New-boat registrations in the main powerboat categories increased 32.2 percent over the same period last year, and were up 10 percent on a rolling, 12-month basis, according to data from Statistical Surveys, a Michigan firm that tracks registration data.
The data accounts for more than 95 percent of the U.S. market — omitting Illinois and Maine, which report once a year — in the months of July, August and September, said Ryan Kloppe, sales director at Statistical Surveys.
Pontoons were up more than 40 percent compared with the third quarter of 2019, and ski and wake boats were up more than 38 percent. Sterndrive boats, which had been declining for years, were 33.3 percent higher than the comparable period last year.
“We’re really having a great year — unfortunately, in a pandemic,” Kloppe told Trade Only Today. “We’ve seen these numbers in monthly data, and this is kind of a wrap-up of all the states — more of a whole picture of what the marine industry is doing.”
PWC were off almost 22 percent, likely because of a lack of inventory in midsummer, Kloppe said.
The industry overall was up 13.2 percent over the third quarter of 2019, and 6.4 percent on a rolling, 12-month basis. “The U.S. spent a lot of money on recreational sports between RV, powersports and the marine industry,” Kloppe said.
