Pinkster
The PA38 was, I believe, made for only two years around 1980, with production stopped due to adverse publicity following a number of fatal accidents. Why flying schools in the UK operate the type I don't know. For starters, many people who train in them will be unable to get access to the type after they get their PPL (very few about) so it's a waste of the student's money for that reason alone.
I've got about 25 hrs in the PA38 and remember well the engine cowling latches which hang on by their fingernails
It has a very exciting stall which is used by instructors to support training in it ("proper stall behaviour").
Englishal
I pay £4000/year for hangarage, but this could be halved by parking on grass (and accepting the rotting plane and rotting avionics).
I don't think sailing can be compared to GA (for the purpose of working out why GA is suffering from lack of participants) because the profile of the people is so different - sailing requires a vast amount of time to get into properly but requires no training and no ability to pass exams, understand technical things, etc.