Seattle Boat Show Blog

Dealers hope to entice price-conscious buyers

by Deborah Bach on 02/02/10 at 1:52 pm

Seeing the big yachts moored at marinas around Puget Sound, it’s easy to assume boating is only for those with deep pockets.

But boat dealers at the Seattle Boat Show are hoping to convey a different message to showgoers: that boating is more accessible than they might realize.

“I think that there are people who pass off boating without really understanding the access and affordability of it,” said Mark Helgen, vice president of sales for Lake Union Sea Ray.

“Sometimes you have to put them in front of it and say, ‘You can do this for less than going out for dinner once a month and take your family to all kinds of places.”

Lake Union Sea Ray’s display includes boats that can be financed starting at $149 a month, and other exhibitors have taken a similar approach—Sterling Boats, Day Island Boat Works, Boat Country and others are showing powerboats that can be financed for $250 a month or less. One offering in Boat Country’s display, a 14-foot Smoker Craft, is just $95 a month.

Lee Ann Kooley, an owner of Tacoma-based Day Island Boat Works, said an increasing number of banks are lowering the threshold for a 20-year boat loan from $75,000 down to boats selling for $50,000, which can substantially reduce the monthly payments.

“The opportunity is there and it’s more affordable, because the banks are becoming more lenient on the terms,” she said.

A showgoer gets some information at the Gig Harbor Boat Works booth.

Some of the lower-priced boats at the show include surplus inventory that dealers found themselves stuck with when the economy tanked and are anxious to clear out. Other lower-priced watercraft include kayaks starting at $250 at LFS Marine and Outdoor, and do-it-yourself wooden and fiberglass kit boats at Fine Edge priced at $945 to $3,900.

Gig Harbor Boat Works sells reproductions of vintage small craft that can be used for rowing and sailing or be equipped with an outboard motor. Rowboats start at around $5,500 and sailboats range from $10,000 to $18,000.

Though the boat show also features multi-million dollar yachts of up to 143 feet, the smallest boats are the truest representation of what boating looks like both locally and nationally. They are the type of boats found in garages and backyards from Anacortes to Aberdeen, boats that sit under tarps over the winter and don’t have hired crews or chefs.

Boats 26 feet and under account for about 90 percent of sales in Washington annually, according to the Northwest Marine Trade Association. Nationally, that number jumps to 95 percent.

A recently released 2008 study by the National Marine Manufacturers Association found that the vast majority of boaters are middle class, with about 75 percent having a household income under $100,000. The average price of a new boat in 2008 was $13,201, while the average price of a new boat, engine and trailer package was $29,388.

“You can own a trailerable boat, be an average working guy and go enjoy it on the weekends, waterskiing at the lake or fishing with family and friends,” said Tim Klontz, a salesman at Boat Country. “It is affordable.”

Boat show organizers and exhibitors are hoping that message of accessibility can help turn showgoers into buyers. Kooley said her company switched up its display this year and put a lower-priced boat front and center in an effort to entice price-conscious shoppers.

“We put a more affordable boat in the front of our booth, rather than one of the flashier ones that we have,” she said. “That seems to draw people in with a price point that’s lower and more affordable.”