Boaters Pay the Price

By: Dedrick Russell

Whether you drive a car or boat you are going to pay the price because of higher fuel prices.

Boater Walt Hanes asked this question for us: "Chrissy how much is gas...4.60 a gallon..."

Walt Hanes has been boating for years. He says the skyrocketing gas prices for boats altered the way his friends celebrate Memorial day on Lake Norman. Here's what they say about paying 4 sixty a gallon. His friends said:

"Terrible that's why we're sitting here."

Hanes told me: "We still go out but instead of three or four we take one out and a lot of the times we hang out at the dock."

Listen to boater Greg Hansen's latest gas bill.

Hansen: "I just topped off 300 dollars."

That's why he's conserving his fuel.

"We got a ladder down there on both ends so we can still swim so it's just like being on the water but just a little cheaper."

Lane West agreed to take us out on his boat. We wanted to see if high fuel prices stopped people from enjoying the water.

"It's about 1 o'clock in the afternoon and we are at the infamous sandbar. As you can see not many boaters out here but people say despite high gas prices this place will be packed."

And we saw boaters heading toward the sandbar but Hanes says he's seeing a different kind of boat this year.

"You are seeing a lot more pontoon boats. It typically uses a lot less fuel."

Last year this time boaters were paying a less than four dollars a gallon.. now it's more than four. That's why some say to conserve gas they are not driving their boats as fast.