Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 23, 1992 TAG: 9202220043
SECTION: BOAT SHOW PAGE: BS-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
HE HOOKED MARINA ON BASS FISHING TRIP
George Welch didn't come to buy a business that summer day in 1974 when he traveled from his home in Ohio to Smith Mountain Lake. He just wanted to catch some bass.He ended up with bass and a business.
"I was always on the lookout for lakes," said Welch, who is president of the Southwest Virginia Boat Dealers Association. "The family and I were going to Norfolk to visit relatives. So as I look at the map I see this Smith Mountain Lake which is not too far out of the way. I conned the family to allow me to stop by here for a day to go fishing."
A couple of things stand out in the memory of Welch about that day. For one, he found good fishing when he launched his 12-foot aluminum boat and putt-putted off into a cove with his 6-hp Sears outboard.
"I did pretty well that day fishing. I didn't kill them, but I got some fish. I got more than you would get in Ohio, all right."
The second thing Welch got was good treatment from Chuck Shumaker, who owned Bay Roc Marina and Yacht Club, where he had stopped.
"He extended a lot of hospitality," Welch said. "So when I got back home, I wrote him a letter. I thanked him for all the courtesies. He returned a letter to me, saying that if I thought it was such a beautiful place I could buy the marina."
Welch still chuckles about that proposition. An electronics engineer, he held a management position with Goodyear Aerospace in Akron, Ohio. He was 49 and had been with the company 25 years.
"I thought it was about the finest place a person could work. I am not a gambler. I am really quiet conservative."
Even so, he remembered the mountains and lakes he had fallen in love with while a student at the University of Kentucky. Virginia would be a lot like that, he thought. And maybe when you've been at a place for 25 years, it is time to move.
"It is sorta like being an athlete and leaving at your peak."
So Welch became the owner of Bay Roc Marina and Yacht Club at Hardy on Feb. 1, 1975. By the end of the month, he was displaying boats at the Southwest Virginia Boat Show.
"I took two boat manufacturers representatives with me. I would tell customers, `I am new at this and will answer every question that I can, and if I can't answer them I have two people who can.'
"As it ended up, I did quite well at the show. Sold eight boats."
Welch has seen the boating business change from backyard manufacturers and mom and pop dealerships to a more sophisticated affair patterned after the automobile industry.
"I think there were close to 800 boat manufacturers back when I started." Now most of the manufacturers are under the umbrella of three major conglomerates: OMC, Brunswick and Genmar.
Dealers are less likely to put together boat, motor and trailer combinations in their shop, as once was common. Packaged deals come from the manufacturer, with motor installed, fully rigged, the craft often on its own trailer. The consumer gets a factory-integrated, turn-key, ready-to-run deal, Welch said. All he needs do is add water.
This has been good for boating - and bad, Welch believes.
"I think that the manufacturer can and does put together a boat, motor and trailer package that gives to the consumer a better set up than he might have gotten independently. And he is getting it at a lower price. He is getting better quality at a lower price and a product backed by better service. That has been good."
On the down side, the boating business became less personal, Welch believes. A dealer doesn't just pick up the phone and talk to the owner of a manufacturing company as he once did. He might not even know the owner's name.
As for dealers, "There still are a few moms and pops, but the trend is to project larger dealerships. The operation of dealerships has become more complex, made so by the manufacturers and the government."
A lot of dealers have gone out of business. The largest and smallest, in particular.
"Something in the area of 50 percent of them have dropped out the last three years. They went under. They went bankrupt. Business has been tough."
Boating enjoyed an all-time boom in 1988, but the industry has experienced rough water since.
"We swing with the rest of the economy," Welch said. "I feel there is going to be some growth in 1992, but it isn't going to be very big."
The lean years haven't been all bad, he said. Not for the consumer, anyway.
"The trend now is back to quality and service, taking care of the customer, developing a strong base so the customer will come back in the future. It is back to basics."
Now is an excellent time to buy a boat, Welch said.
"First, interest rates are down, and, secondly, dealers are selling at their lowest possible margin to stay in business. So are the manufacturers. The industry is doing everything it can to put a product out at the best price."
Welch can remember when interest rates on boat loans hit a high of 22 percent.
"Today, when you get to the boat show, rates will be 9 1/2 to 10 1/2. That is a whale of a difference."