Alpena resident Paul LaBrecque, captain of powerboat Seize the Day, usually pays about $450 to fill his tank.

This year, with the price tag for recreational and diesel fuel nearly double last year’s cost, LaBrecque may have to spend more time at the harbor and less time on weekend getaways to area beaches or islands.

Usually about a dollar per gallon above the going rate at gas stations, pricey boat fuel could mean more expensive charter fishing trips and fewer visitors exploring the Northeast Michigan shoreline and dropping into local businesses.

Boaters from elsewhere are still calling to reserve slips, and the City of Alpena is doing what it can to keep boat gas prices low, said Alpena Harbormaster Shannon Smolinski.

News Photo by Julie Riddle Brynna Smith, dockhand at the Alpena Marina, checks boat fuel prices at the marina on Thursday.

Still, LaBrecque said, many boaters will think twice before taking to the water this summer, and those that go will feel it in their pocketbook.

“It’s gonna be a tough year,” LaBrecque said. “We’ll be doing a lot of drinking at the dock.”

In a blue-collar town like Rogers City, residents rely on boating and fishing as their reward after a hard week’s work, said Wayne Saile, harbormaster at the Rogers City Marina.

This year’s gas hike will rob them of needed down time — and possibly mean fewer visitors to the town, Saile said.

Recently, a boater who has harbored in Rogers City for more than 20 summers told Saile he won’t be back this year because he can’t afford to go out on the lake and fish.

Current high gas prices could get still higher by mid-summer, when, Saile said, he won’t be surprised to see gas at $6.50 per gallon for boaters.

Saile hopes to host parties and other events at the marina to help boaters have fun on their vessels without shelling out gas money.

“We’re going to have to sing, dance, do something,” Saile said. “It’s going to be tough to go this year, I’m tellin’ ya.”

Darrell Irwin, a fishing charter boat captain out of Bay City who prefers the Rogers City harbor over busier harbors farther downshore, only gets an eighth of a mile from a gallon of gas.

He’ll keep taking groups out on Lake Huron this summer, but he will have to pass high fuel prices on to customers, Irwin said.

LaBrecque, chatting with boating friends at the Alpena Marina on Thursday, relishes boating trips to his favorite pristine beaches north of Alpena.

At 26 miles away by water — getting half a mile to the gallon in his boat — that trip will cost him a pretty penny this summer, LaBrecque said.

The Alpena Yacht Club could see extra business this year from people longing to be near their boats but unable to afford gas, as could a new gourmet grocer and grab-and-go deli scheduled to open soon at the marina, LaBrecque suggested.

Then again, he said, people who love boating may get out on the water regardless of the cost.

“You just bite the bullet and try to have some fun,” he said. “Life is too short.”

Based on phone calls to the city showing interest in boat slip rental, the summer boating season should still be a solid one, Smolinski said.

Like a gas station, marinas base their fuel prices on going rack prices, working in the extra cost of taxes and insurance necessary for boat fuel, Smolinski explained.

With some recreational fuel left over from last season, the city averaged last year’s prices in with the spiked costs this spring to keep costs as low as possible as long as possible.

Prices at the Alpena Marina had climbed to $5.34 per gallon for recreational fuel and $5.53 for diesel by Thursday.

At a recent meeting, harbormasters from around the state worried that gas prices would keep boaters away, but boaters polled this spring said they still planned on traveling this summer — just maybe not as far or as often, Smolinski said.

At the Alpena harbor on Thursday, Anne and Bobby Szmagaj, of Hubbard Lake, prepared a friend’s boat for the summer season.

They don’t envy their friends who own powerboats, at least this year.

“It costs $15 to warm up and get out of the harbor,” Bobby Szmagaj said.

The couple are sailboaters, so they won’t notice the gas price hike much during their lake excursions, Anne Szmagaj said.

“We’re going to be doing the same things we always do,” she said. “If you have a powerboat, it will affect you, for sure.”

Julie Riddle can be reached at 989-358-5693 or jriddle@thealpenanews.com. Follow her on Twitter @jriddleX.