Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 21, 1993 TAG: 9302210065
SECTION: BOAT SHOW PAGE: BS-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
DEALERS EXPECT SMOOTHER SAILING
The 1993 Southwest Virginia Boat Show is being launched with optimism by dealers who expect a better - although not a boom - year, following a string of seasons when the industry has done more plowing that planing."It definitely is going to be a better year - not a banner year," said George Welch, president of the Southwest Virginia Boat Dealers Association, the show sponsor. Welch owns Bay Roc Marina and Yacht Club on Smith Mountain Lake.
Welch said most of the winter boat shows held across the country have done well, and local dealers are saying that consumers are in a buying mood.
"Every dealer I am talking to is feeling upbeat."
Ed Graves, chairman of the boat show and owner of Valley Marine Center in Roanoke, believes it is the start of good things. He believes growth in the industry will hit 10 percent to 20 percent this year.
"Some people think '94 will be even bigger."
There were some positive growth indicators last year, when improved sales of small boats, such as canoes, personal watercraft and inflatables, suggested that boating's four-year slump is ending, said the National Marine Manufacturers Association, based in Chicago.
The association predicts the number of units sold will gain about 3 percent this year, but there will be exceptions. The sales of the new jet-powered craft and other innovative products will see double-digit gains.
"Buy early," dealers are recommending.
"I anticipate shortages this year," said Graves, who added: "I just hope like heck there are shortages. If the pent-up demands come along that we think will, there will be some shortages by the main part of the season."
A soft part of the market has been sales of runabouts, which is the bread-and-butter craft of boat dealers in this region.
"That is what is going to come back," Graves said.
Sales of fishing boats and pontoons have held up.
Fishermen are going to keep on fishing, and will make the sacrifices necessary to stay in a boat, Welch said. And pontoon boats often are sold to lake-shore property owners, who like to have a roomy craft available when friends visit.
"If you live on the lake, you have to have a boat, and a pontoon often is the choice" Welch said. "It is the runabout people who were the ones affected by the economy."
Also feeling a big bite have been manufacturers and dealers who handle luxury boats that cost $100,000 or more. While that hasn't been a bane on boating locally, it has had a major impact on the industry. The number of yachts sold last season was half that of 1990.
The industry blames much of the decline on the new 10 percent federal tax boaters must pay on a craft that coasts $100,000 or more.
"That has really hurt this industry. It's put more than 25,000 people out of work" said John Owens, editor-in-chief of Boating magazine.
The runabout is still the best bet for a first boat, Owens said.