2016 Boat Sales Improve 5 Percent

December sales of recreational boats slid, but sales for the entire year based on results from 27 early-reporting states, including Florida and Texas, showed that total sales were up about 5 percent in 2016, Trade Only Today reported.

Trade Only reported that Statistical Surveys said that in 2016, 246,891 boats were sold in those states, a 4.9 percent increase over 2015. Sales in the main powerboat segments were 160,641, a 5.1 percent increase over the previous year.

The figures mark five years in a row that the industry has seen gains.

“It’s what we’ve been seeing, slow moderate growth continuing,” Statistical Surveys sales director Ryan Kloppe told Trade Only.

His prediction is that the final increase in 2016 sales will be between 5 percent and 5.5 percent when figures are in for all 50 states.

The total for the 27 states is already 2,775 ahead of the pace in 2015 for all 50 states. The industry sold 244,116 boats in 2015, 6.8 percent more than in 2014.

Full-year outboard fiberglass boat sales in 2016 were at 47,190 in the states that submitted totals (up 4.7 percent), aluminum pontoon sales were at 46,434 (up 8.9 percent), and aluminum fishing boats were at 44,955 (up 3.1 percent).

All but two categories among the main powerboat segments showed gains. The fastest-growing category of the main segments was ski and wake boats, where sales in the 27 states rose 11.6 percent, or 878, to 8,478.

“They’ve had double-digit gains for a couple of years,” Kloppe said.

Among the bigger-boat segments, 31-to-40-foot cruisers showed the strongest growth. Sales rose 8.1 percent, or 111, to 1,475. Sales in December, the slowest month of the year in the industry, were 1.3 percent lower industrywide at 4,594.

The Coast Guard reported that sales of 31- to 40-foot cruisers rose by nine to 71. Sales of 41- to 65-foot yachts fell by 31 to 45 and sales of 66-foot and larger yachts fell by one to 14.

Sailboat sales increased by 28 to 98. For the year, sailboat sales were up 4 percent, at 2,300, in the early-reporting states.