Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 20, 1994 TAG: 9403220068
SECTION: BOAT SHOW PAGE: BS-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
It looks as if they have.
"We have had five bad years," said Ed Graves, owner of Valley Marine Center in Roanoke and chairman of the Southwest Virginia Boat Show.
"I think the turnaround is here."
The three-day show, which many dealers view as the beginning of their boating season, will get out of the gate a month later than last year. It originally had been scheduled for the first weekend of March, but dealers agreed to delay it until March 25 as a concession to the Roanoke Express hockey team.
Civic Center officials are scheduled to turn the Roundhouse into a marina on a tight schedule this week. The removing of the ice could speak more elegantly of spring than a dozen robins on the front lawn.
Even before the ice is gone, it appears that the boating recession has thawed. Most dealers have reported brisk pre-show sales, even through snow and extremely cold weather often did their best to keep customers by the fire from January through early March.
"When the sun comes out, my lot is just full of people," said Pete Jordan of Webster Marine Center on Smith Mountain Lake. "If the sun would just stay out.
"People are now out buying. They are feeling a lot better about the economy. Let's face it, a boat is a luxury item. It is relaxation. You are buying enjoyment. It is the first thing you don't buy when you are afraid of the economy."
"Our business is just way up over last year," said Hughes Marine owner Caroll Yeaman, who is operating out of a new 10,000-square foot boat store on U.S. 29 one mile north of Danville. During a one-week period this month, Yeaman sold five Sea-Pro center console boats, a craft that drew a lot of lookers but few buyers at last year's boat show.
Dealers have been expressing mixed feeling about the delayed date of the show.
"I am real optimistic about it," said Mike Ratcliff of Conrad Brothers Marine on Claytor Lake. "It is something that hasn't been tried before. It is worth trying. It is nearer to the time people get out on the water."
Dick Arnold, of the Smith Mountain Yacht Club, would prefer to see it earlier than in the past, not later.
"I wanted it in January," said Arnold, who wonders if the shows already held in Richmond, Greensboro, and Raleigh stole business from the Roanoke show.
It could be good or bad, said Graves.
"Now the three weeks later worries me some, that we have waited too long," he said. "But in the past, right during the show or right after, we have had some pretty good storms that killed the momentum. We are hoping that winter is over by the time our show comes along."
Dealers who enjoy a good business in bass boats know that anglers buy early, so the show's late date likely means bass fishermen will be on the lake rather than in the civic center. Some will be on the lake in new boats.
Realizing that, George Welch, of Bay Roc Marina and Yacht Club has been showing his newly acquired line of Stratos bass boats in shopping centers.
"I have been doing little things to bring this line along before the boat show," he said.
Kenneth Kimbleton of K&K Marine in Dublin has been selling so many Ranger bass boats that he wonders "if we will have anything left" [to bring to the show.] "We have sold more Ranger bass boats already than we sold all year last year."
Ranger has a new entry-level bass boat called the R70, which can get a fisherman on the water for about $13,000.
"We have sold the heck out of them," said Kimbleton.
It's the same across the country, said Cliff Shelby, a spokesman for Ranger.
"The only problem with that boat is being able to build them fast enough," he said.
Reports from other shows reveal that people aren't just looking, they are buying, said Jordan. Some manufacturers aren't able to keep up, so that means dealers are facing back orders. Back orders can become a huge concern when you are getting out of the gate late, he said.
"We are starting out on the left foot rather than the right foot." said Jordan. "But to keep it on the positive side, I think if the sun shines we will have a bigger draw and we will be able to sell on the outside as well as the inside [of the civic center]."
In fact, Webster Marine is beefing up its outside sales staff to handle what he expects to be a much larger crowd of boat show visitors attracted to displays in the parking lot.
Any way you look at it, there is more good news than bad for dealers, buyers and lookers. Boats are of better quality than ever. Prices remain stable. There is an abundance of new and exciting craft, especially in the fast-growing jet boat, deck boat and personal watercraft lines. Financing rates are low.
Maybe the most inspirational trend of all for dealers is the resurgance of interest in runabouts. This bread and butter craft of the boating industry was hard hit by the recession.
Consumers continued to buy speciality craft, like bass boats, pontoon boats and personal watercraft, but they stepped back from runabouts.
"People are confident right now, so runabouts are going to take more of the market," said Mike Fielder of Advantage Marine in Roanoke. "The low-end stuff isn't what is selling for us; it is the big stuff."
Runabout manufacturers are out to entice buyers with innovative ideas. Sea Ray has a 22-foot bowrider with a heater.
"You have a hot-water heater like your car blowing heat on you," said Arnold.
The Larson 214 LXi is a 21-foot runabout with automotive extras like a padded dash, tilt steering wheel, bucket seats and deluxe stereo system, said Frank Robbins of Shoreline Marina on Smith Mountain Lake.
Sailboats aren't being left in the wake, said Dave Condon of American Marine & Sail.
"My only problem, I can't get enough of them in," said Condon, who made a quick count of his lot near Smith Mountain Lake and spotted only one boat that hadn't been sold. "I've never had that before," he added.
Condon features the Hunter line, a user-friendly craft with a new-generation water ballast and an easy-to-raise mast that can make launching and rigging a one-person operation.
That can be classified as a major advancement, said Condon, who remembers the old days when "Sometimes I have been known to pay a wino to help me raise the mast."
by CNB