Interesting facts about boating

90% of Americans live within an hour of navigable water

35.000: the total number of boat ramps in the US. 2x the number of golf courses.

3,5 million: miles of rivers in the United States, that boaters can use. This is enough to circle the globe 140 times. 

There is also 51 million acres of lakes and 88.000 miles of coastal shoreline.

More American fish, than play baseball and basketball combined

Boaters and anglers are significantly more satisfied with their marriages, relationships and friendships – and are more likely to have a close relationship with their children – than those who don’t boat or fish.

Boaters and anglers are more likely to recycle, carpool and donate money to environmental organizations than people who aren’t boaters and anglers.

Boating is ranked as one of the TOP 3 stress revealing activities


Nearly one-third of U.S. adults go boating each year, the number is growing nearly two percent year by year.

The average boater spends 17.2 days with boating a year, with the average outing 5.2 hours at one time.

Americans own approximately 18 million recreational boats.

Rule of Thumb: Nautical legend has it that the phrase “rule of thumb” came when ship masters never allowed themselves to get closer to an obstacle than the width of their thumb on a chart.

A nautical mile is 6,076 feet, which corresponds to one minute of latitude, and so makes navigation computations easier.






Sources: 
The Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation
The National Marine Manufacturers Association
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