U.S. Boat Sales Strong [260,000] Heading into 2018, Poised for Another Year of Growth

[Hamartia Antidote]

https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180109005475/en/U.S.-Boat-Sales-Strong-Heading-2018-Poised


CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), representing the nation’s recreational boat, engine and marine accessory manufacturers, announced today it expects unit sales of new powerboats to be up six percent in 2017, marking an estimated 260,000 new powerboats sold last year. As consumer confidence continues to rise and boat manufacturers introduce products and experiences to attract younger boaters, the outlook for 2018 new powerboat sales is another five to six percent increase.

U.S. boat sales strong heading into 2018, poised for another year of growth

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“The close of 2017 marked our sixth consecutive year of growth in new boat sales and recreational boating expenditures, and we expect that trend to continue through 2018, and possibly beyond,” said Thom Dammrich, NMMA president. “On the horizon, if economic indicators remain favorable to the recreational boating market with strong consumer confidence, a healthy housing market, rising disposable income and consumer spending, and historically low interest rates, the outlook is good for boat sales.”

Boat manufacturers and dealers around the U.S. are preparing for a busy winter boat show season – a crucial selling period for the industry. Manufacturers debut their latest innovations and products at boat shows—important selling and marketing events that can generate as much as 50 percent of annual sales for manufacturers and dealers. Shoppers can expect to find incentives and some of the best deals of the year at boat shows with the added convenience of being able to compare different boat models, and different dealers, in one location.

Expect to get a read on buyer trends and sales for the year ahead at this winter’s boat shows, including:

• Versatile family fun boats: Manufacturers continue to build more accessible and versatile watercraft to attract new and younger boaters, offering an all-in-one experience from fishing to cruising to watersports. Sales are expected to be up for ski and wake boats (seven percent), pontoons (7-8 percent) and personal watercraft (5-6 percent) in 2017.
• Fishing boats: Fishing is the most popular activity done on a boat, and fishing boat sales are a major driver of the industry’s sustained momentum. Sales estimates for 2017 show saltwater fishing boats up four percent and freshwater fishing boats up two percent.
• Cruisers: Boats between 22 and 32 feet, and popular for relaxing, entertaining and ‘cruising,’ are on the rise with estimated gains of 9-10 percent in 2017. With consumer confidence and consumer spending at strong levels, sales of these mid-sized powerboats are expected to continue the upward trend in the year ahead.
• More boating experiences for new boaters: Boat clubs, rentals and fractional use companies continue to grow in popularity as new boaters explore ways to get on the water. Boating experiences provide a gateway to ownership and companies like Boatsetter, Freedom Boat Club, SailTime and Carefree Boat Club help beginners find ways to go boating. Learn more at DiscoverBoating.com.

U.S. Recreational Boating by the Numbers

• Annual U.S. consumer spending on boats, marine products and services totaled $36 billion in 2016 and are expected to have climbed three percent in 2017 to $37 billion.
• Sales of new powerboats in 2017 are estimated to exceed 260,000 units with continued sales growth of 5-6 percent expected in 2018.
• The recreational boating industry in the U.S. supports 650,000 direct and indirect American jobs and nearly 35,000 small businesses.
• Recreational boats are uniquely American made with 95 percent of the boats sold in the U.S., made in the U.S.
• Leading the nation in sales of new powerboat, engine, trailer and accessories in 2016 were the following states:

1. Florida: $2.5 billion, up five percent from 2015

2. Texas: $1.4 billion, up five percent from 2015

3. Michigan: $868 million, up nine percent from 2015

4. Minnesota: $710 million, up nine percent from 2015

5. North Carolina: $689 million, up 11 percent from 2015

6. New York: $688 million, up 14 percent from 2015

7. Wisconsin: $622 million, up nine percent from 2015

8. California: $615 million, up 15 percent from 2015

9. Georgia: $551 million, up 11 percent from 2015

10. South Carolina: $544 million, up 10 percent from 2015

• It’s not just new boats Americans are buying; there were an estimated 981,600 pre-owned boats (powerboats, personal watercraft, and sailboats) sold in 2016, totaling $9.2 billion in sales.
• There were an estimated 11.9 million registered/documented boats in the U.S. in 2016 [1 boat for every 27 people in the US]
  
• Ninety-five percent of boats on the water (powerboats, personal watercraft, and sailboats) in the U.S. are small in size, measuring less than 26 feet in length—boats that can be trailered by a vehicle to local waterways.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

 

[Gomig-21]

One of the best pastimes one can partake in! There's nothing like pulling out of the dock on a beautiful summer day and the water is calm and you have family and friends with you and you're off for a fun cruise.

How can you beat that?

Maybe going out with a bunch of buddies for some serious fishing comes close. There's a reason why these things are as or even more expensive than luxury sports cars and houses when you get up into the larger models.

Any other boaters on this forum?

Wake surfing is fun but you gotta practice a lot to get used to it. Plus you gotta be very careful not to take a header right into the boat's props! But water skiing and tubing, a blast. Most of our open waters up north are too cold for these sorts of water sports, but down in the Cape you can find a bunch of great, enclosed spots that are shallow and the water is much warmer. Boating fresh water like in the video you posted is the best for water sports, but we don't have good lakes for that here in MA. You have to trailer up to Lake Winnipesaukee. Try getting a spot in that lake in the summer time lol! You think Boston traffic is brutal loool. But man, what fun with family and friends and even better when you combine a camping trip with the event.

Trailering and launching & retrieving your boat is a pain in the butt and especially once you get into the 25ft+ length range. The alternative is slipping in a marina but man is that super expensive and then you have to "bottom-paint" your boat to protect it from marine growth, but even that is not 100%-proof to work. If it's a warm summer, chances are you'll get tremendous marine growth on the underside and especially on stern-drive boats. That's a real headache. But going through all that is usually worth the aggravation come time spent on the water.

Going up to Stellwagon bank is a blast and a half. You just have to be VERY careful not to get too close the wales since you can easily get breached by one of them.

Sometimes they'll come right up to the boat.

New England Boat Show is a lot of fun to visit, but sticker shock is the norm lol.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

One of the best pastimes one can partake in! There's nothing like pulling out of the dock on a beautiful summer day and the water is calm and you have family and friends with you and you're off for a fun cruise.

View attachment 448023

View attachment 448024

View attachment 448025

How can you beat that?

Maybe going out with a bunch of buddies for some serious fishing comes close. There's a reason why these things are as or even more expensive than luxury sports cars and houses when you get up into the larger models.

Any other boaters on this forum?

Wake surfing is fun but you gotta practice a lot to get used to it. Plus you gotta be very careful not to take a header right into the boat's props! But water skiing and tubing, a blast. Most of our open waters up north are too cold for these sorts of water sports, but down in the Cape you can find a bunch of great, enclosed spots that are shallow and the water is much warmer. Boating fresh water like in the video you posted is the best for water sports, but we don't have good lakes for that here in MA. You have to trailer up to Lake Winnipesaukee. Try getting a spot in that lake in the summer time lol! You think Boston traffic is brutal loool. But man, what fun with family and friends and even better when you combine a camping trip with the event.

Trailering and launching & retrieving your boat is a pain in the butt and especially once you get into the 25ft+ length range. The alternative is slipping in a marina but man is that super expensive and then you have to "bottom-paint" your boat to protect it from marine growth, but even that is not 100%-proof to work. If it's a warm summer, chances are you'll get tremendous marine growth on the underside and especially on stern-drive boats. That's a real headache. But going through all that is usually worth the aggravation come time spent on the water.

Going up to Stellwagon bank is a blast and a half. You just have to be VERY careful not to get too close the wales since you can easily get breached by one of them.

Sometimes they'll come right up to the boat.

New England Boat Show is a lot of fun to visit, but sticker shock is the norm lol.

Certainly there are plenty of tradeoffs between trailering your boat or paying for a spot.
You don't have much options once your boat is 25+ feet.

Just fits in the garage

Say hello to shrinkwrap!

 

[Torch_v2.0]

So, empire is dying for growth I see !!

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

So, empire is dying for growth I see !!

LOL! I'm quite sure not many countries have 1 boat for every 27 people..unless they are in the middle of the Pacific.

 

[Gomig-21]

Certainly there are plenty of tradeoffs between trailering your boat or paying for a spot.
You don't have much options once your boat is 25+ feet.

Just fits in the garage

And if your boat has a radar arch for a canvas top, forget about getting that in the garage.

You need one that folds and those are $3 million a piece lol.

Say hello to shrinkwrap!

Yep, another part of boat ownership maintenance for us northerners. Boaters in Florida have no idea what that is. Shrinkwrapping wut? lol. They don't even know what "winterizing" a boat is. That's a whole other headache you have to do before the temps gets anywhere near 32 degrees because 90% of all boat motors, including boats that are powered by out-board motors are sea-water cooled or "open water cooled" where the motor just pumps in water from wherever you're boating and not by a closed-cooling system with antifreeze. So that water that stays in the motor (even if you haul it out of the water) needs to be drained every fall and replaced with -100 degree antifreeze so that it doesn't freeze and the motor cracks. Then come springtime, all fluids changed, impeller inspected etc. It's A LOT of maintenance and of course.....$. That's when you really need to learn how to do a lot of these things on your own to save some loot.

If you're part of a marina club and they do all that maintenance for you like in that vid you posted, even with membership, by the time you add in slip costs and winterizing etc, for an average of a 30ft boat, you're close to $10K a year just for those fees. That's why they call owning a boat, a bottomless money pit LOL if you're not smart and resourceful about ownership.

 

[Torch_v2.0]

LOL! I'm quite sure not many countries have 1 boat for every 27 people..unless they are in the middle of the Pacific.

RIP American logic

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

And if your boat has a radar arch for a canvas top, forget about getting that in the garage.

You need one that folds and those are $3 million a piece lol.

Yep, another part of boat ownership maintenance for us northerners. Boaters in Florida have no idea what that is. Shrinkwrapping wut? lol. They don't even know what "winterizing" a boat is. That's a whole other headache you have to do before the temps gets anywhere near 32 degrees because 90% of all boat motors, including boats that are powered by out-board motors are sea-water cooled or "open water cooled" where the motor just pumps in water from wherever you're boating and not by a closed-cooling system with antifreeze. So that water that stays in the motor (even if you haul it out of the water) needs to be drained every fall and replaced with -100 degree antifreeze so that it doesn't freeze and the motor cracks. Then come springtime, all fluids changed, impeller inspected etc. It's A LOT of maintenance and of course.....$. That's when you really need to learn how to do a lot of these things on your own to save some loot.

If you're part of a marina club and they do all that maintenance for you like in that vid you posted, even with membership, by the time you add in slip costs and winterizing etc, for an average of a 30ft boat, you're close to $10K a year just for those fees. That's why they call owning a boat, a bottomless money pit LOL if you're not smart and resourceful about ownership.

Yeesh, I never thought about the seawater in the engine freezing. You'd think outboard makers would have engineered in a solution so cold area people wouldn't have to go the anti-freeze route.

I like the long list at the beginning.

I can't find a video showing somebody removing the anti-freeze. How do you get it out without it ending up on your driveway (other than having a bunch of 5 gallon bucket handy)? Hope the answer isn't a hose and conveniently located street stormdrains.

So a friend of mine in high school lost the tip of one of his fingers from a running prop while helping his dad with engine maintenance. I never got the full story (more like I just didn't want to know) but apparently it happened when they were de-winterizing it. So now this anti-freeze/water flush makes things more clear as to why someone would be starting an engine that wasn't even in the water and then putting their hands near it. BTW no stormdrains near his house.

RIP American logic

For a new guy with Romanian flags you seem to avoid posting in the European forums but hang out in Chinese threads...why is that? Private ownership of boats is something you probably can't relate to so just move along to some other thread up your alley.

 

[Torch_v2.0]

For a new guy with Romanian flags you seem to avoid posting in the European forums but hang out in Chinese threads...why is that? Private ownership of boats is something you probably can't relate to so just move along to some other thread up your alley.

How in the world a flag represent Ideology of a Person....
OK so, once again RIP emerican Logic

 

[Gomig-21]

Yeesh, I never thought about the seawater in the engine freezing. You'd think outboard makers would have engineered in a solution so cold area people wouldn't have to go the anti-freeze route.

Some of the newer models have partially closed loops that have antifreeze where it's basically just as described, it stays within the motor cooling ducts, but the exhaust manifold needs serious cooling as well so that part has to pull in sea water. Other systems like mine cool the entire motor and exhaust system with sea water as it simplifies engine parts and some boaters prefer that.

If you're boating fresh water, at the end of the day you can just leave that water in the motor and not worry about it. If you're boating saltwater like we do, you can't leave the salt water in there since the salt will eat up most components in no time at all, especially the impeller. The impeller is the little, rubber fan that turns and pulls water in from the stern drive which houses the props and forced it to cycle through the engine. If the impeller wears down or gets eaten up by the salt, it doesn't draw in enough water to cool the motor and then you overheat the engine and you know the result of that. That's why we always keep a wicked vigilant eye on the engine temperature all the time to be sure that impeller is working properly.

Impeller. It's about 2-1/2" in diameter. Arguably the most critical part in a boat.

So when you're done boating in saltwater at the end of the day, you have to flush out that salt water. So you stick a hose into the flushing connector, turn the water on, turn the engine on for about 5 minutes and all the seawater in the motor is pushed out and replaced by fresh water. Then you can shut it down until next time you're in the water. You can do that with the boat in the slip or on the trailer, either way, but it's necessary maintenance to keep your VERY expensive motor in tiptop condition and have it last a while. Otherwise that salt will eat away at almost everything until you need a complete new motor which could run $10K-upwards of $40K+ depending on what motor you have. And you can't simply empty all the water and leave it dry because that will just rust up all the metal parts. So you need to keep fluid in there at all time, hence antifreeze in the winter.

I can't find a video showing somebody removing the anti-freeze. How do you get it out without it ending up on your driveway (other than having a bunch of 5 gallon bucket handy)? Hope the answer isn't a hose and conveniently located street stormdrains.

Well, my boat is a 2010 so the first few years I had the dealer do all the winterizing because I needed to learn and not screw up a very expensive toy lol. Believe me, I didn't mind taking the hit knowing it was done right as you see all the steps involved are very critical and if you miss one, trouble. Then I tried it myself for a couple of years and just got really tired of the process because it's a royal pain in the butt. Went back to the dealer lol.

I don't trust the marina guys (since I heard horror stories about them) so my son and I retrieve the boat at the ramp at the end of the season, flush it out and take it to the dealer and let them winterize it.

BTW, the antifreeze used in this case, as in winterizing for boats is not really like the conventional car antifreeze which is much thicker and more toxic of course. This stuff is much more fluid and actually much more environmentally friendly. It has to be because boats are always in waters so they're forced to make something that's safe. That's why you'll see a lot of guys just dump it in their driveway. I still don't do that, though.

My motor is a Volvo Penta 8.1 liter. See the cap with the yellow sticker, that's the engine oil. The brass cylinder in front of the large pulley in the center of the front with the serpentine belt and hoses coming in? That's where the impeller is that draws in the water and cycles it through the engine. The blue cap to the bottom center of the pic, that's the fresh water connector to flush out the motor. The small, white foot pedal looking thing at the right bottom of the boat floor is the bilge water sensor, in case there's a breach of water into the bilge, the pedal (it's like a toilet float) rises and triggers the water pump which is right next to it with the red cover and that pumps the water out the side of the boat so you don't sink! lol Some boaters will add another pump in case the only one fails, then you're in a lot of trouble. I have a secondary pump at the rear. The two black gadgets that are going right through the hull to the right are the transducers. One is for depth reading which feeds my GPS screen as well as my depth finder so I know how deep the water is below me so as not to get grounded, as well as mapping GPS and locations and many other features on the digital screen (water temp etc.) and the other is, of course, the mighty fish-finder!

That whole motor powers this duo-propped Volvo Penta stern drive. This is a whole other ball game of moving parts and mechanisms and maintenance. It never ends, Ant, but for most people, the end result is well worth it. Top planing speed for this 30-footer is 45mph with those duoprops.

 

[Gomig-21]

Check this out, Ant. This happened last summer in Oregon and shows you how boating is also pretty dangerous. Besides sinking and dying of hypothermia if you don't have the proper equipment on board that notifies the coastguard to come rescue you or the skills to send out a mayday under severe tress, you have to watch others around you very carefully, whether you're anchored or cruising. There's much more to the story and this video was just released a few days ago.

 

[Hamartia Antidote]

Check this out, Ant. This happened last summer in Oregon and shows you how boating is also pretty dangerous. Besides sinking and dying of hypothermia if you don't have the proper equipment on board that notifies the coastguard to come rescue you or the skills to send out a mayday under severe tress, you have to watch others around you very carefully, whether you're anchored or cruising. There's much more to the story and this video was just released a few days ago.

WOW! That's crazy! I'd sue him too. He definitely should not be allowed to have a boating license again.

So are jet boats now the "electric cars" of the boating world?

 

[Gomig-21]

WOW! That's crazy! I'd sue him too. He definitely should not be allowed to have a boating license again.

Drawback to recreational boating is no licence required. Just registration and insurance and that's it. So any knucklehead can get out and operate a boat which is why your head needs to be on a swivel at all times.

So are jet boats now the "electric cars" of the boating world?

For smaller boats, definitely. On larger boats they tend to have many other features that greatly help with maneuverability like bow-thrusters and joysticks which are unbelievably helpful when docking, the toughest part of boating.

Bow thrusting with docking.

Joystick you can move the boat sideways and that's with a pair of sterndrives and props on them. It's computer synchronized kinda like a jet's fly-by-wire system. Pretty cool but super expensive lol.

 

[Gomig-21]

Hey Ant, did you know that Belichick is a big-time boater/fishing enthusiast?

You can see him in Nantucket all the time. Notice the boat's name? It used to be this...

...then this...

...then this after last year's super bowl.