Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Auto parts machine operator Marty Shawl was so shaken by the bankruptcy of his former employer Delphi Corp. that he paid off credit cards, canceled an annual trip to Canada and sold his all-terrain vehicle for $1,000 less than the $5,000 he paid for it.

``Once I got it in my mind to sell it, that was it,'' said Shawl, 54, of Bay City, Michigan, who used the four-wheel Polaris 500 for summer recreation. ``We're economizing. I won't be buying things like that anymore.''

Shawl said he was looking for a simpler and less expensive lifestyle -- and there are plenty of other ex-autoworkers making a similar transition by choice or necessity.

The state's auto industry workforce has shrunk to almost half its size since 2000. One byproduct has been a decline in the number of outdoor recreational toys that blue-collar employees used to fill their 17 holidays and up to five weeks of vacation. Boats, all-terrain vehicles and snowmobiles have become candidates for elimination from family budgets all over Michigan as the factories that drive the local economy shed jobs.

Autoworkers `` were the ones who had the money to buy the snowmobiles, the boats, the ATVs,'' said Bill Manson, executive director of the Michigan Snowmobile Association. ``They were the ones with the disposable income. They were the ones with the vacations.''

The number of registered watercraft in the state with the largest freshwater coastline in the world has been flat or drifting lower since 2001, according to the Michigan Department of State. Once No. 1 in boats, Michigan lost 1 percent of its total vessels through June of this year and dropped to 950,772. In June 2001, that number was 976,307, the highest point in the seven years.

Ripple Effect

Statewide sales of new powerboats, engines and boat accessories fell 22 percent to $386 million in 2007, according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association. In 2003, sales were $584 million.

That decline affects everything from dealers, to boating supplies and services companies, to even the amount of revenue the state takes in on watercraft registrations.

Mark Mathes rents slips to boat owners as the president of Emerald City Harbor in St. Claire Shores, Michigan. He has joined competitors in firing some of his employees, he says.

``We looked at every possible place we could trim costs,'' Mathes said.

Some former autoworkers such as Shawl say they just want to pocket whatever cash they can get on their recreational toys. The machines also represent maintenance costs that can bust a tight budget.

Expensive Hobby

Upkeep on a boat can amount to 10 percent of the vessel's initial cost, according to the Boat Owners Association of the United States. That would amount to $3,000 a year, excluding fuel, for a $30,000 boat.

Sales of all-terrain vehicles, such as the one Shawl disposed of, have also been falling. Michigan dropped to 15th at the end of last year among states for new ATV sales after ranking seventh in 2003, according to the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America, which couldn't provide specific numbers.

``Michigan's down and has been since all the pain and agony hit the auto market,'' said John Tranby, marketing manager at Arctic Cat Inc., a maker of all-terrain recreational vehicles based in Thief River Falls, Minnesota.

Ken Stucki has been a sales manager for five years at Rosenau Powersports in Dearborn Heights, Michigan, near Ford Motor Co.'s headquarters in Dearborn. He has seen one competitor in the area go bankrupt and suspects others will follow with the credit crunch making loans harder to obtain.

Hanging In

``We're hanging in there,'' he said.

There's also been a surge in the number of used vehicles for sale, Stucki says. Prospective sellers have brought in 20 to 30 percent more ATVs and snowmobiles this year than in the past, he estimated.

``We're on a budget too, so we're not going to buy a vehicle unless it's advantageous to us,'' Stucki said.

In a good season like the winter of 2003 to 2004, 14,353 snowmobiles were sold, according to the International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association. In the 2007-2008 winter, sales plunged to 6,954. That drop was enough to push Michigan out of first place among states, overtaken by Minnesota and Wisconsin, said Manson, the director of the state snowmobile association.

Michigan's auto industry employment has declined 45 percent to 173,600 over the past eight years as workers like Shawl fell victim to bankruptcies, buyouts and early retirements. Although still the largest export income-producing industry in the state, auto-job losses have helped push Michigan's jobless rate to the highest in the U.S., at 8.5 percent in June, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Life Without Debt

Machine operator Shawl, who now works for General Motors Corp., plans to retire soon, he says. Life has been better since he sold off the Polaris and started cutting his personal spending, he says.

``It's a good feeling to be free of all that debt,'' he said. ``I don't want to be beholden to anybody for anything.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Ortolani in Detroit at aortolani1bloomberg.net

Last Updated: August 13, 2008 02:24 EDT