Registration numbers for the 15-foot-and-over U.S. powerboat market dropped in March for the second month running, falling off improvements seen since the fall. New-boat registrations were down 8.1% in March from the 12-month rolling average, roughly back to a baseline established since last summer. Registrations across all seven segments totaled 231,704 units through March 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 U.S. Coast Guard and individual states.
Causes for the pause in sales are well-known: tariff turmoil and persistently high interest rates.
“Overall, marine is still tracking to break even with last year,” Russell Baqir, senior vice president of business development at Northpoint Commercial Finance, told Soundings Trade Only. “Our inventory, deposits and payoffs are continuing to decrease aged inventory.”
The only category that showed improvement in March was the freshwater fishboat segment, which has been strong for months in a row. That category was up 2.2% on a 12-month rolling average, and total units registered were 54,341 on that basis. All other categories were down on that basis again this month. Pontoons were off 12.8% from their rolling 12-month average, and PWC were down 10.9%.
“The freshwater fish buyer is slightly more recession-proof than the pontoon buyer, so it makes sense that this category has shown signs of life prior to the other segments,” Baqir said. “The tow-boat market continues to evolve as consumers are dealing with local and state regulations, and significant price increases. As the selling season continues, increased sales levels should get these markets back to a flat year-over-year position.
“In addition,” Baqir said, “the good news is that aged inventory continues to sell off in all categories, which is bringing liquidity relief to dealers across all categories. This year is a reset as dealers refuse to make in-season inventory purchases as they wait for the new model year.”
Saltwater fishboat sales climbed somewhat over the previous month to run at 7.2% below their 12-month averages. For March, unit sales tallied 23,092 on the 12-month average. For the month, saltwater fishboats posted 2,092 units registered as sold, which is down 6% from the same month in 2024.
“Saltwater payoffs continue to be sluggish compared to prior model years as capacity finally outgrew demand,” Baqir said. “Consumers have shifted to the used inventory market and boat clubs as alternatives.”
Notably, the cruiser/yacht category registered 439 units sold in March, up 11.4% from the same month in 2024.
Many states showed improvements in sales on a short-term basis. California, Arizona, Tennessee, Louisiana and a few others improved on their three-month rolling average of boat purchases, solidifying gains since last fall. The outlier was the big market in Florida, which still showed sales lags on many metrics.
“The Florida market slowing reflects overall saltwater sales slowing. Florida has had several critical aspects affecting sales: cost of boats, storage is limited, cost of insurance and interest rates being the primary culprits,” Baqir said. “Florida was able to avoid these negative impacts longer than other states since boating remains a key lifestyle for many. Consumer confidence allowed this state to outrun increases in cost, but as the investment markets underwent negative shocks, marine was impacted. As capacity and inventory exceeded the number of qualified buyers due to cost increases, the impact of Florida’s sales decline impacted the industry as a whole.”
The pressing question has to be whether or not improving tariff scenarios might spur sales for the late spring and summer.
“The 2025 model year continues to trend to break-even with 2024 model year,” Baqir said. “We continue to hope for dealer aging decreases throughout this selling season which should preserve dealer cash flow and facilitate a reset in [model year] 2026. OEMs are feeling a lack of orders, and the majority don’t want to cut capacity further, in hopes to ride things out until orders roll in from the forthcoming 2026 model year.”
