Boat registration numbers for the 15-foot-and-over market dropped in April for the third month running. New-boat registrations were down 9% in April from the 12-month rolling average, signaling a continued slow market. Boat registrations across all seven segments totaled 228,894 units through April on a rolling 12-month basis.
The data for new-boat registrations was provided by Info-Link, a Florida-based company that compiles registration numbers from the Coast Guard and individual states.
“A lot of our business leaders believed that with the new administration taking office this year that we would see a quick turnaround of the volatility and uncertainty that has been prevalent in the market for a while now,” Matt Gruhn, president of the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas, told Soundings Trade Only. “In fact, this did not turn out to be the case, and with continually high interest rates, all the news around tariffs, and continued uncertainty around what’s going to happen in the broader economy, the market remains a challenge.”
In April, the only category that showed improvement was the freshwater fishboat segment, which has been strong for months in a row. That category was up 1.2% on a 12-month rolling average, and total units registered were 54,648 on that basis. All other categories were down on that basis again.
“In our past research projects,” Gruhn says, “we’ve seen signs that people who use their boat exclusively for fishing are more likely than the average boater to remain boat owners. Perhaps that also plays out in boat purchases, where fishing enthusiasts may buck the trend a little bit when it comes to buying a boat in an otherwise difficult market.”
Pontoons were off 15.6% from their rolling 12-month average, with yearly sales on that basis of 51,203 units. PWC were down 10.6% with yearly sales at 66,085 units. The pontoon market decreases were the steepest of any boat category.
Saltwater fishboat sales declined somewhat over the previous month to 9% below their 12-month averages. The cruiser/yacht category was down 3.3% from its 12-month average. The towboat category was down 12.6% from that same average.
These numbers were reflected in the state registrations. All the big state markets showed declines in registrations on a 12-month rolling average basis. Florida was down 12%. New York was down 7%. Texas and California were each down 8%. Minnesota was down 16%, and Michigan was down 10%.
Six states had 12-month average increases in April: Arizona, Nevada, Wyoming, Kentucky, West Virginia and Delaware.
The numbers for larger boats appeared to be better in April. For saltwater fishboats larger than 27 feet, sales were off 6% from their 12-month average. The cruiser/yacht category over 27 feet was off only 3.3%, and the pontoon category at that length was off 7.3% — still down, but not so severely as the category overall. The freshwater fishboat category for boats larger than 27 feet was up 10.1%.
Overall, over-27-foot registrations are down 4.8% from their 12-month average, close to half the decrease of the overall numbers.
Gruhn says the reality is that the market is challenging. Some dealers have done well, he says, but they’re few and far between. He says he hears more often that others are trying to figure things out by thinking differently about how they go to market.
“Dealers must take seriously the question of how they can evolve their business to meet the needs of changing consumer expectations, rapidly evolving technology, and other realities that are converging to create an inflection point for dealership business models,” he says. “This will be a major point of conversation at our Dealer Week event this December. We can help dealers through this.”
