Below is an excerpt from Soundings Trade Only Today’s recent report “Boatloads of New Boaters.” Read the full article here.
Dave Cole was looking to buy a used boat so his family could get on the water while staying safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the demand from other would-be boaters made finding a ride challenging.
“I must have called 30 different people, but I was always the second guy,” Cole says. The 37-year-old Massachusetts native had never owned a boat, but wanted an escape for himself, his wife, their 3-year-old son and their two Labrador retrievers.
“We’ve always been into the boating idea,” Cole says. “I’ve loved fishing for so long, and getting out there. I’ve had friends forever with boats. This summer, it just felt right to go ahead and make the move. The silver lining of this COVID was, alright, let’s try something new.”
Cole was among thousands of Americans this summer who, with leisure options stymied by the pandemic, bought boats for the first time, according to Info-Link Technologies Inc., a Florida firm that tracks new and used boat registration data. The surge reversed a decade-long pattern of new entrants shrinking, a trend that industry experts have long called alarming.
The industry hopes to convert these new buyers into longtime boaters, but problems remain: A surge of new buyers have snapped up inventory already strained by manufacturing shutdowns; dealers and manufacturers can’t find the workers to help meet demand for boats and service, and the persisting pandemic could make an unpredictable economy even less so.
