International Boat Industry – June-July 2019

20 JUNE–JULY 2019 | International Boat Industry ibinews.com

Markets & Regions

OVERVIEW | USA

the shelves. Yet a surprising number of boatbuilders

and dealers report softer sales to kick off the season.

The question everyone is asking is, why?

DOMESTIC MARKET A MIXED BAG

In virtually every key geographic market across

North America, results from the winter and

early spring boat shows are being described as

inconsistent, with some segments doing well,

others failing to match 2018 numbers. “We have

had some mixed reviews but overall we’re happy

with our winter show season,” says Terry McNew,

CEO at Vonore, Tennessee-based MasterCraft Boat

Holdings, manufacturer of MasterCraft watersports

boats, Crest pontoon boats and NauticStar fishing

boats. “Last year was a record boat show season

for the MasterCraft brand, and this year was on

par with that. Show sales for Crest were up a bit

year-over-year in spite of some really cold weather

in the northern Midwest, while the saltwater fishing

category that NauticStar plays in was down for

almost all brands, including NauticStar.”

For New Paris, Indiana-based aluminium fishing,

pontoon and fibreglass sport boat manufacturer

Smoker Craft Inc, the winter show season was

encouraging, but still not quite at the level of 2018.

“Domestic sales were good. They weren’t quite as

good as last year, which was a tremendous season,

but they were better than 2017 and that was also

a very healthy year,” says senior vice president

of marketing and corporate development, Peter

Barrett. “The luxury and high-performance pontoon

segments are still strong. The surf runabout market

is still very strong. Fishing is stable and growing in

the low single digits year-over-year. Really, there’s

nothing to complain about. But it does feel like we

have hit a bit of a slowdown.”

Brunswick Boat Group president Huw Bower is

largely pleased with his company’s winter boat show

results, although he notes the entry-level buyer

seemed to be less prevalent this year. “We had a

good show season, but the value side of the market

was softer than the premium end,” he says. “The

premium buyer does their research, they know what

they want, so they can just show up and put their

order in. They just want to get the boat. The value

buyer is more of an impulse buyer, and when the

weather’s not there, as was the case this year in many

different markets, they’re just not going to make the

same effort to get down to the dealership or go down

to the shows in quite the same way.”

Boat show attendance seemed to match retail

sales in many parts of the US this spring, with some

events recording gains while others were slightly

down. Distractions, including the US government

shutdown in January and the political turmoil

leading to the release of the Mueller Report in

April, have been identified as potential contributing

factors. “This first quarter of the year was down,

and so that gets people nervous about the rest of

the year,” says National Marine Manufacturers’

Association (NMMA) president, Thom Dammrich.

“Having said that, I think we saw a bit of a spike

through the first part of May and now we’re hearing

some stronger reports, so we’re hoping it was

PETER BARRETT, SENIOR VP OF MARKETING

SMOKER CRAFT INC

Domestic sales

weren't quite as good

as last year, but they

were better than 2017

and that was a very

healthy year

 Some manufacturers

report lower sales in the

saltwater fishing boat

category

Complete Climate Solutions: Heating, Cooling & Roofs