Research shows a boat can beat the blues - or add to them.

Byline: Mike Stahlberg/The Register-Guard

IN BASEBALL, there's the Hot Stove League. In the outdoorsy sports, there's the Boat Show Season.

The point of both is the same: People sit around indoors and talk about something they'd rather be involved in outdoors, if only the weather were better.

Countless boat and outdoor recreation shows are held in this country during the winter months, including the one that opens Friday at the Lane County Fairgrounds, the 30th annual Eugene Boat and Sportsmen's Show.

Hot Stove League talk often gets people fired up about buying season tickets at the ol' ballyard. Similarly, the outdoor show season is largely about getting people excited about buying a new boat or other outdoor recreation goods or services.

The National Marine Manufacturers Association - which represents companies that build boats - goes all-out to persuade more people to take up boating. Last year the NMMA even commissioned a survey that found "boaters are healthier and happier than their non-boating counterparts."

Conducted by Impulse Research Corporation, the survey is based on a "random sample of 1,029 men and women selected to closely match U.S. population demographics." The results were released just in time for the 2003 boat show season. Among the "findings":

Landlubbers had been hospitalized slightly more than boat owners (14 percent to 11 percent) and tended to be more overweight than their boating counterparts. (I always wondered if the term landlubber had anything to do with blubber.)

More boat owners said their health was "excellent or good" (83 percent) than did non-boat owners (77 percent).

In addition to the purely physical differences, boat owners also rated the overall quality of their lives higher than did non-boat owners.

Boat owners expressed greater satisfaction with their accomplishments, their relations with their families their ability to enjoy life - even their sex lives. Non-boaters, on the other hand, were more prone to report feeling useless, lonely, unhappy or excessively fatigued.

Was any of this CAUSED by boat ownership, or lack thereof? Don't be silly.

Active people tend to be healthier and happier - and less overweight - than sedentary people. Substitute any form of outdoor recreation for "boat owner" in the survey and the results would be similar.

That's not to say NMMA's survey can't prove useful. If, for example, you'd rather have a new boat than the health club membership your spouse is pushing for, wave the survey during your kitchen debate. The complete text is available at: www.discoverboating.com/articles/healthsurvey.asp?bhcp=1.

Meanwhile, evidence that boat ownership isn't necessarily a ticket to happiness comes from Boating, the world's largest powerboating magazine. The current edition reports boat repossession companies "are doing better than ever." One company that repossessed 400 boats in 1999 took back twice as many boats in 2002.

"We're braced for a disaster in marine lending," said Jim Coburn, the president of the National Marine Bankers Association, a coalition of 70 lenders that specialize in boat loans.

The economy isn't the only reason for the defaults.

"Sometimes a buyer's eyes are bigger than his wallet," said Gerald Kraaz, spokesman for the Intercoastal Financial Group. "Buyers can afford the boat, but don't realize the kind of upkeep that's necessary." If their boat payments are taking them to the edge of the budget, Kraaz said, basic operating and maintenance fees "will easily push them over."

Not all boats, of course, are expensive to operate and maintain - or purchase. Nevertheless, boat owners are still very much a minority.

The U.S. Coast Guard reports that there were 12.9 million recreational boats registered in the U.S. in 2001, up about 0.7 percent from the previous year.

The NMMA, however, estimates that there are nearly 17 million boats in the U.S. - or about one for every 16 Americans.

The 4 million boat disparity between the Coast Guard and NMMA figures stems from the fact that many small, non-powered craft - including most of the drift boats you see in Oregon driveways - are not required to be registered.

Boating is biggest - surprise, surprise - in neither Florida nor California, or any other Sunbelt state with ocean frontage galore.

The top boating state is Michigan, with just over 1 million registered boats, according to the Coast Guard. California is second at 957,463 and Florida third at 902,964. Washington - at 260,335 - is 18th.

Oregon has only about 200,000 registered boats - but a whopping 500,000 canoes, drift boats, small sailboats and other unregistered watercraft, according to Oregon Marine Board estimates.

Finally, if you do find yourself with a new boat this year, you may be looking for the obligatory cutesy name to paint on the stern. Perhaps you'll find inspiration among these winners of Boating magazine's 2002 boat name contest: "Berth Control," "Restless Sole," "Worth the Wake," "Out With the Buoys," "Pier Pressure" and "Dock Sea Moor On."

Mike Stahlberg is the Register-Guard's outdoor writer. He can be reached at [e-mail].