through a performance evaluation. Hell, give them away in a raffle if you like.

Perhaps a good way to seed the enthusiast base and keep boats on the water.

Dave acts as the producer, and someone else does 90% of the lift and leverages your network. I suggest a fine model type gear head 20, something that is comfortable turning wrenches and being mostly naked for the on-the-water sections. Think Jesse Combs in a bikini.

My guess is you could set up a pilot in 30 days and test the YouTube market. You would not even need to leave town. You already have a building for a film studio and a machine shop.

Cut me in for the idea, and I'll lend a hand. This seems too easy for you not to give it a try. Oh yeah, another bump for merchandise sales along the way. You just need a catchy, sticky name. Maybe something like "Going Overboard."

 

[ChiliPepperGarage]

What's the lake in the photo?

Hogan in Valley Springs, CA. That's where the seller lived.

 

[coolchange]

I was thinking he and RD might wear the same size shants.

Jorts

 

[coolchange]

@RiverDave has enough on his plate, but with his connections in town, it would be fun to see a regular turn of restoration projects of classic boats. Document all the work, pimp the vendors, and then sell them off. Kind of like the car flipper shows do, but with boats. I could see a hell of a series. Talk a little about a builder's history and culture, then bring them up to modern standards. In the end, they run them through a performance evaluation. Hell, give them away in a raffle if you like.

Perhaps a good way to seed the enthusiast base and keep boats on the water.

Dave acts as the producer, and someone else does 90% of the lift and leverages your network. I suggest a fine model type gear head 20, something that is comfortable turning wrenches and being mostly naked for the on-the-water sections. Think Jesse Combs in a bikini.

My guess is you could set up a pilot in 30 days and test the YouTube market. You would not even need to leave town. You already have a building for a film studio and a machine shop.

Cut me in for the idea, and I'll lend a hand. This seems too easy for you not to give it a try. Oh yeah, another bump for merchandise sales along the way. You just need a catchy, sticky name. Maybe something like "Going Overboard."

YouTube is full of those backyard. Resto experts. Most of them don’t know their ass from fat meat and couldn’t find it with both hands in their back pocket.
I watch sometimes mostly for the WTF factor.
The good ones are shop builds but,
Original purchase-$80,000
Engine refit- $75,000
Electronics-$35,000
Etc…,,
I agree there is probably an audience for the
FB marketplace hull, why we bought it because it has this pump, and hdwr for a Ford etc.

 

[rivermobster]

I sure didn't start with anything close too $100k stuff but sure had fun

View attachment 1323752

Boat $300

View attachment 1323748

Tent $30

View attachment 1323750

Shower in the river $free

View attachment 1323747

Hotel in Laughlin $40

View attachment 1323749

Beer $20




View attachment 1323751

Fuel to copper canyon $30

View attachment 1323753

Tying up to a houseboat loaded with titties PRICELESS!

I started out with a dome tent, a Coleman stove and a couple of jet skis.

Those really were the most fun filled days Ever.

 

[mjc]

I started out with a dome tent, a Coleman stove and a couple of jet skis.

Those really were the most fun filled days Ever.

I didn't even use a tent back then. Too hot to be inside.

 

[rivermobster]

I didn't even use a tent back then. Too hot to be inside.

It was basically just to keep the bugs off...

Whoever woke up first, pulled everyone else's tent poles out.

So there was that!

 

[Tamalewagon]

Is there a next generation of River people coming up or are they just gonna live in mom and dads basement and scream “mom meatloaf” when they are hungry?

Where is the 20 year old kid with the little jet boat and smoking hot chick? Afraid to post up around all the old rich guys? Does this kid still exist?

Priced out of the game seems like a real thing for the youth of today, new trucks are $100k, new boats are double that, River pads are 8 times that. I bought my first house at 25, first new suburban shortly after and first new boat by age 30, maybe a little younger. Kept ann old 5th wheel ant the landing on the cheap. All in it was well under a half a million bucks, house was mortgaged, truck, boat, and 5th wheel were paid for with savings from working and stashing extra money. Looking back it was actually not that expensive of a thing now that age and lifestyle creep has slipped into the picture

Any yout’s on RDP making it happen with the River lifestyle and some fine ass hina?

Here you go...my son, his girl and his not a hotrod, but hey they're on the water. They are all on the ASU waterski team (except his girlfriend who was on Davis' ski team) so the boat makes sense.

 

[Sportin' Wood]

YouTube is full of those backyard. Resto experts. Most of them don’t know their ass from fat meat and couldn’t find it with both hands in their back pocket.
I watch sometimes mostly for the WTF factor.
The good ones are shop builds but,
Original purchase-$80,000
Engine refit- $75,000
Electronics-$35,000
Etc…,,
I agree there is probably an audience for the
FB marketplace hull, why we bought it because it has this pump, and hdwr for a Ford etc.

If your price examples are for a boat build, we are not looking at the same demographic. Remove a digit from each line item as a starting point.

There is a $67K 2012 shockwave for sale on RDP that does not need a retrofit (nice boat IMHO). There is also a 22-foot "Make Offer" Nordic Whaler that needs everything. I'm thinking more scumbag, less elitist rich guy. Bring stuff back from the dead and show people they don't need a $200K boat to have fun.

 

[coolchange]

If your price examples are for a boat build, we are not looking at the same demographic. Remove a digit from each line item as a starting point.

There is a $67K 2012 shockwave for sale on RDP that does not need a retrofit (nice boat IMHO). There is also a 22-foot "Make Offer" Nordic Whaler that needs everything. I'm thinking more scumbag, less elitist rich guy. Bring stuff back from the dead and show people they don't need a $200K boat to have fun.

My point was that’s what’s out there for content. Next paragraph was Facebook market place hull etc for the $$$ challenged that want to get out there

 

[DanG]

I'm happy that both of my boys enjoy the "River Life". My parents had a place in Bullhead so we spent most of our time on the upper river, which is where my kids got introduced. When my wife and I purchased our own place in Havasu, my kids were like "why didn't we start coming here sooner" and "all of those years we missed out on the action". Now they love spending time in Havasu and Parker and are all about the River Life and visiting mom and dad.

My boys though are more on Instagram and think that RDP is a bunch of old guys like their dad. However, when they are looking for knowledge or trying to research something, RDP is where they get their information. The wealth of knowledge here is incredible.

My oldest (29) is on his second boat. His first boat was a 21 Eliminator Jet and now has a 25' Daytona.

My youngest (26) just picked up his fist boat a 19' Hallet Jet.

 

[RiverDave]

RDPs Google game is strong. I like unique boats; when I find something on the marketplace and do a search, most of the meaningful content is on RDP and curated from membership.

It makes me a little sad that we are not getting everything we can from the icons of West Coast performance boating captured here on RDP before they pass on. I think the site does a fantastic job of seeding the membership with like-minded individuals who have some money. This place is like an interactive history book.

I think RDP could do better by developing the next generation of boaters. Some of the jet boat stuff I see on IG and FB makes me happy. My kid does not talk about some big OB cat; he dreams of turning wrenches in his garage on a rowdy $6000 jet boat and throwing a roost. It makes me laugh because he cried when he was a kid in our 18-foot Jet Bote.

I think the events are the key. My buddy who owns a magazine seeds his enthusiast base by doing a handful of events yearly. He grabs 90% of his content for the year in the same trip. He sells the culture at his events and pads his advertisers' wallets at the same time. He is cautious about not becoming an elitist and making it seem unobtainable.

Edit: It just occurred to me that the events are what attracted me to Hot Boat forums back in the day and, ultimately, to RDP.

Interesting post, and I always enjoy our conversations because you not only have the experience, but take the time to put a lot of thought into it.

As you said our google game is strong.. as in pretty much unheard of to most people. When my server company was fucking me around awhile back I basically told them to resolve it immediately or I'm going to bend the CEO over a barrel and dry fuck him. They laughed.. 3 days later when you googled their company or his name it was top 3 across the board of what shitty service and what a shitbag he was.. LOL. Needless to say they fixed it asap. Other than OCM Tim, that's really the only time I've ever used our SEO for leverage in any kinda negative way. I prefer positive content and SEO etc..

The point though the SEO is crazy powerful off this forum, and I wish some of the advertisers would realize and try to utilize it more to aid in their companies profits and growth.

I try to get around quite a bit on the web to have a "pulse" on what's going on out there. I gotta be honest the jet boat pages are rough.. and I mean fucking rough. I don't know how Brad at SCJB tolerates some of that shit. Just recently some guy started a deal saying he ordered some very expensive parts from Brad and was wondering when he was gonna get them.. It was around New Years. The guy placed the order online Christmas Eve.. Pretty unreal the way some of those boys behave.

I'm not saying all jetboaters are like that, but god damn I see it a lot and that ain't the crowd I'd want to associate with.. Then you have the inverse of the spectrum where these guy spend cubic dollars on gull wings and bubble decks having Kornowski do a 70K retrofit. They don't really seem to be on those pages near as I can tell, and I don't really know where they hang out?

The one thing I can tell you that Brad at SCJB does better than anybody (and I mean anybody) on the west coast is events.. He starts the year with a calendar and they are going everywhere from Blythe to Needles and beyond. I suppose it helps monetize his brick and mortar and I know it helps his clothing sales etc..

I'd love to do something like that, but I have a couple problems that are hard to overcome.

1. The sheer size of rdp. If I say we are doing an event or a get together at xyz.. The amount of boats and people that show up are a bit staggering. To the point I'm not even sure I could do an event in Parker, just because there's nowhere to park everyone?

2. While we have a ton of small boats on here, we also have a ton of big boats on here. Our facilities on the west coast are not setup for a large # of big boats to attend. Even the RDP regattas we had to cut it off at 70 boats and we are always out of room. My only option is to do something bigger at the Riviera etc.. (Hence SuperCat Fest West).



On the Elitist thing.. I genuinely find myself waffling on that. I'm about the most inclusive guy you will ever meet. I will freely admit though there's a lot of people that show up to rdp events or other events because they know they are gonna get free beer all day etc.. The sense of entitlement is crazy to the point where I have had some literally ask me to give them 100's of dollars in merchandise so they can "advertise for me." (WTF?).

Then I have other guys that show up and they buy everything and ask for nothing.

I don't mind giving out some beers or some koozies.. but some of these people are out of control. To the point where they are actually interfering with customers trying to buy shit and costing us not only the handouts, but actual sales?

I'm actually weighing right now if we are going to exhibit at Desert Storm this year. Super Cat / DS politics aside.. It costs us a ton of money to go, and the returns just haven't been there the last 2 years in a row. Last year was nothing short of a disaster financially speaking.

RD

 

[RiverDave]

My daughter just turned 14 (literally yesterday) and is asking to build her own boat... Guess what the age to legally drive without parent supervision is in NC.

We're building a 14' Allison clone with a 60hp merc. Mostly white with metallic purple accents.

I'd really like to see a build thread on that.

RD

 

[RiverDave]

It would be awesome to see more content from the West Coast builders. We’re very lucky to have so many legends in our backyard and on the boards for that matter. If i was RD I’m not sure how much time/effort I’d put into it though. His 2023 recap has 3 replies, the OL cat has 12 with 4 being Dave. .

This is definitely something I look at and think about everyday.

There are a few members that post boating content, but it's pretty rare and in between.. Which sux because I know a lot of these guys are doing cool shit.

I try to post a lot of boating content, and I watch it just kinda fade away because there's no responses.. but then you post something and if people get a chance to be assholes and negative they jump all over it (Speed Utv threads for example).


Some of these guys sit around and "talk about the good ole days". which is fine I guess.. but to me what a defeatist attitude that shit is.. The best days are always tomorrow or? These people have sold all their shit, and will never do it again, but hang around here and talk about how cool it used to be. No dumbass maybe you used to have fun and don't anymore, but it doesn't mean the rest of us have to live like that.

RD

 

[RiverDave]

@RiverDave has enough on his plate, but with his connections in town, it would be fun to see a regular turn of restoration projects of classic boats. Document all the work, pimp the vendors, and then sell them off. Kind of like the car flipper shows do, but with boats. I could see a hell of a series. Talk a little about a builder's history and culture, then bring them up to modern standards. In the end, they run them through a performance evaluation. Hell, give them away in a raffle if you like.

Perhaps a good way to seed the enthusiast base and keep boats on the water.

Dave acts as the producer, and someone else does 90% of the lift and leverages your network. I suggest a fine model type gear head 20, something that is comfortable turning wrenches and being mostly naked for the on-the-water sections. Think Jesse Combs in a bikini.

My guess is you could set up a pilot in 30 days and test the YouTube market. You would not even need to leave town. You already have a building for a film studio and a machine shop.

Cut me in for the idea, and I'll lend a hand. This seems too easy for you not to give it a try. Oh yeah, another bump for merchandise sales along the way. You just need a catchy, sticky name. Maybe something like "Going Overboard."

It's an interesting idea, and I do have the shop to do it in.. I might kick that around?

RD

 

[Sportin' Wood]

Interesting post, and I always enjoy our conversations because you not only have the experience, but take the time to put a lot of thought into it.

As you said our google game is strong.. as in pretty much unheard of to most people. When my server company was fucking me around awhile back I basically told them to resolve it immediately or I'm going to bend the CEO over a barrel and dry fuck him. They laughed.. 3 days later when you googled their company or his name it was top 3 across the board of what shitty service and what a shitbag he was.. LOL. Needless to say they fixed it asap. Other than OCM Tim, that's really the only time I've ever used our SEO for leverage in any kinda negative way. I prefer positive content and SEO etc..

The point though the SEO is crazy powerful off this forum, and I wish some of the advertisers would realize and try to utilize it more to aid in their companies profits and growth.

I try to get around quite a bit on the web to have a "pulse" on what's going on out there. I gotta be honest the jet boat pages are rough.. and I mean fucking rough. I don't know how Brad at SCJB tolerates some of that shit. Just recently some guy started a deal saying he ordered some very expensive parts from Brad and was wondering when he was gonna get them.. It was around New Years. The guy placed the order online Christmas Eve.. Pretty unreal the way some of those boys behave.

I'm not saying all jetboaters are like that, but god damn I see it a lot and that ain't the crowd I'd want to associate with.. Then you have the inverse of the spectrum where these guy spend cubic dollars on gull wings and bubble decks having Kornowski do a 70K retrofit. They don't really seem to be on those pages near as I can tell, and I don't really know where they hang out?

The one thing I can tell you that Brad at SCJB does better than anybody (and I mean anybody) on the west coast is events.. He starts the year with a calendar and they are going everywhere from Blythe to Needles and beyond. I suppose it helps monetize his brick and mortar and I know it helps his clothing sales etc..

I'd love to do something like that, but I have a couple problems that are hard to overcome.

1. The sheer size of rdp. If I say we are doing an event or a get together at xyz.. The amount of boats and people that show up are a bit staggering. To the point I'm not even sure I could do an event in Parker, just because there's nowhere to park everyone?

2. While we have a ton of small boats on here, we also have a ton of big boats on here. Our facilities on the west coast are not setup for a large # of big boats to attend. Even the RDP regattas we had to cut it off at 70 boats and we are always out of room. My only option is to do something bigger at the Riviera etc.. (Hence SuperCat Fest West).



On the Elitist thing.. I genuinely find myself waffling on that. I'm about the most inclusive guy you will ever meet. I will freely admit though there's a lot of people that show up to rdp events or other events because they know they are gonna get free beer all day etc.. The sense of entitlement is crazy to the point where I have had some literally ask me to give them 100's of dollars in merchandise so they can "advertise for me." (WTF?).

Then I have other guys that show up and they buy everything and ask for nothing.

I don't mind giving out some beers or some koozies.. but some of these people are out of control. To the point where they are actually interfering with customers trying to buy shit and costing us not only the handouts, but actual sales?

I'm actually weighing right now if we are going to exhibit at Desert Storm this year. Super Cat / DS politics aside.. It costs us a ton of money to go, and the returns just haven't been there the last 2 years in a row. Last year was nothing short of a disaster financially speaking.

RD

To clear the air on the elitist comments, I'm just sharing a friend's experience publishing feature articles on super custom high-dollar offroad rigs vs feature articles on average Joe's home-built stuff. He found that the high-dollar vehicles did not get the same mileage as the guy who built something in his garage, so he learned to balance the content and make sure he favored stuff that was obtainable.

I agree on all accounts; it's always fun brainstorming ideas with you. The SEO problem is because people don't understand it. I have dealt with that for a decade.

 

[n2otoofast4u]

The snapshot of "boating" that 90% of the people on this site see is a DISTANT look of reality than the rest of the country. Havasu boating is VERY different than ANYWHERE else in the country! You look at where I am from in the PNW, on any given weekend there is 100 plus boats on the sandbar, average ages in the early 30s, most boats are runabout type, an alarming number of the yamaha/seadoo types, and mid level wake boats. Is there an outlier performance boat here and there, sure. But overall the types of boats are MUCH more financially friendly then what you see in Havasu. We're seeing a HUGE resurgence in the little jet boat stuff around here! LOTS of late teens early 20s kids picking them up, stacking their bitches/buddies/beer in them and heading to the river!

 

[Kachina26]

I don’t know that RDP is aging out, but as a group we are certainly aging. That may be just the demographic of those that interact via forums as opposed to FB, IG, TikTok and the like. Look at the number of threads on medical issues and such that are mostly “old people” issues . I’d laugh at the hearing aid thread if it weren’t so timely an issue for me and as it turns out, quite a few others. Then the prescription thread, and so on. I like what we have here. I love seeing builds/projects from the usual suspects that have talents far beyond mine.

 

[LuauLounge]

Started boating in the early 70’s. My best friends father had a 19’ Sea Ray runabout. We ran the prop off of it and his dad would take it in for repairs on Monday. Took a short break to buy houses, get married, etc. Then, bought 2 Kawa stand ups. Buddies still had boats and we’d take our flotilla to the lakes and rivers. Then ran into a partnership on a 54’ houseboat. Did that, but was too much work. Cleaned it when we got there, cleaned it when we left. Ended up buying a POS Immobile home at a resort in the Sacramento Delta. We were spending 40 weekends a year there. Once you get bit, you get bit. It’s amazing, some people are hiding from reality, some have “legal” issues others are CEO’s from publicly traded companies and go to get lost. We’ve had the MH for 15 years and bought it for a number of reasons. We were looking at real estate and the space rent was about the same as property taxes on RE. Cost was 10% along with everything else. Security is excellent as marina staff are out and about all day long. Real community feeling amongst the full timers, about half and the weekenders.
We see from our long term boating group that some are moving into the third generation.
With the rise of organized sports over the years, the family time has shifted.
Having no kids gave us the ability to afford and time to choose what we wanted to do.
Not including the initial cost or gas, a boating weekend was $500.
We have a fireplace, so wet winter days are spent watching old movies. Wouldn’t have traded this experience for anything.

 

[wzuber]

Maybe the feature ain't so bad now that I think about it

View attachment 1323356 View attachment 1323357 View attachment 1323358 View attachment 1323359

Lol....looking at those pix makes me think I'm.on some kind of acid trip.
Those butherfaces are a trip.

 

[h2o225]

My son runs with a crowd that is in late 20's. They all have the trucks and boats couple even the river house and primary house. The interesting thing is they stay to their group and don't have mom and dad places or $$. Several are close to that high 6 figure status. They work long hours then play hard. Dinner a couple weeks ago 10 of us were out. The one kid stands up tells the waiter the bill is his. Probably well over 2k. We tried to pay him for ours he laughed and said you have no idea all good it's on me.

 

[DILLIGAF]

Everything has a life span....yes, RDP is aging out. It has been for a while now and change is a certainty in life. Enjoy it while you can and its been a fun place for many years. Its had a good run for sure. I enjoy the banter and reading a lot of stuff posted on here but don't participate anywhere near what I did before.

It also seems some people take the mantra "go be poor somewhere else" to heart....lol That kind of mentality is a turn off for many. Thats some elitist shit right there regardless of if joking at this point or not.

Hopefully it continues forward for many years to come. Maybe illegal immigration will replace the older members....lol

 

[WYRD]

Pants from the kid’s section, $5.
View attachment 1323754

A Picture with titties and that's what you focus on?

 

[Big B Hova]

Lol....looking at those pix makes me think I'm.on some kind of acid trip.
Those butherfaces are a trip.

a bad acid trip lol

 

[TPC]

Being a charter member at Emerald Cove and the dues increases regulated by contract with BLM, for us it's still really cheap fun to go to the river.
With SXS's it's year round fun.
Loss of Fox's is like the Jews losing the wailing wall, Christians losing Jerusalem, Arabs losing Mecca, or RD losing Fat Jacks grill in Carlsbad.

 

[Kachina26]

A Picture with titties and that's what you focus on?

I mean if you want me to draw attention to the titties so you can get a vacation...

 

[RiverDave]

Everything has a life span....yes, RDP is aging out. It has been for a while now and change is a certainty in life. Enjoy it while you can and its been a fun place for many years. Its had a good run for sure. I enjoy the banter and reading a lot of stuff posted on here but don't participate anywhere near what I did before.

It also seems some people take the mantra "go be poor somewhere else" to heart....lol That kind of mentality is a turn off for many. Thats some elitist shit right there regardless of if joking at this point or not.

Hopefully it continues forward for many years to come. Maybe illegal immigration will replace the older members....lol

When’s the last time you went out on a boat?

 

[WYRD]

I mean if you want me to draw attention to the titties so you can get a vacation...

If you could see nipples in that picture you got Keener eyes than me

 

[RiverDave]

If you could see nipples in that picture you got Keener eyes than me

Yep

 

[DILLIGAF]

When’s the last time you went out on a boat?
Or?

A Lake Powell or Lake Pleasant trip. The world is bigger than Havasu and Parker.

I visit lakes and waterways all around the USA. I just dont go to Havasu or BHC much these days.

Whats your point?

 

[RiverDave]

A Lake Powell or Lake Pleasant trip. The world is bigger than Havasu and Parker.

I visit lakes and waterways all around the USA.

Whats your point?

Just curious if you feel you have changed or if you feel rdp has changed?

 

[WYRD]

Yep

Removed

 

[DILLIGAF]

Just curious if you feel you have changed or if you feel rdp has changed?

Everybody changes. My changes I planned for years. I come and go when I want to where I want. Ride my Harley all over the country. I used to post up my trips and the threads got heavy traffic on here. Just decided not to post up my travels anymore on here.

 

[RiverDave]

Everybody changes. My changes I planned for years. I come and go when I want to where I want. Ride my Harley all over the country. I used to post up my trips and the threads got heavy traffic on here. Just decided not to post up my travels anymore on here.

Because of?

 

[DILLIGAF]

Just curious if you feel you have changed or if you feel rdp has changed?

Yes…..RDP has aged for sure. Its changed to reflect the age of the typical member on here. It isnt 20-40s primarily like it was on HB.

All you have to do is look at the thread titles.

It is what it is and like I said every biz has a life span.

I also mentioned I have had fun over the years and hope for more fun years for RDP going forward but no….its not even close to the same.

 

[RiverDave]

Yes…..RDP has aged for sure. Its changed to reflect the age of the typical member on here. It isnt 20-40s primarily like it was on HB.

All you have to do is look at the thread titles.

It is what it is and like I said every biz has a life span.

I also mentioned I have had fun over the years and hope for more fun years for RDP going forward but no….its not even close to the same.

What has changed?

 

[DILLIGAF]

Because of?

Because I decided not to. Thats why. I live life and dont need to post pics of every meal whenever I eat, etc.

People that know me personally I keep in contact with and we meet up from time to time along the way.

My life never did or never will revolve around RDP.

 

[DILLIGAF]

What has changed?

Just look at your thread titles like I said. It isnt the young vibrant crowd it used to be. Nothing wrong with that as it is what it is.

 

[Lunatic Fringe]

Just curious if you feel you have changed or if you feel rdp has changed?

I'd say it's a combination of both for all of us who've been members for any length of time.
But that's not necessarily a bad thing.

It's human nature to have fond memories of the way thing used to be. Partly because we tend to not relive the negatives and relish the positives.
Again a good thing.

RDP has morphed into way more than I'm sure anyone expected and to do that it needed to broaden it's appeal. Also a good thing.

Yes we've aged. Some gracefully some not so much.
Hotboat back in the day never had threads that talked about retirement, social security, Medicare, knee and hip replacement etc. but Hotboat died off.

If RDP continues to evolve but maintains the commonality of boats and the boating life, it'll be fine for a while.

 

[SKIDMARC]

I'd say it's a combination of both for all of us who've been members for any length of time.
But that's not necessarily a bad thing.

It's human nature to have fond memories of the way thing used to be. Partly because we tend to not relive the negatives and relish the positives.
Again a good thing.

RDP has morphed into way more than I'm sure anyone expected and to do that it needed to broaden it's appeal. Also a good thing.

Yes we've aged. Some gracefully some not so much.
Hotboat back in the day never had threads that talked about retirement, social security, Medicare, knee and hip replacement etc. but Hotboat died off.

If RDP continues to evolve but maintains the commonality of boats and the boating life, it'll be fine for a while.

I think the issue is the lounge is the main stage of RDP. Very little boating content in the lounge. More off road now due to the season. But even still during the summer you wouldn’t think it’s primarily a boating site. Of course the home page has allot of boating content. But it’s all super high dollar stuff that is cool, but nothing even close to my price range. I would love to see more affordable stuff. Even run about stuff. Just my 2 cents. Not many people can afford or want to pay 6 figures for a boat.

 

[RiverDave]

Because I decided not to. Thats why. I live life and dont need to post pics of every meal whenever I eat, etc.

People that know me personally I keep in contact with and we meet up from time to time along the way.

My life never did or never will revolve around RDP.

I wouldn’t expect anyone’s life too.. even my own?

But you made a choice for yourself and now rdp is dying? Interesting

 

[DILLIGAF]

What has changed?

Do you have any stats on the ave age of a member on here?

 

[RiverDave]

I'd say it's a combination of both for all of us who've been members for any length of time.
But that's not necessarily a bad thing.

It's human nature to have fond memories of the way thing used to be. Partly because we tend to not relive the negatives and relish the positives.
Again a good thing.

RDP has morphed into way more than I'm sure anyone expected and to do that it needed to broaden it's appeal. Also a good thing.

Yes we've aged. Some gracefully some not so much.
Hotboat back in the day never had threads that talked about retirement, social security, Medicare, knee and hip replacement etc. but Hotboat died off.

If RDP continues to evolve but maintains the commonality of boats and the boating life, it'll be fine for a while.

Interesting so what do you base the statements off of? We have seen a decrease in participation? Threads? Content? Have we seen a dip in what metrics?

I mean we are just hanging on for awhile here..

RD

 

[RiverDave]

Do you have any stats on the ave age of a member on here?

I have stats on participation, reach, location, time on site, conversions, page depth and a bunch of other stuff..

I also know who shows up to events and parties etc. That would be my only metric on age of participants.