Posted By admin on February 1, 2012

Attendance was up 10 percent – with about 12,500 visitors tallied – at the Hartford Boat Show, which ran Friday through Sunday at the Connecticut Convention Center.

“This has been our best response from the public in a number of years, indicating a positive change in the economy, small as it might be,” said Amy Lynn Clark, director of programs for the organizing Connecticut Marine Trades Association. Exhibitor space was sold out going into the show and the association had a vendor waiting list, Clark said.

The sense of optimism apparent at winter shows in New York and Providence, R.I., was also found in Hartford. Several dealers spoke of a change in mood among people who attended.

“They’re asking buying questions,” said Ryan Kagy, the Ohio-based regional sales manager for Premier pontoons. “People aren’t coming up to you and asking a bunch of questions, then walking away.”

About 50 dealers displayed more than 200 boats. Nearly 25 percent of the boats on exhibit were pontoons.

“A few years ago we were one of the only pontoon dealers at this show,” said Chick Shifrin, who runs Columbia Marine in northeast Connecticut.

David Dorrance, a broker with Prestige Yacht Sales in Essex, Conn., said the brokerage firm has sold two new Cutwater trailerable cruisers — a 28 and a 26 — in the last month.

“It’s a changing market, and people are looking for value and for efficiency,” Dorrance said of the 26 on display, which he said burns about 6.5 gph running at 17 knots and was selling at the show for $149,000.

“People are looking for something they can afford to not only buy, but afford to run and keep,” Dorrance said.

To see the full Trade Only Today story click here.

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Posted By admin on January 9, 2012

A new year brought renewed optimism among dealers at the New York Boat Show, the first show of 2012.

After a walk on the floor of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in Manhattan shortly before the show opened its doors on Friday, NMMA president Thom Dammrich said the mood among vendors was clearly upbeat.
 
 

“I’d say there’s probably more optimism for 2012 than in the past four or five years,” Dammrich told Trade Only Today.

Crowds were steady and building from opening day Wednesday through the five-day show. A National Football League playoff game at 1 p.m. that involved the hometown Giants somewhat diminished attendance on the final day.

Dammrich said he could sense optimism among both the vendors and attendees he spoke with.

“Some people have been coming out to the show for several years, just looking,” Dammrich said before noting recent positive economic news on manufacturing and jobs. “People are ready for some good news, they’re now getting some good news and I think people are ready to break out and do what they’ve been holding back on for years.”

Dave Dzurilla, general manager for MarineMax in New York’s Westchester County and Connecticut’s Fairfield County, said his crew was seeing “good, qualified prospects. We’re not seeing the daydreamer.”

We had a decent fall, but after this show our entire team feels confident we’re finally seeing a real uptick,” he said.

Dzurilla today reported 68 boats sold among the Sea Ray, Boston Whaler and Meridian displays, compared with 42 at the 2011 show.

Steve DeFeo, general manager of DeFeo’s Marina, a Bennington, Larson and Regal dealer on New York’s Greenwood Lake, said he has displayed at every New York show since 1981. Although pontoon boat sales have held up better than other models during the recession, he said he comes into 2012 feeling that “we’re slowly moving up the hill.”

Nate Anderson, Northeast regional sales manager for Scout Boats, said one change he’s sensing is that “people are sitting down and talking real numbers, which is a night-and-day difference from ’09, when all anybody wanted to talk about was how bad the recession was.”

Mark Yarussi, a regional sales manager for Bayliner who oversees 80 dealers from Michigan to Maine to Washington, D.C., summed up his take on the market this way:

“Compared to this time last year we’re picking up steam, and the enthusiasm is up and we feel good about 2012.”

— Rich Armstrong

To see the full Trade Only story, click here.

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