Continuing the trend from the previous month, new-boat registrations for the main powerboat segments in October were down 23% from the previous year, at 5,577, compared with 7,246. Overall, the numbers were 9,473 in October versus 10,143 in October 2021.

Personal watercraft were an outlier, up 61.6% from October 2021, with 2,480 registrations, compared with 1,535 a year ago. The information was provided by Statistical Surveys, a Michigan-based firm that compiled data from 34 states that represent about 69% of the domestic boating market.

Minimal inventory in 2021 and supply-chain holdups were the likely culprits for the large discrepancy in PWC registrations. “Part of the reason probably is that there was no product available in 2021, and the majority of 2022 product from Sea-Doo and Yamaha was shipped at that time,” Sea-Doo media relations manager Tim McKercher told Trade Only Today.

Year-over-year numbers for PWC registrations weren’t as close. For 2022, total registrations through Oct. 31 were 57,680, which is 18.7% less than 2021’s 70,933.

The only other category that showed positive numbers in October 2022 was “all others.” It had 870 new registrations in 2022, versus 669 in 2021.

Aluminum fishing boats had 1,466 new registrations in October, a 21.6% drop from the previous year’s 1,870. For year-to-date, the percentages were identical (down 21.6%) with 32,639 new registrations through the end of October. For the previous year, that number was 41,624.

Pontoon boats had the third-largest drop compared with last October: 1,245 compared to 1,798 for 2021, a 30.8% drop. But the year-over-year numbers were only 9.9% different at 51,811 for 2022 and 57,525 for the previous year.

Bowriders/deckboats experienced the largest individual category drop at 47.8% with 141 new registrations in 2022 compared to 270 a year earlier. That total produced a year-to-date number of 5,445, a 24.6% drop versus 2021’s 7,217. Ski and wake, another category that had been strong for the past couple of years, had another big dip at 38.9% with 298 registrations in 2022 versus 488 for October 2021. Year-over-year numbers, however, were much closer, with 10,837 in 2022 and 12,028, a difference of 9.9%.

In lower-volume categories, cruisers measuring 31 to 40 feet had 33 new registrations in October, a 15.4% decline from 2021’s 39, but the year-over-year number was 626 through the end of October last year, a 24.9% drop from 834 in 2021.

Moving up in size, 44 new yachts from 41 to 65 feet were registered in 2022, compared with 48 in 2021, a difference of 8.3%. Year-over-year numbers for this size range were 511 new registrations for 2022 and 596 in 2021, or 14.3% less.

Finally, yachts larger than 66 feet had 11 new boats listed for 2022 and 15 in 2021, a 26.7% decline. That resulted in 134 new sign-ups year-to-date in 2022 versus 143 in 2021.

Statistical Surveys also provided registration numbers for individual states. Florida, again, led the way with 2,599. Next came Texas at 1,077, followed by California with 630, North Carolina at 578 and Georgia rounding out the top five with 528. 

This article was originally published in the January 2023 issue.