new boat sales

A year ago in June, sales of new recreational boats were bouncing back after falling virtually flat during April and May.

Recreational boat sales rose 2 percent in the first quarter, slower growth than the industry posted a year earlier.

Retail unit sales of outboard, inboard and sterndrive boats were up 6 percent in 2016 and corresponding dollars were up 8 percent.

The U.S. boating industry is reporting some of its highest sales in a decade.

Outboard fiberglass boats were the industry’s top seller in the early-reporting states.

Driven by the three boat types that have been the industry’s strongest sellers since the last recession ended, recreational boatbuilders and dealers began 2017 with high single-digit January gains.

The recreational boat industry followed a strong January with moderate February growth.

The U.S. recreational boat industry sold more than 250,000 boats in 2016 for the first time in eight years.

Statistical Surveys said 246,891 boats were sold industrywide in those states in 2016, 4.9 percent more than in 2015.

The gains were concentrated among fiberglass outboard boats and aluminum fishing and pontoon boats.

The performance marks the industry’s fifth consecutive year of sales gains.

Recreational boat sales posted their second consecutive month of weak growth in October.

The recreational marine industry followed double-digit August sales gains with a slow-growth September.

At 2016’s halfway point, sales appear to be edging up, but you still have to work hard to close each transaction

Gen Xers and millennials who enjoyed the water as kids have fallen off the traditional ownership path, and the industry wants them back.

Builders and dealers sold 15,477 more boats in all of 2015 than they did the year before, marking the fourth straight year of gains.

Boat sales showed surprising strength in November, rising by double digits in the main powerboat segments and industrywide during what is traditionally one of the slowest months of the year.