Long Island boaters are navigating a spike in gas prices: 'When we want to go, we go'

It's simple math, Steven Truncale said.

Filling up the 80-gallon gas tank on his boat, Fish Tails, costs a dollar more per gallon this year compared with last year, the East Northport man said.

That's a total of $80 more — or, at $5 per gallon, about $400 total, Truncale said. 

Higher fuel prices are taking a bite out of boaters' wallets this summer.

But Truncale and many other recreational skippers say they are determined not to let sticker shock at the pump ruin what they call one of the best parts of the season on Long Island — getting out on the water for a day of fishing or hanging out with family and friends.

"We don't have to travel anywhere," Truncale, 52, said late last month as he and his wife, Eileen, and their college-bound daughter, Nora, prepared to set out for a fishing trip from a Huntington dock. "We just get out the boat and we feel like we're on vacation."

Boaters are throwing more money into their hobby than usual as gas and diesel prices spiked this spring because of fuel shipment disruptions caused by the Iran war. A barrel of U.S. benchmark crude climbed to $120 at one point during the war before subsiding in recent weeks. But ongoing volatility in the region may keep fuel costs stubbornly high. On Tuesday, three tankers were struck by projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz, The Associated Press reported, causing prices to climb again this past week. 

While definitive numbers are hard to come by, boaters and marine industry officials say marina fuel prices are up about 25% compared with last year — around $5 a gallon for gasoline and about $5.50 per gallon or more for diesel.

For a small-craft owner with a 60-gallon tank, that's about $300 to fill up from empty this year. For owners of larger vessels with 500-gallon tanks, a full tank costs about $2,500.

Gas prices for cars and trucks have come down in recent weeks, according to data posted on the AAA website. But a gallon of gas in Nassau-Suffolk for terrestrial vehicles averaged $3.89 per gallon on Tuesday compared with $3.10 exactly one year earlier — a 25.5% increase.

Marina prices are higher still because of the challenges of delivering fuel to remote shoreline locations.

“It’s the exact same gas," said Chris Daniello, executive director of the Long Island Gasoline Retailers Association in Melville. The difference is that many marinas receive fuel shipments by barge.

“You can’t get a tractor trailer down in some of those areas,” Daniello said.

For boaters, one of many expenses

Some marina officials say that if you're scared off by high fuel costs, you shouldn't own a boat.

Boat owners are used to high costs, they say, citing purchase prices and fees for boat slips, offseason storage, maintenance and insurance.

"When you add up all the costs of owning a boat ... the fuel is really the cheapest part at the end of the day," said Todd Willis, owner of Willis Marine Service, a Huntington marina. The marina does not have its own fuel pump. "If the fuel is a couple of hundred dollars more a year, it's not a game-changer."

Boaters agree.

Richie Hansen, 70, a retired pro hockey player from Northport who appeared in 18 games for the Islanders in the 1970s, said the joy of boating far outweighs concerns about the expense. 

"When we want to go, we go," Hansen said as he prepped his 23-foot fishing boat, Fish Sticks, for a fishing trip late last month. "It's not going to affect us going out either way." 

Fuel tank sizes vary widely.

A standard outboard holds as little as three gallons of fuel, but many Long Island boaters have tanks ranging up to 60 or 80 gallons.

Larger cruisers, like those used for Atlantic Ocean fishing excursions, can hold 500 to 600 gallons, said Richie Collins, owner of the Guy Lombardo and Hudson Point marinas in Freeport. A 56-foot Viking fishing cruiser holds 1,500 gallons, according to an online sales brochure.

David Dever, 65, of Huntington, admits he was "a little shocked" this summer when he poured $500 worth of diesel into his new vessel, the Next En-Dever, which is powered by a pair of 170-gallon tanks. 

What the heck, he said — it's only a few months out of the year.

"It's seasonal: May, June, July, August, September," Dever said. "This is what we do. We don't go traveling in the summer."

But while recreational boaters shrug off the price hikes, charterboat operators at the Captree Island fleet say higher costs are hurting business.

Fuel costs are “putting quite a bit of dent in the profit,” said Bryan Sorice, owner/operator of the Island Princess.

A gallon of fuel costs $5.40 this year, compared with $3.10 last summer, a 75% increase, he said.

He hasn't passed the costs on to passengers. But customers should expect to pay full fare, he said.

“It’s not good right now,” Sorice said in a phone interview. “We don’t give discounts or anything like that anymore. We’re trying to keep our heads afloat and trying to even things out.”

$1.4B industry statewide

Statewide, recreational boating and fishing are a $1.44 billion industry, more than hiking, camping, hunting, motorcycling and winter sports combined, according to a 2024 report by the federal Bureau of Economic Analysis.

And Long Islanders love their boats.

Though there's been a reported drop in boat registrations in Suffolk and Nassau counties over the past 10 years — 7.4% in Suffolk and 6% in Nassau, according to Newsday's The Point newsletter — the two counties lead the state in vessel registrations. Suffolk ranks first with 58,501 boats, followed by Nassau with 26,203, according to a state Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation report.

National statistics show active boaters tend to be more affluent than the rest of the population.

A 2024 study prepared for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found the number of boat owners who actively "participate" in boating "rose with income levels." Those from households making $200,000 or more annually were three times more likely to participate than people with household incomes under $50,000, the report said. 

Marina owners say pleasure boat owners are influenced more by the weather than by gas prices.

After a blistering winter, boaters were “champing at the bit to go boating,” said Jeff Strong, president of Strong's Marine, which runs more than a dozen marinas from East Hampton to Port Washington.

The company's Mattituck marina charged $5 a gallon for regular gas on July 1 and $5.75 for diesel, spokesperson Ally Stacy said.

Strong added that boaters lower their fuel expenses by making short trips — across Great South Bay to Fire Island, for example — then shut off the engine while socializing or fishing. 

“Boating is very different from a car. ... Maybe they run the boat for two hours at the most in a five-hour or six-hour day,” Strong said in a phone interview. “As a result of that, the more expensive fuel prices, while annoying … it’s not as huge an impact as it could be.”

After a slow start to the season, marred by a cold May and windy days last month, marina owners are counting on the lure of the sea to remain stronger than pain at the pump.

“I believe that people who own boats, if they want to go, they find a way to go," Collins said.

“We’re not seeing people crying and saying, 'I’m going to sell my boat.' We’re not seeing that,” he said. “People call and say, 'Where are the fish?' ”

NewsdayTV's Virginia Huie contributed to this story.